ALA Booklist

Daughter of a late renowned country singer, Annie Mathers is making her own splash on the music circuit these days, singing in small venues but reaching a wide audience via YouTube. Her emergence comes just in time for country singer Clay Coolidge, a gorgeous superstar whose management decides he needs a reboot after drunken episodes lead to negative press. A dual tour could give Annie more exposure and help clean up Clay's image. Annie has reservations but can't help but fall under Clay's spell. The big-time tour reminds her of how her parents succumbed to high-life pressures and media glare, ultimately meeting untimely deaths. Clay, too, suffers from traumatic loss, his beloved older brother dying in military combat overseas. In alternate chapters, the supremely talented teens voice inner thoughts and reveal fragile psyches as they inch forward, developing a fervent romance. Hahn's nuanced and complex rendering of both protagonists will stir hearts. Romance fans and country-pop aficionados will glom onto the story's emotional intensity and intimate, behind-the-scenes look into music celebrities' lives.

Horn Book

Badly behaved country-music superstar Clay is going on tour for the summer; eighteen-year-old Annie, the talented daughter of two deceased famous singers, is his opening act. Their alternating narration reveals that they're each wrestling with past tragedies but are nevertheless drawn to each other. Though the story's trajectory isn't terribly surprising, Clay and Annie do have chemistry, and details about their lives as celebrities add interest.

Kirkus Reviews

Teen music stars get romantically involved.Clay Coolidge is the flashy heartthrob of the Nashville country music scene, content to make songs people drink and hook up to but never saying anything meaningful with his music. Annie Mathers is country music royalty about to embark on her own career five years after her legendary parents tragically died. The teens tour together in an effort to boost Clay's sales and launch Annie's career. Managers and record producers push them together as a fake couple, but it doesn't take long for the artists to spark and spread fire. Annie and Clay bring out the best in each other, building each other up as musicians and people. Their romance is well-plotted and sweetly drawn: Readers (particularly those listening to the recent A Star Is Born soundtrack on repeat) will delight in the story's rhythm and musical backdrop. The author makes sly observations here and there about the recording industry, but there's affection here for the uniquely American style of music and the stories that come out of country music culture. The palpable endearment for its setting and characters makes for a warm read. While not thuddingly original, this is still a good ol' fashioned love story, and there's something to be said for a song we all know being sung with tenderness and care. All main characters are white and there is some diversity in background characters.A solid romance buoyed by engaging protagonists and a charming backdrop. (Romance. 14-17)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

This satisfying romance about two teens in country music offers a glamorous backdrop of music and stardom. After a bar fight and some embarrassing publicity in Nashville, 18-year-old heartthrob Clay Coolidge needs to win his way back into his record label-s good graces by persuading 18-year-old Annie Mathers, a YouTube sensation and daughter of country music royalty, to join him on tour. Alternating between Clay and Annie-s first-person accounts, the chapters chronicle the teens- shared love of music, initial spats, mounting attraction, and struggles with personal demons as they tour the country. While Annie confronts the memory of finding her famous musician parents dead after a double suicide, Clay (whose real name is Jefferson, a name only Annie earns the right to call him) drinks in order to forget his deceased brother. A magazine feature casts the stars as Johnny Cash and June Carter, and their story mimics that one-Clay crashes from fame just as Annie-s career begins to ascend. Though the plot follows familiar and somewhat predictable lines, the talented duo proves winning as Hahn depicts the highs and lows of life on the road. Fans of country music and romance will find much to cheer for in this bighearted debut. Ages 14-up. Agent: Kate McKean, Howard Morhaim Literary. (Apr.)