Love Songs for Sceptics
Published 2026-08-09 13:49:40
Book info
- Author
- Year 2021
- Genres
- Format Ebook
- Pages 416
When she was a teenager, Zoë Frixos fell in love with Simon Baxter, her best friend and the boy next door. But his family moved to America before she could tell him how she felt and, like a scratched record, she’s never quite moved on. Now, almost twenty years later, Simon is heading back to London, newly single and as charming as ever...
But as obstacles continue to get in her way – Simon’s perfect ex-girlfriend, her brother’s big(ish) fat(ish) Greek wedding, and an obnoxious publicist determined to ruin her career – Zoë begins to wonder whether, after all these years, she and Simon just aren’t meant to be.
What if, despite what all the songs and movies say, your first love isn't always all it's cracked up to be? What if, instead Zoë and Simon are forever destined to shuffle around their feelings for each other, never quite getting the steps right...
Thoughts
I don't specifically remember picking this book up but it must have jumped out at me from an Amazon sale and I suspect the love songs angle was what swung it.
Zoë is a really fun character to spend time with. She's witty and cynical right from the start:
I'm not saying I don't believe in love, but my last relationship ended after twelve days. We might have managed a full fortnight if I hadn't come back early from a weekend away and found him with his hand down a barmaid's shirt. Shame, really. It was my local and they do 2-for-1 mojitos on Sunday nights.
She's a music magazine editor, so the fact that every chapter uses the name of a song as its title links us to her everyday life. It's also fun seeing which title is popping up next.
She's desperately battling to save her magazine from going the same way as many print publications. I don't usually sympathise with people who don't want to move with the times, but she managed to win me round with her passion for the job!
The love triangle aspect of the story is pretty predictable. We're firmly in the rom-com genre here. I knew where we were headed right from the start so the journey wasn't all that interesting, but the people we went on it with were what kept me reading.
This was Christina Pishiris's debut novel, and I'm very glad to see that another one was released this year - I'll be looking out for it. This would have been a top score but just because of how predictable it was, I'm settling on a 4 out of 5.
Rating: 4 / 5