Book Review | Small Town Harmony by Milla Holt

It’s Dienece Darling here today to share why I read and couldn’t put down Milla Holt’s Small Town Harmony!

Book Description:

She chased her dream. Now her marriage is paying the price.

Ezra Falconer always took the lead—onstage with his brothers’ Christian band, and at home with his quiet, dependable wife, Martha. But everything changed when Martha found her voice. Dropping 100 pounds, she ditched her frumpy style and emerged as the sultry, powerhouse star known as “Morgan.”

Now her music career is soaring. Ezra’s is stalling. And the marriage they once relied on is quietly burning down behind the scenes.

When they’re asked to record a charity duet, the studio becomes a battleground of buried resentment and lingering love, forcing them to face the growing silence between them. How can they rediscover harmony while they’re singing in different keys?

Dienece’s Review

First words about this book? Woah. Wow, and all that!

Fine, so those may not be the most elegant words on the planet, but sometimes, you’re so blown away elegance falls over.

Now, that I have that out of my system, let’s see if I can be a little more articulate because a book this well-written deserves a good review.

Why I read Small Town Harmony:

In a world where so many marriages fall apart, I wanted to read a book where a couple put it back together.

I was also intrigued by the fact the wife had such a turn around. Losing weight and doing so well in her career while the husband’s career is tanking. How were they going to navigate that minefield?

The book itself:

The opening line was perfection and things just got better from there.

“Every word of Ezra Falconer’s speech was a masterclass in hypocrisy.”

Masterclass would be apt for the whole book, but I’ll stick with the opening for now. Ezra is trying to give the best man speech at his little brother’s wedding. It’s going well to everyone listening. They just aren’t privy to all the snide commentary going on in Ezra’s mind like, ‘he needed to sell this nonsense’ and ‘his own wife was goodness knew where’.

I loved all the side chatter going on inside his head. It showed so much about him and Martha.

And the WRITING! It was just so good, intense, funny, gripping, and so very, very honest.

The more I read, the more I had to know. This was honesty paired with moments of sacrificial love–the kind that makes your heart bleed yet you’re so proud of them.

It’s easy enough to side with the husband at the start (at least for me), but the more I read about Martha the author helped me see her side. How she got there, what happened between them, and I so wanted to know how things turned out.

I loved how this book shows that even though they are falling apart, Ezra and Martha are still fighting for each other. And how those around them can see it. Her bodyguards know Ezra is good for Martha. And as much as Ezra thought he was hiding it well, his family tell his wife that he’s been a bear without her.

Emotions run high, but of course, they do. When you love someone, when they are your other half, emotions are all over the place. Yet, Milla writes with a grace and balance. Showing how we can fly off the handle so spectacularly but also the moment someone has to decide to put their own pain aside for the sake of their spouse, for the sake of trying to heal what’s been broken.

The balance in the book was inspiring. My heart hurt for both the husband and his wife and at every turn I needed to know how they were going to pull this off. How they were going to react.

Harmony was a perfect name for this book. For the harmony of the story and the way the author uses music so powerfully between the couple.

This is also seen in how the author wrote what would technically be two fade-to-black scenes between a married couple. I say technically because I didn’t feel like I’d intruded, which is how I usually feel.

The author wrote with such grace to protect the privacy of the couple which perfectly suited the underlying issues between the hero and heroine. He feels like she’s turned too ‘sexy’ and therefore oversharing with the world what should have been his alone. And she has her own complaints about this. So, for the author to make sure she protected that intimacy even from the reader without making me feel like something was missing, I thought was well done and honourable.

I could keep talking about how much I loved this book, but I’d better start wrapping up so you can go read it already! And with that in mind, here’s another of my favourite quotes from the book:

“God alone was her hope–their hope–the only one strong enough, faithful enough, wise enough not to fail.”

Iola Goulton also wrote a review on Small Town Harmony. Read it here.

Do you read books about married couples? Share some of your favourites below if you do!