Earl Grey Books

Title: Songbird

Series: Aster Springs #3

Author: Samantha Leigh

Release Date: November 13th 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Format: eBook

Source: ARC from LoveNotes

Review:

I received an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Samantha Leigh has been on my radar for a couple of months now so when I saw a sign-up for an e-ARC of her newest title, Songbird, I took it as a sign to finally pick up one of her books.

I’ve never read any bodyguard romances before, but I do love a good small-town and forced proximity in my romance so I was excited for this one. I still don’t know if the bodyguard thing is really for me—there wasn’t any part of it I disliked in this point, it just didn’t hit me in the feels the way other tropes do. In spite of that, I really enjoyed the romance between Rosie and Finn. I love how Finn supports Rosie from the get go—he instantly goes into protective mode whenever she’s around and I love that. This book deals with some tough subjects and so having a hero be so gentle and protective made the whole thing a lot easier to read.

On the topic of tough subjects, I thought the manipulation from Rosie’s ex-boyfriend was dealt with well. It felt real to me and never overdramatised or trivialised so props to Samantha Leigh for her careful writing there. I wasn’t a huge fan of the stalker plotline that ran alongside everything else—while I think the writing of it was also good, I felt like there was so much going on already that for me it didn’t really interest me.

I wish I’d had time to read the first two books in the series before starting this one. They’re interconnected but can be read in any order; still, I’m usually a stickler for reading series chronologically. I love following the couples and watching the broader timeline unfold, so coming into this one without the others did lessen my enjoyment a little. It just adds so much more context, and I felt like I was missing something by not having read the earlier books, especially when the other characters popped up. I hope I’ll get the chance to go back to them at some point, but I doubt that’ll be this year.

If you’re looking for a small-town romance with a bit of twist, Songbird is definitely worth picking up.