As spring is about to start, a whole new season of entertainment is getting ready to enchant us( or at the very least, offer some much needed relief from our troubling times), with music being first up to bat.
While I’m not a major music person (I’m the type that greatest hit albums were made for), I do enjoy a good tune. It’s also enjoyable for me as a reader when a novel with musical themes hits the scene and today, I thought that making a small playlist of recent and upcoming books with a beat that the story dances to would be a nice pop culture duet of sorts.
Thanks to the good folks at Galley Books, I was sent an early copy of Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, a debut novel by Bob the Drag Queen, best known as a host of the HBO series, We’re Here as well as a winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The story is set in our reality, where for some unknown reason, figures from the past have appeared in the modern day world(Rockefeller, for example, showing some of those rich guys the real way to showcase wealth!) and a down on his luck music producer Darnell is summoned by Harriet herself to help her make a biographical hip-hop album.
She , along with some of her former traveling companions, plan to reach the new generation through music and while Darnell is beyond thrilled to be given this opportunity, some of his doubts about his career path bubble up to the surface. Can he overcome his personal demons to bring Harriet’s legacy successfully back into the spotlight ?
As a fan of BTDQ since Drag Race, I was excited to get this book and after reading it, I am ready to say it’s going to be on my Best Books of 2025 list most definitely. This novel is as well paced as any hit song and filled with gorgeously written dialogue along with heartfelt moments and yes, even some bits of humor woven in all the right places.
Their writing style is finely tuned and a must read for those who like a good genre blend of music world insights, historical fiction and contemporary drama. Also, this would make for a great adaptation on screen or streaming. Hollywood, hello? It already has a soundtrack, just saying:
Next up is Jennifer Weiner’s new novel arriving this April, The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits.
Cassie and Zoe are the title siblings, whose musical journey to fame and fortune didn’t last beyond a year.
With Zoe now a suburban mom hoping to steer her daughter Cherry away from some of her own past mistakes, a reconnection with her reclusive sister might be necessary as Cherry seeks the truth about their spectacular rise and fall from the music scene.
Weiner excels when it comes to emotional drama and this look at what fame can do to family relationships promises to be a top of the charts read indeed:
Due out this summer is Danica Nava’s new romcom, Love is a War Song.
When pop star Avery Fox does a photo shoot that gets her the wrong kind of PR(not to mention putting her rising career to a possibly permanent halt), she decides to step away from the fray at her grandmother Lottie’s ranch.
While there, she finds that working with the horses is harder that it looks, especially when the foreman Lucas is not one of her biggest fans at all.
With the ranch in dire need of funds, Avery and Lucas form an uneasy alliance for the sake of Lottie and the community but there is a deeper connection between them that keeps getting harder to deny.
Fresh off her successful debut The Truth According to Ember, Nava is set to become a romantic comedy headliner with many more storytelling singles to hit the bestseller charts there:
Music and books do go well together when it played in three part harmony as this trio of novels clearly shows. I plan to read The Griffin Sisters this spring (thanks to an Arc from HarperCollins) and look forward to catching Nava’s new book during beach read season.
Sure, books and stories centered around singers are a well known genre but when someone comes along to put a new spin on what seems to be the usual standard, it is definitely the time to not hesitate to hit the dance floor for such new creative grooves:
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