No Tears, Unlike the First Book

 The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez

I sobbed during the first book in this series. I enjoyed it, but I sobbed. And it made me very interested in this book, since Sloan was the reason I was crying in book 1.  Sloan has been in a funk for two years. The book starts with the anniversary of Brandon's accident. She almost gets into an accident, thinks she hit a dog, said dog jumps into her car via the sun roof. The owner of the dog is not responding to any class or texts. The dog brings her back to life. It's been two weeks and she put up fliers, posted in lost dog forums, and has decided that she is keeping him. Then, Jason calls. He has been out of the country, and without a cell signal for two weeks. He thought he left his dog with a a trustworthy person; he was wrong. They develop a friendship over calls and texts until he gets back. Then, they start seeing each other in person. She tells him about Brandon, slowly over time. He is so patient and understanding. She learns about his life; he is a famous musician. He takes her home to meet his family and they love her. He takes her on tour. She gets sick and returns to his parent's house. She comes back and thinks she has caught him cheating. He decides that instead of telling her the truth he is going to lean into it so that they can have a "clean" break because he loves her too much to have her live on the road. The character he "cheats" with is giving Britney Spears, but without the conservatorship. She keeps the dog. Then, he is back in LA for a show. She gets a package from Zane, his assistant (who is amazing and deserves her own book) with a note telling her the truth of what happened and giving her two front row tickets. She grabs Kristin and they leave the double date to go to the show. They trade seats with a couple in row 10 and watch the show. He is just going through the motions. Then, when he should be doing the "so happy to be here" part of the show instead he tells them he was afraid to be here because he met the love of his life here and blew it. Then he dedicates a song to Sloan. Then, he sees her in the audience and jumps off the stage. The crowd rushes him and she can't move, until he points and yells her name then they help them get to each other. She decides to paint on the road and they get back together.  It was very sweet. I like that Kristen and Josh played a decent sized role in this book. I am looking forward to more in this series!