I enjoyed this one a bit more than I expected and I enjoyed the music component. However, I found the main character to be a bit obnoxious and I kinda felt like it was a slow moving story

I ended liking this just a tiny bit more than I first thought I would. I didn't really like the main character, she was pretty obnoxious most of the time. And the "romance" didn't really work for me. Treating someone like shit because you like them is not cute and has never been cute. I guess I enjoyed the music part of this and Alana was pretty cool. But her relationship with Meg ran weird. Meg didn't think highly of her for a long while there but they fell into friendship really fast, becoming best friends in a second. I couldn't understand it. Also, I felt like the brother was forgiven for his bigotry and all around awfulness quite easily...
Basically, this didn't really work for me but it still had some good parts and it was a really fast read.

The Songs You've Never Heard was a cute YA novel. I've read a few YA novels that are heavily based on music, but this was the better one of the ones I've read previously. I would recommend it for teens and young adults and will be getting a physical copy for my teenager to read this year.

This was such a nice read. I really love how music played such a part in the story. As a music lover and YA lover this book warmed my heart.

This was absolutely amazing, gut wrenching and perfect. It made me happy, sad and all warm inside. I really enjoyed the online aspect of the story, it’s just very relatable for every Gen Z Person out there I think. Definitely a hidden gem

Thank you so much @netgalleyuk for my digital copy of this book.

YA is not a genre I typically go for outside of fantasy YA but this book was so cute! Very notable characters and a nice storyline.
It has made me want to delve deeper into YA as a genre.

This was a very cute YA book that I would likely recommend to other YA fans. I enjoyed the part that music played in the story and the characters’ lives. Also, I always appreciate a story about friendship.

I loved this book so much and wish I had actually gotten around to reading it so much earlier than I did.

This book follows Meg and Alana who meet each other and automatically assume each other's life is perfect, but as they get to know each other they realise that that isn’t actually the case and there’s so much more to each other than what meets the eye.

There was so much I loved about this book and once I was invested I could not put it down. One of the things I found extremely unique about this book was the fact the authors have created a whole album based on the songs in the book and it’s just so good, and I thought it was a really cool touch. I also loved the characters and how they developed such a strong friendship over the course of the book. There really was not very much romance in this book at all which was nice to see when most YA books include a decent-sized romance subplot these days, yes it was there but really not in excessive ways. Instead, the book was focused on these characters finding themselves, music and their friendship all of which I loved.

I wasn’t a massive fan of Carter for a decent chunk of the book but he did grow on me, as did Meg’s parents. It was really interesting to see a different look on the topic of being a celebrity and famous, you could see how much it affected these characters in many different ways and what went along with that well was the plus-sized rep. This rep and fan culture led into a really nice conversation (that wasn’t really nice to read, but nice in execution) on being plus-sized, having a different body type and briefly racism as well.

Overall I really loved this book and am so glad I finally read it, the YA book prize shortlist prompting me a bit. I can understand exactly why this book has been shortlisted and am so happy to see a book like this on the shortlist, it may not be wildly diverse but it is still relatable and I’m just glad to see a book with a main character like me on the shortlist. There was so much I loved about this book and I highly recommend it. 5 stars all the way.

Thank you for Netgalley and Clock Tower publishing for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this book!

Becky & Ellie you are amazing!

I was hooked throughout and couldn't put this book down.

Thank you for accepting my ARC request

A very cute book, the main character irritated me a little, but I think that was the biggest problem with me about this reading: the book was a little too adolescent for me. Which by far isn't a problem, it just didn't work for me. But I'm sure younger audiences will love this book.Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I was a little scared when I seen kpop and I’m always weary when my 2 interests clash but this was a cute read . Characters you enjoy and another you find annoying.

3.5/5

Thanks for the ARC

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Songs You've Never Heard was a pretty cute book to dive into. Though, I will admit that sometimes these characters just down-right annoyed me. Especially when it came to Caspar being a complete douche canoe and thinking the world revolved around him. It didn't help that his parents were sort of helping with this little diva act either. Then there's Meg, and I get that she's just annoyed her summer was ruined in order to help out her older brother. Trust me.

As for her friendship with Alana? I completely fell in love with it. These two were completely cute and I liked how she didn't use her for her older brother. Their friendship felt genuine, and they definitely bonded over their love of music. Which, sure, the internet has some trolls and people can be very harsh. I felt so mad when Alana was attacked based off of her body image and Meg was always attacked by people who were jealous based on her family.

Either way, they felt trapped in some way, and it hurt to see. Luckily, they ended up working things out and still sticking to who they truly were. Music wise and friendship wise. Eventually things ended up working out for almost everyone involved in this book. Not sure what is exactly going to happen romance wise down the road. but maybe these two will find love along with way. Whether it's Meg with Matty or with someone else. Alana definitely needs someone to lift her up and treat her way differently than her ex.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely look into the next book that Becky writes.

alana has my heart forever and ever <3

the songs you’ve never heard is about meg, who has a passion for songwriting and music but lives in the constant shadow of her older popstar brother. she meets alana while working at a yogurt shop, and they start writing and performing music together.

meg can be insufferable but, in most instances, her bitterness is justified either by her past experiences or by her family’s behavior. she does grow throughout the book and so do the other characters. her anger and negative attitude are part of the story for a reason, which is why it didn’t bother me too much (except when she was being horrible to matty. more about that below).

alana is bright and loud and exuberant. her positive energy and passion are contagious and i often found myself smiling during her scenes.

unfortunately, i couldn’t stand the romantic subplot at all. meg is literally catfishing matty. she saw his phone screen in school one day, then joined the music server he’s in and started chatting with him. she knew who he was from the start and purposely sought him out, but he had no clue who she was. they became “best friends” online over the years but the entire time, in real life, she’s a borderline bully with him (while mentally referring to him as “the love of [her] life”) and he rightfully hates her. this subplot made me so uncomfortable and i wish it had been done differently, because i really enjoyed the rest of the book.

that being said, i would like to point out that the cover of this book is, like, one of the prettiest covers ever <3

thank you to netgalley, the publishers and the authors for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 💗✨

The Songs You've Never Heard was such an engaging YA read. I loved the character dynamics and the honest depiction of what growing up famous was like. Overall, this was one of the best books I've read this year and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys high-emotion coming of age stories.

Also, I found out after I read the book that there were YouTube versions of the songs in the book so you can actually listen to what they are talking about. So cool! Definitely worth a listen if you love this book.

This was a NetGalley review.

Cute story with a fun premise, I read it in one night!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
Meg is suffocating under the pressure of her brother, Cass's fame, and her parent's attempts to keep up. Meg also has a secret. She is also a singer and songwriter, but unlike her brother, she has only shared her music with one person. This summer Meg's got to deal with Cass's return home as he attempts to write an album, her parents catering to his every whim, and her new summer job and coworker Alana.
I thought that this was a good book. I thought that the focus on Meg and how she was dealing with the pressure of unwanted fame was dealt with really well. While there were some elements of romance, they were not the main focus and did not take over the story like is common in this genre. For fans of YA and music-based stories, this would be a good book.

probably more of a me issue that i didn't love it. was just a bit juvenile for me but it was cute enough. thought it was quite wholesome and i liked that romance wasn't at the forefront of the story. had nice plus-size rep as well which i enjoyed.

The Songs You've Never Heard tells the story of Meg, the secret singer-songwriter sister of Caspar, a (not secret) famous singer. Meg is also dealing with a pretty intense crush on a boy who thinks she hates him (because...she acts as if she hates him whenever they meet). A boy who also happens to be BandSnapper, who Meg's been talking to and bonding with under an alias on a music forum for years. Meg gets a job for the summer at an ice cream shop where she meets Alana, a vivacious, bubbly character who's incapable of taking no for an answer. A trait that may lead to much bigger and more exciting things happening for both girls than a summer scooping ice cream.

There was a lot to like about this book - primarily, Alana. She was such a great character, she felt so real and was so much fun to read, she was grounded and acted as a great foil to Meg, who was definitely not. I did struggle reading the book at points because of Meg. She had huge amounts of privilege but never acknowledged any of it, instead always defending herself by referring to her brother's worse behaviour. There was one particular line about 'basically signing up for slave labour' with regard to her summer part-time job in an ice cream shop that felt especially inappropriate given the huge amount of privilege she ultimately had in life. I was hoping she would have some kind of realisation surrounding this and her history of bad behaviour to really show Meg's growth since meeting Alana, but that never happened. I feel like the story's conclusion would have been more satisfying if the reader really felt that Meg had grown and was more deserving of any future success that may or may not come her way.

The complicated relationship between Meg and Caspar was definitely interesting, however, and I'm sure would be relatable to readers even if they and their sibling are not budding popstars. And I know that young audiences would be excited by the music/social media premise the story is built around, and the authors do a really great job with building that world.

Overall, there were lots of things to like about this story. Alana was an amazing, super fun character to read, there were some interesting themes and strong world-building, and I would recommend the book to some of my students, particularly those that were interested in social media, music and pop culture, but I would be cautious to promote it to all of them, given Meg's lack of sensitivity with regards to her level of privilege and the often difficult, low-socioeconomic backgrounds a lot of my students come from.

Thank you to Netgalley, publisher, and authors Becky Jerams and Ellie Wyatt for the ARC!

Now, I was never one for making lists (I found ranking things in order absolutely a pain and somehow very stressful), but since our mc here, Meg McCarty, is apparently one of those list-obsessed girlies, I’m going to be one too for the sake of this review.

Top 4 things I… want to talk about this book.

1. The Friendship.

Meg McCarthy and Alana Howard is basically grumpy/sunshine trope and I love it.

The friendship is one of the main focuses of the book (alongside music) and I think the authors did a great job developing and executing it. Meg and Alana just brought up the best in each other. Alana pushed Meg to break down her walls and chase what she dreamed of. Meg helped Alana chase and push away her own dreams and ghosts.

And then they became a singer-songwriter duo??? Hello?? Is that a hit I see??

2. The characters.

Meg McCarthy is that list-obsessed, music nerd girlie. Like, I lost count of the amount of lists we have in this book. On a different note, I found Meg McCarthy as such an interesting character. I got to see how fame affected her, how she dealt with it, and how while it seemed like her brother’s fame the reason she got everything handed on a silver platter, it’s also the reason why she was hiding what she was so passionate about. Songwriting. Singing. She was resentful for loads of time in the beginning, and honestly I don’t blame her.

Alana Howard is a talented, bold, kind, brilliant character. I absolutely admire her, and the way she handled every picks and stones in such classy way, I think she’s just amazing. She’s so unbelievably confident. She took up her own space in the world, she’s not afraid to embrace herself, and well yeah I think she’s my favorite character in this book. She’s so cool.

3. The Fame.

I mean, it’s no news that fame is a privilege that has a cruel cost. Honestly, I don’t know how so many people survive this with all their sanity intact. I would’ve broke down and gone insane on the first week if I were any of them.

In this book, we get to see how fame and the internet (the bad bad place) seeped through these characters’ minds and how they dealt with it. With Meg. Alana. And also Casper McCarthy (the famous brother). We see how the tongues of these trolls slash and how it could affect one’s mental health. How hard it is to live under camera lights and interviewers shoving mics up your faces when all you want was just to serve the freaking yoghurt in peace. About the pressures, the suffocating demand for unrealistic beauty standards, and the body-shaming round every corner. You’d need a hard skin.

And we get to see these characters handled the fickle thing that is fame in their own way, fighting the monsters lurking around the corner. Which was probably one of my favorite parts of the book.

4. The music.

The music pop culture references we got was overwhelming. Like every time we got one to a song (or 5 songs mostly), I just had to write all of them down. And I think I’ve got all on the list now. And I’m planning to make a spotify playlist of them lol. There are just way too many songs to not care how they sounds like!

And then the song lyrics. All was well-written. But my favorite is definitely Alana’s ‘Didn’t I?’

That was a lyrical masterpiece and I want to hear it in real life please and thank you.

Overall : This a lovely YA contemporary book filled with friendship and music. And while there’s nothing groundbreaking with this book, I had a fun time reading this, and I hope you will too!

3.5/5 stars!