Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: The Love Song of Sawyer Bell
SERIES: Tour Dates #1
AUTHOR: Avon Gale
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
LENGTH: 256 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 17, 2019
BLURB:
Indie rocker Victoria “Vix” Vincent knows a good thing when she hears it. The moment Sawyer Bell picks up her fiddle, magic happens. Beautiful and wildly talented, Sawyer is the perfect match for Vix’s band—and, just maybe, for Vix. The dynamic in any group is a delicate thing, but with Sawyer and Vix thrown together on tour, it’s not long before the line between bandmates and lovers gets a bit blurry.
The indie rock life is not what Sawyer ever saw for herself. She worked hard to get where she is—in her second year of Julliard, with a bright future in classical music. But instead of spending her summer working and rehearsing, she’s on tour with her secret high school crush. And even though it was only supposed to be temporary, Sawyer feels like she’s finally found a place she belongs.
This summer with Vix has been like a dream. But every tour must come to an end, and when Julliard comes calling, Sawyer will need to make a choice: continue on the path she’s chosen, or take a leap of faith and follow her heart.
REVIEW:
If you read a list of top character types in romance novels, musicians would probably be close to number one. There’s something irresistible about rock gods and pop queens hitting the road, singing their hearts out, and dealing with fame and fortune—all while falling in love with each other. I’m not immune to the appeal, either, though my genre of choice—Americana—is pretty straight male-centric, making it an unlikely setting for queer romance.
So you can imagine how excited I was to hear about this book, which follows the summer tour of indie-country/Americana band Victoria Vincent, led by the eponymous purple-haired lead singer. They’re all about long nights on the road, lyrics from the heart, and finding musical inspiration from American roots. As a longtime fan of diverse artists like Jenny Lewis, Catfish and the Bottlemen, and Amanda Shires, I fell in love right away with the vibe of the band’s laidback attitude and dusty southwest tour schedule. And, of course, it wasn’t hard to fall in love with Sawyer Bell herself—a classically-trained violinist who has abandoned a Julliard education for a summer on the road with an indie band.
Though Victoria “Vix” Vincent doesn’t know it yet, she has history with her new fiddle player, and sparks fly right away. But openly bisexual, cigarette-smoking, lyric-jotting Vix knows Sawyer is only coming into her sexuality, and she’s new to life on the road, life in a band, and life as a female musician in a sea of bearded hipster men. She wants to play it safe, especially after a messy breakup with her friend and bandmate, Jeff, that almost destroyed their careers. But Sawyer is sweet, funny, and irresistible in her sundresses and cowgirl boots, and soon, Vix finds herself showing Sawyer the ropes of hooking up in hotel rooms and having a no-strings summer romance.
I’m a lesfic reader to the core, but I’m still picky about F/F erotica, especially when it is written by traditionally M/M authors. I’m a big fan of Avon Gale’s M/M works, but I was hesitant to read this change in genre. But wow, I had nothing to worry about, because the love scenes between Vix and Sawyer are absolutely perfect. They’re an ideal mix of humorous and hot, showing how two women can get each other off in different ways, how sex between women is inherently different from any other sex that can be had. And unlike in so many stories, the sex serves a purpose—their body language, their laughter, their conversation, it all fleshes out how well they work together, how deep their chemistry is. Sex is easy and freeing for them, full of emotion and communication, but it’s everything else that trips them up.
I also like Gale’s choices in characterizing Vix and Sawyer’s sexualities. Vix is bisexual, and she often has to shut down biphobia, even from the people she loves. And Sawyer is only recently out, so she has to navigate a male-heavy career that sometimes makes her orientation frustrating. Besides the excellent characterization, the plot of the story is fairly simple, and for the last quarter of the book, it becomes pretty predictable. There’s a lot of repeated back-and-forth, a lot of silly mistakes on Vix’s part—but it all comes together so sweetly, even if the happy ending could be seen a mile away.
I’ve read a lot of romances about finding love on tour, but this one sets itself apart with unique, funny characters and a musical background not often chosen for queer stories. I was already a fan of Avon Gale’s irreverent storytelling and interesting character dynamics, and they all reached a new level with Vix and Sawyer’s story. I’m eager to read more of this series.
RATING: 
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