More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn

More Than Maybe

by Erin Hahn

Growing up under his punk rocker dad’s spotlight, eighteen-year-old Luke Greenly knows fame and wants nothing to do with it. His real love isn’t in front of a crowd, it’s on the page. Hiding his gift and secretly hoarding songs in his bedroom at night, he prefers the anonymous comfort of the locally popular podcast he co-hosts with his outgoing and meddling, far-too-jealousy-inspiringly-happy-with-his-long-term-boyfriend twin brother, Cullen. But that’s not Luke’s only secret. He also has a major un-requited crush on music blogger, Vada Carsewell.

Vada’s got a five year plan: secure a job at the Loud Lizard to learn from local legend (and her mom’s boyfriend) Phil Josephs (check), take over Phil’s music blog (double check), get accepted into Berkeley’s prestigious music journalism program (check, check, check), manage Ann Arbor’s summer concert series and secure a Rolling Stone internship. Luke Greenly is most definitely NOT on the list. So what if his self-deprecating charm and out-of-this-world music knowledge makes her dizzy? Or his brother just released a bootleg recording of Luke singing about some mystery girl on their podcast and she really, really wishes it was her?

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

4 of 5 stars

Share
Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

More Than Maybe is told in dual perspectives of both Vada and Luke. Both are connected to the music world in different ways, but both have a love for it that brings them together.

Vada has grown up with a father who while interested in the music world and taught her almost everything she knows about it, still manages to be a terrible father. She lives with her mom who has always tried to make sure she had the best, and her mom's best friend Phil has made it so she has had a good life and opportunities to do what she wants.
Luke has grown up with a rockstar for a father and has managed to fly under the music world radar until his twin brother uploaded something of his without his approval. This creates a whole lot of drama, not only in Luke's family but in his potential love life as well.
Luke and Vada end up working together on a school project, and at an after school job to make their own money. This starts a friendship that might just turn into more if they let it.

Vada is having trouble figuring out how to pay to go to the school of her dreams because of her father being difficult. Meanwhile, Luke is now having to argue with his dad about things and has to stick up for himself against his entire family he feels like. Together they form a team of sorts in trying to make sure the other gets what they want, all while keeping each other at arm's length it feels like at times which creates some tension and hurt feelings between them at times.

Overall this was a sweet story. Luke and Vada are both likable characters and their reasons for doing the things they were doing were very real. Vada having to struggle and get creative for ways to pay for college is a very real problem for a lot of students, as well as the situation between her and her father. It was nice to see that play out in a book and have Vada be able to find a solution of sorts that might make it possible for her to still go to her dream school. Lukes problems while not as serious at times as Vada's were still very real. Him having to fight with his family about what he should do and how he's wasting his potential is another conversation that a lot of teens go through with their parents. Seeing him stick up for himself, as well as the relationship he has with his twin was nice.
I also really appreciated in this book how we got to see parents being involved and supportive at times. I'm loving seeing it in books after years of them being mostly absent in young adult stories. Hahn did a good job of showing the realities of parents and teens in their senior year of high school and the tough decisions they have to make.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 19 June, 2020: Finished reading
  • 19 June, 2020: Reviewed