Paige Lancaster is working as a waitress while striving to make a living doing what she loves—song writing. When she gets a meeting with someone in the music industry, Paige realises that her songs need more depth and that her best songs came out of her break-up with Liam four years ago. Thus, Paige decides she needs to fake date Liam and then have him break her heart again so that she can pour that heartbreak into her music. So, she reconnects with Liam while he’s working behind the scenes on a concert tour, and he hesitantly agrees to Paige’s fake dating plan so long as she joins him for the rest of the tour and he gets a real second chance, without the intentional heartbreak. On tour with Liam, the love songs start flowing out of Paige and her feelings for Liam make a reappearance. But after the tour’s over, will Paige be able to move forward and forgive Liam for past betrayals?
Never Over is a second chance, forced proximity romance perfect for fans of books like You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon, One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune, Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston, Into the Woods by Jenny Holiday, and You, with a View by Jessica Joyce. Never Over features themes and topics like passions, career ending injuries, career changes, growing up, grief, abandonment and estrangement, self worth, family, and trust.
I’m a “Swiftie” so I really liked how the main character Paige had a Taylor Swift songwriter vibe, who was willing to do anything to create great art (even reconnect with an ex and face heartbreak). I also really enjoyed the concert tour setting in the present as it seemed really unique and fast-paced. Liam was super swoon-worthy and it was clear that he was a boy obsessed who would do anything for a second chance, and appreciated that he was unwilling to (intentionally) break Paige’s heart again. Lastly, even though there was obviously a break-up in Paige and Liam’s past (otherwise it wouldn’t have been a second chance romance), I appreciated that there wasn’t another third act break-up in the present.
Even though it made sense for a second chance romance, one negative was that the story kept on flashing back and forth from past to present; I personally felt like this interrupted my reading experience and the flow of the story. Furthermore, I was more invested in what was happening in Paige and Liam’s present, so I found it was less exciting to read the flashback chapters. There was also a lot of talk of grief in this book, such as mourning career ending injuries, grieving the loss or absence of a parent, anxiety over changing or lack of a relationship with family member, which was unexpected and could potentially be triggering to some readers.
This is the first book by Clare Gilmore that I’ve read, and I ended up really enjoying it—I’ll definitely have to add more of her books to my TBR! I would highly recommend Never Over to music lovers and fans of swoony second chance romances.
Never Over is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis
A swoony second-chance romance where facing the one who broke your heart could be the thing that makes your dream come true.
Twenty-five-year-old Paige Lancaster is one contract away from earning a living doing her favorite thing in the world: writing songs. But when a music industry professional suggests she might be holding back with her lyrics to lessen the heartbreak of an old flame, Paige doubts if her music is ready to be heard.
In a rare, impulsive move, Paige reaches out to Liam Bishop after four years of no-contact to ask him for a small favor: date her, and then re-break her heart, all so she can remember what those big, songworthy emotions felt like. And since Liam is the one who first set Paige on this career path, he hesitantly agrees.
Across two months of Liam’s summer work travel, the exes are forced to share hotel beds, rehash the past, and date in the present, all while navigating the building attraction between them they both swore was the one line of their agreement they wouldn’t cross.
But when it becomes near impossible not to act on their rippling chemistry, and as ever intensifying feelings blur reality with what’s driven by the music, Paige and Liam will both have to decide which is more important: art for the sake of it, or love over everything.
