(Not So) Simple Lyrics

Heartbreak Mixtapes, Book 1

By: Claudia Burgoa

Narrated by: Erin Mallon, Jason Clarke

He was my first love. My first heartbreak.

The boy who made the one mistake I’ll never forgive.

Roderick Wilder and I grew up side by side—two kids tangled up in music, mixtapes, and lyrics that felt like they belonged only to us. Then he destroyed everything we had and disappeared, chasing a future without me.

Twelve years later, he’s back.

Not the rising star I remember, but a man who’s broken, scarred, and desperate to rewrite his story.

The problem? I’ve already started falling for someone else—an anonymous stranger I trade late-night messages with, sharing lyrics and reliving the bands that shaped us. He feels safe. He feels new. He feels like everything Roderick isn’t.

But soon I might need to choose between the stranger who makes me believe again . . .and the boy who once destroyed me.

From USA Today bestselling author Claudia Burgoa comes a nostalgic second-chance romance of mixtapes, dial-up confessions, and the one boy who broke her heart before the world ever knew his name.

(Not So) Simple Lyrics is an emotional, nostalgic second chance which features your favorite tropes:

Slowburn

Rockstar

Bad boy

First love, childhood crush, it’s always been you

Wounded/Damaged/Tortured Hero

Epistolary novel

Redemption

©2025 Cyburg Ink LLC (P)2025 Claudia Burgoa

A fun musically nostalgic love story!

This book was a fun, nostalgic flashback for anyone who grew up in the ’80s or ’90s—not just because of the endless classic music references, but also because it captures a simpler time before technology fully took over our lives in the post-’90s era.

The first 40% of the book felt almost like reading a diary: deeply internal, reflective thoughts from musicians, from someone fighting for sobriety, and from characters who examine the reasoning behind nearly every emotion and decision. As a reader, you’re also a fly on the wall for a budding relationship that unfolds through message boards and chat rooms—back when dial-up internet was brand new and chat rooms were everything.

At times, especially during the first half of the book, some chapters felt long-winded. If the audiobook had been about two hours shorter, this would have been a five-star read for me. That said, I still really enjoyed it. The narration by Jason Clarke and Erin Mallon was an absolute 10/10, and I’m crossing my fingers that book two is Cleo’s story. 🙏

How hard addiction is

The story line was a little slow for me but Jason, Clark & Erin Mallon helped me through it

I love everything about this book.

Rock star romance ish, it deals with the corruption and grooming of Hollywood. A father’s betrayal and healing. Add in secret identity and it’s fantastic. Narration was absolutely brilliant.

Not my cup of tea.

I tried to read this book but I just can't get into it 😕.

Erin and Jason rock!

Erin and Jason are the ONLY reason I stayed with this book and finished it. If ur not a music geek, the excessively long and drawn out playlists will want to make you listen ole your eyes out. Not that they aren’t relevant, but description after description is long and unrelateable. The story takes waaayyy too long to get to actual story telling and dialog. It’s chapter after chapter of echo chats. And the ending seemed rushed. Once they finally meet up and realize who the other person is, it ends. No further “dating”, family reactions to their discovery, detail fall outs from Bernice. This one missed the mark for me. Again, if it weren’t for the narrators, this would be a DNF. Especially with 118 chapters to it