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The Mercury in Me
Maya Pritik is seventeen, an aspiring doctor and wants to get through Sixth Form in one piece. This is not made easy by school bully Candice Riley, who has a target on Maya’s back and is the owner of the not-so-anonymous Hot-Or-Not Instagram account. Luckily Maya has her best friend, Lucie Perry, and older brother, Tamir, to keep her together. Maya’s passion is music, so when she hears musical theatre heartthrob Harry Wu singing an original song, she has to go investigate.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 6, 2024
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 27, 2024
As a teacher, I know young people can be cruel and spiteful and immature, but the level of mean girl attitude from Candice and the lack of adult intervention just in the first chapter had me raising my brows. However, once the flagrant bullying passes by, the story picks up quickly and becomes a musical love-fest.
"What would Freddie Mercury do?" is the refrain that runs throughout this book, and it's the perfect question for these uncertain and overthinking teens.
Maya is told she needs to loosen up, and her chance meeting with the handsome school theatre star Henry leads to an audition for the drama club's performance as well as lots of flirtatious banter. It's not all sunshine and smiles though, as both Maya and Henry struggle with the expectations placed on them by their families and the 'shame' of not fulfilling the desired cultural roles. I really liked the balance between teen humour and fears of the future, and thought it captures that post-school crossroads really well.
The romance was sweet, but at times became saccharine and over the top. The confession scenes felt too melodramatic and really drew me out of the moment. The dialogue elsewhere is very natural and playful though, and I enjoyed getting to know the characters when they have one on one interactions - especially Lucie.
This story reminded me of my own theatre experiences, capturing the love forged between the cast and the exhilaration of performing so well. It also shows how things are not always black and white and that communication is the surest way to finding a solution. If you like YA books, rom-com vibes, multicultural and intergenerational divides, or school drama, this book is for you!
"What would Freddie Mercury do?" is the refrain that runs throughout this book, and it's the perfect question for these uncertain and overthinking teens.
Maya is told she needs to loosen up, and her chance meeting with the handsome school theatre star Henry leads to an audition for the drama club's performance as well as lots of flirtatious banter. It's not all sunshine and smiles though, as both Maya and Henry struggle with the expectations placed on them by their families and the 'shame' of not fulfilling the desired cultural roles. I really liked the balance between teen humour and fears of the future, and thought it captures that post-school crossroads really well.
The romance was sweet, but at times became saccharine and over the top. The confession scenes felt too melodramatic and really drew me out of the moment. The dialogue elsewhere is very natural and playful though, and I enjoyed getting to know the characters when they have one on one interactions - especially Lucie.
This story reminded me of my own theatre experiences, capturing the love forged between the cast and the exhilaration of performing so well. It also shows how things are not always black and white and that communication is the surest way to finding a solution. If you like YA books, rom-com vibes, multicultural and intergenerational divides, or school drama, this book is for you!
April 23, 2024
The Mercury In Me was a fun and sweet young adult contemporary novel about growing the confidence to embrace who you are and what you want from life.
The book follows top student Maya, a British-Indian sixth form student intent on acing her qualifications and studying medicine, as she gets drawn into the Queen-inspired school musical and begins to embrace her creative side. In channelling her inner Freddie Mercury, Maya embarks on a journey of what it means to be British and to be Indian at the same time, and how she can reconcile her wants with those of her traditional family.
Maya has to go through the typical teenage turmoils of bullying, misunderstandings and friendship dramas, and she also has a frustratingly realistic will-they-won't-they with musical superstar Harry, which definitely has its cute moments. The wider collective of friends were nice additions, even if the bullying side story was incredibly clichéd.
Overall, an enjoyable quick read that I am sure many teens will find something of themselves in.
Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy of this text.
The book follows top student Maya, a British-Indian sixth form student intent on acing her qualifications and studying medicine, as she gets drawn into the Queen-inspired school musical and begins to embrace her creative side. In channelling her inner Freddie Mercury, Maya embarks on a journey of what it means to be British and to be Indian at the same time, and how she can reconcile her wants with those of her traditional family.
Maya has to go through the typical teenage turmoils of bullying, misunderstandings and friendship dramas, and she also has a frustratingly realistic will-they-won't-they with musical superstar Harry, which definitely has its cute moments. The wider collective of friends were nice additions, even if the bullying side story was incredibly clichéd.
Overall, an enjoyable quick read that I am sure many teens will find something of themselves in.
Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy of this text.
January 4, 2025
Bursting with charm and heart, The Mercury in Me is a vibrant ode to self-discovery, music, and the beautiful chaos of teenage life. Maya Pritik’s journey of balancing her family’s high expectations, relentless school bullying, and her own emerging dreams is as heartfelt as it is relatable. Fernandes captures the essence of being seventeen with all its tangled emotions and life-altering decisions.
The sweet romance between Maya and the endearing Harry Wu is the novel’s beating heart, layered with playful banter and the electric spark of first love. Yet, the story never loses sight of deeper issues—parental pressures, navigating friendships, and the biting cruelty of social media bullying. It’s a delicate dance between lighthearted moments and emotional depth, handled with nuance and care.
Fernandes’s writing is sharp and fun, weaving Freddie Mercury’s larger-than-life inspiration into a narrative that feels intimate and authentic. Maya’s internal mantra, “What would Freddie Mercury do?” is not just a catchy refrain but a powerful call to embrace individuality and courage.
This is a story that celebrates ambition, friendship, and the magic of musicals. Fans of High School Musical and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before will adore this lighthearted yet thought-provoking read. Perfect for anyone who has ever dreamed big and dared to find their voice
The sweet romance between Maya and the endearing Harry Wu is the novel’s beating heart, layered with playful banter and the electric spark of first love. Yet, the story never loses sight of deeper issues—parental pressures, navigating friendships, and the biting cruelty of social media bullying. It’s a delicate dance between lighthearted moments and emotional depth, handled with nuance and care.
Fernandes’s writing is sharp and fun, weaving Freddie Mercury’s larger-than-life inspiration into a narrative that feels intimate and authentic. Maya’s internal mantra, “What would Freddie Mercury do?” is not just a catchy refrain but a powerful call to embrace individuality and courage.
This is a story that celebrates ambition, friendship, and the magic of musicals. Fans of High School Musical and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before will adore this lighthearted yet thought-provoking read. Perfect for anyone who has ever dreamed big and dared to find their voice
September 3, 2024
Medicine and Music – a winning teen combination.
This was great. A slightly atypical teen, Asian wannabee doctor Maya is set on her course, doing her best to ignore bullies and concentrate on her A-Levels. She would want to be a doctor even without her family’s strong wishes of this for her. But she also has other talents and a crush on theatre-loving Harry Wu, who encourages her to let her creative side out as well brings clashes with her conscience, her culture and of course, those pesky bullies.
I found Maya and Harry refreshing, the academic and motivated teens we don’t see showing their love for musical theatre, for academia, very often. There’s the sweet romance underneath it all, but as a music-loving academic myself, I related and thoroughly enjoyed this slightly more niche YA story, that brings Freddy Mercury’s roots to the forefront and contrasts them with both Maya and Harry’s.
Covers the school bully plotline well, with online bullying a huge part of the problem and with a neat solution evident.
For ages 13 and above.
This was great. A slightly atypical teen, Asian wannabee doctor Maya is set on her course, doing her best to ignore bullies and concentrate on her A-Levels. She would want to be a doctor even without her family’s strong wishes of this for her. But she also has other talents and a crush on theatre-loving Harry Wu, who encourages her to let her creative side out as well brings clashes with her conscience, her culture and of course, those pesky bullies.
I found Maya and Harry refreshing, the academic and motivated teens we don’t see showing their love for musical theatre, for academia, very often. There’s the sweet romance underneath it all, but as a music-loving academic myself, I related and thoroughly enjoyed this slightly more niche YA story, that brings Freddy Mercury’s roots to the forefront and contrasts them with both Maya and Harry’s.
Covers the school bully plotline well, with online bullying a huge part of the problem and with a neat solution evident.
For ages 13 and above.
November 1, 2024
Seventeen-year-old Maya has always wanted to be a doctor and she’s happy to focus on that and ignore the abuse she gets from the school bully, Candice, and her ‘Hot or Not’ instagram account, until the day she bumps into the definitely hot Harry Wu in the music room and he convinces her to audition for the school musical. Maya has a huge crush on Harry and it seems that he likes her too, but she’s not allowed to date and she doesn’t want any distractions in sixth form anyway. Maya finds inspiration in the music of Freddie Mercury but can she find the Mercury in herself to stand up to her parents (and the bully) and follow her heart.
A sweet and engaging YA romance.
A sweet and engaging YA romance.
May 16, 2024
This is a fun, light hearted growing up story for teenager readers and up. My daughter says I’m old and it made me feel young again. Lots of familiar themes including, a sweet romance story with multicultural expectations throwing a spanner in the works, a mean-girls school vibe, a realising you have forgetting friends in the heat of growing up and what to do about it and especially a high school musical explosion of showing who you can be. Thank you to UClan Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.
June 19, 2024
This book was a delight to read! A heartfelt teen romcom about finding your identity and standing up to your parents... Maya is a main character readers will really root for, and her difficulty navigating friendships, new romance, and family is very genuine. A must read for any fans of Queen or musical theatre!
July 17, 2024
I really enjoyed this book but the bullying just felt so forced? I originally read this as a comp title for my book and the elements are all there the same and I loved the character development but the bullying just felt like it was forced and got a bit violent at times. Idk I would think the girls would be more subtle about it, but I’m glad it had realistic consequences
September 29, 2024
This was such a fun read, and full of heartfelt scenes that had me rooting for the characters. Definitely would recommend this and can't wait for more books by the author.
June 5, 2024
As a big fan of Freddie Mercury (as we all are), this instantly appealed to me, and it didn’t let me down. It was a (mostly) lighthearted story about a teenager finding her voice, learning to be true to herself and standing up for what she wants. I especially loved how they were behaving like teenagers, made the choices teenagers would make and were a little messy sometimes. I had a lot of fun and it did remind me a lot of Never Have I Ever, one of my favourite TV shows, just as promised.
December 6, 2025
Maybe I expected just a little too much from this one. It wasn’t bad, it just felt a touch flat in places, and I think Maya could have been a stronger character.
Maya is just trying to get through Sixth Form so she can go to university and study to be a doctor. But she’s contending with bully Candice, fixated on Maya and her best friend. A run-in with school heartthrob Harry Wu ends up with Maya auditioning for the school musical, and even getting a main(ish) part, and as her and Harry grow closer, Maya has to learn to juggle her responsibilities to the musical, her dreams, her parents and her best friend.
I was really excited to read this book, especially with the setting and focus on Freddie Mercury, who Maya learns about because the school musical is We Will Rock You. She starts to see Mercury as a person to look up to, and feels inspired by him. As well as Mercury’s role in the book, I was excited by the use of We Will Rock You and Maya joining the musical, as it was the only musical I ever did in high school and one I have fond memories of (and, of course, my love for Freddie and Queen was the reason I auditioned in the first place).
Problem was, it felt like there was so much crammed in here, so much going on it didn’t really leave the book with much room. I liked the relationship growing between Maya and Harry, and how Maya starts stretching her wings a little. There was some good stuff here around growing up and finding your place, and juggling different responsibilities as an older teenager. But there was the relationship, the musical and Maya’s new ‘friends’ from the musical, issues with her best friend, plus the school bully plotline, as well as Maya’s brother and parents who are quite strict with her. I’m also not sure how much this would land with a YA audience – I think it has its place, but it felt like a lot of the YA element was more based around a Millennial school experience rather than what kids might be dealing with now.
And reading YA over the last couple of years would absolutely give the impression there’s a huge issue with social media pages and apps being used to cyberbully kids – I would love to know if this is actually happening, or something that’s been pulled out of the air a bit, because to a point, going back to the Millennial point, kids in contemporary YA often don’t feel like they’re engaging with social media/the internet in a way current kids do. I think if this book had come out 10 years ago, it would have been really spot on in the way the teens act and the different dynamics happening, the way they engage with social media, etc.
I did enjoy this, but the places where it feel flat were a bit disappointing. This is completely unique to me, too, but the musical didn’t feel as utilized as it could have been, and considering the book’s title is taken from Freddie Mercury, if you didn’t know anything about him before reading this you’d come out…not knowing much more about him! Not that I expect a biography, but it feels like Maya finds out a couple of key facts about his identity and has no interest beyond that, but still uses him as a baseline for what she should be doing (what would Freddie do is, however, a brilliant life motto).
The main issue, I think, is how superficial a lot of it is, partly due to how much is squeezed in. I appreciated Maya, as a young British woman, clashes with her parents, and showing how difficult it can be when parents put certain expectations on you, but again, this felt surface level and ultimately, everything was wrapped in a bit of a rushed way.
A lot of the issues I had with the book lies with the editing. Streamlining things and allowing the different elements a bit more room to breathe would have done wonders for this, as well as making it just a little shorter (do we really need contemporary YA that’s almost 330 pages?). Or maybe I’m just getting old and the kids these days absolutely love this, so I could be completely wrong, but overall, although I enjoyed parts of this book, I definitely think it could have been much stronger.
Maya is just trying to get through Sixth Form so she can go to university and study to be a doctor. But she’s contending with bully Candice, fixated on Maya and her best friend. A run-in with school heartthrob Harry Wu ends up with Maya auditioning for the school musical, and even getting a main(ish) part, and as her and Harry grow closer, Maya has to learn to juggle her responsibilities to the musical, her dreams, her parents and her best friend.
I was really excited to read this book, especially with the setting and focus on Freddie Mercury, who Maya learns about because the school musical is We Will Rock You. She starts to see Mercury as a person to look up to, and feels inspired by him. As well as Mercury’s role in the book, I was excited by the use of We Will Rock You and Maya joining the musical, as it was the only musical I ever did in high school and one I have fond memories of (and, of course, my love for Freddie and Queen was the reason I auditioned in the first place).
Problem was, it felt like there was so much crammed in here, so much going on it didn’t really leave the book with much room. I liked the relationship growing between Maya and Harry, and how Maya starts stretching her wings a little. There was some good stuff here around growing up and finding your place, and juggling different responsibilities as an older teenager. But there was the relationship, the musical and Maya’s new ‘friends’ from the musical, issues with her best friend, plus the school bully plotline, as well as Maya’s brother and parents who are quite strict with her. I’m also not sure how much this would land with a YA audience – I think it has its place, but it felt like a lot of the YA element was more based around a Millennial school experience rather than what kids might be dealing with now.
And reading YA over the last couple of years would absolutely give the impression there’s a huge issue with social media pages and apps being used to cyberbully kids – I would love to know if this is actually happening, or something that’s been pulled out of the air a bit, because to a point, going back to the Millennial point, kids in contemporary YA often don’t feel like they’re engaging with social media/the internet in a way current kids do. I think if this book had come out 10 years ago, it would have been really spot on in the way the teens act and the different dynamics happening, the way they engage with social media, etc.
I did enjoy this, but the places where it feel flat were a bit disappointing. This is completely unique to me, too, but the musical didn’t feel as utilized as it could have been, and considering the book’s title is taken from Freddie Mercury, if you didn’t know anything about him before reading this you’d come out…not knowing much more about him! Not that I expect a biography, but it feels like Maya finds out a couple of key facts about his identity and has no interest beyond that, but still uses him as a baseline for what she should be doing (what would Freddie do is, however, a brilliant life motto).
The main issue, I think, is how superficial a lot of it is, partly due to how much is squeezed in. I appreciated Maya, as a young British woman, clashes with her parents, and showing how difficult it can be when parents put certain expectations on you, but again, this felt surface level and ultimately, everything was wrapped in a bit of a rushed way.
A lot of the issues I had with the book lies with the editing. Streamlining things and allowing the different elements a bit more room to breathe would have done wonders for this, as well as making it just a little shorter (do we really need contemporary YA that’s almost 330 pages?). Or maybe I’m just getting old and the kids these days absolutely love this, so I could be completely wrong, but overall, although I enjoyed parts of this book, I definitely think it could have been much stronger.
June 6, 2024
"The Mercury in Me" is a delightful journey through the highs and lows of coming of age, friendship, romance, and the complexities of family dynamics. This book is for everyone, but I think it will especially resonate with someone who has struggled with finding their place when they are balancing two different cultures or sides to themselves.
Filled with the infectious energy of musical theatre and the joy of a good time, it's a must-read for anyone seeking an uplifting and entertaining escape.
Filled with the infectious energy of musical theatre and the joy of a good time, it's a must-read for anyone seeking an uplifting and entertaining escape.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews