I had high hopes for this, but it fell flat for me. This is a book that I think suffered from the audio version. There are multiple POVs and a non-linear timeline, and it was hard to keep track of while listening. I wish I would have read this instead because the plot is promising and there are some interesting topics explored throughout the story. Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Sarah Seltzer for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5 stars, rounded up

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy!

I love a historical fiction musical story, but my standards are pretty high for these. I enjoyed this one overall! I think on audio it was a bit confusing with the timelines and perspective changes. Even with multiple narrators -- who were all GREAT, by the way -- I found myself struggling at the start to figure out who was who and when was when. Once I figured that out, though, the multiple POV's added a lot of dimension to the story, and there was some great character growth and development. I think this perspective on "making it" in the music world was pretty interesting and unique, too. There were some great twists and shocks, as well as very moving moments -- especially towards the end. I enjoyed this book overall, despite the moment it took for me to connect with it at the start.

SYNOPSIS -- Emma Cantor has often found herself in the shadow of her Mom's talent. An aspiring alt-rocker herself, Emma can't escape the cloud of success Judie, a 60's fold legend, obtained before mysteriously quitting music As Emma discovers -- and reveals to the public -- more and more of the truth behind her family history, she grows fame and the divide between her and her mother.

This is a fun book. A family of musicians, a handful of secrets, and a happy ending. Told in multiple points of view in different time periods, there is a theme of mother-daughter relationships and of being a woman in a dominated industry, but also being a woman in general.

I went into this book blind - the cover was fun and I generally like books with musical storylines, so I decided to give it a try through the Macmillan audio program. It turned out to be a very well crafted and engaging book! There are a lot of layers to unpack - multiple timelines, multiple POVs, intertwined family drama/dynamics. It got a little hard to track a few times on audio, but for the most part I was able to keep everything straight.

I really appreciated the strong female characters that were central to the storyline. The generations of women in this musical family provided the foundation for everything that happens in the very character-driven novel. I was especially drawn into the mother/daughter dynamics and how experiences of one generation can shape how they perceive the next generation - and the ways they may overcorrect or react to certain situations. The whole book was a reminder that context matters, people's life experiences shape the way that they deal with situations moving forward, and relationships are messy and imperfect.

The audio narration was very well done - the folk artist vibes came across and really set the scene - giving me slight echoes of Daisy Jones and the Six at times. But really the relationships and dynamics that each of the characters were going through came through in the way the narrator brought the characters to life and gave them their own personality. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for the ALC of this book!

This was a really interesting book.

I don't normally bother with books that focus on music after Daisy jones blew them all out of the water but this book really hit its mark.

It has a really gritty edge and the writing is phenomenal. There is a lot of drama in the family and you can see how well the author has carefully crafted a story so real and raw, you won't be sorry you picked it up.

Even with all the fame, you can see how unhappiness reigns supreme. the characters were colorful and edgy and I was really entertained.

5 stars

Emma Cantor is supposed to start college at Brown, but hits the road instead, determined to find the musical stardom that her father, mother and aunt all had in the 1960s.

Mother Judie and aunt Sylvia Zingerman, known as the Singer Sisters, had been folk heroines, while father Dave Canticle, nee Cantor, was a stalwart of the same scene. So Emma doesn’t see why she needs the college experience her mom never had.

This debut novel by feminist journalist Seltzer swings back and forth from the ‘60s to the ‘90s and into the early 2000s, focusing on the women’s journeys, both personal and musical. And their secrets, of which there are many.

Along the way, Emma plays at “Brown’s legendarily debauched Spring Weekend” in 1996, with students drinking so much they're hung over by 9 p.m. The author, a native New Yorker, also takes shots at Providence as “the most backwater city” and a place where the bus station is even worse than jail. (And given the year, this would be the “new” Peter Pan station, not the decrepit one that used to stand where the Rhode Island Convention Center now is.)

But these blows to Rhode Island pride are not what the story is really about. And if it ends up being more interesting than affecting, well, interesting is not a bad place to be.

It’s a plus that the three narrators share the reading so seamlessly, I didn’t realize there was more than one of them until I read the book’s credits.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 & 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐈 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞—𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐎𝐕 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡! 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐛. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒚 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 & 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒙 (𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝) 𝐨𝐫 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤/𝐚𝐥𝐭-𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲. 𝐈𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚’𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫-𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞’𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟎𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐭-𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟗𝟎𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲-𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒮𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒽 𝒮𝑒𝓁𝓉𝓏𝑒𝓇, 𝑀𝒶𝒸𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓃 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜, 𝐹𝓁𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓇𝑜𝓃 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

A very special story of mothers, daughters, sisters, music, generations, family. Alternating perspectives weave throughout. The reader (er, listener) will be deep into one character’s story only to be surprised at the switch, then immediately pulled into the narrative at hand—then surprised again at the next switch. Each narrator captures her respective character and mood beautifully.

I listened to the audiobook version and enjoyed the story and narrator. The Singer Sisters is basically a family saga of relationships and the twists and turns life can take.. This book had a great little twist that added to the dynamics of the relationships between the women. Told from multiple POVs in dual timelines, we get to experience two generations of music from the 60's/70's and the 90's. Judie and her sister Sylvia lived through the rise of folk music in the 60's and Judie became somewhat legendary for her songwriting. But after giving up pieces of herself in various ways, things changed and she had to make decisions that ultimately opened herself up into someone else. The book switches back up to the 90's with Emma, Judie's daughter, who wants to make a name for herself in the music world. Their stories collide and shed light on their relationships and what it can mean to be a woman and family. The narration of this book was great and the performances from each narrator really helped capture the growth of each character. I liked that the author included the lyrics and poetry from these artists.

Overall, a great read, I would definitely recommend this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the audioarc to preview.

3.5/5 stars

This novel was a solid debut and overall a fun listen. The first third of the book was really well-developed and captivating, but I did feel like it dragged on in the middle and could have had a stronger finish if it had stayed more focused.

I liked that, unlike a lot of books in this genre, it was built around mother and daughter relationships and less on the romantic ones.

Thank you to NetGalley for an audio ARC in exchange for honest review.

The Singer Sisters by Sarah Seltzer is a family saga following two generations of musicians. As Emma Cantor begins her musical career in the shadow of her famous musician parents, she is baffled by how her mother, Judie, could have walked away from it all. I really enjoyed the audio narration of this book, I felt each narrator was easy to differentiate each character and felt it was a very immersive experience to listen to. Interwoven in the story are secrets from the past, which kept me wanting to learn more. I think fans of multigenerational stories will really enjoy this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

The Singer Sisters is a multigenerational drama about a family of musicians and the secrets that tear them apart and bring them back together. Told from the perspective of 3 women beginning in the 50s, I found it immediately compelling.. I listed to the audiobook and all 3 narrators were distinctive and engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy

Judie left the music scene years ago, when she was on top! Now her daughter, Emma, has a chance to make it. Emma struggles with her relationship with her mother. She cannot understand why she just gave it all up. But Emma soon discovers her mother’s past and it is not what she expected.

This story really did not move fast enough for my taste. But, I did enjoy the characters. But all of them make bad decisions and just do not think of the outcomes of these terrible decisions.

I also enjoyed the music scene, especially Judie’s part in the 60s. Just loosey goosey! Emma is a bit more uptight. But these two have a lot to work out!

Y’all know I love a tag team of narrators. It truly makes the book more real. These narrators, Barrie Kreinik; Helen Laser; Stephanie Németh-Parker, are top notch!

Need a family drama surrounded by music…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

In her heyday, Judie was a famous folk singer in the Singer Sisters band. She envisioned an illustrious career. But everything short-circuited when her kids were born. Suddenly, Judie was the much-beleaguered wife of a traveling musician, functionally raising her kids alone. Life was busy—there were school lunches and bedtimes—and Judie became a mom, not an artist.

Years later, Judie’s young adult daughter Emma told Judie that she intended to pursue a career as a musician, opting for the family business instead of the security of college. Judie was angry and failed to modulate her response. The argument spiraled quickly, and like many of their conversations, both Judie and Emma ended up saying exceptionally mean things – the type of cutting remarks that are painful because they hit at the other person’s deepest insecurities.

Emma and Judie experienced emotional hijacking, which occurs when a person’s emotions are so heightened that they feel they have lost control and the ability to think rationally. Emotional hijacking is problematic because hurtful comments, especially those that come out in moments of intense emotion and which aren’t truly meant, deeply impact relationships.

Here are tips to avoid making hurtful comments in moments of emotional hijacking.

Pause When Feelings are Escalating: When you observe that your feelings are growing in intensity and recognize that you are no longer using your wise mind, take a break. This can range from pausing the conversation for a few minutes to taking deep breaths before speaking.

Don’t Let Frustration Build: When you avoid resolving minor annoyances, they build over time. Ultimately, you find yourself arguing over a series of complaints instead of one specific topic. When something bothers you, speak up and try to fix the problem instead of letting it linger and grow.

Be Mindful of High-Risk Conversations: Increase your awareness of the topics or individuals that tend to provoke emotional hijacking and plan ways to de-escalate these situations.

Apologize When You Make Mistakes: You won’t change overnight. When you make a mistake and say something hurtful, genuinely apologize.

Told in multiple perspectives, including Judie starting as a teenager in the 1960’s and her daughter, Emma, in the 1990’s. A story of mother and daughter relationships and what it takes, and the sacrifices made to chase your dreams. I loved the Jewish representation in this story. The backdrop of music was also welcome. Parts of the story dragged on, especially the middle section, but overall, it was captivating. The characters were likable, minus Emma’s constant whining and they were all trying to find their own way. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the multiple narrators that worked together to tell the story.

I wanted to share before it archived, but it's taking me forever to finish this book. I haven't written my official review yet and to be honest, I'm not sure I will. I'm really struggling with this book. I'm 56% in and I think I'm about to give up on it. The time jumps keep confusing me and unfortunately I just don't care about the characters enough.

I'm sad because everything about this book is up my alley. 60s music, 90s music and Jewish characters? This should have hit out of the park for me. I'm going to keep trying a little more because I so rarely DNF, but I'm not sure it will go above 2 stars for me.

This book was so well done. A Mother daughter story, told in different perspectives and different timelines - yet told seamlessly and incredibly. Some celebrity drama, dreams and heartbreak. I loved the famous woman perspective - the things that women have to give up and the difficult decisions they have to make. I loved the ever changing dynamic between mother and daughter. They changed and grew throughout the book. I liked how different their childhoods were, yet they both had similar hopes and dreams for their futures. Just a really interesting and well done audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley for my advanced reader copy

This family drama with a backdrop of the musical industry was so entertaining! For fans of Daisy Jones and the Six and Opal and Nev, this story had me rapt from the beginning.

Emma Cantor's mother ,Judie, is livid when she forgoes entrance to Brown in favor of touring in the alt-rock music scene. Emma doesn't understand! Her mother was a successful singer/songwriter before stepping out of the spotlight. She did the same thing. Why won't she support her dream?

This kicks off a then/now timeline and we begin to see all of the reasons Judie left the spotlight.

The Singer Sisters is a beautiful family drama. The audio telling is excellent.

With a background of folk and rock,The Singer Sisters is much more of a family story, a story about secrets, and most of all, a story about mothers and daughters. The dual timeline was great, it was fun to dive into the folk scene of the 60's and the Indie rock scene of the 90's. All of the characters, especially the female characters, are well-developed and realistic. This would be a great book club book, so much to discuss..

A moving debut about a complicated Jewish family, mother-daughter relationships and the changing music scene of the 60s and 90s. This was AMAZING on audio narrated by three of my favs, Barrie Kreinik, Helen Laser and Stephanie Nemeth-Parker.

I really liked the way the story jumps from the past to the present as we follow the music careers of two women and witness their struggles with unexpected motherhood, first love, messy affairs and the politics of their time.

If you enjoyed books like Daisy Jones and the Six or Songs in ursa major, this dual timeline, multiple POV, historical fiction book is one not to miss! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

CW: discussions of abortion