Music from Another World by Robin Talley is one of the best books I've had the opportunity to read so far in 2020. It's an engrossing epistolary YA LGBTQ+ historical fiction story told primarily in a series of letters and diary entries between pen pals and personal entries written to Harvey Milk. The journeys that both Tammy and Sharon take are both powerful and heartbreaking. I have to admit that it's crushing to know the real life fate of Harvey Milk, especially with how much he means to the people of the San Francisco LGBTQ+ community as well as our leading cast. It's quite easy to become attached to Talley's cast of characters because they're all so well developed. I don't know about you, but I need more historical LGBTQ+ stories in my life, especially more recent history like this. I'm also going to have to read more of Robin Talley's works in the future.

I really didn't know much about Harvey Milk and 1970's LBGTQIA history before reading this book. Now I'm so glad I did! Talley is a genius at making history come alive through her characters, and pen pals Tammy and Sharon are no different. Both are from very religious backgrounds, and are assigned to write to each other in order to bond over Christian values, and keep from sinning during the dangerous time also referred to as summer break.

They have more in common than they know - Tammy has realized that she's a lesbian, and Sharon's brother just confided that he's gay. These are both dangerous truths in the background of Anita Bryant and Proposition 6, a law that would make it illegal for LGBTQIA folks or alliances to teach. Tammy's aunt, a minister's wife, maliciously puts Tammy in charge of fundraisers and pep rallies in favor of Prop 6.

Through their letters, the girls bond over a mutual love of punk rock and their struggle to find themselves in a world that has already narrowly defined them. I loved both of them, and in equal measure despised Tammy's aunt from hell!!

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC and a chance to be part of Music From Another World's blog tour. Please visit my blog on April 6th for a full review!

This story starts out slow. It all totally pays off once the two main characters meet each other. I think there are obviously not enough YA books that cover this historical period and add in the punk rock scene. Teens who like reading books that are diary-based will eat this up.

The characters were well developed through their letters and diary entries, and the romance was believable. I usually dislike books formatted through letters and diary entries, but surprisingly I didn't mind it much here. There were times, though, that I felt like I was missing parts of the story due to the format. Overall, this book was very authentic and emotional, while also being educational.

I loved it. Well written characters and interesting history tie in. I loved the music references. The characters were well developed through their letters and diary entries, and the romance was believable.

I LOVED this book. I wish this book had existed when I was a teenager trying to come to terms with my own sexuality. A book with a bisexual main character AND punk rock? Hell yeah!

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

Like Talley’s novel <i>Pulp</i>, <i>Music from Another World</i> deftly interweaves history with the coming-of-age stories of several LBCTQ teens. The book aptly conveys the claustrophobia of being closeted, as well as the difficulty of connecting with other queer people in the pre-Internet world (Tammy, one of the main characters, writes letters to Harvey Milk because he is quite literally the only gay role model she has: she doesn’t know any LGBTQ people in her conservative community and she sees no other queer representation in the media). The main characters’ journeys were authentic and also clearly distinct from one another, dramatizing a range of perspectives and experiences. The relationship between Sharon and her brother struck me as particularly well drawn and realistic.

Music is central to the first half of the book, and the “soundtrack” is excellent, although the focus on the late-70s music scene wasn’t sustained throughout the whole story. The adults were also a bit one-note and sometimes verged on caricatures: I think a little more nuance to the “villains” would have made the book’s message about the destructive effects of familial homophobia even stronger.

Overall, though, this is a powerful story with compelling teen characters, and it vividly brought to life a time period that is essential to understanding LGBTQ history. I hope this book finds the wide readership that it deserves.

So first you should know that this book ends in November 1978, but before Harvey Milk's assassination. (That's history and it's not a spoiler.) I loved this book but I had an incredible amount of anxiety as we got closer to November because I knew what was coming.

And I really loved this book so much. I was born in 1980, so this is not that much before my time, but my teenage years were so different. Ellen came out when I was in high school, and I remember watching that episode live and feeling like we were in a whole new world. While Ellen was probably the first really beloved person to come out, I think every gay person my age-ish would agree that we owe a huge debt to Harvey Milk. (Do kids today know about him? I hope they do.)

And Tammy and Sharon definitely do. Tammy especially, because her life would be in real danger if people knew she was gay (her family is very religious and they would definitely kick her out but probably also send her to conversion therapy). 

It's so scary to think of how different things would be now if Anita Bryant and her kind had been more successful than they were. Even so (and this book feels very realistic and unsettling to me) there's also a very real sense of hope. It's obvious that the world is moving forward; the only real question is how long it will take. That's something I still think about. We're moving in the right direction, I think, but the progress feels so slow sometimes.

Either way, this is an amazing story and Robin Talley has written another phenomenal book. Highly recommended.

I really liked this book. The way it was told in alternating point-of-view and through diary entries and letters between the two main characters was really fun, and it worked really well to reveal the ways that they navigated managing their newly-emerging sense of their sexual identities while growing up in a time -- and in families and political environments -- where they weren't always expecting to be accepted. I loved the way Talley used the backdrop of Anita Bryant's crusade against gay and lesbian acceptance, and the political rise of Harvey Milk, as the backdrop for this book, as I think it will allow young readers to get a sense of both the fear and the excitement of growing up LGBTQ during that time period, as LGBTQ people were beginning to fight back more publicly against their marginalization.

Who doesn’t love some punk rock rebellion? This historical novel is told through letters between new pen pals, Sharon and Tammy, both from ultra-religious households. Tammy is hiding who she really is living in Orange County, California, where her aunt and uncle started a church that basically runs their town. Sharon lives with her single mother and closeted brother in San Francisco during the height of Harvey Milk and the gay rights revolution. 

This was a beautifully done look at two young women discovering themselves through new experiences and blossoming relationships. Tammy was very sure of herself and knew that she just needed to put on a smile and get through high school before she could finally leave to start a new life as her real self. Sharon is questioning everything thing around her as she has never felt like she belonged, until she goes to her first punk rock show. She then meets a new friend who helps to open up Sharon's social views and boundaries. I loved all the supporting characters of this book, but I thought the female bookstore and the gay rights activists who volunteered there was outstanding. I could read an entire book just about the store and all the interpersonal relationships that go on there.  

As the two girls are given the assignment to write to their pen pal and then write a paper on the experience, they find solace in each other—connecting through shared feelings of helplessness and their love of music. I do wish there was more talk about music given the title. It seemed to be a little underutilized, kind of thrown in sparingly. Robin Talley really is a spectacular writer. 

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

TW: homophobia, internalized homophobia, bullying

Tammy Larson is unable to be herself anywhere, not at school, or with her friends, or in family dominated by her aunt Mandy and her anti-gay propaganda. She is a closeted lesbian and she's always lived her life fearing for and unable to be herself and free. Her only way to escape her strict and conservative Christian life in Orange County is her diary, where she writes to the gay civil rights activist, Harvey Milk, until the school starts a pen pal program and she meets Sharon.
Sharon Hawkins lives in San Francisco and right away she bonds with Tammy, sharing their love for punk music, feeling free to be themselves, their letter another way (except their diaries) to be absolutely (or at least trying to) honest with one other. Sharon's life in San Francisco, like Tammy's in Ocean Valley, is full of secrets and lies.
She is struggling (at least in the beginning) to accept that her beloved brother, Peter, is gay and both of them are scared of their mother's possibile reaction, should she discover it.
And in antigay fervor they fear for their lives. Both Tammy and Sharon finds in one other a true friend, starting to understand things about the world and each other.

I really, absolutely loved this book! It's my first queer historical fiction and it was great! Set during a very complicated and awful time for queer people, the book is about this intense friendship (and more) between two young girls, their growth and how they will learn to fight for the freedom and right to love and stand up against injustice and hatred. Told by two POVs, Tammy's and Sharon's, through their diaries' entries and the letters they write to one other, in a very interesting and unique way, this book is moving, funny, heartbreaking and so, so important.

Reading Tammy's POV was incredibly hard because I could feel her frustration, fear, her feeling trapped in her life, with conservative parents and relatives, homophobes, feeling scared all the time someone could see through her lies and hurt her. How she was forced to dress and wear her hair in a certain way, dominated by her cruel and hypocrite aunt and her whole community, politically active in their antigay propaganda, how she was forced to support that propaganda, because being out would mean changing everything.
Both Tammy and Sharon were taught to see being gay as a wrong and unnatural thing, something that should be corrected and pray away, but, Sharon thanks to her brother and Tammy thanks to her sexuality and feelings, learn to think with their own heads and to escape their conservative and homophobic world, finding a more friendly reality where they can be themselves.

It was interesting reading how Sharon starts to discover herself, through music shows, new friendships, opening her mind to a new world and identity.
Her bond with Peter is truly amazing and very realistic, down to their fights and misunderstandings. Reading about how she discovered her sexuality, her feelings was really fantastic, because, living in a community where people were antigay, in a school with nuns and homophobes, she, at first, struggle to accept her brother's sexuality (it was incredibly cute readig how she decided to accept it, because she loves her brother very much) and then hers. It was clear her confusion and frustration, finding difficult to understand what she should do or act.
Her relationship with Tammy is really intense, because, through their letters, they learn to be and questioning themselves, above all when Tammy comes to San Francisco.

Peter is another brilliant character. Seeing through Sharon's and Tammy's eyes, he's a young man, sure of his sexuality, but fearing his mother's reaction, fearing people would know the truth about him and hurt, since he was already bullied in the past. It was moving and empowering reading how, slowly, Peter becomes more sure of himself and his feeling for Dean, until he's ready to move on and coming out, deciding to live according to his own rules, terms and feelings.

Absolutely intriguing the way the political and historical movement is both background and vital part of this book, how Tammy sees in Harvey Milk someone to look up to to gather the courage she needs to be herself.
I loved how Tammy, Peter and Sharon become politically involved, supporting Harvey Milk, propaganding against the Proposition 6, the Briggs Iniatiative, that wanted to ban gay teacher and whoever supported gay rights, helping in the bookstore, learning about civil rights and feminism. It was interesting reading about political and historical figures, like Milk, Briggs and Bryant and how these young characters act in that movement. Cute the side characters, like Evelyn, Midge, Kevin and so on. Interesting and hypocritical aunt Mandy, with her being sanctimonious and weak and unable to reach out and change her opinion Sharon's and Peter's mother.
The adults in this novel fulfill, except Harvey Milk, the role of "villains". Sanctimonious and hypocritical families, ready to do anything to have their perfect sons and daughters and refusing to see them for what they are, should they be different from their expectations and society's "norm".
Teenagers and young adults (Tammy's friends and sisters, for example or Sharon's classmates) are or molded according to their parents', Church's and society's wishes and norms, or they represent a world where Tammy, Peter and Sharon can find haven, in Dean's, Leonard's, Evelyn's, Alex's (and so on) friendship and support. I love how they managed to form a family, with their friends, how they support one other, helping each other finding a place to stay, a job, a way to start over, even with a broken heart.

It was hard to read how their families couldn't, wouldn't, accept their sexuality, how they, above all aunt Mandy, kept using God as an excuse of their awful behaviour. It shows the faults in the blind religion, using their Bible as a weapon to hurt and humiliate queer people. It was frustrating reading their rhetorics and false and hypocritical faith.
Tammy and Sharon fight against what people expected to be and to do, perfect daughters, straights daughters with boyfriends and a future with a family. In a climate of activism, for LGBT's and women's rights, they fights and understand themselves, their feelings and what people call friends and family.

Music from another world is beautifully and skillfully written and it's a story about love and hope, hate and injustice, family and friendship and it's more current than ever.


The review will be posted on Lu's book on 31 March.

I received Advanced Reader Copy for free through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable romp through 1970s LGBTQ+ San Francisco through the eyes (and letters) of two young girls deciding how far they’re willing to go to be themselves. The characters, settings, and ESPECIALLY the music in this book took me right back to the cool punk my 15-year-old self desperately wanted to be. Seriously, the soundtrack to this book is 🔥🔥🔥.

The story itself is told through a mix of letters and diary entries from two alternating perspectives. Tammy is a heavily-closeted lesbian trying to survive in Orange County with her evangelical gay-bashing family, while Sharon in San Francisco is coming to terms with the recent knowledge that her older brother is gay. The girls cross paths as pen pals through a school assignment, and their shared fascination with punk music turns a project into a true friendship at a time when both of them just might need it.

There were several things that worked well in this story, and a few things that didn’t. I expected the format of letters and diary entries to grow stale quickly, but for the most part I found I didn’t mind it. Sometimes the letters came across a bit stilted or awkward, especially when Sharon was recounting entire scenes with dialogue to Tammy. I also feel like the initial friendship between Tammy and Sharon lacked development. The pen pal program felt a bit like a convenient plot device to bring these characters together, and the development of the friendship felt a bit rushed and forced. I really liked Peter, and thought his character was the most developed and well-written. The adults in the story largely felt superfluous and, in some cases, cartoonishly stereotypical; something to be generally feared, and of no use to our teen heroines. I adored the scenes at the bookstore, marches, and punk concerts, though I could’ve used more vivid setting descriptions- especially as this book is geared toward an audience who definitely won’t have experienced 70s San Francisco.

I would also feel remiss if I didn’t point out that there are multiple instances of forced outing of multiple characters in this story, as well as negative reaction to some characters coming out. While there is obviously a historical context, I know these things can be triggering to some folks.

Overall, there was a lot of nostalgia in this book, and the story drew some clear modern parallels as many young LGBTQ+ people can relate to the difficulty of being accepted for who you are. A fun romp for the 15-year-old punk in all of us.

5 out of 5 stars.

Robin Talley has brought me to tears again, in another well-written sapphic book—and that’s her MO, isn't it?

The book is written through letters or diaries entries in the points of view of the main characters. Tammy and Sharon (while names I never though I would enjoy seeing) are pen pals at their Xian schools, and they befriend each other quickly, slowly sharing details of their lives and trusting each other.

Each girl has a different, yet difficult journey and though the formatting of the PocketBook ARC was strange, the protagonists were separate enough I had no difficulty telling them apart.

I was not alive during the setting of this book, born ten years after in a different gay-friendly city on the other side of the country, in somewhat of a bubble.

I first heard of Harvey Milk maybe five years ago (if he was mentioned in school, I didn’t pay attention), and while I knew that depending where people are it’s safer to be out, it had always seemed so far and distant that it was not the teams to be out as a cis gay person.

Each of the girls are witness and victim to the homophobia that so saturated their environments. Anita Bryant is mentioned constantly— a shadowy, threatening figure with the power she had, and the views and espoused and preached.

While the book is emotional, it weighs itself out to keep from being too moody. There’s so much of the relatable feeling of a sapphic teenager discovering herself, and strong focus on the types of families, found and otherwise.

This ARC provided by NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC I received of Music from Another World in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I was incredibly disappointed in this book. I love Robin Talley and have read all her previous novels. I use them in my classes. I was so, so excited to get this one.

That said, I didn't finish it. I read little bits of it for two weeks (I average a book every two or three days), but had to force myself to read it. the characters were so stiff. There was no personality in the writing! It was a major bummer, too, because I loved the idea of a young queer teen being influenced by Harvey Milk, I loved the plot, it just wasn't executed well at all.

First half of the book was a bit slow, but, once the main characters met, the story began to pick up. Great discussion of the early gay rights movement.

An epistolary historical fiction novel of two young women discovering and challenging themselves to live authentically in a world that would prefer to ignore them. This story is placed during Harvey Milk's political rise, features a fair amount of punk rock shows, and references second wave feminism as well. The reader is likely to become attached to the characters in spite of some meandering prose and a somewhat over-the-top villainous aunt. Be prepared for public pushback based on the general LGBTQ+ content and some language, though there's very little actual graphic sexual content in it. All in all, this is absolutely the kind of book that needs to be read. As an adult, I read it in one sitting, and my teen self had unknowingly been starving for this story.

Another strong, emotional, significant novel from Robin Talley. She excels at the LGBTQIA YA historical genre, I think this is probably my favorite of her since Lies We Tell Ourselves.

I will never stop loving and crying over Robin Talley’s books. Music From Another World is another edition to her works of queer historical fiction. Here’s why I loved it so much: Two girls from two separate parts of California, both from religious families, both going to a catholic school, both have secrets. Sharon’s brother is gay, and Tammy is a lesbian. Both of these secrets could put an end to their lives. The story is told through letters and journal entries. Tammy and Sharon are put together through a school summer pen pal project and become best friends, confiding in each other, feeling at home with each other, bonding over punk music and Patti Smith. Meanwhile, Tammy is also writing letters to Harvey Milk, she never sends them, but they are so necessary for her because he is an openly gay man fighting for gay rights in her state. Sharon uses her diary, a way to chronicle her life without fear of someone else having to know exactly what is going on in her head. This story is at once heartbreaking and uplifting and I believe that’s what Talley tries to do in all of her books. She’s acknowledging the realities of being in the time, bringing those fears and issues to the forefront so the reader can understand just how daring and brave these characters are, and then she allows us what most real life stories at that time don’t, a happy ending. I loved this book, and I will keep reading Robin Talley because she keeps the history of queer people and their hope alive.

I enjoyed this book. It was the perfect blend of historical fiction and contemporary LGBTQIA romance. It was easy to read the way it was written between pen pals, and all of the historical and musical references were great. I would definitely read another book by this author, and I would recommend this to anyone that likes diverse reads or historical fiction. Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read it early.

Robyn Talley's writing first sucked me in with <i>Pulp</i>, so I jumped at the chance to read <i>Music From Another Room</i>. The interplay between Tammy and Sharon as pen pals will spark nostalgia in anyone old enough to have had a mandatory pen pal, and will immerse younger readers in a time where your friends weren't right at your fingertips. While I did not love all of the plot developments in this relationship, I understand why, for the purposes of the novel, why Talley handled them the way she did.

As in <i>Pulp</i>, Talley again enlightens readers about LGBTQ history, and does so in a way that parallels some of the same struggles for equality the community still faces today. Seeing Harvey Milk as almost a rock star - in a book full of actual rock stars - will prompt readers to learn more about Prop 6, and to hopefully understand that, much as the world did not end when gay teachers remained in the classroom, it will not end when other marginalized groups get basic civil rights, either.

I know there are students in my room who need a Tammy, a Sharon, or a Peter that they can see themselves in. I know, too, that there are many more who need to see positive representation of gay, lesbian, and, bisexual characters in books to combat negative messages they might be receiving elsewhere.