#BlogTour ‘Mix Tape’ by Jane Sanderson

About the book…

You never forget the one that got away. But what if ‘what could have been’ is still to come?

Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape.

But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; she’d been the one to run away, after all.

Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past.

For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her too-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind.

And so begins a new mix tape.

Ali and Dan exchange songs – some new, some old – across oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different experiences, until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything…

Because what if ‘what could have been’ is still to come?

Thank you very much to Hayley at Penguin Random House and Anne from Random Things Blog Tours for the invite and gifted paperback review copy of Mix Tape which is available from January 23rd in Hardback and Ebook formats.

This is a beautiful novel that alternates between Alison and Daniel as teens in the 1970’s, and Ali and Dan as grown ups in 2012 onwards.

A chance text reunites them through social media , Ali is now based in Australia as a writer, and Dan is a music journalist living in Edinburgh. Both are married, with children, so where, the reader thinks, is this going?

Are the couple who are the heart of this novel ,about to wreck both of their families for the chance to recapture a sense of their youth?

As the narrative flips back and forth from past to present, you become invested in their youthful romance, especially if you are of a certain age who remembers a mix tape being the ultimate sign of love, affection and life long friendship.

Long Sunday afternoons were spent agonising over the Top 40 show, finger poised over the record button, praying you would catch the whole song without the inane comments of the dj over the closing notes.

And then, painstakingly filling the cardboard insert of the blank 60, or 90 minute tapes with song titles, or enigmatically, just giving it a theme and an air of mystery…

Just as we remember fondly using a pencil and sellotape to rewind/fix tapes, time moves on and the new way of making one shares it not only with just individual, but the whole world, via the internet.

This is a love story, a life story and a moving testament to the power of music to transport you back to a place and time. Far beynd mere retro value-the cover alone made me smile!-this is the tale of two intertwined lives, with a shared history, but will their reconnection create Ali and Dan a future?

I absolutely adored this slice of bookish heaven, anything that transports you away from the mundanity of daily life, allows you to escape even in the tiny moments such as sitting in front of the cooker for tea , running a bath, all of the five minutes snatched here and there which allow you to fully indulge in the lives of others, is an absolute blessing.

This mixtape of lives, snatched moments and friendships are so wonderfully conveyed with a powerful sense of belonging, love, and regret.It is highly recommended by this reader. At the back of the book is a list of songs which highlight key moments from the novel, I have taken the liberty of creating a Spotify playlist of them and linked it below. Music can be a powerful motivator and leveller and the threads of ‘Mix Tape’ are all connected by the tunes and the feelings that they invince. I hope you enjoy it, and maybe, start thinking of making a mixtape of your own…

About the author…

Jane Sanderson was born in South Yorkshire in 1962. She studied English at Leicester University, then after graduating she became a journalist. After a series of jobs with local newspapers she joined the BBC where she worked as a producer for Radio 4, first on the World at One, and then on Woman’s Hour. She lives with her husband, the Independent journalist and author Brian Viner, and their three children in rural Herefordshire.

Jane’s first novel,‘Netherwood’, was published by Sphere,followed by sequel, ‘Ravenscliffe’, published in 2012.

Links-http://www.jane-sanderson.com

MixTape’s Mix Tape Link-

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7GRtUMaeMAPf3KcwqLRP7Q?si=u7rTC3pDQqqztV3qfOhrRQ