Review: Songs to make you stay by Jay E. Tria
12:00 PMI have reviewed both Songs of our breakup and Songs to get over you before and I loved them! So when Jay E. Tria posted about possibly reading Songs to make you stay as an ARC, I have signed up immediately.
Summary:
Love isn't supposed to be this hard.
Now that he’s finally won Jill, the girl who's always rocked his world, you’d think life would be heaven on earth for Shinta Mori. In a way, it is. But maybe he’s underestimated the fact that he’s a hunky movie star in Japan while his girl is ruling the indie music scene all the way in Manila.
When he spends a long-awaited vacation with her--through impromptu performances, frenzied flyer distribution, and unhinged radio guestings--he realizes how imperfect his seemingly perfect life is. And he begins to wonder if what they have is strong enough to survive years of being apart.
Can Shinta prove he’s worthy of the spotlight the universe shines on him? And more importantly, deserving of the devotion of a young girl in love?
Things I loved from the other books in this series are still present in this story, but that's not to say there's nothing more that Jay E. Tria offers here. How do I love this? Let me count the ways:
- Tokyo scenes!!! I recently went on a trip to Tokyo and so some scenes played vividly in my mind. I laughed out loud when Shinta was reminded that "a 10-minute walk in Japan translated to double at an average Filipino's pace." Super naka-relate ako. It's always a delight to read books featuring new places and creatively building the picture in our minds, but it's also a nice experience to read about familiar places. This is especially true when the author is as good as Jay E Tria at making readers feel nostalgic and sentimental.
- We see more of Shinta and he makes us all swoon again with his darling ways. We also get to know him more - his
insecuritiesfeelings towards Kim and Miki being close to Jill, his dreams and aspirations. - I always tell my friends that I'm Team Effort vs. Team Sparks, and this book deserves not just an A, but an A+ for effort. I loved how the story followed the relationship of Jill and Shinta, and showed how they both exerted effort to make it through the odds.
- Jill isn't my favorite female protagonist, but I admire her for being a strong, independent woman. I liked how she had her own life, separate from her celebrity friends and boyfriend. I also liked how she was not readily willing to give up her career for anything.
- As with the other two books in this series, this one also had a couple of heart-warming, funny, and striking moments/quotes. Below are my favorites.
Shinta's rule of life: "crazy or nothing."
When Lala and Jill were brainstorming about the name of their business:
“Doozy Bar and Book Café.” The words poured out of Lala’s mouth with a flourish of her hands. “What do you think?”
Jill tipped her head to one side. “Doozy Book Café and Bar. Because it’s books before rock stars, most days. At least for me.”
Lala's words to Shinta: “You men always need the step-by-step manual.”
Yuki imparting wise words to Shinta which is totally on point:
“It shouldn’t be this hard,” he muttered. “Love shouldn’t take so much work.”
“Of course it takes work. Otherwise every other fool in the world will be doing it right. And there would be a lot less songs and books and poetry written.”
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