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

‘Listen to This' by Jennifer Blecher is a book about two people trying to figure things out in seventh grade.

Lily and Will go to the same school, but have different interests. Lily plays soccer and Will likes to climb. Lily feels like her best friends are drifting away when they make the elite soccer team and she doesn’t. Will struggles with his overbearing father's popular podcast. They meet when a mutual friend tries to get them to go to the school dance. What follows are a series of misunderstandings, accusations and the realization that we all have struggles and things get better when we finally speak and find someone to listen.

The book is told from dual perspectives, allowing readers to see the world through both Lily and Will's eyes. Blecher does a great job of capturing the awkwardness and insecurity of middle school. It felt a bit predictable, but the characters are really good as are the themes of friendship, self-confidence, and finding your voice. I think it’s a good read for middle school readers.

Lily, Maddie and Sasha were three best friends who kept no secrets from the other two. Until this summer, when everything changed. Will, a classmate of the girls is dealing with issues stemming from his mother's untimely death and his father's way of dealing with it by creating a popular podcast of being a single-parent dad to a tweenager. Will's classmates have found the podcast and Will endures much teasing from his supposed best friend.

This was a stand-out book dealing with middle school drama and angst. It was real without going over-the-top. I appreciated how relevant topics were dealt with: bullies, friends growing up and apart, death, anger, and creating and maintaining acceptable boundaries. This book is very appropriate for upper elementary and middle school libraries, but may be have some sensitive topics. Warnings: homosexual relationships (Maddie expresses romantic feelings of a girl she met a summer camp) and language/coarse gestures ("What the hell?" and Will flipping his father off). I think both were handled ver appropriately and realistically. As an educator in a school that houses upper elementary students, this is not off-base as to how kids react and feel. I hope this book gets a chance in libraries - it will strike a chord with many students.

I feel like the summary of this book oversold it and that it could have benefitted from being slightly longer. I appreciated that the problems faced by Lily, Sasha, Maddie, and Will were pretty typical for middle schoolers, and I do think a lot of kids will be able relate to them. However, it seemed as if the conflicts were not as deep as they could have been, and were resolved much too quickly. I would have liked there to be a little more for the characters to overcome, in order to more closely mirror a true middle school experience.

Listen to This is a really cute middle grade novel. I highly recommend it! I would love a sequel to be able to spend more time with these characters.

This is the perfect middle school contemporary read. I don't know of a lot of dual pov middle grade novels and I really enjoyed this.

I enjoyed this one! It really grew on me and I was disappointed when it ended because I wanted to read more of the story. As the mom of a 7th grader, I think this was an accurate representation of middle school. There were a few passages that really resonated with me and I can't wait so share this one with my kids!

I thought the dual POVs between Lily and Will worked so well. I was drawn to both of their stories but especially Will, given the situation of not having much privacy on his dad's podcast and social media. It raises an interesting question about where to draw the line. Although I also am on social media for my book account, I don't share anything personal about my children, that they themselves would be uncomfortable with.

A great realistic fiction that is a quick read and enjoyable! Recommended for ages 9+.

I started Listen to This when I had just a few minutes before an appointment, and the story really drew me in from the first chapter. I loved the dual point of view; switching back and forth between Will and Lily was fun. All of the relationships felt authentic -- from the kids to their families and even the school staff.

I especially like that the book felt like just a slice of real life, a week or two in the lives of two middle schoolers, without a MAJOR EVENT or big drama. I feel like tweens and young teens will be able to see themselves in this story and relate to Will, Lily, Gavin, Sienna, or any of the other characters.

Not my favorite. I had trouble connecting with the characters they just never brought me in. I liked the duel perspective and how the stories came together sweetly.

This was a great book that understood the issues of 7th graders so well. When reading this, I thought I was actually in the mind of middle school kids. Will and Lily have two separate journeys that really line up very well with one another and I think any kid who reads this will see their own world reflected back on them.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC!
A very adorable and age appropriate middle grades novel exploring first love, first dance, and surviving 7th grade. Told from dual points of view, which was absolutely a breath of fresh air seeing a love story from a male perspective, two tweens find their voice and stand up for themselves.
Strengths:
-Capturing young crushes and the awkwardness of middle school perfectly.
-Male POV in a "romance" novel
-relatable middle school problems and issues among friends
-father/son, mother/daughter dynamics
Weaknesses:
-To me, many "buzz topics" were included that were not necessary
-I wish we saw more of the complicated relationship between Will & Gavin
A very good novel that I would feel comfortable having in my classroom library. It is an appropriate young romance novel for middle schoolers and they will see the book as a "mirror" as they explore the inside look of changing relationships, identity, school dynamics, and first crushes.

Told in alternating points of view, this story follows the developing friendship between Lily and Will. This book does a brilliant job of exploring the nuances and complexities of middle school today. A clean exploration of conflict between friends, families, and crushes.

I really enjoyed this book. The perspective on being a child of a dad with a parenting podcast really brought to mind the impact of family influencers and sharing so much about children online. I also think the feeling of being left behind by friends and not making the team is a very relatable experience for this age. Overall, I appreciated this read. Thank you for sharing it.

Lily, Maddie, and Sasha have been friends for a long time, and are there to support each other, but as seventh grade progresses, things start to change. There is a dance coming up that they all expect to go to together, but since Maddie and Sasha are on a premier soccer team that Lily didn't make, they will have to miss the dance. Not only that, but Maddie has told Lily a big secret that she isn't telling Sasha, and Sasha has secrets of her own. Will has his own struggles; his mother died when he was in third grade, and his father started a podcast called Dr. Dad that starts with Will's mother singing You Are My Sunshine. Will's friend Gavin listens to the podcast and often gives Will a hard time about it; he's Will's only friend, but is the kind of friend that makes one wonder why there is a friendship at all. To complicate matters, Will's mother Stephanie was best friends with the mother of Sienna, the seventh grade mean girl. Will and Sienna were close years ago, but lately Sienna has been unpleasant. It doesn't help that her mother seems to prefer Will, and is always fighting with Sienna. There's some fighting in Lily's world as well, since her older sister Reese is interested in fashion, and their mother doesn't think that social media is important. When Sienna, who is trying to match everyone up for the school dance, invites Lily to a sleepover, Lily is thrilled to be included at first, but when Lily refuses to call Will up and ask him to the dance, Sienna abruptly calls off the sleepover. Not only that, but when it turns out Lily has accidentally worn Sienna's even eye necklace home, Sienna starts a rumor that Lily has stolen it. Lily and Will start a very supportive relationship, but it is sabotaged when Will's father posts a picture of Will buying a similar necklace. Lily assumes that it is for Sienna, so stops talking to Will, and Will asks Stephanie for help after he fights with his father about the podcast. Emotions are running high, but will the two be able to untangle all of the complicated relationships of middle school to make their new one work?
Strengths: This captured the beginning of a middle school romance brilliantly and awkwardly; I love how Will and Lily both struggle to connect to each other, and also have to deal with the perceptions of others, like Sienna, who feel compelled to insert themselves into their new relationship. That is middle school exactly. While Will's mother is dead, and there is some talk of the father struggling, the two seem to have found a way forward, even thought for the father this is revealing all of Will's life on his podcast! Sienna's mean girl is also intriguing, as she is portrayed as having struggles of her own. This moved forward quickly, and is just the sort of story I would have loved in middle school.
Weaknesses: I wish we had seen more of Gavin and learned how Will navigated this annoying friend. I'm so intrigued by friendships that don't make sense, like in Walker's Let's Pretend We Never Met. I think a lot of people have friends in middle and high school that they don't really LIKE all that much, but are still friends with for any number of complicated reasons. I'd love to see this explored in more middle grade novels.
What I really think: I somehow didn't recognize this author, who also did Camp Famous and Stick With Me, both of which I liked and bought. This was great fun, and I am looking forward to handing it to both male and female readers, since it told from dual perspectives. There are not enough books with boys as the main characters that deal with romance, and this is perfect for fans of Richardson's Stu Truly and Costner's My Life as a Potato, which are both HUGELY popular in my library.

This book was great! I loved the switching perspective and the message about finding friends in unexpected places! I loved how everything played out, it was really interesting.

This dual-point of view story was short and simple. I feel like reluctant readers would appreciate this story because the chapters were short and the dialogue was real and snappy. I liked that Lily wasn't sure how to handle some of the news given to her by one of her best friends. It is a subject that is rarely touched on. I also liked that Will was able to stick up for himself and talk to his dad about his dad's oversharing on his podcast. One thing I didn't care for was the abrupt ending. I really would have preferred more information on how the relationships between the characters developed and what actually happened instead of just having to assume everything worked out.

I did enjoy this book although I don't feel like there was much texting/talking/listening between Lily and Will, which leaves me a little disappointed.
I did really like how well Blecher captured the insecurities and social navigating that middle schoolers face. Great friendships and even so-so friendships are explored. I appreciated how both Lily and Will gained the confidence to speak up about their emotions and feelings about the situations they faced.

I received a dARC from the publisher via Netgalley; this is my honest review.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Jennifer Blecher and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Told from duel points of view of Lilly and Will. They are trying to learn not only who they are but also how to stand up for themselves.
Lilly's trio of friends is in trouble when two of them make an elite soccer team but Lilly's not on the team and not in on their new secrets and stories.
Will is tired of his dad sharing all his details on his parenting podcast. He wants secrets and privacy. Telling his Dad to stop though is hard.

A great read on growing up and learning to find your voice.

A quick and enjoyable read. A title the more mature MS readers will enjoy as well. I'm definitely look for it when it is released.

A sweet book that is very hard to put down. You'll definitely leave wanting more. I hope there will be a sequel! Lily is struggling with her friend group at school, a popular girl who isn't quite nice, and her first big crush. Will is a boy in Lily's school who happens to be family friends with the popular girl, but struggling to find his place in school while navigating a tough relationship with his father. Read as their worlds and interests collide!