And Then He Pressed Play: Track One

This book is a heartwarming story of finding love where you least expect it, in a different country a over quarter of the way around the world. Starting from an awkward introductory week, we get to watch the story of A.J. and Bren grow from a strained and forced friendship (Bren trying all the wrong ways to get A.J. to open up and A.J. hiding in his music at every opportunity) and blossom into a love that transcends and disrupts the status quo. There are some dark scenes in the book. There is a full list of content warnings in the book, but a few of note are hate speech, hate crimes, violence, and ptsd. In a story of LGBTQIA+ love, topics like this in our community are a necessary conversation we must have in today's society, and Robert Halliwell handles that conversation very well in this book. He does not linger too long in scenes and does not go into any details unnecessary to the story. Instead, focuses on the uplifting of hurt individuals and relying on biological and found family in times of need and protection. This is a beautiful story with so much character. As someone that has never touched the Irish countryside, I felt like I was there living with the characters in the story, feeling the chilly humidity and smelling the burning turf. The characters themselves have so much life and personality to them. Most characters you will surely come to love and many you will definitely love to hate! And the music! Robert Halliwell includes references to so many familiar…

A great feel-good narrative, this book is about first love and has about all of the emotions that exist in it. Read it. You’ll be glad you did.

This is one of the cutest books I’ve read this year. Both Bren and A.J. were lovable and made this such a cozy read. Lots of humor and lots of depth. Definitely recommend this book to cozy readers.

thanks so much to the author and publisher for the arc! i absolutely adored this book. first off, it's set in mid-2000s ireland, so that was already a selling point. but this story included joy (of the homo and hetero variety), tears, laughs, and just lads bein' lads, no matter what country they're from. as a tw, there is blatant homophobia in this book. and the violence surrounding it caught me a bit off guard for a YA novel. i'm still reeling at cian's storyline, as i want JUSTICE TO BE SERVED. i do think the ending moved a bit quickly, and would've loved to see more of AJ and bren's story progress after [redacted] events occurred. AJ's departure back to canada, to me, kind of came out of nowhere. which would've been fine if there was an epilogue, but there's not T_T i'm starving over here for more to their story. i need to know they reunited. I NEED TO KNOW. i'm fine. overall, a really sweet and endearing story that i would've loved to come across in my youth :)

Robert J. Halliwell gives us a most excellent story with And Then He Pressed Play: Track One. I chuckled. I cried…gotta give you a heads up there are some tough scenes in this book and I cried. I felt all of the confusion and new love that A.J. and Bren went through. I’m stanning this couple like I haven’t stanned in a long while. I love the diverse secondary cast with the most obvious exceptions, read the story you’ll know exactly who I’m talking about. I think Rory is my favorite, but then I’m a reader too. Then of course there is Maura, Bren’s mom. Love her!!!! And Then He Pressed Play is ready for its close up and should hit a screen near you. I freaking loved this story and can’t wait for the conclusion. It has everything you want in a romance: drama, humor, friendship, diversity, a huge event, and of course geeky romance. If I didn’t have other books to read, I would have flipped to page one and read it again. Freaking love Bren and A.J. and I can’t wait for more.