This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales is an honest, relatable story about finding yourself and embracing your passions. Elise, an outcast with a love for music, discovers a hidden talent for DJing, which opens up a whole new world. It’s heartfelt, uplifting, and captures the highs and lows of self-discovery and belonging.

Oh, this book. With THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, Leila Sales proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is not simply a comedienne, but also a master of the triumphant contemporary bildungsroman. I loved and admired Elise's voice: who can't relate to her social struggles, to her sad-but-oh-so-true realization that high school is no place to be special, to be different? Pair this with an almost mythical setting in the form of an indie dance club (they have these? They really have these? I don't have to pretend to shuffle to incomprehensibly unmelodic house music anymore?) and you've got the literary version of a hit movie along the lines of Jun. Great for fans of Matthew Quick ( Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock), Hilary T. Smith ( Wild Awake), Lili Wilkinson ( Pink), Natalie Standiford ( How to Say Goodbye in Robot), and Rachel Cohn ( Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist).

I always enjoy Leila Sales's books, and "This Song Will Save Your Life" was no exception! I was immediately pulled in by the music hook and absolutely loved the well-written, three-dimensional characters that made up this book and helped the main character, Elise, in her journey of self-acceptance.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales.. I did not get a chance to read this before it was archived. So many books and not enough time!

This is the story of the girl most likely to be picked on. She's from a broken family. She has no friends until she goes to a nightclub and meet some girls who help to champion her strengths. The writing is so powerful, its easy to connect with Elise and feel the pain and hurt she feels as faces the challenges.

I absolutely adored this book and I'm surprised that I haven't written my review until now. Even all of these years later, I can still tell you how I felt about this book. Music has always been such a powerful factor in my life and I loved seeing how important it was to these characters. I don't want to say too much that will spoilt it but I loved how accurate the title of this book was. Leila Sales astounded me with her ability to write such an honest and powerful story.

Popular kids may not 'get' this book the way the different ones, the odd ones, the weird ones do. Yet there are so many kids with the inner 'odd', hiding in plain sight, trying hard to fit it, who would benefit from a book like this. This Song Will Save Your Life is that one book I would recommend teenagers who are finding it difficult to 'just be'.

I was lucky to have friends who never saw the oddities in me. Even when they did, they gladly accepted me for it. Not everybody is lucky that way. Some go through hell to come to terms with their peer situations and the end result isn't always a happy one. Leila Sales gets the pulse of it and how. Elise wasn't an instantly likeable character but she was a discovery. Gift this book to a teen you know.

I am sorry, I was unable to finish and review this title. Leaving a neutral 3 star rating as this may be a better fit for a different reader.