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Sing #1
SING
Since her mother died, Nettie Delaney hasn’t been able to sing a note. This wouldn’t be a problem if she wasn’t now attending Dukes, the most prestigious performing arts college in the country, with her superstar mother’s shadow hanging over her. Nettie has her work cut out for her and everyone is watching.
But one night, in an empty studio after college, Nettie finds herself suddenly singing, as someone behind the curtain accompanies her on the piano. Maybe all is not lost for Nettie. Maybe she can find her voice again and survive her first year at Dukes. But can she do it before she gets thrown out?
But one night, in an empty studio after college, Nettie finds herself suddenly singing, as someone behind the curtain accompanies her on the piano. Maybe all is not lost for Nettie. Maybe she can find her voice again and survive her first year at Dukes. But can she do it before she gets thrown out?
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
August 5, 2020
Nettie’s got the entire universe turned against her. Her mum dies of cancer, she has a dysfunctional relationship with her grandmother and therefore has no family left. For some inexplicable reason, Nettie can’t sing. After a horrific audition, she gets accepted into Duke but life doesn’t seem to give her a break. Although Nettie makes good friends and begins to find a connection with Fletch, a talented second-year artist, she gets bullied by her peers and her teachers. Can Nettie overcome her obstacles and triumph in Duke?
“It’s every ‘fine’ I replied when someone asked me how I was doing; every woman I chased down the street thinking it was mum; every scream I ever uttered in my bedroom at night, begging her to come back. It’s the memory of her singing me to sleep. It’s every morning waking up and forgetting for a split second that she’s gone, until the realization hit me with a dull thud. It’s waking every morning to that dull thud.”
Whew, this was such an emotional read. This novel is written in Nettie’s perspective and that helped convey her mental distress, which is the primary focus of the story. Some of her moments with Fletch were profound.
Alec was my favorite character in the entire novel. His pragmatic, vibrant, no bullshit attitude made me admire him. He stole my attention like everybody else’s in Duke. I found the book disengaging in the beginning but everything got better as the story got nearer to the end. Nettie rids herself of her doormat behavior and turns into a more independent, career-oriented woman. Her loose ends from her past get tied up as well.
‘Sing Like No One’s Listening’ is one of the most cliche YA novels I’ve read. It is also highly unrealistic in various aspects. Musicians are serious about what they drink or eat because it might affect their voice but the students in Duke drink quite a lot, it seemed a bit illogical. The competition in any prestigious art institute is cut-throat and for the first 50% of the book, Nettie doesn’t make a significant effort in her academic activities. The constant fat-shaming, slut-shaming, girl rivalry themes were tiresome. Jade; there was so much potential to add substance to her character but she’s completely cast off as a typical mean-girl villain. Nettie and Fletch were sweet but they had bad communication and Fletch’s indecisive nature was quite irksome. All the message texts were poorly edited, serving as a distraction from the story. A high school setting would’ve worked better.
This book has profound original ideas, entertaining characters but a passive narrative. ‘Sing Like No One’s Listening’ is recommended to all readers in the mood for a completely cliche YA romance. ARC provided by Peachtree Publishing Company and NetGalley. Thank you. #SingLikeNoOne'sListening#NetGalley.
Full review: https://www.inabookshell.com/2020/08/...
“It’s every ‘fine’ I replied when someone asked me how I was doing; every woman I chased down the street thinking it was mum; every scream I ever uttered in my bedroom at night, begging her to come back. It’s the memory of her singing me to sleep. It’s every morning waking up and forgetting for a split second that she’s gone, until the realization hit me with a dull thud. It’s waking every morning to that dull thud.”
Whew, this was such an emotional read. This novel is written in Nettie’s perspective and that helped convey her mental distress, which is the primary focus of the story. Some of her moments with Fletch were profound.
Alec was my favorite character in the entire novel. His pragmatic, vibrant, no bullshit attitude made me admire him. He stole my attention like everybody else’s in Duke. I found the book disengaging in the beginning but everything got better as the story got nearer to the end. Nettie rids herself of her doormat behavior and turns into a more independent, career-oriented woman. Her loose ends from her past get tied up as well.
‘Sing Like No One’s Listening’ is one of the most cliche YA novels I’ve read. It is also highly unrealistic in various aspects. Musicians are serious about what they drink or eat because it might affect their voice but the students in Duke drink quite a lot, it seemed a bit illogical. The competition in any prestigious art institute is cut-throat and for the first 50% of the book, Nettie doesn’t make a significant effort in her academic activities. The constant fat-shaming, slut-shaming, girl rivalry themes were tiresome. Jade; there was so much potential to add substance to her character but she’s completely cast off as a typical mean-girl villain. Nettie and Fletch were sweet but they had bad communication and Fletch’s indecisive nature was quite irksome. All the message texts were poorly edited, serving as a distraction from the story. A high school setting would’ve worked better.
This book has profound original ideas, entertaining characters but a passive narrative. ‘Sing Like No One’s Listening’ is recommended to all readers in the mood for a completely cliche YA romance. ARC provided by Peachtree Publishing Company and NetGalley. Thank you. #SingLikeNoOne'sListening#NetGalley.
Full review: https://www.inabookshell.com/2020/08/...
September 1, 2020
I’m so glad I didn’t DNF this bc I feel bad writing an “in depth” review of a book I DNFed. I have sooooo many things to say. But all I gotta say for now is NO. I read some reviews that mention the whole arts school aspect of the book - and I was honestly quite surprised to see the author has connections to musical theatre because hoooooooooooooooooooooooooly SHIT I need to explain some stuff to y’all and how ballet/art school isn’t all stereotypes. I’m am TIRED people, I am T I R E D
-------
Welcome to the full review of this!! Honestly, I tried really hard not to let this turn into a rant, but do lmk how i did 😂
thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss+ for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my onw.
The good parts:
1 - Some (very few) parts of this book were actually really accurate and made me smile a lot! Like everyone copying the person at the front of the bar in ballet cause it's always the one who knows the combo? yeah, so accurate 😂
2 - After the beginning of the book, I actually wanted to know really bad how it would end; hence why I kept reading. I didn't really care what would happen during the book but the end, I wanted to know
3 - Some of the friendships, especially Nettie and Kiki's were really sweet.
4 - The book did get better after the beginning. I considered DNFing every other page until around 40% or 50%, and then it was fine. ish
5 - This book did talk quite frankly and without romanticising (thank god) about homophobia. Not in the dance industry but I think it's something important to talk about!
———
The meh parts:
1 - let's not start at the beginning; the end of the book left me with soooo many questions, and throughout the book there were very strange plot points that made no sense and were not explained later on. See: the weird phone call at the beginning of the book is never explained, one of the characters, Luca, has no or next to no purpose at all, we never get answers as to why Nettie's mom stopped dancing, etc.
2 - The writing in this book felt as if it could have gone another five rounds of editing. It did not have the strength to carry this book. It felt choppy at times, confusing at others, and was overall part of the reason why I didn't find this book enjoyable. Honestly this book in its entirely was a whole rollercoaster (and... not in a good way).
3 - the characters just were not it. Nettie is your basic YA character. I don't have much to say about her, because there's not much to say. Fletch was fun at first but then ended up being extremely annoying. Kiki has no other trait other than her eating disorder. Alec is your fun fabulous gay best friend at first, best friend who low key turns out to be quite problematic and toxic at times. All the other characters with the exception of Steph and Michael were either terrible people, terribly annoying, or irrelevant. Speaking of Steph and Michael, they were the only nice characters of the book, and we barely read of them at all. I would have rather read a book about those two than the one I actually read.
4 - This book is a very typical one. It's the kind of book where you can guess what's gonna happen after reading three pages. The romance was... oof. Fun for about ten minutes, then I spent the rest of the book mad at both characters, only to find at the end a badly-written/made resolution. Besides I do have to mention, two books I've read recently have used big plot points from movies in their books? Both Cinderella is Dead using the plot point from Snow White and the Huntsman and this book using the plot point of one of these Cinderella movies (was it the one with Selena Gomez?). Whether it's intentional or not, it's kind of annoying ://
5 - I don't think you need to have any experience in the arts or musical theatre or ballet or whatever to be able to tell, but I'll explain how I see it anyway. I understand not everyone in the industry has the same experience. But I'm pretty sure no one in this industry has ever had an experience like the one in this book. I was very surprised the author had any experience in musical theatre because this book was stereotype after stereotype, most amplified to the point where you just have to go "come onnnnn". Examples:
* eating disorders
* eating disorders
* eating disorders
* abusive teachers
* the director everyone is terrified of and who tears everyone down
* the gay ballet dancer
* the cutthroat atmosphere (yes this is a thing, no it's not that bad for the love of god)
* the "second-years" & "third-years" being all powerful superior beings
* the fat-shaming
6 - Finally, one thing that bothered me a lot was that the main character, Nettie, had a strong case of ✨ not like other girls ✨ ugh, I know right? She's super talented, with a super talented mom, most teachers have a ✨ soft spot ✨ for her, even the director who's incredibly abusive seems to be nicer to her. I'm pretty sure Luca's only purpose in the book is to make us understand that she's gorgeous and gets all the guys' attention. She's the only girl in the school who's confident in her body, doesn't fat-shame, doesn't have an eating disorder... anyway, see where I'm going? She's ✨ special ✨ in a very annoying way. (of course those things aren't bad. I just really didn't like how the author made all these other characters into these stereotypes and put them down for it just to put the main character on a pedestal)
———
In the end, would I recommend this book? Sadly, I don't think I can. I definitely think you would enjoy this book more if you're not a dancer/singer, or if you don't really know about that industry. That said, I didn't think it was that good of a book overall, so... 🤷🏻♀️ again, that said, others have found this book enjoyable, and you might too!
-------
Welcome to the full review of this!! Honestly, I tried really hard not to let this turn into a rant, but do lmk how i did 😂
thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss+ for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my onw.
The good parts:
1 - Some (very few) parts of this book were actually really accurate and made me smile a lot! Like everyone copying the person at the front of the bar in ballet cause it's always the one who knows the combo? yeah, so accurate 😂
2 - After the beginning of the book, I actually wanted to know really bad how it would end; hence why I kept reading. I didn't really care what would happen during the book but the end, I wanted to know
3 - Some of the friendships, especially Nettie and Kiki's were really sweet.
4 - The book did get better after the beginning. I considered DNFing every other page until around 40% or 50%, and then it was fine. ish
5 - This book did talk quite frankly and without romanticising (thank god) about homophobia. Not in the dance industry but I think it's something important to talk about!
———
The meh parts:
1 - let's not start at the beginning; the end of the book left me with soooo many questions, and throughout the book there were very strange plot points that made no sense and were not explained later on. See: the weird phone call at the beginning of the book is never explained, one of the characters, Luca, has no or next to no purpose at all, we never get answers as to why Nettie's mom stopped dancing, etc.
2 - The writing in this book felt as if it could have gone another five rounds of editing. It did not have the strength to carry this book. It felt choppy at times, confusing at others, and was overall part of the reason why I didn't find this book enjoyable. Honestly this book in its entirely was a whole rollercoaster (and... not in a good way).
3 - the characters just were not it. Nettie is your basic YA character. I don't have much to say about her, because there's not much to say. Fletch was fun at first but then ended up being extremely annoying. Kiki has no other trait other than her eating disorder. Alec is your fun fabulous gay best friend at first, best friend who low key turns out to be quite problematic and toxic at times. All the other characters with the exception of Steph and Michael were either terrible people, terribly annoying, or irrelevant. Speaking of Steph and Michael, they were the only nice characters of the book, and we barely read of them at all. I would have rather read a book about those two than the one I actually read.
4 - This book is a very typical one. It's the kind of book where you can guess what's gonna happen after reading three pages. The romance was... oof. Fun for about ten minutes, then I spent the rest of the book mad at both characters, only to find at the end a badly-written/made resolution. Besides I do have to mention, two books I've read recently have used big plot points from movies in their books? Both Cinderella is Dead using the plot point from Snow White and the Huntsman and this book using the plot point of one of these Cinderella movies (was it the one with Selena Gomez?). Whether it's intentional or not, it's kind of annoying ://
5 - I don't think you need to have any experience in the arts or musical theatre or ballet or whatever to be able to tell, but I'll explain how I see it anyway. I understand not everyone in the industry has the same experience. But I'm pretty sure no one in this industry has ever had an experience like the one in this book. I was very surprised the author had any experience in musical theatre because this book was stereotype after stereotype, most amplified to the point where you just have to go "come onnnnn". Examples:
* eating disorders
* eating disorders
* eating disorders
* abusive teachers
* the director everyone is terrified of and who tears everyone down
* the gay ballet dancer
* the cutthroat atmosphere (yes this is a thing, no it's not that bad for the love of god)
* the "second-years" & "third-years" being all powerful superior beings
* the fat-shaming
6 - Finally, one thing that bothered me a lot was that the main character, Nettie, had a strong case of ✨ not like other girls ✨ ugh, I know right? She's super talented, with a super talented mom, most teachers have a ✨ soft spot ✨ for her, even the director who's incredibly abusive seems to be nicer to her. I'm pretty sure Luca's only purpose in the book is to make us understand that she's gorgeous and gets all the guys' attention. She's the only girl in the school who's confident in her body, doesn't fat-shame, doesn't have an eating disorder... anyway, see where I'm going? She's ✨ special ✨ in a very annoying way. (of course those things aren't bad. I just really didn't like how the author made all these other characters into these stereotypes and put them down for it just to put the main character on a pedestal)
———
In the end, would I recommend this book? Sadly, I don't think I can. I definitely think you would enjoy this book more if you're not a dancer/singer, or if you don't really know about that industry. That said, I didn't think it was that good of a book overall, so... 🤷🏻♀️ again, that said, others have found this book enjoyable, and you might too!
September 4, 2020
"A moving story of grief and healing - sure to be a pure joy for any musical theater aficionado."
~
I enjoyed this story of a young woman who's dream was to follow in her mother's footsteps. Her mother had passed away the year before she auditioned to attend a prestigious performing arts school. She didn't didn't do well on the audition but still made it in.
She goes in with a target on her back being attractive and the daughter of a famous performer who had also attended the school!
I read some other reviews which I shouldn't have done and not having gone to a performing arts school or being in the industry, I did enjoy this book. But I think anyone would. And I read it in a British accent which is how I think it was written. Not every story has all the answers all tied up in a bow and I personally don't need everything answered. Every reader will pull from their personal experience and love or hate anything.
I was relating to Nettie and her voice block. I lost my Dad 3 years ago and feel like I'm still not quite back so a year later she may need time and she's lucky that she had teachers support her when she wasn't performing. There was another teacher that held a long grudge against her mom and took it out on her and seriously there are nasty people like that.
I REALLY liked Fletch. I like a guy that doesn't give up easily. Biggest pet peeve is ghosting. It's hard to ignore chemistry when it's two sided and you don't know what went wrong. I'm a sucker for a romance.
I loved the relationships amongst the friends she made and how they helped and supported eachother. The mean girls were the worst but there's always those girls. Either jealous or want to be the best so they will bring others down.
I couldn't put this book down I wanted to find out how things would go for Nettie! Well done!
This book does talk about eating disorders, abuse, and, homophobia.
~
I enjoyed this story of a young woman who's dream was to follow in her mother's footsteps. Her mother had passed away the year before she auditioned to attend a prestigious performing arts school. She didn't didn't do well on the audition but still made it in.
She goes in with a target on her back being attractive and the daughter of a famous performer who had also attended the school!
I read some other reviews which I shouldn't have done and not having gone to a performing arts school or being in the industry, I did enjoy this book. But I think anyone would. And I read it in a British accent which is how I think it was written. Not every story has all the answers all tied up in a bow and I personally don't need everything answered. Every reader will pull from their personal experience and love or hate anything.
I was relating to Nettie and her voice block. I lost my Dad 3 years ago and feel like I'm still not quite back so a year later she may need time and she's lucky that she had teachers support her when she wasn't performing. There was another teacher that held a long grudge against her mom and took it out on her and seriously there are nasty people like that.
I REALLY liked Fletch. I like a guy that doesn't give up easily. Biggest pet peeve is ghosting. It's hard to ignore chemistry when it's two sided and you don't know what went wrong. I'm a sucker for a romance.
I loved the relationships amongst the friends she made and how they helped and supported eachother. The mean girls were the worst but there's always those girls. Either jealous or want to be the best so they will bring others down.
I couldn't put this book down I wanted to find out how things would go for Nettie! Well done!
This book does talk about eating disorders, abuse, and, homophobia.
September 4, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I loved that it was set at a performing arts school, that's something I haven't read a lot of. As someone who goes to a performing arts school, (nowhere near as cutthroat though) some of the aspects in this book felt familiar. I felt like the very strong focus on music and performing really made this book, because most of the characters weren't very special.
Alec was by far my favorite character. I loved how loud and outgoing he was, and I loved how he pushed Nettie out of her shell. To me, he was really the only one out of Nettie's friends who had real substance, which was a shame, because they all had a lot of potential. Along with Alec, I really liked the way that Nettie was written. Her grief over her mom's death felt real, and so did her journey to regaining her voice. I was so happy that this book didn't just have her voice poof back into existence, it actually took time and work.
I did really struggle with the characterization of one of our characters in this: Ms. Moore. I understand that their school was cutthroat, and super competitive. I might've been able to deal with it if she was only verbally abusive. (not that that isn't a problem, it just would've made more sense that what happened.) The author of this really tried to tell us that despite the teacher literally burning Nettie with a cigarette, she is still allowed to teach?? That is abuse, and it shouldn't be normalized or accepted.
The romance in this was another super weak point for me. I liked Nettie and Fletch together at the beginning of the book, but I got very tired of their constant non-communicativeness.They were constantly avoiding each other because of something, and it got very old, very fast. I hate to admit it, but I was honestly shipping Nettie and Luca, I felt like they worked together better than Nettie and Fletch. Thankfully, this book was about a lot more than the romance, so I was still able to enjoy it.
I did receive this book as an arc, but I feel like I have to mention the bad editing. At several times, text conversations were written, but lines would be jumbled, or repeated twice. I finally just stopped reading the texts because they were impossible to understand. Once again, I did get this prerelease, so the problems will most likely be fixed before publication. If you're looking for a fun romance centering around music, and finding yourself, you'll definitely enjoy this book!
Alec was by far my favorite character. I loved how loud and outgoing he was, and I loved how he pushed Nettie out of her shell. To me, he was really the only one out of Nettie's friends who had real substance, which was a shame, because they all had a lot of potential. Along with Alec, I really liked the way that Nettie was written. Her grief over her mom's death felt real, and so did her journey to regaining her voice. I was so happy that this book didn't just have her voice poof back into existence, it actually took time and work.
I did really struggle with the characterization of one of our characters in this: Ms. Moore. I understand that their school was cutthroat, and super competitive. I might've been able to deal with it if she was only verbally abusive. (not that that isn't a problem, it just would've made more sense that what happened.) The author of this really tried to tell us that despite the teacher literally burning Nettie with a cigarette, she is still allowed to teach?? That is abuse, and it shouldn't be normalized or accepted.
The romance in this was another super weak point for me. I liked Nettie and Fletch together at the beginning of the book, but I got very tired of their constant non-communicativeness.They were constantly avoiding each other because of something, and it got very old, very fast. I hate to admit it, but I was honestly shipping Nettie and Luca, I felt like they worked together better than Nettie and Fletch. Thankfully, this book was about a lot more than the romance, so I was still able to enjoy it.
I did receive this book as an arc, but I feel like I have to mention the bad editing. At several times, text conversations were written, but lines would be jumbled, or repeated twice. I finally just stopped reading the texts because they were impossible to understand. Once again, I did get this prerelease, so the problems will most likely be fixed before publication. If you're looking for a fun romance centering around music, and finding yourself, you'll definitely enjoy this book!
August 5, 2020
I have received an e-arc of this book via Netgalley (Thank you Netgalley)
*All thoughts and opinions of this book are mine.*
Spoiler Free Review
Young Adult+ Music+ Singing+ Dancing+Self love
Sing like no one’s listening is a quick, fun, and entertaining read. I enjoyed reading about Nettie and her copping with life. There is a good take on art, music, and life situations with this book.
-Synopsis-
Nettie’s mother passed away around a year to Nettie attending a school in which happens to be the same her famous mother went to. Nettie hasn’t sung a single note since her mom died. As the books own blurb states “All about finding and raising your voice, and not throwing away your shot” is a good description of the moral lessons in this book.
-Setting-
For the setting I will mainly be talking about Duke’s the dance school that Nettie attends. I feel as there wasn’t much description for the setting. So there isn’t much I can’t criticize. There is as much as similar to high school musical vibes.
-Characters-
The characters can be considered of my favorite things about this book. Nettie, I liked Nettie and her character she over came her anxiety of singing. I do wish she had a little more personality, and that she is kind of based over her moms death. Overall she is still likable. I didn’t really like Fletch at first. To me he wasn’t that important. As the book went on I slowly started to like him and now he is pretty okay.
Alec was definitely my favorite character of the book. I just loved all the personality and funny remarks.
-Writing-
The writing of this book may be what maybe me give this 4 stars rather than 5.
This book was more of “tell than show” for the writing style. The beginning drew me in and had my attention firmly. Then the middle it just became “meh” I wasn’t as captivated as I was before but during the end my attention was captured fully. One of the tropes I don’t really favor was in this book; girls fighting each other for A guy. Like come on. The book “normalized” bullying. There wasn’t an action taking to the bullying in this book. Which saddens and upsets me. Moving past those statements I liked how musical theater was incorporated into the book. The writing was not as good as I hoped it would be, though it did flow at a steady fast pace.
-Conclusion-
Do I think you should read this book? Ehhhh it’s a quick read so why not. Will I recommend this book to other readers? Yes to those looking for music included books. The book overall was good not really great just good.
*All thoughts and opinions of this book are mine.*
Spoiler Free Review
Young Adult+ Music+ Singing+ Dancing+Self love
Sing like no one’s listening is a quick, fun, and entertaining read. I enjoyed reading about Nettie and her copping with life. There is a good take on art, music, and life situations with this book.
-Synopsis-
Nettie’s mother passed away around a year to Nettie attending a school in which happens to be the same her famous mother went to. Nettie hasn’t sung a single note since her mom died. As the books own blurb states “All about finding and raising your voice, and not throwing away your shot” is a good description of the moral lessons in this book.
-Setting-
For the setting I will mainly be talking about Duke’s the dance school that Nettie attends. I feel as there wasn’t much description for the setting. So there isn’t much I can’t criticize. There is as much as similar to high school musical vibes.
-Characters-
The characters can be considered of my favorite things about this book. Nettie, I liked Nettie and her character she over came her anxiety of singing. I do wish she had a little more personality, and that she is kind of based over her moms death. Overall she is still likable. I didn’t really like Fletch at first. To me he wasn’t that important. As the book went on I slowly started to like him and now he is pretty okay.
Alec was definitely my favorite character of the book. I just loved all the personality and funny remarks.
-Writing-
The writing of this book may be what maybe me give this 4 stars rather than 5.
This book was more of “tell than show” for the writing style. The beginning drew me in and had my attention firmly. Then the middle it just became “meh” I wasn’t as captivated as I was before but during the end my attention was captured fully. One of the tropes I don’t really favor was in this book; girls fighting each other for A guy. Like come on. The book “normalized” bullying. There wasn’t an action taking to the bullying in this book. Which saddens and upsets me. Moving past those statements I liked how musical theater was incorporated into the book. The writing was not as good as I hoped it would be, though it did flow at a steady fast pace.
-Conclusion-
Do I think you should read this book? Ehhhh it’s a quick read so why not. Will I recommend this book to other readers? Yes to those looking for music included books. The book overall was good not really great just good.
May 21, 2020
**Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publisher for a chance to read & review an E-ARC of this novel!**
It started out with a Fame vibe...and ended up in High School Musical territory...not bad...just not my cup of tea. Please find my extended thoughts below...along with some spoilers (beware). :)
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Things I Liked:
-the music focus...I LOVE music & musicals! I felt that this novel did depict the cut throat world of music/theatre/showbiz pretty accurately.
-the friendship component...I LOVED Alec, Kiki, & Leon. They steered Nettie in the best directions when she was blinded by her crush(es), they were funny, & the banter between them all was written beautifully! It made me laugh quite a few times.
-the cool teachers...Steph & Michael...they were funny & helpful in a sea of musical theatre fiascos.
-how honestly the novel portrayed LGBTQ+ issues & discrimination...I think this is very important! The novel also highlighted how people can combat these issues in healthy ways by investing in themselves.
-the author's connections to the world of showbiz! I really like that the author has experienced some of the concepts in the novel herself.
Things That Didn't Sit Quite Right With Me:
-I have so many unanswered questions (Why did that voicemail from Nettie's mom come through at such an inopportune random time? What was Nettie's mom hiding about her past? What was Ms. Duke alluding to when she talked about Nettie's mom stopping dance? What happened between Nettie & her grandmother? Why was there such tension between Nettie's mom & the grandmother? Did the dance teacher from hell ever get in trouble for her abusive teaching style? How did Ms. Duke respond to Nettie's performance? What happened to Jade at Duke's after the blackmail? How did Steph respond to Nettie's performance? Did Nettie's friends just forgive Fletch?.....)
-the random plot points/changes...like the weird voicemail delivered right before her audition...Nettie falling & hitting her head after Fletch dropped off his letter...Nettie seemingly just hating her grandmother (without more context I didn't really understand this plot point)
-I didn't like how the whole Nettie/Fletch ("Netch") thing just resolved itself. He was a jerk & she was not communicative. I can see this turning into an unstable relationship & I felt like the book sort-of romanticized that.
Overall, I gave this novel 2 stars. It was a solid 3 star read for me...until about 75% of the way through. At that point it just started to feel more drama filled without any purpose (just for the sake of drama or lengthening the book). But this is not a horrible story or read! I just don't think it ended up being for me. I think it would be a fun read for a younger crowd, people who love music/musicals, & those interested in the happy-ever-after style romance stories.
It started out with a Fame vibe...and ended up in High School Musical territory...not bad...just not my cup of tea. Please find my extended thoughts below...along with some spoilers (beware). :)
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Things I Liked:
-the music focus...I LOVE music & musicals! I felt that this novel did depict the cut throat world of music/theatre/showbiz pretty accurately.
-the friendship component...I LOVED Alec, Kiki, & Leon. They steered Nettie in the best directions when she was blinded by her crush(es), they were funny, & the banter between them all was written beautifully! It made me laugh quite a few times.
-the cool teachers...Steph & Michael...they were funny & helpful in a sea of musical theatre fiascos.
-how honestly the novel portrayed LGBTQ+ issues & discrimination...I think this is very important! The novel also highlighted how people can combat these issues in healthy ways by investing in themselves.
-the author's connections to the world of showbiz! I really like that the author has experienced some of the concepts in the novel herself.
Things That Didn't Sit Quite Right With Me:
-I have so many unanswered questions (Why did that voicemail from Nettie's mom come through at such an inopportune random time? What was Nettie's mom hiding about her past? What was Ms. Duke alluding to when she talked about Nettie's mom stopping dance? What happened between Nettie & her grandmother? Why was there such tension between Nettie's mom & the grandmother? Did the dance teacher from hell ever get in trouble for her abusive teaching style? How did Ms. Duke respond to Nettie's performance? What happened to Jade at Duke's after the blackmail? How did Steph respond to Nettie's performance? Did Nettie's friends just forgive Fletch?.....)
-the random plot points/changes...like the weird voicemail delivered right before her audition...Nettie falling & hitting her head after Fletch dropped off his letter...Nettie seemingly just hating her grandmother (without more context I didn't really understand this plot point)
-I didn't like how the whole Nettie/Fletch ("Netch") thing just resolved itself. He was a jerk & she was not communicative. I can see this turning into an unstable relationship & I felt like the book sort-of romanticized that.
Overall, I gave this novel 2 stars. It was a solid 3 star read for me...until about 75% of the way through. At that point it just started to feel more drama filled without any purpose (just for the sake of drama or lengthening the book). But this is not a horrible story or read! I just don't think it ended up being for me. I think it would be a fun read for a younger crowd, people who love music/musicals, & those interested in the happy-ever-after style romance stories.
July 10, 2020
This book was a rollercoaster for me. I loved the premise of the book and was excited to meet these characters. Unfortunately, the writing style ruined any chances this book had, as it was so confusing, and ultimately inadequate to support the storyline. Overall the general idea is there, and if it was developed better would have made for an excellent novel.
October 5, 2021
Nikto sa so mnou nezmôže hádať, ak poviem, že toto je typicky young adult príbeh. Nettie sa ,,zázrakom” dostane na akadémiu múzických umení aj napriek tomu, že prišla o svoj hlas. Po smrti jej matky proste nemôže spievať, nedostane zo seba viac ako šepot a niekedy ani to. No napriek tomu ju na akadémiu prijali.
Hneď v prvý deň sa zoznámi s úžasným, o rok starším spolužiakom. Fletch je sexy, talentovaný a jednoznačne sa mu Nettie páči.
Lenže potom sa dostávame k zapletka. Nie je to nič svetoborné, ale takmer klasicky knižná zápletka, kedy jedno malé nedozorumenie vedie k ďalšiemu, k tomu pripočítame dve manipulátorské mrchy a príbeh je na svete.
Práve tieto drobné nedorozumenia a nevysvetlené ,,tajomstvá” v kombinacii s potlačovaním svojich citov vedú k tomu, že sa všetko ešte viac zamotáva.
Aby to nebol iba tínedžerský príbeh z prostredia umelcov, stretávame sa aj s témou straty blízkej osoby. Ťažká téma, kde Nettie a rovnako aj Fletch sa a ňou vyrovnávajú, pretože obaja o niekoho milovaného prišli.
Milý príbeh plný talentovaných mladých ľudí, romantického napätia od (takmer) prvej strany a najmä príjemný štýl písanie na zahrial pri srdiečku a som rada, že som siahla práve po tejto knihe.
Hneď v prvý deň sa zoznámi s úžasným, o rok starším spolužiakom. Fletch je sexy, talentovaný a jednoznačne sa mu Nettie páči.
Lenže potom sa dostávame k zapletka. Nie je to nič svetoborné, ale takmer klasicky knižná zápletka, kedy jedno malé nedozorumenie vedie k ďalšiemu, k tomu pripočítame dve manipulátorské mrchy a príbeh je na svete.
Práve tieto drobné nedorozumenia a nevysvetlené ,,tajomstvá” v kombinacii s potlačovaním svojich citov vedú k tomu, že sa všetko ešte viac zamotáva.
Aby to nebol iba tínedžerský príbeh z prostredia umelcov, stretávame sa aj s témou straty blízkej osoby. Ťažká téma, kde Nettie a rovnako aj Fletch sa a ňou vyrovnávajú, pretože obaja o niekoho milovaného prišli.
Milý príbeh plný talentovaných mladých ľudí, romantického napätia od (takmer) prvej strany a najmä príjemný štýl písanie na zahrial pri srdiečku a som rada, že som siahla práve po tejto knihe.
August 18, 2020
Primero que todo, thank you NetGalley for providing me with an eArc in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this book but it wasn't nicely executed in general. The premise sounded like so much fun. Sadly, I couldn't get into it.
My biggest issue has to be the fact that most characters (I'd go as far as to say even Nettie, our protagonist) aren't that well developed. The worst perpetrators of this are Nettie's friends. Their dialogue is even sort of inappropriate, reaching stereotypical at times. Contemporary is so character driven (at least that's how I read it) so this pulled me away from the story.
Furthermore, most of the plotpoints, the most important ones, are brushed over. I wish they were more explored and that the book had stopped and let the reader experience those moments, because it could've been great. I just couldn't connect that much overall, and I felt like the moments that could've had impact were severely rushed.
Lastly, this could've saved everything and made it much more entertaining, Nettie's voice. It was also not that well developed. It fell flat so it added to the disconnection and it slowed down the flow.
It could be enojoyable, it just needs polishing.2.5 stars
//
Tenía muchas ganas de que me gustara este libro, pero en general no está bien ejecutado. La premisa sonaba muy divertida. Lamentablemente, no pude engancharme del todo.
Mi mayor problema tiene que ser el hecho de que la mayoría de los personajes (iría tan lejos como para decir que incluso Nettie, nuestra protagonista) no están tan bien desarrollados. Los peores perpetradores de esto son los amigos de Nettie. Su diálogo es incluso algo inapropiado, llegando a ser estereotipado a veces. Este tipo de historias están desarrolladas mayormente por sus personajes (al menos así es como lo leo), así que esto me alejó de la historia.
Además, la mayoría de los puntos de la trama, los más importantes, se pasan por arriba. Ojalá estuvieran más explorados y que el libro se hubiera detenido y dejado que el lector viviera esos momentos, porque podría haber sido genial. Simplemente no pude conectar tanto en general, y sentí que los momentos que podrían haber tenido impacto fueron muy apresurados.
Por último, esto podría haber salvado todo y hacerlo mucho más entretenido, la voz de Nettie. Tampoco estaba tan bien desarrollado. Cayó plano, por lo que se sumó a la desconexión y ralentizó el ritmo.
Se podría disfrutar un montón, solo se necesita pulirlo. 2,5 estrellas
Since her mother died, Nettie Delaney hasn’t been able to sing a note. This wouldn’t be a problem if she wasn’t now attending Dukes, the most prestigious performing arts college in the country, with her superstar mother’s shadow hanging over her. Nettie has her work cut out for her and everyone is watching.
But one night, in an empty studio after college, Nettie finds herself suddenly singing, as someone behind the curtain accompanies her on the piano. Maybe all is not lost for Nettie. Maybe she can find her voice again and survive her first year at Dukes. But can she do it before she gets thrown out?
I really wanted to like this book but it wasn't nicely executed in general. The premise sounded like so much fun. Sadly, I couldn't get into it.
My biggest issue has to be the fact that most characters (I'd go as far as to say even Nettie, our protagonist) aren't that well developed. The worst perpetrators of this are Nettie's friends. Their dialogue is even sort of inappropriate, reaching stereotypical at times. Contemporary is so character driven (at least that's how I read it) so this pulled me away from the story.
Furthermore, most of the plotpoints, the most important ones, are brushed over. I wish they were more explored and that the book had stopped and let the reader experience those moments, because it could've been great. I just couldn't connect that much overall, and I felt like the moments that could've had impact were severely rushed.
Lastly, this could've saved everything and made it much more entertaining, Nettie's voice. It was also not that well developed. It fell flat so it added to the disconnection and it slowed down the flow.
It could be enojoyable, it just needs polishing.2.5 stars
//
Desde que falleció su madre, Nettie Delaney no ha sido capaz de cantar ni una nota. Esto no sería un problema si no estuviera yendo a Dukes, la universidad de artes más prestigiosa del país, con la sombra de la estrella de su mamá colgando por encima ella. Nettie tiene las cosas a la palma de la mano, y todos están mirando.
Pero una noche, en un estudio vacío, Nettie se encuentra de repente cantando, mientras alguien detrás de la cortina la acompaña al piano. Quizás no todo esté perdido para Nettie. Tal vez pueda volver a encontrar su voz y sobrevivir a su primer año en Dukes. Pero, ¿puede hacerlo antes de que la echen?
Tenía muchas ganas de que me gustara este libro, pero en general no está bien ejecutado. La premisa sonaba muy divertida. Lamentablemente, no pude engancharme del todo.
Mi mayor problema tiene que ser el hecho de que la mayoría de los personajes (iría tan lejos como para decir que incluso Nettie, nuestra protagonista) no están tan bien desarrollados. Los peores perpetradores de esto son los amigos de Nettie. Su diálogo es incluso algo inapropiado, llegando a ser estereotipado a veces. Este tipo de historias están desarrolladas mayormente por sus personajes (al menos así es como lo leo), así que esto me alejó de la historia.
Además, la mayoría de los puntos de la trama, los más importantes, se pasan por arriba. Ojalá estuvieran más explorados y que el libro se hubiera detenido y dejado que el lector viviera esos momentos, porque podría haber sido genial. Simplemente no pude conectar tanto en general, y sentí que los momentos que podrían haber tenido impacto fueron muy apresurados.
Por último, esto podría haber salvado todo y hacerlo mucho más entretenido, la voz de Nettie. Tampoco estaba tan bien desarrollado. Cayó plano, por lo que se sumó a la desconexión y ralentizó el ritmo.
Se podría disfrutar un montón, solo se necesita pulirlo. 2,5 estrellas
November 5, 2020
So I don’t read a lot of Young Adult Contemporary but now and then I like to try one and read outside my comfort zone and now and then I find one I enjoy. 🙂
In Sing Like No One’s Listening Nettie is at an audition to try and get into the Dukes Academy, it’s a music and dance school. Her mother has been dead for I believe about a year and she has been living with her grandmother who isn’t a real nice person so this is sort of her escape. The thing is right before she goes on to sing for her audition she gets a message on her phone from her mother that must have gotten lost in the phone world till right then. It totally screws with her head and messes her up and she can’t sing.
Surprisingly she gets accepted into Dukes and she thinks it’s kind of strange because she bombed her audition, but she is excited to go. Now if she can just manuvere around and fake her way though things till she can find her voice again. Things are pretty tough at Dukes and right off the bat she seems to get in the line of sight of a couple mean girls who are second term students because it seems a second year boy has taken an interest in Nettie.
Nettie also makes some really good friends as Alec sort of takes her under his wing and then she meets another girl Kiki, who seems to never eat. Of course there is Fletch the second year boy who is an amazing with a guitar and he writes songs. When she helps him with a part he was having trouble with he decides they should write together. This doesn’t go over well with the two mean girls.
Soon they are spending a lot of time with each other and then right before Christmas break something happens, it’s a bit of miscommunication but Nettie things he has feelings for someone else and that part gets a little annoying. Meanwhile, she is working very hard on getting her voice back because it really is a psychological issue and she has a teacher helping her.
I know nothing about the music/dance academy type things but it did seem to have some stereotypical characters, the mean girls, the eating disorders, and the over the top gay male. Some of the teachers where mean but for the most part there was some good ones. I think Steph her music coach was probably one of my favorite characters. I liked Nettie well enough but she just annoyed me some. Fletch was pretty cool but he handles something very badly and if he wouldn’t have could have solved things.
So for the most part I did enjoy this but I think the romance aspects of it tainted things a bit. I really had miscommunications in romances and a lot of time even in adult ones it irks me. This one though could have been solved if she would have just ask Fletch about things instead of assuming she knew who it was that he liked!!! I really wanted to smack her at times.
I totally loved the ending and had figured out some things revolving the ‘other girl’ and I do think this would make a cute YA movie for netflix. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys a YA contemporary.
In Sing Like No One’s Listening Nettie is at an audition to try and get into the Dukes Academy, it’s a music and dance school. Her mother has been dead for I believe about a year and she has been living with her grandmother who isn’t a real nice person so this is sort of her escape. The thing is right before she goes on to sing for her audition she gets a message on her phone from her mother that must have gotten lost in the phone world till right then. It totally screws with her head and messes her up and she can’t sing.
Surprisingly she gets accepted into Dukes and she thinks it’s kind of strange because she bombed her audition, but she is excited to go. Now if she can just manuvere around and fake her way though things till she can find her voice again. Things are pretty tough at Dukes and right off the bat she seems to get in the line of sight of a couple mean girls who are second term students because it seems a second year boy has taken an interest in Nettie.
Nettie also makes some really good friends as Alec sort of takes her under his wing and then she meets another girl Kiki, who seems to never eat. Of course there is Fletch the second year boy who is an amazing with a guitar and he writes songs. When she helps him with a part he was having trouble with he decides they should write together. This doesn’t go over well with the two mean girls.
Soon they are spending a lot of time with each other and then right before Christmas break something happens, it’s a bit of miscommunication but Nettie things he has feelings for someone else and that part gets a little annoying. Meanwhile, she is working very hard on getting her voice back because it really is a psychological issue and she has a teacher helping her.
I know nothing about the music/dance academy type things but it did seem to have some stereotypical characters, the mean girls, the eating disorders, and the over the top gay male. Some of the teachers where mean but for the most part there was some good ones. I think Steph her music coach was probably one of my favorite characters. I liked Nettie well enough but she just annoyed me some. Fletch was pretty cool but he handles something very badly and if he wouldn’t have could have solved things.
So for the most part I did enjoy this but I think the romance aspects of it tainted things a bit. I really had miscommunications in romances and a lot of time even in adult ones it irks me. This one though could have been solved if she would have just ask Fletch about things instead of assuming she knew who it was that he liked!!! I really wanted to smack her at times.
I totally loved the ending and had figured out some things revolving the ‘other girl’ and I do think this would make a cute YA movie for netflix. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys a YA contemporary.
August 31, 2019
I have to be honest and let you know that I am a massive fan of musicals, theatre and those TV shows where the characters are all learning to be dancers or singers or actors. Honestly, anything that has something to do with performance in and I am usually a massive sucker for them. (And has anyone else soaked up ALL of the Australian films on gymnasium things?) So when this book fell into my inbox, I knew that it was one that I simply had to read. And I am incredibly glad I did! I truly loved this book from the start to the finish and would highly recommend it. It has been written by someone who works on broadway and one of the things I noticed straight away is that it flows as though it is a musical. It would work so well on stage – in my opinion!
To get a better idea of how much I loved this book, here are the bits about this book that I loved and the bits that I didn’t get along so well with!
Best Things About the Book
I absolutely loved our main protagonist. I loved how she felt like a really rounded person. She’s had a lot to deal with and yet is still so mentally strong and powerful. It was such a delight to read.
I adored the LGBT rep in this book. Especially in Kiki. It was just such a delight and didn’t feel like it was too in your face – even if Alec is a bit OTT but it just works with him!
The musical theatre! As a bit of a theatre geek myself, I truly loved this aspect of the book. Not just the talk of the performances but how it all comes together. I would have loved to have been at a university like this – I just don’t have a drop of talent myself!
The friendships in this book are so incredibly inspiring. I was in love with this friendship gang from the minute they met and decided that they would be a group. They all got on so well and all had each others backs and I just loved reading about that!
The sensitivity of dealing with death and the emotional impact it can have. I thought the book dealt with this topic so well. I felt so much for Nettie. And she was a much more stable person at the end which I absolutely loved.
Not so Good Things
There was a bit of a “mean girl” trope going on in this book which I found to be a little irritating and OTT at the start. It worked out well towards the end but it felt a little off at the start.
I also disliked one of the teachers quite a lot, and again, it felt that this relationship was only there to further the plot along. I would be seriously worried if any teacher actually treats her students this way. So in a way, these scenes pulled me out of the book a little bit.
To get a better idea of how much I loved this book, here are the bits about this book that I loved and the bits that I didn’t get along so well with!
Best Things About the Book
I absolutely loved our main protagonist. I loved how she felt like a really rounded person. She’s had a lot to deal with and yet is still so mentally strong and powerful. It was such a delight to read.
I adored the LGBT rep in this book. Especially in Kiki. It was just such a delight and didn’t feel like it was too in your face – even if Alec is a bit OTT but it just works with him!
The musical theatre! As a bit of a theatre geek myself, I truly loved this aspect of the book. Not just the talk of the performances but how it all comes together. I would have loved to have been at a university like this – I just don’t have a drop of talent myself!
The friendships in this book are so incredibly inspiring. I was in love with this friendship gang from the minute they met and decided that they would be a group. They all got on so well and all had each others backs and I just loved reading about that!
The sensitivity of dealing with death and the emotional impact it can have. I thought the book dealt with this topic so well. I felt so much for Nettie. And she was a much more stable person at the end which I absolutely loved.
Not so Good Things
There was a bit of a “mean girl” trope going on in this book which I found to be a little irritating and OTT at the start. It worked out well towards the end but it felt a little off at the start.
I also disliked one of the teachers quite a lot, and again, it felt that this relationship was only there to further the plot along. I would be seriously worried if any teacher actually treats her students this way. So in a way, these scenes pulled me out of the book a little bit.
August 13, 2020
///////HUGE TW for fatphobia/disordered eating, grief (spec. death of a parent)
I was excited to read this book as I went to school for theatre and I was hoping to enjoy a quick realistic story about grief and performing through the tough times in life. Unfortunately, this just didn't hit the way I wanted it to. A lot of the dialogue felt a little young for the age of the characters, but it could have been that the characters just needed some more fleshing out. I didn't really know too much about our main character other than the fact that her mother died and she liked musical theatre for most of the book. I thought that the beginning of the book was good but as soon as we entered the school environment it just felt so unrealistic. There may have been a time that professors could talk to students that way, but it's gone now- and if someone has a teacher that speaks to them the way these ones do I encourage you to report it or find a different school. Theatre school IS competitive. Theatre school IS hard work. But Theatre school is NOT, and should not ever, be what was represented in this book. In addition to these things, many of the questions I was interested in knowing the answers to were never answered. I'll also say the cover art on NetGalley is gorgeous and was one of the reasons I requested the book (other than the subject matter), but the cover on Goodreads is nowhere near as compelling. I think there are definitely people who would enjoy this quick read- if they enjoyed the HIlary Duff movie Raise Your Voice, it's quite similar. But in the end, I'd caution anyone going into this that this is not an accurate representation of theatre school and has some problematic elements that are never solved.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy of the book.
I was excited to read this book as I went to school for theatre and I was hoping to enjoy a quick realistic story about grief and performing through the tough times in life. Unfortunately, this just didn't hit the way I wanted it to. A lot of the dialogue felt a little young for the age of the characters, but it could have been that the characters just needed some more fleshing out. I didn't really know too much about our main character other than the fact that her mother died and she liked musical theatre for most of the book. I thought that the beginning of the book was good but as soon as we entered the school environment it just felt so unrealistic. There may have been a time that professors could talk to students that way, but it's gone now- and if someone has a teacher that speaks to them the way these ones do I encourage you to report it or find a different school. Theatre school IS competitive. Theatre school IS hard work. But Theatre school is NOT, and should not ever, be what was represented in this book. In addition to these things, many of the questions I was interested in knowing the answers to were never answered. I'll also say the cover art on NetGalley is gorgeous and was one of the reasons I requested the book (other than the subject matter), but the cover on Goodreads is nowhere near as compelling. I think there are definitely people who would enjoy this quick read- if they enjoyed the HIlary Duff movie Raise Your Voice, it's quite similar. But in the end, I'd caution anyone going into this that this is not an accurate representation of theatre school and has some problematic elements that are never solved.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy of the book.
June 22, 2020
[this ARC was kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]
Nettie is a first-year at Duke's, a college for artists. The only trouble is - she can't sing. She lost her voice because of the trauma of her mother's death.
Set in London, and where we follow Nettie through her first year at university and see her struggle and gradually overcome her fears and setbacks (and find true friendship and love).
So, that's the synopsis I'd probably put on the back of the cover. An honest synopsis would probably sound like this: Nettie is a lost first-year at Duke's, a fancy college for dancers, singers and such, led by the most ridiculous, Cecile Duke (read: Nettie's dead Mum's ex-best friend). The only trouble (apart from the numerous clichés forced on us throughout the book, such as the gay best friend, plain Jane and the hot musician who "understands") is that Nettie, which is short for nothing less than Antoinette, can't sing in front of people because of a voicemail she got after her Mum's death that messed something up with her brain.
Okay, I've had my fun, now let's review for real.
The writing was very quick and with almost no description. It was told from Nettie's POV in present tense, and I got the impression that she was always hyperventilating, anxious and super stressed out. (It definitely didn't make me like her.)
Apart from that, she was the prototype of plain Jane. She had no friends, claimed it was because she ignored them after her breakdown at her Duke's audition, and had no problem with it. Let's get hypothetical here, shall we? So, 12th Year, secondary school. Nettie has a lot of good friends, whom she's known for AT LEAST three years. Then, her Mum dies, and she starts to ignore them all, even though (as she said) they try to help with the grief. Wouldn't she miss them? That'd be... natural. But no, she doesn't think twice about them, same as her Mum - throughout the novel, she continually says how much she misses her and how many problems she has because of her death. Do we, however, SEE her miss her Mum in real-life situations? No, we do not.
Also, this is something I wrote into my notebook when I was at about 28%: "a better intro needed - too rushed, we still don't know who Antoinette is as a person". And you'd think I'd disagree with that statement (at least the second half) after getting through the whole thing - but I don't. I don't know Nettie after 320 pages from HER point of view, besides the fact that she's a musical theatre geek. A singer and an orphan are not exactly personality traits.
The other characters include Kiki, an anorectic commercial dancer, Alec, a cocky ballet dancer (and the gay best friend), Leon, a writer (I think) (the other gay best friend), and Fletch, a guitarist (and the ever-glorious love interest). We also have some antagonists - Natasha and Jade - characters created only to humiliate Nettie or cause drama between her and Fletch. Anna Todd, anyone? They all are somehow stereotyped and flat, even though I smiled along at times - British humour can save everything.
The plot was moving smoothly and swiftly most of the time, which I appreciated, although it irked me how Nettie just seemed to make all the dumbest choices possible and the biggest drama could've been solved by simply communicating. I don't understand if most contemporary writers nowadays miscommunication is cool, but IT IS NOT. It's simply frustrating for the reader.
The last thing - words like obvs (obviously), emosh (emotional) and vom (vomit). If I pay for a book, I'd like to receive one without these typos/desperate attempts at modern language. I'd understand if this was aid while texting, but no - Nettie either thinks it or someone (ehm, the stereotype gay drama queen Alec is, ehm) says it out loud.
In conclusion (finally!), this book is an OK for me. I didn't like the beginning and a lot of things were not developed and thought out deeply enough, but I found myself quite enjoying the last 40%, so it wasn't a total flop. I'd say, give it a try if you like books about boarding school, singing and theatre, or book set in Britain. Maybe you'll love it!
→2 stars
Nettie is a first-year at Duke's, a college for artists. The only trouble is - she can't sing. She lost her voice because of the trauma of her mother's death.
Set in London, and where we follow Nettie through her first year at university and see her struggle and gradually overcome her fears and setbacks (and find true friendship and love).
So, that's the synopsis I'd probably put on the back of the cover. An honest synopsis would probably sound like this: Nettie is a lost first-year at Duke's, a fancy college for dancers, singers and such, led by the most ridiculous, Cecile Duke (read: Nettie's dead Mum's ex-best friend). The only trouble (apart from the numerous clichés forced on us throughout the book, such as the gay best friend, plain Jane and the hot musician who "understands") is that Nettie, which is short for nothing less than Antoinette, can't sing in front of people because of a voicemail she got after her Mum's death that messed something up with her brain.
Okay, I've had my fun, now let's review for real.
The writing was very quick and with almost no description. It was told from Nettie's POV in present tense, and I got the impression that she was always hyperventilating, anxious and super stressed out. (It definitely didn't make me like her.)
Apart from that, she was the prototype of plain Jane. She had no friends, claimed it was because she ignored them after her breakdown at her Duke's audition, and had no problem with it. Let's get hypothetical here, shall we? So, 12th Year, secondary school. Nettie has a lot of good friends, whom she's known for AT LEAST three years. Then, her Mum dies, and she starts to ignore them all, even though (as she said) they try to help with the grief. Wouldn't she miss them? That'd be... natural. But no, she doesn't think twice about them, same as her Mum - throughout the novel, she continually says how much she misses her and how many problems she has because of her death. Do we, however, SEE her miss her Mum in real-life situations? No, we do not.
Also, this is something I wrote into my notebook when I was at about 28%: "a better intro needed - too rushed, we still don't know who Antoinette is as a person". And you'd think I'd disagree with that statement (at least the second half) after getting through the whole thing - but I don't. I don't know Nettie after 320 pages from HER point of view, besides the fact that she's a musical theatre geek. A singer and an orphan are not exactly personality traits.
The other characters include Kiki, an anorectic commercial dancer, Alec, a cocky ballet dancer (and the gay best friend), Leon, a writer (I think) (the other gay best friend), and Fletch, a guitarist (and the ever-glorious love interest). We also have some antagonists - Natasha and Jade - characters created only to humiliate Nettie or cause drama between her and Fletch. Anna Todd, anyone? They all are somehow stereotyped and flat, even though I smiled along at times - British humour can save everything.
The plot was moving smoothly and swiftly most of the time, which I appreciated, although it irked me how Nettie just seemed to make all the dumbest choices possible and the biggest drama could've been solved by simply communicating. I don't understand if most contemporary writers nowadays miscommunication is cool, but IT IS NOT. It's simply frustrating for the reader.
The last thing - words like obvs (obviously), emosh (emotional) and vom (vomit). If I pay for a book, I'd like to receive one without these typos/desperate attempts at modern language. I'd understand if this was aid while texting, but no - Nettie either thinks it or someone (ehm, the stereotype gay drama queen Alec is, ehm) says it out loud.
In conclusion (finally!), this book is an OK for me. I didn't like the beginning and a lot of things were not developed and thought out deeply enough, but I found myself quite enjoying the last 40%, so it wasn't a total flop. I'd say, give it a try if you like books about boarding school, singing and theatre, or book set in Britain. Maybe you'll love it!
→2 stars
June 10, 2025
Toto určite využijem v niektorej výzve. :) Hlavná hrdinka študuje na akadémii pre talentovaných umelcov, zomrela jej mama a ešte sa nevie s jej odchodom vyrovnať. Náhodou jej príde hlasová správa od mamy a v tom šoku stratí hlas. Jej problémy so spevom sú psychického rázu a dostane sa jej nevídanej podpory od riaditeľky (kamarátky jej mamy), ale aj režiséra, hlasovej terapeutky a spolužiakov.
Je tu ale mnoho toxických ľudí (babkou začínajúc a učiteľmi končiac, typické vyvršovanie sa starších žiakov nad mladším a ich šikanovanie, poruchy príjmu potravy a bodyshamig baletiek a tanečníc celkovo, aj od násilnej učiteľky (vytrhnutie vlasov a pálenie cigaretou!), spomenulo sa aj týranie gayov, no proste hrozná atmosféra...
Nepohybujem sa v takej spoločnosti, ale nechce sa mi veriť, že by toto malo odrážať skutočnosť. Stereotyp navŕšený nad stereotypom, od neuveriteľnej náhody na začiatku až po finálnu scénu, kedy sa mladej všetko podarí, zahviezdi, konečne dokáže zaspievať pred publikom, jej nepriateľky sú verejne ponížené a milovaný sa konečne vyjadrí a všetko je trblietavé ako záver v romantickom muzikáli.
Je tu ale mnoho toxických ľudí (babkou začínajúc a učiteľmi končiac, typické vyvršovanie sa starších žiakov nad mladším a ich šikanovanie, poruchy príjmu potravy a bodyshamig baletiek a tanečníc celkovo, aj od násilnej učiteľky (vytrhnutie vlasov a pálenie cigaretou!), spomenulo sa aj týranie gayov, no proste hrozná atmosféra...
Nepohybujem sa v takej spoločnosti, ale nechce sa mi veriť, že by toto malo odrážať skutočnosť. Stereotyp navŕšený nad stereotypom, od neuveriteľnej náhody na začiatku až po finálnu scénu, kedy sa mladej všetko podarí, zahviezdi, konečne dokáže zaspievať pred publikom, jej nepriateľky sú verejne ponížené a milovaný sa konečne vyjadrí a všetko je trblietavé ako záver v romantickom muzikáli.
August 29, 2020
The musical book I wanted so badly. Nettie dreams of going to Duke to study music and sing, but since her mother's death she has lost her voice. Even so, she joins Duke following her mother's legacy and suffers from competitiveness, pressure from the art school and pressure to recover her voice. In this Nettie goes on a journey of finding herself and her voice, while making incredible friendships and falling in love. It has a bit of mystery, which leaves you wanting for more and more.
I found the scenario changes abrupt and confusing, I would like more fluidity.
In short it is a good young adult romance full of music, art, friendship and romance.
I found the scenario changes abrupt and confusing, I would like more fluidity.
In short it is a good young adult romance full of music, art, friendship and romance.
January 23, 2022
2.8/5
it was a good book. very cheesy romance hallmark movie vibes yk? i did really like the music focus on it. characters were written well enough for me to get pissed at them so that’s something! also the emphasis on musical theater made me happy. especially seeing the name of songs from shows i know lolz. just a little too cheesy for me.
it was a good book. very cheesy romance hallmark movie vibes yk? i did really like the music focus on it. characters were written well enough for me to get pissed at them so that’s something! also the emphasis on musical theater made me happy. especially seeing the name of songs from shows i know lolz. just a little too cheesy for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2021
I miss the theatre so much. 🥲
August 20, 2020
Despite her audition being a complete disaster, Nettie is accepted to a renowned arts program. The only problem is she can't sing. Not a note. Hopefully, Nettie is able to work through her grief and loss and be able to reclaim her voice before she is loses her spot at her dream school.
I had such a lovely time getting to know Nettie. Following her mother's death, she was more or less, on her own, at least emotionally. Life with her formerly estranged grandmother was not full of warm fuzzies. Rather, it was punctuated with sharp criticism and attempts to undercut Nettie's belief in herself. But Nettie didn't let it get her down. She was determined to get into Duke's and succeed at achieving her dreams.
In case you couldn't tell, it was really easy for me to root for Nettie. She had baggage and was dealing with a LOT, but she still kept her head up and her eyes on the prize. While at Duke's she encountered a lot of people who were set on making things difficult for her. They were hoping she would stumble and fall, but Nettie had grit and determination, and I loved her that much more for it.
As I said, Nettie was not only dealing with a lot of pain due to the loss of her mother, she was also struggling with a mental block which was keeping her from singing. The great thing was that Nettie was not alone in her struggle. She had a fabulous and colorful group of steadfast friends, who were there for her. They were all really so supportive of each other, and I admired and adored this little "family".
She was also fortunate to have stumbled into a friendship with Fletch. Fletch was someone who could really understand Nettie's pain, because he had also lost someone close to him. I think it was vital that she had someone like that to connect to, and that made Fletch an important part of her healing process. I actually was a fan of Nettie+Fletch. I thought they were rather adorable together even if there was some drama (isn't there always).
Like many other readers, I was curious to learn more about Nettie's mom's past. But, alas, those answers never came. It was sort of frustrating, but in all fairness, this was not her mom's story. In fact, Nettie explicitly stated (multiple times) that she was not trying to uncover these answers. Though I will never get the answers to some of my questions, I am ok with it.
I love grief books, and I thought this was a beautiful story of healing which managed to touch my heart. With stellar friendships and a fantastic musical score, Nettie was bound to ease her pain and find her voice, and I happily rooted for her along the way.
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
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I had such a lovely time getting to know Nettie. Following her mother's death, she was more or less, on her own, at least emotionally. Life with her formerly estranged grandmother was not full of warm fuzzies. Rather, it was punctuated with sharp criticism and attempts to undercut Nettie's belief in herself. But Nettie didn't let it get her down. She was determined to get into Duke's and succeed at achieving her dreams.
In case you couldn't tell, it was really easy for me to root for Nettie. She had baggage and was dealing with a LOT, but she still kept her head up and her eyes on the prize. While at Duke's she encountered a lot of people who were set on making things difficult for her. They were hoping she would stumble and fall, but Nettie had grit and determination, and I loved her that much more for it.
As I said, Nettie was not only dealing with a lot of pain due to the loss of her mother, she was also struggling with a mental block which was keeping her from singing. The great thing was that Nettie was not alone in her struggle. She had a fabulous and colorful group of steadfast friends, who were there for her. They were all really so supportive of each other, and I admired and adored this little "family".
She was also fortunate to have stumbled into a friendship with Fletch. Fletch was someone who could really understand Nettie's pain, because he had also lost someone close to him. I think it was vital that she had someone like that to connect to, and that made Fletch an important part of her healing process. I actually was a fan of Nettie+Fletch. I thought they were rather adorable together even if there was some drama (isn't there always).
Like many other readers, I was curious to learn more about Nettie's mom's past. But, alas, those answers never came. It was sort of frustrating, but in all fairness, this was not her mom's story. In fact, Nettie explicitly stated (multiple times) that she was not trying to uncover these answers. Though I will never get the answers to some of my questions, I am ok with it.
I love grief books, and I thought this was a beautiful story of healing which managed to touch my heart. With stellar friendships and a fantastic musical score, Nettie was bound to ease her pain and find her voice, and I happily rooted for her along the way.
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
BLOG | INSTAGRAM |TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS
June 24, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley for allowing to review this book.
The storyline begins when Nettie is about to do the biggest audition of her singing career. However, everything that could go wrong goes wrong because she has not been able to process past life events.
Over the course of the chapters, Nettie deals with how to move forward after a tragic loss, while still trying to succeed at college. Her feelings of insecurity and sensitivity were what I related the most, as she truly believed she would not be able to get past it.
I loved how music was at every point of this book, and how it can help as a coping mechanism. Also, how secondary characters had a good storyline of their own, and how they helped her find her self-growth. Although, the love story was realistic and romantic, There were definitely times were the guys was making things far too confusing for my taste. The chemistry was there, but at times, it seemed like it was not going to be enough.
The storyline begins when Nettie is about to do the biggest audition of her singing career. However, everything that could go wrong goes wrong because she has not been able to process past life events.
Over the course of the chapters, Nettie deals with how to move forward after a tragic loss, while still trying to succeed at college. Her feelings of insecurity and sensitivity were what I related the most, as she truly believed she would not be able to get past it.
I loved how music was at every point of this book, and how it can help as a coping mechanism. Also, how secondary characters had a good storyline of their own, and how they helped her find her self-growth. Although, the love story was realistic and romantic, There were definitely times were the guys was making things far too confusing for my taste. The chemistry was there, but at times, it seemed like it was not going to be enough.
May 7, 2020
Plotline - 3.5/5
Enjoyability - 4/5
Recommendable - 4/5
Sing Like No One’s Listening is a great light for any reader out there, especially if they are looking to cleanse their reading pallet. Being a fine arts enthusiast myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the setting of a fine arts school and the integration of musical terms, instrumentalists, dancers, singers, etc. (even the addition of a “rest” between pages was super cute!), especially those referring to certain musicals such as Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, etc.
I found that the storyline followed the typical formula of a contemporary novel. We have the main character (Antoinette) who has several love interests, a group of friends she can count on, and of course a couple of enemies. The said protagonist has a problem she needs to overcome while dealing with these other characters and eventually the problem is resolved at the end and everyone is happy. It did seem a little cliche to me and I found that much of the details in the story were predictable. It was interesting seeing Nettie’s perspective towards her performance anxiety as I find myself having to deal with performance anxiety myself. I totally understand the difference between performing alone versus in front of a group of people.
While the story itself was enjoyable, I did not like how Nettie was babied throughout her time at the institution. While I understand her circumstances were special, the way she was treated did not feel authentic in terms of it being a real-world scenario. There definitely was a lot of hand-holding done by the teachers which would not be acceptable in reality, especially if Duke’s is a high caliber school.
Overall it was an acceptable read. It had a plot much like one of those contemporary teen drama movies you would find on Netflix. One thing I would’ve liked is to see more realistic renditions of Nettie’s situation of being unable to sing and her treatment at the school.
December 25, 2019
This book was received from the publisher in return for an honest review
I’m going to preface this review with a few trigger warnings, which I don’t normally do but probably should try to do more of. SING (Like No One’s Listening) contains the aftermath of parental death, bullying, one instance of physical abuse and potential eating disorders. Now perhaps seeing as it’s a book about a prestigious performing arts academy I should have foreseen at least the latter of my warnings but I didn’t and given my history with a friend who nearly died from anorexia after her ballet teacher told her she was too big to make it professionally, the ballet teacher saying some quite vile things to Nettie, including about her weight hit me hard and I had to put the book down for a while and come back to it.
Nettie’s mum dies suddenly from cancer, moving from diagnosis to death in only a few weeks. Following her mother’s passing Nettie is forced to live with her grandmother, a woman she barely knowns and insists on being referred to as Auntie. There’s only one thing Nettie wants to do and that’s to secure herself a place at Duke’s, a prestigious performing arts college. There’s only one problem, on the day of her audition she loses her voice, she simply cannot sing, the words won’t come out. By some miracle she makes it into the college and the book follows her through her first year as she tries to find her voice.
Considering the amount of time that passes over the course of the book the plot moves on fairly rapidly, with key points of the year being covered, despite the pace at which the book moves at no point did I feel short changed or that I would have liked more time to be spent on a section. I really enjoyed seeing the day to day life within the school, plus the build up to some of their major events.
There’s a great variety of characters introduced in the book, with both students and teachers to meet. Nettie or Antoinette Sylvie Moira Delaney-Richardson to give her her full name, is the central character and what a wonderful central character she makes in my opinion. She wants to succeed and do her mother proud, she’s aware of the dancing legacy her mother has left, the expectations people have as soon as they hear her name, and she knows that’s not where her talents lie. Instead her talents lie firmly with music, throughout the book, even when she can’t sing it’s clear she’s got what it takes to be a talented song writer. But most importantly for me, and the reason I connected with her, is that she is kind. No matter what is thrown at her she remains supportive of her friends, and stands up for herself. Even when her friends are rejoicing at something going wrong for one of the girls who bullies her, she can’t bring herself to enjoy it, she still feels bad for her.
Fletch, who wouldn’t want a guy like Fletch in their lives? He’s cute and talented. He also has his own experience of grief that lets him connect with Nettie in a unique way. I’m definitely fond of him but there are still moments where I would have liked to have given him a gentle shake
Kiki, Alec and Leon become Nettie’s support system and I enjoyed them all. Kiki was the hardest of the three characters for me to read, because of my personal history, and at points I did worry for her, I was very pleased she had a friend like Nettie constantly reminding her how beautiful she is. Alec is one of the characters who probably comes closest to being a stereotype, as the gay ballet dancer, that said he’s out, he’s proud and yes he’s a little risqué and says things he probably shouldn’t get away with but his heart is in the right place, plus the little bit of backstory we get about his time at school makes it that bit harder not to love him. Then we have Leon who is the one in this group that I felt we saw the least, we get a little of his family life though and I’d love to delve a little deeper into that but there’s a time and a place and this story wasn’t it.
Jade and Natasha – they’re definitely stereotypical mean girls. They take a dislike to Nettie because she doesn’t immediately bow to their word as senior students and stands up for themselves. I wish I could say some of what they do is unbelievable, and it is in one sense, but having known a girl decide to crack an egg into my friend’s backpack just because she could, it’s not unrealistic. Would part of me like some deep backstory to explain why the pair of them are the way they are, absolutely, but the fact is some people are just not nice… and I feel that’s the case here…
The last character I’m going to talk about is Millicent Moore, the ballet teacher. She is without doubt the character I found the most problematic. I don’t think she’s necessarily an unrealistic character but I certainly struggled to read the hatred that she showed Nettie. It’s becomes clear within the story that there is a history between her and Nettie’s mum but we never get to discover what it is. To be honest whatever may have happened in the past cannot excuse her actions in the book, I’m not sure there’s anyway she can be redeemed in my eyes…
Finally I was very lucky to receive this book from the publishers on NetGalley but there were some issues with the formatting. A couple of paragraphs seemed to be in the wrong order, so the narrative took a strange jump in a couple of places, fortunately it was only a page or so out so not too difficult to work out the correct order. The book also contains text messages between some of the characters and for some reason the eARC contained be black squares with some text around but it wasn’t the easiest to work out who was saying what, and there were a couple of messages where I felt like part of the message may have been missing. I feel it’s only fair to mention that as I think it may have slightly affected my overall enjoyment of the book.
Final Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed SING (Like No One’s Listening). Yes some of the characters are probably a little cliched but that doesn’t mean they’re not authentic at the same time. I would argue Vanessa is far better placed to judge that that I. I really grew to like Nettie and although the plot wrapped up nicely I still didn’t feel quite done with Nettie’s story, I definitely still have some questions about her mother’s past so I was very pleased to discover a short extract from a sequel hiding after the last chapter. I’ll be sure to get my hands on DANCE (Like No One’s Watching) once it’s released.
I’m going to preface this review with a few trigger warnings, which I don’t normally do but probably should try to do more of. SING (Like No One’s Listening) contains the aftermath of parental death, bullying, one instance of physical abuse and potential eating disorders. Now perhaps seeing as it’s a book about a prestigious performing arts academy I should have foreseen at least the latter of my warnings but I didn’t and given my history with a friend who nearly died from anorexia after her ballet teacher told her she was too big to make it professionally, the ballet teacher saying some quite vile things to Nettie, including about her weight hit me hard and I had to put the book down for a while and come back to it.
Nettie’s mum dies suddenly from cancer, moving from diagnosis to death in only a few weeks. Following her mother’s passing Nettie is forced to live with her grandmother, a woman she barely knowns and insists on being referred to as Auntie. There’s only one thing Nettie wants to do and that’s to secure herself a place at Duke’s, a prestigious performing arts college. There’s only one problem, on the day of her audition she loses her voice, she simply cannot sing, the words won’t come out. By some miracle she makes it into the college and the book follows her through her first year as she tries to find her voice.
Considering the amount of time that passes over the course of the book the plot moves on fairly rapidly, with key points of the year being covered, despite the pace at which the book moves at no point did I feel short changed or that I would have liked more time to be spent on a section. I really enjoyed seeing the day to day life within the school, plus the build up to some of their major events.
There’s a great variety of characters introduced in the book, with both students and teachers to meet. Nettie or Antoinette Sylvie Moira Delaney-Richardson to give her her full name, is the central character and what a wonderful central character she makes in my opinion. She wants to succeed and do her mother proud, she’s aware of the dancing legacy her mother has left, the expectations people have as soon as they hear her name, and she knows that’s not where her talents lie. Instead her talents lie firmly with music, throughout the book, even when she can’t sing it’s clear she’s got what it takes to be a talented song writer. But most importantly for me, and the reason I connected with her, is that she is kind. No matter what is thrown at her she remains supportive of her friends, and stands up for herself. Even when her friends are rejoicing at something going wrong for one of the girls who bullies her, she can’t bring herself to enjoy it, she still feels bad for her.
Fletch, who wouldn’t want a guy like Fletch in their lives? He’s cute and talented. He also has his own experience of grief that lets him connect with Nettie in a unique way. I’m definitely fond of him but there are still moments where I would have liked to have given him a gentle shake
Kiki, Alec and Leon become Nettie’s support system and I enjoyed them all. Kiki was the hardest of the three characters for me to read, because of my personal history, and at points I did worry for her, I was very pleased she had a friend like Nettie constantly reminding her how beautiful she is. Alec is one of the characters who probably comes closest to being a stereotype, as the gay ballet dancer, that said he’s out, he’s proud and yes he’s a little risqué and says things he probably shouldn’t get away with but his heart is in the right place, plus the little bit of backstory we get about his time at school makes it that bit harder not to love him. Then we have Leon who is the one in this group that I felt we saw the least, we get a little of his family life though and I’d love to delve a little deeper into that but there’s a time and a place and this story wasn’t it.
Jade and Natasha – they’re definitely stereotypical mean girls. They take a dislike to Nettie because she doesn’t immediately bow to their word as senior students and stands up for themselves. I wish I could say some of what they do is unbelievable, and it is in one sense, but having known a girl decide to crack an egg into my friend’s backpack just because she could, it’s not unrealistic. Would part of me like some deep backstory to explain why the pair of them are the way they are, absolutely, but the fact is some people are just not nice… and I feel that’s the case here…
The last character I’m going to talk about is Millicent Moore, the ballet teacher. She is without doubt the character I found the most problematic. I don’t think she’s necessarily an unrealistic character but I certainly struggled to read the hatred that she showed Nettie. It’s becomes clear within the story that there is a history between her and Nettie’s mum but we never get to discover what it is. To be honest whatever may have happened in the past cannot excuse her actions in the book, I’m not sure there’s anyway she can be redeemed in my eyes…
Finally I was very lucky to receive this book from the publishers on NetGalley but there were some issues with the formatting. A couple of paragraphs seemed to be in the wrong order, so the narrative took a strange jump in a couple of places, fortunately it was only a page or so out so not too difficult to work out the correct order. The book also contains text messages between some of the characters and for some reason the eARC contained be black squares with some text around but it wasn’t the easiest to work out who was saying what, and there were a couple of messages where I felt like part of the message may have been missing. I feel it’s only fair to mention that as I think it may have slightly affected my overall enjoyment of the book.
Final Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed SING (Like No One’s Listening). Yes some of the characters are probably a little cliched but that doesn’t mean they’re not authentic at the same time. I would argue Vanessa is far better placed to judge that that I. I really grew to like Nettie and although the plot wrapped up nicely I still didn’t feel quite done with Nettie’s story, I definitely still have some questions about her mother’s past so I was very pleased to discover a short extract from a sequel hiding after the last chapter. I’ll be sure to get my hands on DANCE (Like No One’s Watching) once it’s released.
June 10, 2020
I loved this book. It's more in the YA territory than I usually go, but I got swept in and could hardly put it down. There were a few parts of the story that didn't get resolved to my satisfaction, BUT it was such a great read I can overlook that.
This comes out in September 2020. I think people will enjoy it, especially if they are musical, theatrical, dealing with grief, or human.
This comes out in September 2020. I think people will enjoy it, especially if they are musical, theatrical, dealing with grief, or human.
July 9, 2019
I will write a more considered review, but I just *adore* this book! There’s a gorgeous romantic plot, it deals with some really tough issues in a light-handed way, and you can’t go wrong with a book that references the epic Grease 2...
April 17, 2019
Excellent. Loved the main character, really rooted for her, and enjoyed spending time in the musical theatre world conjured up.
April 14, 2021
Antoinette Delaney-Richardson dite Nettie est la fille de la célèbre danseuse Anastasia Delaney-Richardson qui est morte d'un cancer il y a déjà un an. Son rêve, intégrer la Duke's Academy, la prestigieuse école de danse, de chant et de comédie musicale. Mais le jour de son audition elle reçoit un ancien message vocal de sa mère et catastrophe, le choc de se message lui fait perdre sa voix. Nettie ne peux alors plus chanter. Après une audition désastreuse n'ayant rien pu faire Nettie pense que son avenir à Duke est fichue mais elle est finalement admise. Mais gros problème, elle ne peux toujours pas chanter.
Dès ses premiers jours elle fait des rencontres merveilleuses, Alec qui va devenir son meilleur ami, Fletch dont elle se rapprocher et tomber amoureuse, Kiki qui va également devenir une amie proche et d'autres mais aussi des plus mauvaises rencontres tels que Natasha, Jade ou sa prof de danse Mme Moore qui vont toutes les trois lui mener la vie dure.
Mais Nettie sait que ces jours à l'académie sont compter car la directrice Mme Duke l'a rappelé Duke ne veut que le meilleure et ne garde que le meilleure.
Mais alors qu'elle pensait ne plus pouvoir chanter, elle se surprend à chanter un soir dans un amphi désert mais pas si désert que ça car un mystérieux pianiste l'accompagne. Tout n'est peut-être pas perdu.
Nettie va-t-elle retrouver sa voix ? Que va-t-il se passer entre elle et Fletch ? Pourquoi Mme Moore la déteste ? Quelle relation avait sa mère et Cecile Duke ? Qui est ce mystérieux pianiste ?
Mon avis :
J'ai adoré cette histoire et les bouleversements qui s'enchaînent jusqu'à la fin. De même que les intrigues sont passionnantes. Certaines restent en suspens pour j'espère une future suite.
Le personnage de Nettie est génial et essaye d'affronter les problèmes la tête haute. Sa relation avec les autres est vraiment super. Particulièrement celle avec Alec qui fait tout pour la pousser vers le haut. Pareil pour sa relation avec Fletch même si celle-ci est beaucoup plus amoureuse et faite de haut et de bas. J'ai juste trouvé les problèmes sur la relations avec Jade un peu long.
Comme je l'ai déjà dit j'ai beaucoup aimé le personnage d'Alec qui est un homosexuel qui s'affirme et qui est toujours là pour aider Nettie. En plus de cela c'est un super danseur quoique un peu arrogant ce qui risque de lui jouer des tours dans le futur.
J'ai aussi aimé le personnage de Fletch qui a lui aussi traversé des épreuves, un peu comme tout les personnages de l'histoire (homosexualité compliqué, image de son poids difficile, argent,...) lui il a perdu son frère ce qui en sommes la rapproché de Nettie au travers d'une chanson.
Le personnage de Kiki est aussi super, elle illustre bien à quel point le monde de la dans et du spectacle est exigeant par rapport au poids et au corps des gens.
Enfin pour résumé j'ai adoré tout les personnages sauf Mme Moore que je ne supportait pas.
J'ai aussi beaucoup aimé le façon dont il aborde le deuil et comment chacun le vit différemment
Le seul point négatif que je pourrais trouvé au livre est que d'une certaine façon même si ce n'est pas le message qui essaye d'être transmis. Il fait un peu l'apologie de la maigreur. Que si tu n'est pas maigre tu ne réussiras pas et même si le personnage principale est contre et essaye de réconforter Kiki par rapport à ça, j'ai du mal surtout quand cela parle du "régime" de Kiki.
C'est le seul point négatif que je peux trouver à cette histoire.
Pour le reste elle est géniale et je vous la recommande totalement
Dès ses premiers jours elle fait des rencontres merveilleuses, Alec qui va devenir son meilleur ami, Fletch dont elle se rapprocher et tomber amoureuse, Kiki qui va également devenir une amie proche et d'autres mais aussi des plus mauvaises rencontres tels que Natasha, Jade ou sa prof de danse Mme Moore qui vont toutes les trois lui mener la vie dure.
Mais Nettie sait que ces jours à l'académie sont compter car la directrice Mme Duke l'a rappelé Duke ne veut que le meilleure et ne garde que le meilleure.
Mais alors qu'elle pensait ne plus pouvoir chanter, elle se surprend à chanter un soir dans un amphi désert mais pas si désert que ça car un mystérieux pianiste l'accompagne. Tout n'est peut-être pas perdu.
Nettie va-t-elle retrouver sa voix ? Que va-t-il se passer entre elle et Fletch ? Pourquoi Mme Moore la déteste ? Quelle relation avait sa mère et Cecile Duke ? Qui est ce mystérieux pianiste ?
Mon avis :
J'ai adoré cette histoire et les bouleversements qui s'enchaînent jusqu'à la fin. De même que les intrigues sont passionnantes. Certaines restent en suspens pour j'espère une future suite.
Le personnage de Nettie est génial et essaye d'affronter les problèmes la tête haute. Sa relation avec les autres est vraiment super. Particulièrement celle avec Alec qui fait tout pour la pousser vers le haut. Pareil pour sa relation avec Fletch même si celle-ci est beaucoup plus amoureuse et faite de haut et de bas. J'ai juste trouvé les problèmes sur la relations avec Jade un peu long.
Comme je l'ai déjà dit j'ai beaucoup aimé le personnage d'Alec qui est un homosexuel qui s'affirme et qui est toujours là pour aider Nettie. En plus de cela c'est un super danseur quoique un peu arrogant ce qui risque de lui jouer des tours dans le futur.
J'ai aussi aimé le personnage de Fletch qui a lui aussi traversé des épreuves, un peu comme tout les personnages de l'histoire (homosexualité compliqué, image de son poids difficile, argent,...) lui il a perdu son frère ce qui en sommes la rapproché de Nettie au travers d'une chanson.
Le personnage de Kiki est aussi super, elle illustre bien à quel point le monde de la dans et du spectacle est exigeant par rapport au poids et au corps des gens.
Enfin pour résumé j'ai adoré tout les personnages sauf Mme Moore que je ne supportait pas.
J'ai aussi beaucoup aimé le façon dont il aborde le deuil et comment chacun le vit différemment
Le seul point négatif que je pourrais trouvé au livre est que d'une certaine façon même si ce n'est pas le message qui essaye d'être transmis. Il fait un peu l'apologie de la maigreur. Que si tu n'est pas maigre tu ne réussiras pas et même si le personnage principale est contre et essaye de réconforter Kiki par rapport à ça, j'ai du mal surtout quand cela parle du "régime" de Kiki.
C'est le seul point négatif que je peux trouver à cette histoire.
Pour le reste elle est géniale et je vous la recommande totalement
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2020
"We're a musical theatre plot gone wrong"
I'm not sure what to do with this book. While I enjoyed it, I think it was aimed at a much younger audience. The plot is enjoyable and appealing, but also SO FULL OF CLICHES and tropes I haven't read about since high school. I won't claim to know more than the author about the theatre experience, but I think this would have worked out much better ten years ago. Let's see:
-It's a fun read. The musical world is dazzling. It's tough but in a glamourous way. The musical references were also amazing. If you're familiar with them, the book is like 10% times better.
-The mental themes. The book explores grieving, anxiety, and healing. It's nice to see these topics being talked about. While most of the drama feels unrealistic, these themes feel surprisingly real and emotional.
-Nettie, the protagonist, goes through some bad stuff. Her mother dies, her singing voice is gone, the mean girls have set their eyes on her, and if that was not enough, she has an abusive teacher. But she manages to move on and do her best, without hurting anyone back, and that makes her a good person. [Sorry to say, I wouldn't be so forgiving. (Long live Jude Duarte)]
She's also super woke and occasionally funny.
"Fletch. Nettie and Fletch. Netch. OMG stop."
The main problem with Nettie is her way of assuming everything and then refusing to be explained about it.
-Nettie's friends are a failed attempt to deepen in what already are cliched characters. They're stereotypes of people with just glimpses of backstories, designed to be around her.
And Alec... Oh Alec :(. Have you seen the movie "Isn't It Romantic" starring Rebel Wilson? Yeap, Alec is the neighbor.
-The romance is sweet but the lack of communication is too frustrating.
-Aaaaaand my main problem: The Mean Girl trope. I really thought that died years ago. Fighting like that over a boy? Really?
I want to finalize saying that this book is not a bad one, it's a nice read and a decent debut, but nothing more. It had potential. I think there was a wasted opportunity here. If you read this, please tell me if you agree:
My rating is 3.5
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an arc of this book.
I'm not sure what to do with this book. While I enjoyed it, I think it was aimed at a much younger audience. The plot is enjoyable and appealing, but also SO FULL OF CLICHES and tropes I haven't read about since high school. I won't claim to know more than the author about the theatre experience, but I think this would have worked out much better ten years ago. Let's see:
-It's a fun read. The musical world is dazzling. It's tough but in a glamourous way. The musical references were also amazing. If you're familiar with them, the book is like 10% times better.
-The mental themes. The book explores grieving, anxiety, and healing. It's nice to see these topics being talked about. While most of the drama feels unrealistic, these themes feel surprisingly real and emotional.
-Nettie, the protagonist, goes through some bad stuff. Her mother dies, her singing voice is gone, the mean girls have set their eyes on her, and if that was not enough, she has an abusive teacher. But she manages to move on and do her best, without hurting anyone back, and that makes her a good person. [Sorry to say, I wouldn't be so forgiving. (Long live Jude Duarte)]
She's also super woke and occasionally funny.
"Fletch. Nettie and Fletch. Netch. OMG stop."
The main problem with Nettie is her way of assuming everything and then refusing to be explained about it.
-Nettie's friends are a failed attempt to deepen in what already are cliched characters. They're stereotypes of people with just glimpses of backstories, designed to be around her.
And Alec... Oh Alec :(. Have you seen the movie "Isn't It Romantic" starring Rebel Wilson? Yeap, Alec is the neighbor.
-The romance is sweet but the lack of communication is too frustrating.
-Aaaaaand my main problem: The Mean Girl trope. I really thought that died years ago. Fighting like that over a boy? Really?
I want to finalize saying that this book is not a bad one, it's a nice read and a decent debut, but nothing more. It had potential. I think there was a wasted opportunity here. If you read this, please tell me if you agree:
My rating is 3.5
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an arc of this book.
August 22, 2020
This was an entertaining and emotional story about a young woman dealing with grief while trying to attend a high pressure college for the performing arts. Nettie Delaney is the daughter of a woman who was a star performer who died of cancer a year earlier. Nettie's mother was a dancer but Nettie's strength is her singing voice. At least it was until her mother died and she lost her voice.
Nettie's audition was a disaster because she got a long-lost voice mail from her mother just before she was set to perform and found that she couldn't sing at all after receiving it. So she was very surprised to find that she had been admitted to the prestigious program despite her awful performance. Once she learns that that head of the school knew her mother, she thought she understood why she had been admitted.
The story is filled with a bunch of characters straight from teen melodramas. Almost the first person she meets is the awesomely talented and gay dancer Alec who decides that they are going to be best friends. And she meets the talented and handsome Fletch who wants to write songs with her. She makes friends with Kiki who is in the dance program and who feels like she always has to lose weight. There are the school Mean Girls in Natasha and Jade. Jade has a massive crush on Fletch, a dad who has bought her way into the school, and absolutely no talent. There is a mean ballet teacher who has taken Nettie in dislike and who belittles her at every opportunity. There are also sympathetic teachers like Michael who knew her mother and Steph who is the advanced vocal coach and determined to help Nettie get her voice back.
There is lots of drama too. Naturally Fletch and Nettie have difficulties with their romance. Between Jade who is constantly trying to attract Fletch's attention to Fletch's confusion about the real-like Nettie and the girl who is singing when he plays piano in the next room - who also happens to be Nettie. Time is spent with Nettie trying to figure out who her mystery accompanist is. She even suspects Jade at one point.
I liked the story and know that fans of musical theater and romance will enjoy it. Lots of the references to musical theater went right over the top of my head though because I'm a very casual fan of the genre. I really liked that Nettie had a strong body image and was confident in her appearance despite other people's attempts to belittle her.
Nettie's audition was a disaster because she got a long-lost voice mail from her mother just before she was set to perform and found that she couldn't sing at all after receiving it. So she was very surprised to find that she had been admitted to the prestigious program despite her awful performance. Once she learns that that head of the school knew her mother, she thought she understood why she had been admitted.
The story is filled with a bunch of characters straight from teen melodramas. Almost the first person she meets is the awesomely talented and gay dancer Alec who decides that they are going to be best friends. And she meets the talented and handsome Fletch who wants to write songs with her. She makes friends with Kiki who is in the dance program and who feels like she always has to lose weight. There are the school Mean Girls in Natasha and Jade. Jade has a massive crush on Fletch, a dad who has bought her way into the school, and absolutely no talent. There is a mean ballet teacher who has taken Nettie in dislike and who belittles her at every opportunity. There are also sympathetic teachers like Michael who knew her mother and Steph who is the advanced vocal coach and determined to help Nettie get her voice back.
There is lots of drama too. Naturally Fletch and Nettie have difficulties with their romance. Between Jade who is constantly trying to attract Fletch's attention to Fletch's confusion about the real-like Nettie and the girl who is singing when he plays piano in the next room - who also happens to be Nettie. Time is spent with Nettie trying to figure out who her mystery accompanist is. She even suspects Jade at one point.
I liked the story and know that fans of musical theater and romance will enjoy it. Lots of the references to musical theater went right over the top of my head though because I'm a very casual fan of the genre. I really liked that Nettie had a strong body image and was confident in her appearance despite other people's attempts to belittle her.
June 21, 2021
Sing Like No One’s Watching is a book that lands solidly in the mediocre-to-bad category of a 2-star rating. It’s a textbook YA novel with clichés, stereotypes, and a boring “not like other girls” protagonist, who is meant to be a progressive feminist but ends up perpetuating toxic thought patterns. There’s a token gay, a (male) love interest, and boring writing. While the plot is OK, and the premise had potential, it’s Nettie herself that bothered me the most. Don’t get me wrong, the book itself wasn’t that good either; I’ll get to that later. Nettie is… interesting. Or rather, she’s not that interesting at all; she’s somehow more special than everyone else, has one big flaw, and is uppity. Her inner monologue talks about positive self-image in one scene, and how it’s rude of a teacher to use “fat” as an insult, before going on to say that she herself is very skinny and has good body image, while everyone else in the room probably doesn’t, setting such a strange double standard. She also has a big flaw, her voice, but it’s not as interesting as it could have been. In one particular scene where she attempts to sing, she’s able to because she thinks about her feelings for a boy, and while it would have been interesting to see how singing her own feelings is easier, it was really brought down by the fact that she is “saved” by the male love interest. It would have been so much more interesting to see Nettie develop feelings for the girl who she originally thinks is playing piano as she sings. The conflicting feelings on sexuality and her voice would have been far more interesting than the actual story, where the piano player is actually a guy. It could also be more interesting if Nettie went to therapy for her grief and expressed her feelings in a healthy, safe environment instead of badly communicating with people and struggling through it herself, as most YA protagonists inevitably seem to do. There are some awfully cliché and unrealistic moments in the end as well, for example, the finale, where an audience cheers as the show is interrupted in a way that no actual production would be, but I won’t get too far into that. Overall, I would recommend this book to someone in high school, who enjoys mediocre writing.
Reviewed by Masha K., 15, Boston Mensa
Reviewed by Masha K., 15, Boston Mensa
November 12, 2020
See my full review here: https://www.yabookscentral.com/yafict...
SING LIKE NO ONE'S LISTENING is a YA fiction about grief and anxiety. Nettie lost her mother unexpectedly after a diagnosis of secondary cancer about a year ago. Since then, she has been lost in her grief, made even more pronounced by her grandmother's cruelty. She has decided to apply to a school for the arts, planning to go for her voice. However, when she gets there, she finds she is unable to sing after she thinks of her mother and runs out crying.
To her surprise, she gets in to the prestigious school anyway, likely because her mother was such a renowned ballerina. Once she attends, she finds she is still unable to sing in front of anyone, her teachers and some of the students are bullies, and she still misses her mother terribly.
What I loved: The portrayal of grief here is really well done. We really feel her grief and the pain that she continues to feel, which manifests in her anxiety over singing - something she had always loved. Nettie is struggling, and this felt really genuine, as she tries to live in a world where her mother is no longer physically present but emotionally still so real.
What left me wanting more: I found a lot of the characters to be one-dimensional, and I wanted more complexity. I also felt like some really big issues were brought up rather bluntly and dismissed. For instance, she is physically abused by one of the teachers and fat-shamed (her confidence renders her immune, but we see this play out in other students), and considering how vulnerable she seems, none of this really seems to phase her at all. I would have liked a deeper discussion of these, as this can be quite harmful. As another topic warning, there is also a mention of sexual abuse (past) from another character.
Final verdict: SING LIKE NO ONE'S LISTENING is a book about grief and the process of living after the loss of a loved one. This may work for younger YA readers as long as there are discussions of some of the difficult themes around the reading.
Please note that I received a review copy. All opinions are my own.
SING LIKE NO ONE'S LISTENING is a YA fiction about grief and anxiety. Nettie lost her mother unexpectedly after a diagnosis of secondary cancer about a year ago. Since then, she has been lost in her grief, made even more pronounced by her grandmother's cruelty. She has decided to apply to a school for the arts, planning to go for her voice. However, when she gets there, she finds she is unable to sing after she thinks of her mother and runs out crying.
To her surprise, she gets in to the prestigious school anyway, likely because her mother was such a renowned ballerina. Once she attends, she finds she is still unable to sing in front of anyone, her teachers and some of the students are bullies, and she still misses her mother terribly.
What I loved: The portrayal of grief here is really well done. We really feel her grief and the pain that she continues to feel, which manifests in her anxiety over singing - something she had always loved. Nettie is struggling, and this felt really genuine, as she tries to live in a world where her mother is no longer physically present but emotionally still so real.
What left me wanting more: I found a lot of the characters to be one-dimensional, and I wanted more complexity. I also felt like some really big issues were brought up rather bluntly and dismissed. For instance, she is physically abused by one of the teachers and fat-shamed (her confidence renders her immune, but we see this play out in other students), and considering how vulnerable she seems, none of this really seems to phase her at all. I would have liked a deeper discussion of these, as this can be quite harmful. As another topic warning, there is also a mention of sexual abuse (past) from another character.
Final verdict: SING LIKE NO ONE'S LISTENING is a book about grief and the process of living after the loss of a loved one. This may work for younger YA readers as long as there are discussions of some of the difficult themes around the reading.
Please note that I received a review copy. All opinions are my own.
March 1, 2019
Nettie has only ever wanted to perform. Her mother was a famous dancer, but Nettie is drawn to singing and musical theatre. Until a mistake on the day of her audition to the prestigious Duke's Academy means she loses her singing voice. Nettie is amazed when she gets in anyway, chalking it up to her legacy status, but her joy turns to horror when she realises they expect her to regain her voice immediately. Fighting a teacher who hates her, a student who's jealous and the expectations of the entire faculty, can Nettie rise above and Sing?
This was an enjoyable story set in the business of show. I was a little surprised when Nettie met basically all the important characters on the first day, complete with two Crash Into Hellos, but maybe things really do move that quickly in show business. And I know this is a personal thing, but I wouldn't be friends for long with anyone who called me Dear Girl all the time, no matter how often he signed me in when I was late.
But Nettie is not me, and she makes the best of her time at Duke's. The story has some good ups and downs and a couple of nice twists. I'll be looking forward to reading the sequel to see what happens next.
Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.
'Blimey, Nettie. Way to get noticed.' Alec's standing by the front doors and has just watched me stumble through the entrance with an amused look on his face. 'You'll have them queuing up for tickets by the end of the week at this rate.'
'I'm late,' I gasp, breathless.
'No, you're not, darling. I answered for you in my best falsetto. Nailed it, by the way.'
'Thanks.' I grab yesterday's water bottle from my bag and down the dregs. 'You didn't have to do that,'
He swivels my string of pearls so that the clasp is behind my neck. 'Darling girl, for someone with your level of fabulous, I'd step out in front of traffic. But to be honest, it would probably stop for me. I have that effect.'
I can't see what he thinks is so special about me, but I don't argue.
This was an enjoyable story set in the business of show. I was a little surprised when Nettie met basically all the important characters on the first day, complete with two Crash Into Hellos, but maybe things really do move that quickly in show business. And I know this is a personal thing, but I wouldn't be friends for long with anyone who called me Dear Girl all the time, no matter how often he signed me in when I was late.
But Nettie is not me, and she makes the best of her time at Duke's. The story has some good ups and downs and a couple of nice twists. I'll be looking forward to reading the sequel to see what happens next.
Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.
'Blimey, Nettie. Way to get noticed.' Alec's standing by the front doors and has just watched me stumble through the entrance with an amused look on his face. 'You'll have them queuing up for tickets by the end of the week at this rate.'
'I'm late,' I gasp, breathless.
'No, you're not, darling. I answered for you in my best falsetto. Nailed it, by the way.'
'Thanks.' I grab yesterday's water bottle from my bag and down the dregs. 'You didn't have to do that,'
He swivels my string of pearls so that the clasp is behind my neck. 'Darling girl, for someone with your level of fabulous, I'd step out in front of traffic. But to be honest, it would probably stop for me. I have that effect.'
I can't see what he thinks is so special about me, but I don't argue.
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