As someone who has no real interest in music, I was unexpectedly taken in by Mira’s passion - don’t let a lack of knowledge or interest in the music scene stop you from enjoying this heartfelt debut! Filled with wonderful, fully-developed characters and realistically complex relationships, Hecker’s coming-of-age story takes readers on a wild ride through the DJ scene and expertly tackles serious issues without ever becoming preachy or alienating. Will definitely be purchasing for my school library.

When I first requested this book I thought it would be a nice fluffy read with a musical element however what I got was something deeper, darker and much more exciting.

it handled so many issues really well and gave some great in depths on how best to handle them and what to look out for.

I love the Mira as a character she was in depth and well written I felt like I was with her trying to figure out everything. Seeing how she not only handled her own dreams and situations but also that of her friends and family. I loved the dynamic she had with the music - not only one single genre but fitting in a range made it feel more diverse and as someone who doesn't really listen to either genre I had fun learning more about them through the eyes of someone close to my age.

The writing was able to create a slow build up in suspense and anticipation, entangling all the smaller story lines into an amazing well planned and well detailed ending.

This novel is great for anyone and everyone and I feel like it would be able to help a lot of people on how o handle various different situations that seem to becoming more and more common in this day and age.

I would highly recommend.

Anna Hecker's debut, When the Beat Drops, is a masterpiece of a novel, composed specifically to break the reader's heart. It was lyrical and stunning in a way that only a fellow musician can write.

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In When the Beat Drops, Seventeen-year-old Mira has always danced to her own beat. A music prodigy in a family of athletes, she’d rather play trumpet than party—and with her audition to a prestigious jazz conservatory just around the corner (and her two best friends at music camp without her), she plans to spend the summer focused on jazz and nothing else.

She only goes to the warehouse party in a last-ditch effort to bond with her older sister. Instead, she falls in love with dance music, DJing…and Derek, a gorgeous promoter who thinks he can make her a star. Suddenly trumpet practice and old friendships are taking a backseat to packed dance floors, sun-soaked music festivals, outsized personalities, and endless beats.

But when a devastating tragedy plunges her golden summer into darkness, Mira discovers just how little she knows about her new boyfriend, her old friends, and even her own sister. Music is what brought them together…but will it also tear them apart?

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I received an eARC of When the Beat Drops via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm also mutuals with the agent for this book, Eric Smith, on Twitter.

I picked this up thinking it would be much lighter than it was. I still devoured it in two sittings. It would have been one sitting if I hadn't had to go to bed.

This book needs major content warnings for recreational drug use, drug addiction, major side character overdose, major side character death, an abusive romantic relationship, gaslighting, manipulation, minor use of ableist terms, minor use of fat-antagonistic terms, and minor homophobia (called out).

When The Beat Drops played my heartstring's like Crow played her double bass — skillfully and beautifully. I went from laughing out loud to crying to clutching my laptop to my chest while I read. Music is threaded throughout main character Mira's thoughts and the way she functions in life, even to the ways she handles stress and

What really made this book powerful for me was the way it actually dealt with failure - for Britt, for Mira, for their parents, and for Shay. A lot of YA books shy away from letting their characters fail powerfully, but Hecker let them all fall hard. All of the characters got to make bad decisions, and they all had consequences. It made this book heart-wrenching. It also ended on a hopeful note, which I appreciated. I have a lot of hope for all of the characters' futures, even if we never see them.

If you couldn't tell, I loved When the Beat Drops a lot. I highly recommend it, and look forward to whatever Hecker decides to put us through next!

You can purchase a copy of When The Beat Drops on
Amazon, Indiebound or Barnes and Noble!
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Title: When The Beat Drops

Author: Anna Hecker

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

Length: 320 Pages

Release Date: May 1, 2018

Rating: ★★★★★ / Five stars

Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction

Representation: biracial main character and family

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When choosing this book, I was really drawn in by the cover. I related to this book because I know how it feels to not follow the same path as your siblings, and be the odd one out. Music was and still is a big part of my life so I enjoyed seeing that aspect of the book play out.

This was a good one! I have read like 6 YA books in the last week and only a few stand out. Mira, the main character, is a high school student and confirmed band geek. She plays the trumpet and wants to attend a specialized music conservatory for college. Her two best friends go to music camp that she normally would have gone to, but her parents dont have the money this year and she finds out too late to get a scholarship, so she is stuck at home for the summer. Her sister, who is normally a straight A soccer star go-getter, comes back from college a changed person. She has a new attitude and new friends. Mira goes to a party with her sister, Britt, and discovers the world of DJ's parties and unfortunately drugs which her sister is using. Mira gets swept up in this new life (not the drugs) but starts DJ'ing herself and falls for Derek who she thinks is a manager/promoter. He makes all these promises to her and she totally thinks he is going to deliver and that hes a great guy. Some twists in the story change her mind pretty quickly and she sees how wrong she is and how wrong the lifestyle her sister has fallen into is. This book is all about family and love and looking out for each other when bad choices are made. Mira learns a lot about herself, her sister, her parents and her life and matures in a wonderful yet painful way as the story progresses. I really liked the writing, characters and the musical background of the story. Definitely worth reading!

I feel in love with this cover but was a bit reserved about reading it as i had heard a few bad reviews.
I actually really loved this book ...it showed the main character are slightly naive but at the end of the day there are many teenagers that are that way due to living sheltered lives.
This book really focused on the consequences on drug use, abusive partners and drugs.
The focus on music and music knowledge was pretty impressive ...All in all - i am glad i gave this book a chance !

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
3.75 stars
While I enjoyed the story(s) of Mira and Britt I just felt like it was missing something I can't quite put my finger on. All in all though it was a very cute read and has a small focus on the dangers of drug use.

I received When the Beat Drops by Anna Hecker from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. That had no impact on my thoughts. My thoughts are my own.

Maaaaan that was a good story. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first requested When the Beat Drops. I just knew that it sounded like it could be good, but I wasn’t sure. I’m not sure why I was a little bit skeptical about the book in the first place. But it proved me wrong!

When the Beat Drops was about a girl who started off wanting to play the trumpet for this college or camp program thing but then she gets to tag along with her sister to this party and bumps into a DJ when her sister ditches her and slowly develops an interest for DJing in the story. The DJ aspect of the story was just COOL! There was a bit of a party scene, and drugs, and sex involved in the story but they didn’t take up the entire story. It’s easy to overlook, especially how the character handled all of the situations she was in. (There was a time when she was being silly, but there was character growth from that!)

I just really liked the DJing part of the story very much. It was just super cool. This story was like P.S. I like you by Jenny Han with a bit of a party scene/ mixed in with it. It is more of a young adult/new adult crossover book so I’d recommend this to older high school students and above in the young adult crowd. I’d say there should be a warning for drugs, sex, and a character death but it’s not terrible. It was very well written.

I definitely would recommend this to anybody who can appreciate the music/DJing part. Again, this book was so cool. I wasn’t able to find much of anything I didn’t like about this book. It’s a five star read for the unique plot, character development and it’s fast pacing. I was able to finish this in about a day if you don’t count the 8 hours of sleep and work in between.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read and review this!

When the Beat Drops is an enjoyable debut with relatable characters and great world building--it felt like I was on the dance floor myself!

This novel is fast paced from the very first sentence, drawing the reader in.
An original plot with an engaging protagonist.

I was completely surprised by this book, I went into it knowing very little about it and I am so glad I did as it made reading it very enjoyable. Everything was great the plot, the characters and writing. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good YA contemporary..

This is pretty much what you’d expect from a Bildungsroman. It tackles the story of a socially awkward jazz player who is focused purely on her talent until one day her sister takes her to a rave. She becomes gradually seduced by the music and a consuming first-love and misses lol the warning signs that are obvious to anyone with less naivety or understanding of the genre. Alongside her new found experiences she is forced to tackle issues surrounded drugs, loss and finding her place in her family. All of this bumbles along in a well-woven plot though there are few surprises. It’s an okay to good read, depending on your tastes.

Having a background in music and being a former band geek, I was immediately drawn to this book.  Mira's obsession with music, ambitious goals, and close relationship with her family make her instantly likable.  Despite that close relationship, she feels as if her parents always put her sister's needs and interests ahead of her own, and she's very accommodating and understanding for her age.  I admired her determination to work on her goals, try new experiences, and meet new people instead of sitting around sulking after missing music camp.  The dynamics between Mira and her best friends are genuine and relatable, and getting an insider's view of DJing made this tech-lover very happy.

The first 70% of this book was enjoyable read for me, but soon after, things seemed to go off the rails.  I'll try to put this in general terms to avoid spoilers.  I found it difficult to believe that parents would be oblivious to such a profound change in their child's appearance and actions.  Mira and her family are dealing with, as well as avoiding, several problems, but the blame comes across as misplaced.  By eliminating a certain aspect from their lives, everything is resolved, which is an unrealistic expectation.  Questions are left unanswered, I was ultimately disappointed at certain choices that didn't ring true for the character, and the ending felt rushed.   

My issues are personal, and I'd still recommend this book to music lovers, because it's rare to find books exploring that world - they're few and far between, and I'd love to see more. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.