An electrifying rom com of rivalry and redemption, perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Daisy Jones and the Six, from New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord.
Once the most notorious rivals in the music scene, pop princess Mackenzie Waters and punk rockstar Sam Blaze electrified audiences as their bands clashed on stage. But behind the scenes, their simmering tension grew into something more — until suddenly both bands fell apart, and the idea of Mackenzie and Sam did, too.
Two years later, Sam has traded the rockstar lifestyle for a quiet life raising the son he didn’t know about. Meanwhile, Mackenzie is dealing with a postoperative change in her voice by only singing under a pseudonym. The only way to revive their public careers? A joint comeback album.
With fans over the moon and their futures on the line, Sam and Mackenzie face their biggest challenge yet: giving up the old rivalry and learning to work together. But as old sparks fly and new secrets emerge, they set off a chain reaction neither of them could have anticipated — one that proves that sometimes, the greatest hits are the ones yet to be written.
Once the most notorious rivals in the music scene, pop princess Mackenzie Waters and punk rockstar Sam Blaze electrified audiences as their bands clashed on stage. But behind the scenes, their simmering tension grew into something more — until suddenly both bands fell apart, and the idea of Mackenzie and Sam did, too.
Two years later, Sam has traded the rockstar lifestyle for a quiet life raising the son he didn’t know about. Meanwhile, Mackenzie is dealing with a postoperative change in her voice by only singing under a pseudonym. The only way to revive their public careers? A joint comeback album.
With fans over the moon and their futures on the line, Sam and Mackenzie face their biggest challenge yet: giving up the old rivalry and learning to work together. But as old sparks fly and new secrets emerge, they set off a chain reaction neither of them could have anticipated — one that proves that sometimes, the greatest hits are the ones yet to be written.
Title: For the Record
Author: Emma Lord
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin/Macmillan Audio
Expected Publication Date: August 12, 2025
Review:
Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read/listen to and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I really enjoy Lord's writing and her stories. I love that she can write adult and young adult. Her stories are always authentic and make me feel good. I was excited to jump into this one.
When I saw the audio was Andrew Eiden and Jesse Vilinsky were the narrators for this story, I was super excited. Jesse narrates most if not all of Lord's young adults books as well and Lynn Painter's young adult books. And I adore Eiden. And, while I really loved his voice for Sam, the MMC, I wasn't thrilled with Jesse for the FMC, Mackenzie. I just felt her voice was a bit too young for the age of the character. I'm not sure if it's because I know her to voice younger characters or if it just didn't fit for me, but it detracted from my enjoyment of the story.
Despite me not loving Jesse's voice for the FMC, I really connected with Mackenzie. She was very relatable and well developed. Her background and back story of her relationship with Sam really impacted how she went into her future. But Sam, he was so sweet. And you can see he's come into himself having become a dad and realizing he needed to change his bad boys ways.
The second chance romance of this book was top notch. I loved the build in the chemistry between Sam and Mack. But also, their past heavily influenced them as a couple. Both working on trying to believe they were worthy of one another. Both finding they had similar feelings that neither of them wanted to act on or couldn't act on due to their contracts with the recording company.
There's a bit of spice in this book but not much. It was more the slow burn that endeared me to the characters. Plus the side characters were fun.
The pacing was well done with lots of scenes building to reach the tipping point; side stories that gave insight into the relationships between all the characters. I liked that there was no real third act break up.
Overall it was a fun read but definitely not my favorite by this author. While I loved the music industry side of the story, I felt it was lacking in romance in many parts. There was just something in the execution that didn't sit right with me and thus lowered my rating. I won't rule out reading this author in the future and I'm hoping I'll like whatever she brings to the table next more than this one.
Author:
Emma Lord is an NYT bestselling author of rom coms for teens and adults, a BuzzFeed senior writer, and dessert gremlin living in New York City. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. Her sun sign is Cancer and her moon sign is whatever Taylor Swift song is about to pop up on shuffle.
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