From the author of the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling If He Had Been With Me comes a captivating novel about navigating―and protecting―the loves and friendships that sustain us.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Laura Nowlin’s This Song Is (Not) For You, which is out December 31st 2024.
Ramona fell for Sam the moment she met him. It was like she had known him forever. He’s one of the few constants in her life, and their friendship is just too important to risk for a kiss. Though she really wants to kiss him…
Sam loves Ramona, but he would never expect her to feel the same way-she’s too quirky and cool for someone like him. Still, they complement each other perfectly, both as best friends and as a band.
Then they meet Tom. Tom makes music too, and he’s the band’s missing piece. The three quickly become inseparable. Except Ramona’s falling in love with Tom. But she hasn’t fallen out of love with Sam either. How can she be true to her feelings and herself without losing the very relationships that make her heart sing?
Tom
And somehow I’m sitting at a booth in a greasy diner across from two kids who go to the same smarmy private school as Sara. Ramona, the hyperactive spiky-haired girl, is kinda fun. She’s drumming on the table with two straws. The guy is probably okay, but he hasn’t said much. They were waiting for me after I finished my audition. Apparently this diner is their special place or something.
“Hello again, Janet!” Ramona stops drumming and smiles at the waitress. They order a platter of chili cheese fries to share. I just have a soda, which annoys the waitress, but I don’t care.
“So, Tom.” Ramona says after Janet leaves us. “Sam and I would like to discuss the prospect of you joining April and the Rain.” She’s doing this official voice, kinda like the Artibus people but more friendly, and I can tell it’s a bit of a joke. “April and the Rain hasn’t quite found its sound yet,” she continues.
“We love to experiment. We love tempo changes and polyrhythms. We need someone to do vocals and help us round out our sound. Your extensive knowledge of real music proves that you’re not a poseur. Noise could give us the avant-garde edge for which we’ve been searching. What do you say?” She folds her hands on the table and cocks her head to the side.
“Why don’t you go to our website?” Sam says. His voice is so quiet that I barely hear it over the clatter of the diner. “And if you wanna jam sometime, you can let us know.”
“Yeah. Cool,” I say. The waitress sets my drink and their chili fries down on the table. “So you guys both go to Saint Joseph’s Prep?”
“Don’t remind us,” Ramona says. Sam nods.
“Do you guys know a girl named Sara Miller?”
“Yeah. But not really. She’s the class president,” Ramona says. Sam kinda nods.
“I used to date her,” I say. They both look surprised.
“Oh. She’s nice,” Ramona says. I can tell by her voice that this is all she has to say about Sara.
“Yeah, I mean, we broke up a few months ago,” I say, but I’ve clearly killed the conversation. They eat their chili cheese fries off the same plate without any sort of awkwardness. Their elbows don’t bump, they don’t get in each other’s way, and they don’t seem concerned about one person getting more than their share. She said that they weren’t a couple. I realize that I’m staring. I take a sip of my soda.
“So what’s your website?” I ask. As I expected, they’ve bought a domain, and it’s gonna be so easy to remember that I’m not even going to write it down. But then the Ramona girl pulls out her phone and asks for my number.
“I’ll send you the link,” she says. Sam keeps eating the friends without looking at us. This girl really wants me to join their band for some reason.
“Yeah, okay,” I say.
Excerpted from This Song is (Not) For You by Laura Nowling, Copyright © 2016, 2025 by Laura Nowlin. Published by arrangement with Sourcebooks
