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String Theory
For Jax Hall, all-but-dissertation in mathematics, slinging drinks and serenading patrons at a piano bar is the perfect remedy for months of pandemic anxiety. He doesn’t expect to end up improvising on stage with pop violinist Aria Darvish, but the attraction that sparks between them? That’s a mathematical certainty. If he can get Ari to act on it, even better.
Ari hasn’t written a note, and his album deadline is looming. Then he meets Jax, and suddenly he can’t stop the music. But Ari doesn’t know how to interpret Jax’s flirting—is making him a drink called Sex with the Bartender a serious overture?
Jax jumps in with both feet, the only way he knows how. Ari is wonderful, and Jax loves having a partner who’s on the same page. But Ari’s struggles with his parents’ expectations, and Jax’s with the wounds of his past, threaten to unbalance an otherwise perfect equation. Can they prove their double act has merit, or does it only work in theory?
Ari hasn’t written a note, and his album deadline is looming. Then he meets Jax, and suddenly he can’t stop the music. But Ari doesn’t know how to interpret Jax’s flirting—is making him a drink called Sex with the Bartender a serious overture?
Jax jumps in with both feet, the only way he knows how. Ari is wonderful, and Jax loves having a partner who’s on the same page. But Ari’s struggles with his parents’ expectations, and Jax’s with the wounds of his past, threaten to unbalance an otherwise perfect equation. Can they prove their double act has merit, or does it only work in theory?
307 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 29, 2021
12 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Ashlyn Kane
32 books491 followersAshlyn Kane is a thirtysomething writer, editor, procrastinator, and dog mom. She likes cheese, puns, and hockey.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 3, 2021
I take exception to the ‘bad guys’ in the book, who cause our romantic leads trouble, being immigrants and an ethnic minority. This is particularly troublesome as I suspect both authors are white.
The book also needs a solid developmental edit to tighten it up. The opening scene was a throwaway without relevance. Other scenes were draggy or dull.
Lastly, the characters sometimes felt more like a list of attributes - hair color, hates PDA, has ADHD, etc - than fleshed out people who come alive on the page. This was a little paint by numbers.
I also have to say I’m disappointed the authors chose to publish with Dreamspinner, a publisher which has been censured by author organizations for recent financial improprieties that harmed many of their past authors. If I’d seen the publisher name prior to purchase I would not have bought the book.
I really enjoyed a past book by these authors. I’m sorry this wasn’t to my mind nearly as good. A big fat meh.
The book also needs a solid developmental edit to tighten it up. The opening scene was a throwaway without relevance. Other scenes were draggy or dull.
Lastly, the characters sometimes felt more like a list of attributes - hair color, hates PDA, has ADHD, etc - than fleshed out people who come alive on the page. This was a little paint by numbers.
I also have to say I’m disappointed the authors chose to publish with Dreamspinner, a publisher which has been censured by author organizations for recent financial improprieties that harmed many of their past authors. If I’d seen the publisher name prior to purchase I would not have bought the book.
I really enjoyed a past book by these authors. I’m sorry this wasn’t to my mind nearly as good. A big fat meh.
October 7, 2024
Opposites who aren’t.
Sexy push/pull geniuses.
So Canadian.
Challenge re-read: this book is just so good.
Sexy push/pull geniuses.
So Canadian.
Challenge re-read: this book is just so good.
October 26, 2022
This book is so complicated for me to review. Because, like, how many gay romance books exist about people who studied math at MIT and also live in southwest Ontario and also are connected to music? And even more, how many of them talk about academia and research fatigue the way that real people do?
Ok, so let’s get a few things straight for starters. It’s not “the college”, it’s “the Institute” or “the Tute”. And the buildings are numbered. And PhD defences really don’t work like that, and you don’t frantically work in the lab up until the day of your defence, because the committee needs six weeks to pretend to read your thesis before your defence. And there are a bunch of other little academia things that aren’t … quite right. (I don’t think we learn what kind of math Jax’s mom does, but it’s not all that likely that a Queen’s mathematician and one at the Tute know each other.
And every university does actually have procedures to deal with dead PhD supervisors, because too many profs die without ever retiring. And applied math might vaguely work like what’s described in this book (I have a mathematician colleague with a wet lab), but MIT is less likely to have that, just because there are so many alternative departments where Jax could’ve been doing the lab-based pandemic predictions. (That said, the authors even do give a “this is how we wish things had gone during the pandemic”; it’s a little weird to realize this book came out in ‘21, not ‘22.) Oh, and MIT buildings are numbered, not named, with, like, five exceptions, none of which houses the math department.
But a lot is right, too: that the winters are more unpleasant in Boston than in SW Ontario, (Frozen North, ha!), say, and the disdain people in the academy people have for folks in the service industry like Jax the bartender. The fucked up bureaucracy (yes, I said they have procedures for dead supervisors, but it does take a while to get there.).
And the music stuff also made me really happy, in part of connections to the science I am doing this very week, studying how people learn new songs, and what that means. I didn’t expect to point at this book, but I did. And I want to go to a piano bar desperately.
[that said, the bit with the Fibonacci series is wrong (either the fifth is 5 and the one up an octave is 13, or the tonic is 1 and the one up an octave is 8, but not both); more to the point, it’s hard to imagine a mathematician as sharp as Jax not winding up learning *some* theory over the years; maybe it’s like me with optics just refusing to learn it because I “knew” I’d hate it.]
Anyhow, this isn’t “dan’s autobiography in gay romance form”, so let’s actually talk about the book. It’s … like, the characters are a little stock, and the overbearing Iranians in particular do feel a bit one-dimensional in ways I’d like to think we’d moved beyond portraying as did these authors. The musician is passionate but crazy, the mathematician is not much interested in his brilliance, but, secretly, brilliant. Meh. The story also starts with a pile of scenic matter that doesn’t matter after it. And the bits where we just discover Jax, in particular, and his life situation, left me confused more than anything else.
The structure of this book is also, uh, a perfect cliche: “meet cute in first 10%, breakup at 70%, a few fights about the same plot/character arcs that lead to the breakup, then they get back together.” And I don’t love that: I’d have loved some variety.
All that said, I’m surprised and somewhat gratified that this book exists; I’ve rarely seen myself in the characters of the novels in this genre that I read, since I’m not a werewolf or a hockey player, but am a nerd like both of these guys.. The publisher is a gong show, but I do hope they keep writing together.
Oh, and I’m delighted to learn that London does have a symphony again, even if it’s very much not the right musical home for Ari.
Ok, so let’s get a few things straight for starters. It’s not “the college”, it’s “the Institute” or “the Tute”. And the buildings are numbered. And PhD defences really don’t work like that, and you don’t frantically work in the lab up until the day of your defence, because the committee needs six weeks to pretend to read your thesis before your defence. And there are a bunch of other little academia things that aren’t … quite right. (I don’t think we learn what kind of math Jax’s mom does, but it’s not all that likely that a Queen’s mathematician and one at the Tute know each other.
And every university does actually have procedures to deal with dead PhD supervisors, because too many profs die without ever retiring. And applied math might vaguely work like what’s described in this book (I have a mathematician colleague with a wet lab), but MIT is less likely to have that, just because there are so many alternative departments where Jax could’ve been doing the lab-based pandemic predictions. (That said, the authors even do give a “this is how we wish things had gone during the pandemic”; it’s a little weird to realize this book came out in ‘21, not ‘22.) Oh, and MIT buildings are numbered, not named, with, like, five exceptions, none of which houses the math department.
But a lot is right, too: that the winters are more unpleasant in Boston than in SW Ontario, (Frozen North, ha!), say, and the disdain people in the academy people have for folks in the service industry like Jax the bartender. The fucked up bureaucracy (yes, I said they have procedures for dead supervisors, but it does take a while to get there.).
And the music stuff also made me really happy, in part of connections to the science I am doing this very week, studying how people learn new songs, and what that means. I didn’t expect to point at this book, but I did. And I want to go to a piano bar desperately.
[that said, the bit with the Fibonacci series is wrong (either the fifth is 5 and the one up an octave is 13, or the tonic is 1 and the one up an octave is 8, but not both); more to the point, it’s hard to imagine a mathematician as sharp as Jax not winding up learning *some* theory over the years; maybe it’s like me with optics just refusing to learn it because I “knew” I’d hate it.]
Anyhow, this isn’t “dan’s autobiography in gay romance form”, so let’s actually talk about the book. It’s … like, the characters are a little stock, and the overbearing Iranians in particular do feel a bit one-dimensional in ways I’d like to think we’d moved beyond portraying as did these authors. The musician is passionate but crazy, the mathematician is not much interested in his brilliance, but, secretly, brilliant. Meh. The story also starts with a pile of scenic matter that doesn’t matter after it. And the bits where we just discover Jax, in particular, and his life situation, left me confused more than anything else.
The structure of this book is also, uh, a perfect cliche: “meet cute in first 10%, breakup at 70%, a few fights about the same plot/character arcs that lead to the breakup, then they get back together.” And I don’t love that: I’d have loved some variety.
All that said, I’m surprised and somewhat gratified that this book exists; I’ve rarely seen myself in the characters of the novels in this genre that I read, since I’m not a werewolf or a hockey player, but am a nerd like both of these guys.. The publisher is a gong show, but I do hope they keep writing together.
Oh, and I’m delighted to learn that London does have a symphony again, even if it’s very much not the right musical home for Ari.
July 5, 2021
Another great story from Ashlyn & Morgan
Ashlyn is an autobuy for me so I was going to end up with it anyway, but I’m so glad I read this. I devoured it in almost one sitting—2 am finally forced me to put it down, only to read the last bit first thing this morning. String Theory was the perfect antidote for pandemic times. It was lightheaded while being realistic in both the normal growing pains of romance and how the pandemic changed people. Both Jax and Ari were supremely likable and you couldn’t help but root for them.
Ashlyn is an autobuy for me so I was going to end up with it anyway, but I’m so glad I read this. I devoured it in almost one sitting—2 am finally forced me to put it down, only to read the last bit first thing this morning. String Theory was the perfect antidote for pandemic times. It was lightheaded while being realistic in both the normal growing pains of romance and how the pandemic changed people. Both Jax and Ari were supremely likable and you couldn’t help but root for them.
June 23, 2024
4.5
Very enjoyable and cute read.
Side note: I can't wait until Taylor Swoft makes her own version of String Theory about Travis!
Very enjoyable and cute read.
Side note: I can't wait until Taylor Swoft makes her own version of String Theory about Travis!
July 24, 2021
A real gem. Loved the characters and their interactions. Loved a romance between two musicians. Loved that the authors realized early that they didn't need the explicit sex scenes in a novel about romance. Absorbing, gratifying and realistic, I'd say.
February 13, 2023
Nice book with nice characters and a nice love story. While reading it, I liked that the romance didn’t include many unnecessary and barely-believable random miscommunication slowing down the relationship. the issues the characters have in their relationship are actual issues that they have to face and solve, not only random stuff based on misunderstandings. I loved the side characters and each of the MC’s personalities and traits
I didn’t like the ending that much though, it felt a bit predictable and plain and it missed that je-ne-sais-quoi that is supposed to feel like closure in a book. I feel like something was missing and would def read a follow up should the authors came up with one.
Also, I didn’t understand the first scene of the book at all. It was completely unnecessary and/or should have been connected to the rest of the book somehow for it to make some sense.
It felt like Hobbes’ character was a bit… underdeveloped. Like it was not here nor there.
And, as a white person myself, I wondered if the depiction of one of the MC’s irani parents wasn’t a bit… stereotypical? I don’t know if either of the authors is irani or an immigrant/BIPOC but if they aren’t, I’d say that that bit read a bit potentially problematic, specially given the importance it had in the plot.
And while on that matter, Ari’s sister backstory when it came to that felt a bit… extreme and unrealistic.
Anyways, the book had some plot holes and issues but I still enjoyed reading it. So 3 stars from me.
I didn’t like the ending that much though, it felt a bit predictable and plain and it missed that je-ne-sais-quoi that is supposed to feel like closure in a book. I feel like something was missing and would def read a follow up should the authors came up with one.
Also, I didn’t understand the first scene of the book at all. It was completely unnecessary and/or should have been connected to the rest of the book somehow for it to make some sense.
It felt like Hobbes’ character was a bit… underdeveloped. Like it was not here nor there.
And, as a white person myself, I wondered if the depiction of one of the MC’s irani parents wasn’t a bit… stereotypical? I don’t know if either of the authors is irani or an immigrant/BIPOC but if they aren’t, I’d say that that bit read a bit potentially problematic, specially given the importance it had in the plot.
And while on that matter, Ari’s sister backstory when it came to that felt a bit… extreme and unrealistic.
Anyways, the book had some plot holes and issues but I still enjoyed reading it. So 3 stars from me.
August 26, 2021
4.5 stars
This review and much more can be found at Love Bytes Reviews
Jax Hall is a PhD candidate-cum-bartender who enjoys his job and is ignoring the elephant in the room – namely defending his dissertation. COVID derailed his finishing his education when he had to return to Canada. The difficulties and losses of COVID has further pushed him away from finishing. He’s happy working at a bar as a bartender and also playing with the “house band” as it were, entertaining the patrons of the bar. He’s also dealing with a fairly recent ADHD diagnosis and taking his meds and not drinking, so there’s that. But one night, a pretty famous musician, Ari Darvish, is scheduled to play and the piano player for his group has food poisoning. The backup player is stuck on the highway because of an accident, so Jax agrees to fill in. And thus begins the dance 😉
Ari is quite surprised by Jax. He’s definitely not his usual “type” but the chemistry is definitely there. And when Ari comes back to the bar to watch Jax in action with the band, Jax is most definitely making drinks and eyes at Ari. He’s certainly aiming his not inconsiderable charm and charisma at Ari while playing with the band. Eventually they can’t let the spark between them flicker out, so they get together. There is a bit of a misunderstanding on Ari’s part for sometime about Jax, but thankfully he’s set straight fairly quickly.
Jax is dealing with pressure from MIT to get back and defend his dissertation or suffer the very expensive consequences. Ari is dealing with the pressures of being behind on getting his new album finished. They are both dealing with family things. Jax is thrilled with his sister and her family moving to London and he’s taking on some babysitting duties for his toddler niece (which he’s thrilled to do after the isolation of the virus) but he’s still avoiding his mother – a university math professor herself. Ari is dealing with his parents pushing him to marry a nice Persian doctor and stop with the touring and settle down and stay home near them. Needless to say, these pressures do not contribute to a smooth romance. But Air’s relationship with Jax is definitely causing his creative juices to flow and he’s finally on the way to getting his album written.
But the course of true love definitely does not run smooth for these two. Lies of omission and lack of communication as well as some unfortunate chance meetings lead to mistrust on Jax’s part. Ari has his own battles with his controlling parents and when he finally is pushed into sharing Jax with his family, it’s a explosion of epic proportions. Neither man is happy about the consequences, but what’s done is done and it doesn’t seem like there is a path forward. Until there is. Both men have to figure out what it is that they want and how they will need to treat each other in order to be together.
Embarrassingly, it’s been years since I’ve read an Ashlyn Kane book. I really enjoyed this book co-written by Morgan James. Ari and Jax are two really vivid characters. Their passions are dissimilar in many ways, but they also have a lot in common. Both are at a difficult juncture – Jax with dealing with COVID, the loss of someone dear to him, his ADHD, and lots of other little things – and Ari with writer’s block and some overbearing parents. Their romance inside their own bubble goes swimmingly well. But when Jax suspects and then knows that Ari is hiding their relationship from his family, well let’s just say that doesn’t go down well. Ari is torn between trying to protect Jax from what he knows might be a very unpleasant encounter with his parents, but the way he handles it doesn’t really help the situation. While Jax has his own faults and certainly didn’t help the situation, it’s up to Ari to decide what it is he wants out of life and to figure out a way to deal with his parents not being onboard with his choices.
Jax is an amazing character and I absolutely ADORED him. The dinner with Ari’s colleagues and former professors? Jax’s handling of the condescension was so PERFECT 😀 I laughed so hard while reading that whole scene. It was brilliant. I wanted to shake Ari repeatedly! But luckily he figured out what he wanted with the help of his supportive sister. Loved Afra as well.
I really likes the way things evolved with all the relationships in this story. I have a family member that s VERY unhappy with her daughter’s choice of husband but I’ve never seen ANYONE so excited to be married ever. It’s sad because the mother is going to miss out on so much and the daughter is definitely sad about it. BTW, there is NOTHING wrong with her husband. The mother’s complaint? “He’s not ambitious enough.” UGH! I don’t have time for that. If he’s a good man, works hard and loves her daughter, that should be enough. Luckily, in the end of this story, the right people come around.
This review and much more can be found at Love Bytes Reviews
Jax Hall is a PhD candidate-cum-bartender who enjoys his job and is ignoring the elephant in the room – namely defending his dissertation. COVID derailed his finishing his education when he had to return to Canada. The difficulties and losses of COVID has further pushed him away from finishing. He’s happy working at a bar as a bartender and also playing with the “house band” as it were, entertaining the patrons of the bar. He’s also dealing with a fairly recent ADHD diagnosis and taking his meds and not drinking, so there’s that. But one night, a pretty famous musician, Ari Darvish, is scheduled to play and the piano player for his group has food poisoning. The backup player is stuck on the highway because of an accident, so Jax agrees to fill in. And thus begins the dance 😉
Ari is quite surprised by Jax. He’s definitely not his usual “type” but the chemistry is definitely there. And when Ari comes back to the bar to watch Jax in action with the band, Jax is most definitely making drinks and eyes at Ari. He’s certainly aiming his not inconsiderable charm and charisma at Ari while playing with the band. Eventually they can’t let the spark between them flicker out, so they get together. There is a bit of a misunderstanding on Ari’s part for sometime about Jax, but thankfully he’s set straight fairly quickly.
Jax is dealing with pressure from MIT to get back and defend his dissertation or suffer the very expensive consequences. Ari is dealing with the pressures of being behind on getting his new album finished. They are both dealing with family things. Jax is thrilled with his sister and her family moving to London and he’s taking on some babysitting duties for his toddler niece (which he’s thrilled to do after the isolation of the virus) but he’s still avoiding his mother – a university math professor herself. Ari is dealing with his parents pushing him to marry a nice Persian doctor and stop with the touring and settle down and stay home near them. Needless to say, these pressures do not contribute to a smooth romance. But Air’s relationship with Jax is definitely causing his creative juices to flow and he’s finally on the way to getting his album written.
But the course of true love definitely does not run smooth for these two. Lies of omission and lack of communication as well as some unfortunate chance meetings lead to mistrust on Jax’s part. Ari has his own battles with his controlling parents and when he finally is pushed into sharing Jax with his family, it’s a explosion of epic proportions. Neither man is happy about the consequences, but what’s done is done and it doesn’t seem like there is a path forward. Until there is. Both men have to figure out what it is that they want and how they will need to treat each other in order to be together.
Embarrassingly, it’s been years since I’ve read an Ashlyn Kane book. I really enjoyed this book co-written by Morgan James. Ari and Jax are two really vivid characters. Their passions are dissimilar in many ways, but they also have a lot in common. Both are at a difficult juncture – Jax with dealing with COVID, the loss of someone dear to him, his ADHD, and lots of other little things – and Ari with writer’s block and some overbearing parents. Their romance inside their own bubble goes swimmingly well. But when Jax suspects and then knows that Ari is hiding their relationship from his family, well let’s just say that doesn’t go down well. Ari is torn between trying to protect Jax from what he knows might be a very unpleasant encounter with his parents, but the way he handles it doesn’t really help the situation. While Jax has his own faults and certainly didn’t help the situation, it’s up to Ari to decide what it is he wants out of life and to figure out a way to deal with his parents not being onboard with his choices.
Jax is an amazing character and I absolutely ADORED him. The dinner with Ari’s colleagues and former professors? Jax’s handling of the condescension was so PERFECT 😀 I laughed so hard while reading that whole scene. It was brilliant. I wanted to shake Ari repeatedly! But luckily he figured out what he wanted with the help of his supportive sister. Loved Afra as well.
I really likes the way things evolved with all the relationships in this story. I have a family member that s VERY unhappy with her daughter’s choice of husband but I’ve never seen ANYONE so excited to be married ever. It’s sad because the mother is going to miss out on so much and the daughter is definitely sad about it. BTW, there is NOTHING wrong with her husband. The mother’s complaint? “He’s not ambitious enough.” UGH! I don’t have time for that. If he’s a good man, works hard and loves her daughter, that should be enough. Luckily, in the end of this story, the right people come around.
August 19, 2021
This book was very interesting, and was a little hard to read. Not because it's not excellent, but because it's set in the near future, just after COVID, so there are numerous references to how COVID changed society, with people catching it, coming out of retirement to help fight, and people having to work remotely. A few characters also have anxiety and issues with reintegration from all of the lockdowns.
Jax works at a piano bar, pulling beers, mixing drinks, and entertaining the crowd. And one night Ari's pianist can't make it, so Jax ends up playing piano for Ari's violin. The video goes viral, the bar is packed, the shows are packed, and Ari's new album is flowing after months of the musician equivalent of writers block.
And, as expected, they fall into bed, and Jax falls in love. Until there's a communication issue and they break each other's hearts.
There's a subplot involving Jax being "all but dissertation" in his PhD quest, and the financial issues involving him needing to pay for school could cause the reader to stress, as could the fact that his PhD mentor died before the book begins, probably of COVID. Ari and his sister's issues with their parents - they want grandkids from her and for Ari to settle down with a nice doctor and give up his career - could be difficult to read for people who have a difficult relationship with their parents (or children)
Jax works at a piano bar, pulling beers, mixing drinks, and entertaining the crowd. And one night Ari's pianist can't make it, so Jax ends up playing piano for Ari's violin. The video goes viral, the bar is packed, the shows are packed, and Ari's new album is flowing after months of the musician equivalent of writers block.
And, as expected, they fall into bed, and Jax falls in love. Until there's a communication issue and they break each other's hearts.
There's a subplot involving Jax being "all but dissertation" in his PhD quest, and the financial issues involving him needing to pay for school could cause the reader to stress, as could the fact that his PhD mentor died before the book begins, probably of COVID. Ari and his sister's issues with their parents - they want grandkids from her and for Ari to settle down with a nice doctor and give up his career - could be difficult to read for people who have a difficult relationship with their parents (or children)
April 2, 2025
A cute kinda rom-com but a bit more serious. I enjoyed reading about two MMCs who were both smart, although in different ways. It was a refreshing change from the usual opposites pairings.
I've loved some of Ashlyn Kane's other books, so I also enjoyed the writing here. Both characters felt fully formed and had their own individual voices. I loved the banter between them.
While I'm not into music or math, the descriptions of both were engaging and helped the story feel whole.
If I had to nitpick some criticisms, in general the book is a bit long. It relies too much on miscommunication (or in this case keeping secrets from each other). The third act breakup is a pretty big one. And finally, I don't love books where the MMCs get a HEA but one MMC isn't personally fulfilled by their passion. With these two I believe that Jax will find a job/career/passion that he loves eventually, but I would have liked to see at least a hint of it on page.
I've loved some of Ashlyn Kane's other books, so I also enjoyed the writing here. Both characters felt fully formed and had their own individual voices. I loved the banter between them.
While I'm not into music or math, the descriptions of both were engaging and helped the story feel whole.
If I had to nitpick some criticisms, in general the book is a bit long. It relies too much on miscommunication (or in this case keeping secrets from each other). The third act breakup is a pretty big one. And finally, I don't love books where the MMCs get a HEA but one MMC isn't personally fulfilled by their passion. With these two I believe that Jax will find a job/career/passion that he loves eventually, but I would have liked to see at least a hint of it on page.
July 6, 2025
i laughed until i cried when jax says his apartment in fenway/kenmore is close to MIT bc while you could probably drive in under ten minutes there’s no way jax has a car or brought his bike, so unless you’re going all the way in to park street and back out (30+ min) or somehow getting to hynes and busing it (at least 20 min) you’re telling me jax is walking half in an hour in january in boston??????????? or getting lyfts every day????!!!!???? the math does not math he should be living in cambridge itself
anyway this just did not work for me … pacing and development and plot and just like. generally doing too much and undecided about what the story wanted to be. much to unpack with how ari talks and the darvishes generally. the assumption ari makes at the start about jax’s romantic orientation was wild and might be one of the better executed miscommunications of the book actually??? but what an assumption to make!!!!! anyway too much unreality
anyway this just did not work for me … pacing and development and plot and just like. generally doing too much and undecided about what the story wanted to be. much to unpack with how ari talks and the darvishes generally. the assumption ari makes at the start about jax’s romantic orientation was wild and might be one of the better executed miscommunications of the book actually??? but what an assumption to make!!!!! anyway too much unreality
August 1, 2021
I really enjoyed the chemistry between the two characters and how they just "clicked" on stage at the start. The secondary characters were excellent as well, so if the guys weren't together they were talking about each other most of the time. The "drama" at the end was believable, but while it didn't last that long in actual days, it seemed to drag on a bit too long for my taste. The ending though was truly satisfying and made me happy.
June 29, 2023
Bartender Jax Hall and violinist and composer Aria Darvish meet when Jax is a last minute substitute pianist for Aria’s concert at The Rock, where Jax works.
Their immediate attraction sparks to life. Parental pressures, past hurts, all work against them as they try to determine how to find a way through.
Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James’s STRING THEORY is an interesting, thoughtful story that covers a lot of realistic feeling ground.
Their immediate attraction sparks to life. Parental pressures, past hurts, all work against them as they try to determine how to find a way through.
Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James’s STRING THEORY is an interesting, thoughtful story that covers a lot of realistic feeling ground.
July 31, 2025
This might be the first novel I've read, and certainly the first romance, that deals so directly with the aftermath of life post-COVID. While some of the miscommunication trope lines stressed me out more than entertained me, I thoroughly enjoyed this storyline about two "musicians" falling for one another. And this one was cool because AK wrote it with a friend and they did so pretty seamlessly; I did not pick up on major shifts to even begin to know which author wrote which sections.
January 11, 2022
Excellent read that assumes the Covid pandemic lasted only a year, a pretty thought. The characters are engaging and the story meanders onwards with an appropriate level of friction while highlighting the pitfalls of relying on music as your prime method of communicating.
dnf
February 3, 2022Idk this just didn't draw me in, too much conflict between the main characters without other plot points to distract. Not bad, though.
February 16, 2022
4.5 stars. I think I need to seek out more romances with professional musicians, especially classically trained ones.
July 1, 2022
Loved it. Great character development, great plot, enjoyed the music.
December 26, 2023
Found this by accident. Love all the books I have read by this pair.
Hope to keep finding them.
Hope to keep finding them.
October 15, 2024
4.0
Love this, the character's are lovely
There was one storyline left hanging though, which is very annoying
Love this, the character's are lovely
There was one storyline left hanging though, which is very annoying
January 1, 2023
It really did feel like this book had a potential - I just somehow couldn't feel the chemistry between MCs and wasn't persuaded that they had such deep feelings for each other. You know what I mean - I wasn't swooning alongside them. Otherwise it would have been a lovely romance.
June 30, 2023
Well, I have admitted I like books about music and about messy characters. Some character traits and the plot structure did feel very common, and I too am left wondering if the stereotypes went a little too far or were just realistic portrayals from hopefully talking to someone with first person experiences.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews