Book Review: Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves

Posted November 4, 2021 by WendyW in Book Review / 20 Comments

Heard it in a love song
Heard It in a Love Song
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star

by Tracey Garvis Graves
Publication Date November 9, 2021
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group
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Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Women
Pages: 304
Format: ARC

From Tracey Garvis Graves, the bestselling author of The Girl He Used to Know comes a love song of a story about starting over and second chances in Heard It in a Love Song.

Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready.

Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.

Then there's Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he's still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.

Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?


My Review:

Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves is a lovely book about personal growth and living your dreams. 

Layla Hilding is a 35-year-old recently divorced music teacher in an elementary school. Her divorce left her lonely, but determined to re-capture her love of music, and play music for herself.  She transforms the basement of her home into a soundproof studio where she can play and sing to her heart’s content.  

Her duties as a music teacher involve helping the students and parents in the morning to greet students and parents and direct the traffic in the drop-off zone.  Here she meets Josh, also recently divorced and the father of one of Layla’s students.  Every day, he walks his daughter to her classroom and stops to talk to Layla, his daughter’s favorite teacher.  

Both Layla and Josh are still reeling from their divorces, and are hesitant to dip back into the dating pool.  Josh got married right out of high school, and never had to do the typical dating that most men have had to do.  

I enjoyed this book very much.  It started a bit ordinary, but later in the book, we find out more about Layla’s past as a musician in an up-and-coming band in Rochester MN.  I enjoyed the growth of her character from the wife of a domineering husband, to finding herself and reigniting her passion for music.  I loved reading about Josh’s love for his daughter and his tentative start into the world of single people.  I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

20 responses to “Book Review: Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves”

  4. Carla

    Wonderful review Wendy. I like the idea of a musician, a single day and characters a bit older. I have this one coming up, but will try to get to it sooner as it definitely piques my interest.