Sounds Like Love

Joni Lark and Sebastian (Sasha) Fell’s song “Sounds Like Love” symbolizes intimacy and connection. At the novel’s start, Joni and Sasha start hearing a faint and mysterious melody in their heads. Once they begin communicating telepathically and spending time together in person, they launch a collaborative songwriting venture. They grow closer throughout this process, fostering a profound level of understanding between them. Working on the song encourages Joni and Sasha to be more vulnerable. They start sharing tender aspects of their past lives and emotional experiences. They develop trust and reciprocity. The song helps them share ideas and translate ineffable feelings into music.

Joni and Sasha’s song also connects them to their pasts, thus deepening their bond in the present. At the novel’s end, they discover that their mothers, Wynona Lark and Ami McKellen, began the same song years ago. Joni and Sasha magically received inspiration for the song and brought it to life decades later. When they perform it for Wynona, Joni realizes that the song manifests both her and Sasha’s romantic love and their individual experiences of maternal love: “Playing together, our voices harmonizing, felt like it did when we were in each other’s heads.