Hey everyone!
I hope everyone is staying safe and doing well.
Today I'm so happy to be participating in the Like A Love Song BOOK TOUR, and for my tour stop today for this lovely book, I will be going over the Top 5 Reasons You Should Read This Book, plus an exclusive author interview!!
I hope you enjoy reading this post, and don't forget to check out all the other tour stops for this book by clicking on the image below.
Click the banner to see the rest of the stops for this Tour
MY RATING-
Genre- Young Adult Contemporary
Publishing Date- August 3rd 2021
Purchase Links- Amazon | BaNoble | Book Depositry
Synopsis- Fake boyfriend. Real heartbreak?
Natalie is living her dream: topping the charts and setting records as a Brazilian pop star...until she’s dumped spectacularly on live television. Not only is it humiliating—it could end her career.
Her PR team’s desperate plan? A gorgeous yet oh-so-fake boyfriend. Nati reluctantly agrees, but William is not what she expected. She was hoping for a fierce bad boy—not a soft-hearted British indie film star. While she fights her way back to the top with a sweet and surprisingly swoon-worthy boy on her arm, she starts to fall for William—and realizes that maybe she’s the biggest fake of the mall. Can she reclaim her voice and her heart?
Top 5 Reasons to Read Like a Love Song
1) Our main character, Natalie is a teen-pop star, and she's Spanish, and that side of culture is integrated well into the story. In a way, she's kind of telling the story of so many young people who come from different countries and settle into America, but they are forced to change things about themselves even though they might not want to, just to feel like they belong.
2) Come and read this book for the immensely cute, British guy with a heart of gold. He is truly so pleasing to read, and I just know that you can't help but love him.
3) It is a very fun, light-hearted romance, a little tropey, but who doesn't love a good Hollywood dating charade? There's not any sort of extra angsty or heavy or depressing stuff. It's a very feel-good romance and character journey perfect to give you butterflies.
4) It's warm and familiar with its plot, but the character struggles are so unique and it's great that they're being written in a mainstream YA story is so incredible. I always appreciate when people of different communities are represented well and are the center of stories that majorly just have white people as protagonists.
5) It remains a fun, quick, and hopeful read to lift your spirits. But if you just want the blurb and not unnecessary chatter from me, let me break it down for you- Fake dating in Hollywood+ cute British guy and a Latino teen pop-star...
MIC DROP.
Interview Time!
1) Aamna- When did you get the first seed of the idea for this story?
Gabriela- Though I always wanted to write something like this, one specific day while I was scrolling down Twitter and people started falling head over heels in love with a relationship that was very clearly PR-only to me, that was the first spark. Immediately I was like, hmmm.
2) If you had to write a sequel or a prequel for one of the characters in the book, who would it be?
Gabriela- I would love to write a prequel with Brenda as the narrator, telling her story of how she first met Padma and how they went from having Nati as their common denominator to falling in love with each other! I imagine them dating in secret at first, scared of changing the group dynamics. I would absolutely love to explore that in a sequel.
Aamna- Honestly, I'd love to read that as well.
3) Aamna- What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Gabriela- I typically write in bursts! I can go like two weeks without writing down a single word, but then I’ll get 5.000 words down in a morning or something. Once I pushed myself to see how far I'd go, and I wrote 10.000 words in a day! It’s all about the bursts for me. Writing every single day for me doesn’t work.
Aamna- That makes so much sense! Thank you for that tip.
4) Aamna- What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Gabriela- I'm a big fan of TV—I love watching TV shows, dramas, cartoons, anime, all sorts of things. I also love reading of course, but there’s something that’s majorly appealing to me on TV: the soundtracks. I am obsessed with soundtracks! Music is very important to me, as my books probably show. lol, I recently went back to my ukulele so I’ve been practicing a few hours every day as well.
5) Aamna- And the last question, what are you currently reading?
Gabriela- “Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry” by Joya Goffney. In love with it!
Aamna- Thank you so much for answering all my questions, Gabriela. It was lovely talking to you! I loved your book, and I hope everyone does as well.
About the Author
GABRIELA MARTINS is a Brazilian kid-lit author and linguist. Her stories feature Brazilian characters finding themselves and love. She was a high school teacher and has also worked as a TED Ed-Club facilitator, where she helped teens develop their own talks in TED format to present. She edited and self-published a pro-Bono LGBT+ anthology (KEEP FAITH) with all funds going to queer people in need. When she’s not writing, she can be found cuddling with her two cats, or singing loudly and off-key.
let's chat!
Alright, I think I'm done for today. I hope you enjoyed today's post, and thank you so much for reading. Don't forget to let me know any of your thoughts in the comments. What are some of your favorite YA romances? What are your favorite romance tropes? Do you love a good Hollywood romance? (I might do a post about it later, so let me know)
Until them,
I hope everyone stays safe,
and Bye!