Review by Gabrielle

Series Name: Love in Galway, #2

Ivy Fairbank’s Love in Galway series returns with another banger of a book in Heart Strings.

Favourite Quote:

“Kissing her again after two years apart feels more vivid than I remembered, like a digital remaster of an old demo. My body recalls the sweet melody, and my heart races to its pulsing beat.”

Book Synopsis:

She doesn’t do second chances. But he’s not done writing their song.

Cielo “Lo” Valdez doesn’t believe in second chances. Surviving cancer at seventeen taught her life is too short to spend time on someone who wronged you. But Aidan O’Toole is determined to show her life is too long not to spend it together.

When the tough-as-nails Texan moved to Galway for medical school, she wasn’t looking for love. Aidan, a gorgeous tattooed mandolin-playing lawyer, slipped past her defenses. They each fell hard and fast. But when Aidan was given the opportunity of a lifetime—to move to London and record an album—he took it, breaking Lo’s heart. Yet more than two years and a successful album later, every song he writes is still about her, the one he let get away. And every time Lo hears his voice on the radio singing about love, it’s an arrow straight to her soul.

Now they’re on a collision course as maid of honor and best man at Lo’s cousin’s wedding. Are some mistakes worth forgiving? Can Aidan convince Lo their song wasn’t meant to end?

Review:

It’s official, I’m an Ivy Fairbanks fangirl. I absolutely adored her first book, Morbidly Yours, and I loved Heart Strings just as hard.

Delightfully, we return to Galway for this story, and the core cast of characters is the same. You can read this as a standalone, but I highly recommend reading Morbidly Yours first, as this book picks up in the timeline two years after the last one. You’ll have a better sense of all the backstories, including watching our feature couple for this book – Lo and Aidan- meet for the first time. Ivy’s cast of characters is so well done. I had the sense that I was catching up with a group of old friends, eager to learn of all the developments in their lives.

This is a second chance romance, which is one of my favourite tropes. In the first book, we had Lark and Callum’s love story. Now they’re getting married, and Lo and Aidan are the Maid of Honour and Best Man, respectively. The only problem is they haven’t talked in two years after their relationship ended badly. Now they’re forced together for the sake of the wedding. A lot has happened in the last two years. Aidan’s music career took off, and he’s now semi-famous. Lo is continuing her medical training on her way to becoming a doctor. But they haven’t stopped thinking about each other, albeit in different ways. Aidan has never stopped believing Lo’s the one that got away. He is determined to use the wedding as an opportunity to see if they could be good together again. If you love pining, you are going to love this book. Lo is definitely more of a hold-a-grudge type, so Aidan has his work cut out for him.

Both characters are really well developed. I enjoyed getting to know both of them better throughout the book. It’s a dual POV book, which I think is my favourite structure. I really enjoy the opportunity to get inside both characters’ heads. They both grow and learn a lot. I’m a sucker for a great character arc, and Ivy does this very well. Not only do we learn more about Lo and Aidan, but other characters continue to develop. Ivy is a master at setting up the next book, and I absolutely cannot wait for book three, which will feature Saoirse. 

I loved Lo and Aidan together. Their chemistry is smoking hot, but also filled with so many sweet and tender moments. There is a depth and level of care in their relationship that I really appreciated. But it’s also very spicy. Best of both worlds if you ask me. There is some light kink, so if closed-door romance is your thing, this is not the book for you.

Heart Strings is another fantastic book by Ivy Fairbanks. I cannot recommend it enough.

Thank you, Putnam, an imprint of Penguin Random House, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.