This novella (at 200 pages) is written in an unusual and enjoyable style: the narrator, occasionally interjecting views into the telling of the tale, speaks like a lyrical storyteller with poetic touches.

The Perfect Love Song is a story about love and how it nearly slips away. It’s also apparently a recap of a previous story--a full-length one I assume--of which we learn the salient points here. The Perfect Love Song supposedly focuses on Jimmy and his fiancée, Charlotte, although we also hear a lot about Jimmy’s brother, James, and his wife-to-be, Kara. James and Kara are getting married in Ireland, but Jimmy has written the perfect love song, his musical career is taking off, and it looks as though he won’t make the wedding. Will he come to his senses in time and realize what he has with Charlotte and what his family means to him?

Because The Perfect Love Song is written in a lyrical, almost magical way, the author gets away with rather a few plot implausibilities. She talks a lot about love, but none of the characters feels fully rounded, the relationship between Jimmy and Charlotte being particularly sparse. But the writing style is strong, and as this is a shorter work, one can’t expect too much depth of character. I enjoyed it!