Meg is continuously shadowed by her famous singer brother. Her parents barely notice her and friends..? What are those when the only thing people see you for is an in with the A listers? When Meg starts a job at a yogurt shop she meets Alana. Alana is everything Meg needs in her life and she helps her find her voice. Also, Megs online bestie..? Real life crush.

I’m not one for romance-y type books, but I’ve been dipping my toes in more. And this one delivered! I absolutely loved the the body type diversity. I feel books don’t show that enough. The lyrics that were laid out were amazing and I felt I could actually hear the songs playing in my head. It was great to see a friendship in a book that was just.. real. And that’s what Meg and Alana shared. And the crush. Ugh. Swoon!

I love a book with musical themes and this was just such a lovely read. It definitely leans more towards teens than a typical YA book, but younger me would have absolutely eaten this up!

The playlist element is a really wonderful addition to this cute story. I’d recommend for teenagers definitely!

I received a free copy through Netgalley, this in no way affected this review.

The Songs You’ve Never heard follows Meg and her love for music and songwriting as she is shadowed by her pop star brother. Meg doesn’t let anyone hear her songs safe for Matty, who’s her internet best friend (and real life crush). That is, until Meg meets Alana.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fun reading about how living with a pop star might be like and I loved the sarcasm between the two siblings. Their bond definitely changed and grew throughout the book.

I loved Alana and she needs to be protected. She puts herself out there and lets her voice be heard and she takes up the space she deserves. I also liked how she dealt with her insecurities.

The plot wasn’t THAT innovating or new, but this was a fun read and I definitely liked it.

DNF @ 25%

Unfortunately this book isn’t for me.

I just couldn’t get into it. The characters were irritating and didn’t have much of a personality. The plot line didn’t grab me either - it could be better later in the book but I wasn’t interested enough to want to continue reading.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

It has a cute meaning but I didn’t have a connection with the characters . A good amount of self sabotage. Some characters don’t have a personality and they either on one end of the scale or the other never in the middle.

Thank you for the arc

Thank you to Netgalley and Sweet Cherry/Clock Tower Publishing for an arc in exchange for an honest review


“The Songs You’ve Never Heard” feels like both a love letter to and a critique of the music industry, while simultaneously being a Disney Channel movie. Meg and Alana are vivid, three dimensional characters. Alana really was the highlight of the book, as she filled every chapter she was in with her personality and light.

There is an accompanying album coming out with the original songs recorded which I am incredibly excited for.

My one criticism is that Caspar is let off too easy in the end. He was a massive jerk for the entire book and essentially gets forgiven for saying “sorry, life’s just been so hard lately” which is… annoying.

4.5 stars rounded down

<b>Thank you to NetGalley, Sweet Cherry Publishing, and the authors for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review</b>💛

<i> You don’t need anyone’s approval to keep doing what you love. There are no right or wrong paths. No happy-ever-afters. Only moments.</i>

The one good thing about this story is that it’s quick and easy to read, because everything else false short. Which is really disappointing, because the premise of it and the book cover had appeared very intriguing to me.

Right off the bat I know this likely wasn’t the book for me due to the main character being dishonest and continuing choosing to be deceptive about her identity for a very long period of time to another character, who supposedly (in bold, underling format) she cares for. I am not a fan of any narrative that romanticizes such behaviors, especially when the story is clearly targeted towards young adults.

That aside, and recognizing that that might be subjective on my behalf, the thing that made reading this story a displeasing journey was the main character herself. She is ill mannered, snobbish, rude, and deceiving. So much so that the supposed character growth we witness her going through feels out of character and doesn’t strike as genuine. Nothing surrounding Meg reads genuine, in fact.

The writing, the plot (we’re told Meg is a popular influencer but we don’t really see this except for being oh so annoyed with the fame), the characters; “the songs you’ve never heard” is very juvenile on all these aspects. Which, yes, it could very much be so due to the younger audience this is probably targeted towards. But writing a story of coming of age, coming of character, and hoping to reach teens who are very likely to relate, there is a responsibility that needs to be exercised. And this book fails miserably at setting a good example. Don’t even get me started on the overwhelming amount of fat phobia expressed by the main character and her peers.

This might be someone’s favourite book, but it certainly wasn’t mine. Despite this, I still am grateful for being given the chance to read it!

I was so excited when I got approved to read this book through NetGalley. The premise sounded amazing and as a huge music lover, I was really excited. The book started really strong. I loved Meg immediately as a character. She was the best part of the book. The middle did get a little rough for me and I actually questioned whether I would drop reading the book or not. I powered through and I am so glad I did cause I really did end up loving it.

First, Meg. I loved her sarcasm and found her so relatable. Of course, I do not have a famous sibling, but I grew up used to plans changing and parents orbiting my siblings more than me. So, it was really easy to connect with her. I enjoyed seeing the songs that she loves and her writing process. I think the author did a great job of showing her relationships with the members of her family individually. It was great seeing the dynamic a bit and I especially loved seeing the dynamic between her and her brother develop throughout the book.

Not going to lie, Alana almost ruined the book for me. I found her really annoying. The author makes a huge point of Meg not having friends because people use her to get to her brother. When Alana is first introduced, all she pretty much talked about was Meg's brother and her music legacy. It was very off-putting and I could not understand why Meg would want to continue hanging out with her if she was sensitive about people talking about her brother. After Alana's celebrity crush was broken, she was 100% more likable. I thought she was endearing and I liked when she was vulnerable as it she became very relatable to me. I also thought their friendship was really beautiful. I love how they encouraged each other and worked together.

One other thing I wasn't a fan of was the hint of romance. Meg has a bit of a catfish romance (her being the catfish) with a guy from her school. I get it was more about her afraid of being herself more than about the romance itself, but I felt it took away from her character and the story. I pretty much skipped every conversation they had in the book as I did not care.

Overall, this book is a great read and if you are a music lover, definitely pick this book up. The only two things that bothered me were as mentioned earlier, Alana's introduction and the little romance, but honestly that was it. I absolutely adored everything else. If Becky Jerams and Ellie Wyatt write another book I would definitely love to read it.

While it had some good messages (follow your dreams, prove the haters wrong, success doesn't look the same for everyone), I didn't really like this book. A big reason is the main character, Meg, who I wasn't able to connect with at all. She's constantly sabotaging herself then acting woe is me about it instead of making any changes to her behavior, primarily in the case of her being an absolute jerk to the guy she has a crush on, Matty. She also stalks this guy; his introduction is her going to his work just to see him, and she builds an anonymous online friendship with him after seeing him on an app and making an account to read all his posts. We find this all out very early in the book and it didn't sit with me well at all.
Aside from that, several of the supporting cast are one-dimensional (the parents and Laura specifically). I like Matty, but he barely gets any time on page and Meg treats him like trash most of the time. Also, he tells this anonymous online stranger his age and where he lives in his first message to Meg, which is TERRIBLE internet safety.
Alana's likeable and relatable after we get past the first chunk of her being a pushy Caspar fan. She keeps pushing Meg to try making music, insisting that she must have an interest in music or musical talent because her whole family is into music. Just because she was right in this instance does not at all make that okay, invalidating her individuality because the rest of her family shares an interest. After that point, though, we get a lot more depth from her character.
Caspar's redemption didn't feel worked up to. There's a line where Meg says she should have seen the tortured soul under his total jerk actions instead of villainizing him, which I didn't like because she's somehow holding herself accountable for his poor actions and choice to be a jerk instead of honest about his struggles. He villainized himself.
The way the loose end with Matty was tied up frankly didn't make sense to me. This whole romantic subplot situation didn't make sense to me.
Although I didn't dislike it enough to give up on it entirely, I finished the book because I had a responsibility to Net Galley. I feel like this book didn't match its summary or deliver the raw emotion and connection between Meg and Alana that is promised.

Mostly I thought that this book was well written. However I do think that there was alot of filler bits in the book that I didn't think really needed to be there. I however did like the characters in the book.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with this book. Some parts of it I felt were genuine and interesting. I felt like some parts of this book were a little redundant. But that is just my opinion. The book follows Meg, whose always been in her famous singer brothers shadow and she only has what she feels is one true friend whom she met online. I had high hopes for this book and i felt it came up short.

A really enjoyable read. well written with a compelling story and well developed characters some of which I took to my heart, they were believable and relatable. A quick and heart-warming read.

Thank you NetGalley, Clock Tower Publishing and Sweet Cherry Publishing for the E-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Meg McCarthy is the younger sister of mega pop star Caspar McCarthy but Meg secretly writes songs too, although she’s told no one, until she meets Alana Howard at her job at a local Fro-Yo shop.

Alana is the true star of this novel. A passionate, loud, exuberant plus size woman writing songs and performing her originals at open mic nights all around Brighton. Her enthusiasm is contagious and she quickly gets to Meg and becomes Megs only real, true friend as they begin song writing together.

Alongside Meg and Alana’s blossoming friendship is Meg’s online relationship with Marty Chester, except Marty doesn’t know it’s Meg and in real life Meg is a jerk to Matty. I didn’t love that Meg chased Matty down online to begin this relationship based on deceit, it felt really unauthentic and made me question her.

Caspar McCarthy, Meg’s pop star brother, is insufferable through this entire novel even in his redemption arc where he’s showing some humanity I still couldn’t forgive him for all his awful behavior and cruel, fat-phobic comments to Alana. I wanted to scream multiple times while reading this due to his flat out terrible and vile behavior. I wanted more humility and character growth from him.

There are some really beautiful original lyrics in here that flowed perfectly with the story, which I throughly enjoyed as a music lover (plus all the T. Swift mentions had me so excited).

The thing I most enjoyed was the friendship between Meg and Alana. It was a truly lovely thing to read about blossoming.

I wanted a bit more from the ending of this novel, where it was left up a little bit more to interpretation and open possibility.

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️💫

3.5 stars.

For this to be my first ever YA ‘booksical' story, I absolutely loved it!
Meg and Alana's character development are really eye opening and I believe alot of YA reader's could truly relate to this novel!
All in all, this book was a fantastic read. I enjoyed the journey and everything in it.
The writing was great and pulled me in immediately.
I also loved the musical aspect to the story. Really great!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Sweet Cherry Publishing|Clock Tower Publishing
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

This book follows Meg, the younger sister of mega-pop star Casper McCarthy. Ignored and under appreciated by all those around her, she seeks solace through writing music and sharing it anonymously with a boy online. When she meets plus-sized singer-songwriter Alana, her world is changed in the space of a week as they begin to help each other through their insecurities.

The idea of a “booksical” is fascinating to me - I always appreciate author playlists and fan-made book playlists so a story that has its own original songs? Count me in. As I was reading an ARC, the recorded songs were not available to me but I know this will really enhance the experience.

Female friendship and body-positivity are portrayed brilliantly in this book, as well as the nuances of sibling rivalry.

For me, a couple of the subplots could have been tied up a little more neatly, but I’m not sure if they were left slightly open-ended in order for there to be a sequel.

Overall, a lovely “all-in-one-go” YA read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me access to an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was not what I was expecting in the best way possible. I really liked the storyline and especially all of the girl power that this book was filled with. I am also super excited that there is supposed to be an album released with this book because I would love to hear all of the songs written. Overall a fun and uplifting read.

This was a really sweet YA novel with a lot of smaller themes-friendship, identity, family, and a larger theme of the pressures of fame. This book puts Meg, sister of pop superstar Caspar McCarthy, in the spotlight for the first time as she explores her own music career. Through the story we learn about Meg through her music, her friendship with he coworker Alana, her relationship with her famous brother and her parents, and her secret online relationship with the boy she has a crush on.

This story is very sweet for what it is, and I very much loved Meg as a character. I felt for her from the jump. I did, however feel that the ending was a bit too abrupt and I would’ve liked to have learned a bit more about how things ended.

I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Song's You've Never Heard was a joy to read! This book follows Meg, a girl in the shadow of her brother's fame. She's a singer too, but she feels invisible to her family and the world except her online best friend. Her online bestie is also the guy she has a crush on in real life that she can't help being horrible to. They go back and forth through song lists. Meg gets a job at a yogurt shop and befriends Alana, a plus-size sunshine personality singer! Alana helps her find her voice.
Things I loved in this book: the pop culture in this book and seeing singers like Halsey and Oh Wonder mentioned! The plus-size rep in this book! The identity reveal! I am such a sucky for identity reveals. And the song lyrics of course! The friendship between Alana and Meg was so healthy and refreshing. Would recommend to anyone who likes music, has been bullied or gotten down by the internet, and likes female friendships.
tw for fatphobia & overdose mention