REVIEW: This Song is (Not) For You by Laura Nowlin

This Song is (Not) For You by Laura Nowlin

Publication Date: January 15, 2016

Publisher: Sourcebooks
Source: Received from Publisher 

Buy it at: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

*This eARC was received from the publisher, but it did not influence this review in any way *

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Bandmate, best friend or boyfriend? For Ramona, one choice could mean losing them all.

Ramona and Sam are best friends. She fell for him the moment they met, but their friendship is just too important for her to mess up. Sam loves April, but he would never expect her to feel the same way--she's too quirky and cool for someone like him. Together, they have a band, and put all of their feelings for each other into music.

Then Ramona and Sam meet Tom. He's their band's missing piece, and before Ramona knows it, she's falling for him. But she hasn't fallen out of love with Sam either.

How can she be true to her feelings without breaking up the band?

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I thought I would. Being a huge fan of Nowlin's first book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, but after reading the first few chapters I knew this wasn't your standard story.

For one, the three main characters are each a bit odd in their own ways. Ramona is this super quirky pixie girl that couldn't be "normal" if she tried. Maybe that's a good thing though. In a way I kind of liked her weirdness. I mean, i've read odd characters before but Ramona definitely takes the cake. Then there's Sam. I really liked Sam's personality. He was the calm to Ramona's storm. He was level headed and cool while Ramona was off beat and eccentric. And good 'ol Tom was our last MC. Tom was kind of weird in his own way. He meets the other two bff's at an audition and Ramona instantly knows that Tom is "magic." Though Sam is a little bit reluctant, Ramona convinces him to let Tom be a part of their band. Together, the three of them become best friends and make the most magical music together. Oh and btw Ramona falls in love with Tom while already being in love with Sam.

So basically a love triangle forms between the three of them and that's when things really start to get weird. All I can say about this is that we have one character that seems a bit polygamous while another character seems very much asexual. It's all very weird and interesting to see how everything unfolds.

Other than this crazy love triangle situation that is going on, the story doesn't appear to have any real plot or twist. It just seems like a story about a bunch of kids (that are apparently very mature for their age) that fall in love. I feel like certain feelings displayed in the book and their reactions are a bit off. Especially in this day and age when people are cruel and unforgiving.

Overall, this book was an interesting read (to say the least!) and I think anyone with an open mind with enjoy reading it!