'Sparks Fly' in this musical romance
The Breakup Tour
Contemporary Romance
Berkley
January 23, 2024
Paperback, Kindle, Audiobook
352
A rising-star musician has a second chance at love with an old flame she remembers all too well in this swoony romance from the acclaimed authors of The Roughest Draft.
Riley Wynn went from a promising singer-songwriter to a superstar overnight, thanks to her breakup song concept album and its unforgettable lead single. When Riley’s ex-husband claims the hit song is about him, she does something she hasn’t in ten years and calls Max Harcourt, her college boyfriend and the real inspiration for the song of the summer.
Max hasn’t spoken to Riley since their relationship ended. He’s content with managing the retirement home his family owns, but it’s not the life filled with music he dreamed of. When Riley asks him to go public as her songwriting muse, he agrees on one condition: he’ll join her band on tour.
As they perform across the country, Max and Riley start to realize that while they hit some wrong notes in the past, their future could hold incredible things. And their rekindled relationship will either last forever or go down in flames.
The Breakup Tour is a book about music and heartbreak, three of my favorite things
The Breakup Tour, written by married couple and cowriters Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka, is a fast-paced, dramatic love story set during the most important concert tour Riley Wynn’s career.
After a messy divorce, music superstar Riley, also known as the Breakup Queen for her extensive repertoire of breakup song hits, is ready to pour all her feelings into her next album. This time, she wants to memorialize all of her heartbreaks and share them with the world. One song for each one. The most difficult one for her to write talks about her college love, Max, who walked out on her the morning they were supposed to go on their first tour together. And this is the one that ends up being the breakthrough single.
“Little lights, closed hearts
I felt the end in the start
Words I didn’t know you didn’t mean
‘I’ and ‘love’ and ‘you’ would make me see”
Until You by Riley Wynn
Riley never looked back. She wanted stardom. Max wanted to save his family business. She wanted the world and he wanted to stay home. They were fundamentally incompatible, but he’s never left her mind.
When her narcissistic ex-husband starts to take credit for inspiring the hit song, Riley decides it’s time for the world to know who really inspired the heartbreak she longingly sang about in her record.
Max doesn’t regret his decision to not join Riley on tour, but still holds his old feelings for her close. When Riley shows up after a decade, he sees an opportunity to explore what could’ve been and decides to join her tour to duet their song on the stage. As feelings resurface the question becomes, can the Breakup Queen still be a star if she’s happy?
‘Long Live‘ musical romances
If you liked Daisy Jones & the Six or A Star is Born, this book has similar vibes, but with a more streamlined plot. The love story in The Breakup Tour doesn’t span decades or big changes in each character’s personal circumstances, it’s focused on how the two main characters, Riley and Max, reconnect and decide if the feelings they buried 10 years earlier are worth exploring.
Swifties and non-Swifties will enjoy it
Although many say it’s Taylor Swift inspired, and the author references Ms. Swift in the dedication, Gavin DeGraw’s Not Over You is the song stuck in my head when I think about this story. The tempo & the lyrics, are so on point with the story’s pace and how it made me feel—upbeat and hopeful. But at the same time it’s also very melancholic, so I would sprinkle in some ‘Tis the Damn Season to describe the book’s prose.
This year I have struggled to focus but The Breakup Tour captivated me from page one because there’s lyricism in the writing. The Breakup Tour is one long, passionate, and beautiful love song. It was perfect. I loved every page and every word of it.
Darienne was 15 when her aunt gave her a copy of Princess by Jean Sasson, and she has been hooked on books ever since. Originally from Puerto Rico and now living in Maryland, she’s always looking to visit new coffee shops and bookstores. Her favorite genres include YA, spicy romcoms, and women’s fiction. Thanks to the Bees, she’s also now obsessed with romantasy series. Other loves include lavender lattes, sassy coffee mugs, sunrises, sleeping in, small-town charm, and big city lights. One day, she’ll write that book that lives in her head.
