Do you have a favorite author who when they give a blurb, you immediately know you have to read it? Well when I saw Eric Smith’s blurb for Good Morning, Love I was convinced! And this contemporary read is full of figuring out what we want and our future. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Carlisa “Carli” Henton is a musician and songwriter hoping to follow in her father’s musical footsteps. But, biding her time until she makes it big in the music industry, she works as a junior account manager at a big-name media company to cover her New York City rent. Carli meticulously balances her work with her musical endeavors as a songwriter—until a chance meeting with rising star Tau Anderson sends her calculated world into a frenzy. Their worlds collide and quickly blur the strict lines Carli has drawn between her business and her personal life, throwing Carli’s reputation—and her burgeoning songwriting career—into question.
A smart, timely, energizing romance, Good Morning, Love shows us what the glamorous New York’s music scene is really like and takes us into the lives of a rising but somewhat troubled R&B star and a promising protégé who knows her job better than she knows herself.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: sexual assault, assault
One of the things I loved the most about Good Morning, Love is the music aspect. The way that each chapter is called a Track and the steady thrum of passion for music which runs through the book. If you love music and music industry books, you’re going to want to read this one. At the same time, Good Morning, Love is about ambition and dreams. The drive to always be reaching higher and focus only on that. But it’s also about realizing the value of happiness, of our daily joys, and what that is worth to us.
For me, I had oscillating feelings on both Tau and Carli. I enjoyed that it was all from Carli’s POV because the theme that resonated the most with me, was her figuring out what her career and what her happiness are worth. I felt a resonance in being so focused on moving upwards, on the grind of, “it’ll be worth it when…” And the necessity of seeing the importance of now, of daily joys, and happiness in the present. It took me longer to warm up to Tau because at the beginning I – like Carli – wasn’t sure what to make of him.
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In some ways, both Carli and Tau are at different places in their lives. Tau has already focused only on his career and paid the price. Whereas Carli is on the rise. It makes for an interesting contrast, but one that I only appreciated towards the end of the book. Considering the deliberation process and how much character development goes into Carli, I do wish the ending had a bit more openness to explore the resolution. Overall, Good Morning, Love has relevant conversations about ambition and happiness, with a musical streak. Find Good Morning, Love on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.