In a school practice room, Tripp breaks out a borrowed guitar and the music carries him away to another world. On the days Tripp isn’t in the room, Lyla is busily working on becoming the next award-winning cellist. However, Lyla is curious in other things outside of the cello and finds herself reaching for Tripp’s guitar on occasion. She begins tucking notes to Tripp in the strings of his instrument. The guitar notes quickly change from snippy comments to a close friendship neither was planning on. Though they come from different backgrounds and groups, two loners will form a relationship

Okay, so the synopsis I typed up might sound a bit cheesy, but trust me, this story is anything but. Lyla and Tripp’s relationship is so interesting. You can tell that these characters have a good bond and it wasn’t this rushed friendship/romantic relationship, which happens quite a lot in the young adult genre. Love at first sight is always cute, but it’s more fun to see the buildup of the relationship.

Thinking about it now, the relationship between Lyla and Tripp reminds me a lot of If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Both the main characters in that story and this one were brought them together by the music and I feel like it’s that bond over something so wonderful and powerful that ultimately makes their relationships so great.

My favorite things in this book were the songs by Lyla and Tripp at the end of the book. It’s very rare for an author to incorporate songs written by musically gifted characters, and it’s even more rare for the whole song to be included instead of a chorus. And the fact that the guitar chords were actually listed was just so unique.

Honestly, the writing in this was fantastic. I didn’t even know that this was by a debut author while I was reading. Hats off to you, Mary Amato! Keep up the good work 🙂

I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves music, and particularly if you liked the musical elements in If I Stay.