Perfect tunes A novel

Review by Booklist Review

New to New York City in the summer of 2001, young Ohio transplant Laura is determined to get her music career started without being distracted by guys, but she immediately falls for sexy, brooding guitarist Dylan, whose career is just taking off. In the wake of 9/11, she finds herself without Dylan but pregnant with his child. As the novel jumps ahead a year or more at a time, Laura, feeling older than her years, struggles as solo parent to baby Marie, tries to balance motherhood with her still-youthful music dreams, and finally finds an easier sort of stability. Harried, loving scenes of Laura and Marie in their cloistered little world are some of the book's most alive and memorable. When Marie is 14 in the 2010s, readers hear her perspective as she grapples with the legacy she's inherited without fully understanding it. As Laura and Marie both grow up, we more deeply understand their similarities, and their love for--and fears of failing--one another. Pair this with Chelsey Johnson's charming mother-daughter-music novel Stray City (2018).

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Gould's sharply observant novel (after Friendship) follows an aspiring singer-songwriter on the fringes of New York City's rock music scene. In the early 2000s, 22-year-old Laura moves from Columbus, Ohio, into her high school friend Callie's East Village apartment, too late to catch the neighborhood's "mythic version of itself that existed in her mind." While working as a greeter at a slick lounge, she dreams of a music career and begins dating and doing drugs with Dylan, singer and guitarist for an up-and-coming band. After Dylan dies in a drug-related accidental drowning, Callie and Laura are invited to replace Dylan in the band, but Laura, pregnant with Dylan's child, opts not to. Callie joins, and later, single mom Laura moves to Brooklyn, teaches music classes, and settles down with a divorced father. By 2016, Laura's baby has grown into a rebellious teenager and Laura continues to waver between making ends meet and pursuing her dream. While Gould falters when depicting emotional connections, she offers vivid glimpses of N.Y.C.'s recent past and impresses with striking language: a hangover makes Laura's head "feel like a black banana," and her baby is a "bomb" that requires "steady-handed defusing." Gould's portrait of a would-be artist as a young woman offers fresh, poignant insights into the challenges faced by the city's transplanted dreamers. (Apr.)

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Review by Library Journal Review

At 22, aspiring singer-songwriter Laura leaves Ohio for New York City to pursue her dream of recording an album and becoming a successful musician. She meets Dylan, a tortured artist in an up-and-coming band, and develops an obsessive love for him. She doesn't want to stop seeing him even as he begins to abuse drugs and drift away. When Dylan dies unexpectedly not long into their relationship, Laura discovers she is pregnant and must now deal with the challenges of parenting. She chooses to give up her musical dreams temporarily and figures she can begin again when her daughter, Marie, is older. When Marie turns 14, she unsurprisingly wants to know more about her father. Laura is reluctant to let the past invade the present, but Marie doesn't relent, even if it means she has to find the answers on her own. VERDICT Gould's second novel (after Friendship) is essentially about how parenting can be rewarding but also challenging; the music angle alluded to in the title is secondary. The character development is uneven, and the parenting angle is often tedious, but fans of women's fiction about young mothers, daughters, and life dreams might enjoy it.--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

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