The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa
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Web ID: 19876123nostalgia for pop punk kids
Thank you to Canary Street Press and Netgalley for this e-arc. Also thank you to Dani and Erin La Rosa for letting me participate in the traveling arc! All thoughts are my own. This book is a nostalgia bomb for those of us that are emo kids at heart and for that, I truly appreciated it. However, I'm not sure if this book will be memorable after a little while. The Backtrack follows Sam, who is back in her hometown after leaving in a hurry to explore the world ten years ago. But when she left town, she also left behind her best friend Damon. Damon has always been a "what if" in her life: what if she kissed him way back when? what if she stayed behind? While cleaning her room, she finds a old mixtape from Damon and discovers that when she listens to the songs, she's transported to a timeline where these questions are answered. While I appreciated the absolute banger playlist and the concept of this book, I struggled to truly connect with it. I didn't really find a lot of chemistry between Damon and Sam in the present day and it was a bit hard to truly root for them. But I absolutely loved this time travel idea and it was fun to listen along to some of the song's Erin picked! The visions Sam got were so interesting to imagine and I was on the edge of my seat especially towards the end. If you were a pop punk kid that remembers when Warped Tour was on concrete parking lots, I think you'll enjoy this one. It's not my favorite, but I still enjoyed myself while reading.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Such a fun one!
“I need to be in your orbit” This book is so fun! Total 2000s vibes, from the music to the body glitter, making it such a sweet and nostalgic trip down memory lane!! Sam has always dreamed of being a pilot and flying herself right out of her tiny hometown of Tybee Island, Georgia. But when she goes back to help her grandmother sell their family home, Sam finds an old cd player with a mixed CD that was made for her by her former best friend and almost love interest Damon. Surprisingly the CD player still works but when Sam hits play it literally transports her back in time and she is able to see an alternative version of her life play out before her eyes. The chemistry between Sam and Damon is super sweet both in the current time line as well as when they were back in high school. I loved how at first Sam is excited to see what her life would have been like if only she had kissed Damon when she had the chance but then as the book unfolds she realizes that neither path is without challenges. Everything happens for a reason and if it is meant to be then love will find a way. If you are a fan of magical realism then you should absolutely give this one a try! It is adorable!! I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Highlights the Bond of Friendship
It’s been over a decade since Sam Leto visited her hometown of Tybee Island and faced her best friend after their almost kiss. Now, she is heading home to help her grandmother and face Damon, who had randomly texted her. Author Erin La Rosa sets the stage for a second-chance romance in The Backtrack. As the story unfolds, snippets from the past underscore the close bond between the two, especially regarding music. However, Sam’s pressing goal was to leave home. As a successful pilot, she returns to find Damon has made his own mark with his brewery. The sparks are just as intense between the two. Discovering a mixed tape from Damon among her teen belongings brings an onslaught of nostalgia that resonates with readers. As Sam hears the songs, she gains a better understanding of what her future could have looked like. The Backtrack highlights the bond of friendship interrupted by time but given a second chance to blossom into something more. ~ Amy for Novels Alive
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Another great second chance romance!
My 2nd second chance romance read in a row! But once again I loved it! It was almost perfect! I loved the way the CD player was giving Sam flashbacks, but not flashbacks exactly because they are actually new memories of what might have been if she’d only given in and kissed Damon on that one night back in high school. As someone who thinks back a lot of times to certain moments where I wish maybe I’d made a different decision, it is nice to get this look at what or how things might have been better in some ways, but also there are things in Sam’s life (or my own life) that would not be the same, things that could change how the happiness level could be. Of course as you’d expect, at first the changes seem to be wonderful. Even if they turn what Sam calls “Alt-Sam” into a bit of a different version of herself. She says and does things that our heroine can’t imagine actually doing. Which obviously are partly probably from the changed decisions, as well as just the fact that this Alt-Sam thinks or chooses differently. Of course things don’t keep going smoothly. And of course Sam can’t really tell anyone about these “visions” she’s having. Or when she does, her friend thinks she’s hallucinating and needs an intervention. Then things get a little crazy back at home where Sam has gone to help her grandmother get ready to maybe move to a senior community. First, right before the hurricane comes in and hits, Sam’s mother shows up out of the blue. And now Sam has to face the issues she has with her mom leaving her. But as you can expect, there is more to that than the story that Sam has always believed and been told by her grandmother. She finds herself falling again for Damon outside of the visions too. I mean he really is such the perfect guy for her, other than he lives there, and she lives in Paris with her whole pilot career. Not to mention the huge change in her life in the visions, that take away some of her most important parts of her current life and she has to decide maybe she didn’t choose wrong after all, but can she make any new decisions that might work out now? A fun story, definitely recommend!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Second Chance at Love w/an Old Friend + A Magic CD
Successful, international pilot Sam Leto returns to Tybee Island, Georgia, to help her grandmother Pearl move out of the beach home they once shared. Returning home forces Sam to confront some painful memories as well as some bittersweet ones and to once again come face-to-face with childhood best friend Damon Rocha, who once upon a time was almost something more. Just in case spending time with him now isn’t enough to make her wonder what would have happened if she had just kissed him back in high school, the universe decides to send her more signs in the form of a mixtape from Damon in a magical CD player. Listening to each song gives her a glimpse of what their lives would have been like if they had crossed that line to become more than friends so many years ago. Despite her being a world traveler and him being a hometown boy, Sam and Damon just fit. They are each other’s sense of home. But—oof—Erin La Rosa makes their hearts work for that happy ending. Filled with nostalgia, the Backtrack will make you want to dig out your Discman, put on your Doc Martens, and roll on some glitter for old times’ sake. It will put your heart through the emotional wringer, not only with Sam and Damon’s relationship in the present and their story arc in that alternate reality, but with Sam’s familial relationships as well. Damon has my heart. Sam has my support. And I adored the full cast of characters. It wouldn’t be an Erin La Rosa novel without some delectable steam, and between the backyard dances and motorcycle rides, the buildup to them finally coming together is delicious. And it looks like their relationship can now weather the storm. I received an advance copy of the book from Canary Street Press and HTP Hive. All review opinions are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
great speculative romance
Emo hits and aughts nostalgia, and a fun speculative hook!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
What if?
What if? I was charmed by this sliding doors with cd's and mix tapes and music nostalgia. Sam left Tybee Island eleven years ago. She never went back and left her best friend and crush, Damon behind. He liked her and wanted to kiss her in high school but Sam pulled away and left. Sam became a successful pilot, literally flying away from the island that caused her pain with her mother's voice in her head telling her to leave the island, too, while she left Sam. Damon is successful, handsome, motorcycle riding brewer without his emo eyeliner, now. There's magic in Sam's cd player and she sees an alternate reality (a la sliding doors). Sweet, fun, you really feel like you are on Tybee Island, an ode to emo music (Fall Out Boy and Paramore). Highly recommend.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
all the stars possible
all the stars possible This is not my first or second Erin La Rosa book, but it's for sure my favorite. it's so nostalgic and I think Erin wrote Sam with me in mind because I was also a very emo band geek who's best friend was a guy who we lost contact after high school (except my phase was in the '90s and not the '00s haha). I've often played the what if game, but there's not one moment that I can go back to change our present. HOWEVER, this book! Ugh! Part reverse 13 Going on 30 part summer A Christmas Carol. The freaking songs, the fashion, the feelings, all was just a warm hug and walk down memory lane. I gobbled this book up in less than 24 hours and now I'm so sad I'm done and it's over. What I loved most about this book is that it's so much more than a second chance romance. It's about finding yourself and loving who you are before you can love someone else, it's about families and the tough decisions we make to protect the ones we love (or are we hurting them), it's about mental health, it's about trusting your instincts and being strong. The family dynamic part along with the flashbacks really, really hit me in the feels. I really can't say enough about this book (even the acknowledgements in the back written in a playlist form was genius), but I think Grandma Pearl deserves her own shout out. - Second Chance Romance - Family Drama - Past Trauma - It's Always Been You - Finding Yourself - Time Travel/Haunted CD Player - Small Town - Slow Burn Thank you, NetGalley, Erin La Rosa, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com