Heard It in a Love Song: A Novel

Tracey Garvis Graves

Nov 2021 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

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?

Ratings and reviews

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 playing 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. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Tracey Garvis Graves Heard It in a Love Song is an emotional story about going through the hard things to get to a beautiful second chance. There is no doubt you will feel a range of emotions while read this well written story. Layla is thirty-five and she's gone through a very difficult divorce. Her dream has always been to be a professional singer, but it was not a dream that her ex-husband supported. Now that she's making decisions for herself, she makes changes to the basement in her home to create a studio for herself where she can create her music without any judgement. Josh has also just recently separated from his high school sweetheart. They have a daughter who is just starting kindergarten and Josh is still figuring out how to balance his job as an electrician with being a single dad. He really liked being part of a couple, so he'd love to have someone to spend his free time with. Given that Layla is the music teacher at the elementary school, she encounters Josh and his daughter when he brings her each day for drop-off. They begin interacting and over time, a friendship develops. Since both Josh and Layla have been through so much in the past, will they be able to overcome those past hurts to try something together? While there is romance in this story, it really centers more on finding the person you're meant to be and making sure to go for the dreams you may have put on hold. It's also about learning to move forward after experiencing loss and challenges. I enjoyed the story and it really made me think about how going for things important to you and that mean something to you can be life changing if you just take a chance on yourself.

What a beautifully written story of two people processing the loss of their marriage and what moving forward looks like. Layla was certainly the type of heroine that many will be able to relate to. The problems within her marriage were those that are shared among many others. Her journey to rise up and find out who she truly is, and what she wants, was filled with growing pains as she struggled with every step forward. I found her to be extremely likeable. Josh was in a situation that had me wondering how it was all going to work out. There is definitely a sense that anything could happen between him and his wife. This author does not allow him to take the easy way out nor was he created in a way that’s commonly found among romance heroes. Yes, I liked him, but I was constantly on edge regarding how this was all going to turn out. The main bulk of this story consists of back-flashes that reveal the relationship Layla and Josh had with their spouses. It highlights all the good, the bad and the ugly before moving this couple into the here and now and their own build up into a new relationship. There isn’t a lot of time spent on this development but it was written in a way that it felt organic when they finally took a serious step forward. Definitely a book that’s light on romance and heavy on emotion.

About the author

TRACEY GARVIS GRAVES is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author. Her debut novel, On the Island, spent 9 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into twenty-nine languages, and is in development with MGM and Temple Hill Productions for a feature film. She is also the author of Uncharted, Covet, Every Time I Think of You, Cherish, Heart-Shaped Hack, White-Hot Hack, and The Girl He Used to Know. She is hard at work on her next book.