Deep Cuts is about a high school trio — Percy, Joe and Zoe as they grow up, go to college and enter young adulthood. Joe and Zoe are a couple in high school, but the book centers around the relationship between Percy and Joe throughout the years. Joe is a musician and Percy is an aspiring writer and together they collaborate on music and more.
I have no idea why this reminded me of THE IDEA OF YOU, but it did for some reason even though the story lines are entirely written. (This one has much better writing and it is really impressive for a debut.)

Ok, this probably would have been a 5-star debut for me if I read it in my 20s. But as a 40-something reader, I had little tolerance for the musical pretension and general pretension that these characters exhibited. Yes, I remember that phase of life and sense of being and I am so happy it passes! But I think that is part of the author’s point here? She really depicts that phase of life perfectly. The opening scene is really well done and made me say, “Alexa, play Sarah’s Smile by Hall and Oates.” I predict this one with be a hit.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC! 4.5/5 rounded up.

I absolutely loved this book. I found Percy to be sometimes insufferable, but I appreciated that she seemed to have genuine introspection and development throughout the book which made her less irritating (lol).

It was so wonderful how Brickley wove in so much music history and songs—I now have several songs to listen to, too.

I’ve seen this compared to Daisy Jones and the Six but this blows that out of the water for me, it was much more complex and emotionally deep in the best ways. It felt unique and like a breath of fresh air—I haven’t read anything quite like it. I love that we got to follow Percy through so many years of her life.

I’m not sure that Percy and Joe would truly make it but I like to think they might (and I like that the ending gave me that chance).

I can’t wait for more from Holly Brickley!

This is a sophisticated love story based on music. We follow Percy through her life as she connects, disconnects, and reconnects again with her musician friend Joe. Most of the time Percy is a hot mess as she navigates her way through life and growing up. This is a well written romp from San Francisco to Brooklyn as Percy pursues her graduate education. Then she heads back to San Francisco to continue her life of writing about music and a little song writing. The music references were plentiful, and this was an enjoyable read. Great debut novel. I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Deep cuts is part love story: right person, wrong time. We follow Percy and Joe through college, their twenties, grad programs, the rise of indie stardom, and their respective relationships. Their relationship with each other is messy, they’re best friends, collaborators, and despite their ups and downs, they always find their way back to each other.

Deep Cuts is also deeply nostalgic. It reminded me of the thrill of being in my teens and twenties, finding a new bands to obsess over, small venue shows that were the absolute best.

At times I found the characters to be incredibly frustrating, but I had a lot of fun with this one overall!

This is a solid 3.5 stars. While I was hoping I’d love this one as much as The People We Keep and Songs in Ursa Major I thought this one got too bogged down in technical music terms and indie music songs and musicians. Percy was definitely a flawed character which I usually love but I didn’t love that her life revolved around Joe. I felt like she was a bit too needy in relationships even with Zoe. I really wish she would have found the strength to branch out and do more music for herself whether it was song writing or producing. Ultimately, the push and pull of Percy and Joe’s relationship of will they won’t they had me hooked.

Are you a millennial that loves angsty musicians and uber smart FMC's? Then this book is for you!

Deep Cuts follows Percy and Joe through his rise to stardom and her journey to creative independence. Can one exist without the other? Can their friendship and complicated feelings towards each other survive the strain of their egos? We have some seriously flawed characters and I ate it up!

Although Percy struggles socially, it's clear her and Joe speak the same language. In fact, he has some noteworthy one liners.

Exhibit A:
"I have a boyfriend"
"Fuck him," he said. "I'm your boyfriend."

Exhibit B:
You don't know how insufferable I can be."
"Come over," he said. "I want to suffer you.

This energy... I rest my case.

The musical references were interesting and relative to the story. The perfect balance of knowledge and obvious passion. Zoe, let's give this lady a round of applause. Bless her soul for dealing with the chaos and being the true friend Percy needs through her uncertainty. Deep Cuts is in a lane of its own greatness. It's smart, introspective and captures the messy 20-somethings with a fresh take. How is this a debut?! Absolutely excellent. Coming to you 2/25/25!

I requested this book after hearing a podcaster rave about and largely really enjoyed it! I liked the messy main characters (love interests) and the fact that their journey was not a straight line (not remotely!). I liked that the author didn't stick to the usual romance/romcom tropes - this book truly felt fresh and different in an genre that prides itself on reliability and pretty rigid standards. Deep Cuts does stick to the big genre requirements for the most part, but the author really pushes the bounds of the genre, and I can appreciate that. This is a play on the 'friends to lovers' trope, but again - not a straight line. The reader really feels the tension and build up but also understands the up and down that happens - it's not manipulative of the reader, and it makes sense for the characters.

The thing that keeps me from giving this more than four stars is the thing that I think some people will LOVE about this book - there is SO MUCH music talk. I get it! It's called Deep Cuts. It's about people who are music people! They are deep into music, so it makes sense that there is an abundance of music content. But it got old for me - in the beginning I didn't mind that I missed some of the references, but by the end I was skimming these sections. I do think if you are a music fanatic like the two MCs, you will get so much more out of this book than I did, and I got a lot out of it!

Overall, I recommend this one and am thankful to Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

When Percy meets Joe in college, she has found her musical equal. The two can talk tunes all night long and when he shows her some of his music, she immediately critiques it and lets him know what needs to change. The two become a dynamic musical writing duo. When they leave school and go their separate ways, the two are still connected and Percy wonders if Joe is holding her back.

Ok there was a point in this book that I happened to be reading at the hair salon and let me tell you I went from calmly reading to full blown RAGE. Like seriously I got so freaking mad, it was actually kind of funny in the end. If you have read this book you likely know what part I am referring to. Anyway, I love music and reading how these two took mediocre songs and made them great was so much fun to follow along with. This book is so unique and I really enjoyed every single second of the read!

Thank you to @crownpublishing for my gifted copy of this book!

Thank you for this ARC! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a classic tale of best friends that also have feelings for each other. But set against the backdrop of indie music in the 90s and 00s was especially clever. I was about the same age as the main characters in the story and the nostalgia was wonderful. If you enjoy romance or music, this is a must read!

This is a debut novel???? It’s absolutely fantastic from beginning to end. I happily give 5 bright shiny stars to this fantastic book.

Bravo Holly Brinkley for writing my favorite book of 2025! Every other book I read this year will pale in comparison to this love letter to friendship and music.

Percy, Joe and Zoe are decades younger than I am and I could relate to everything they went through. And the songs! So many songs that I hadn’t thought about in years, and a few I’d never heard before, were immediately played on Spotify as I read. Do yourself a favor and listen to the Deep Cuts playlist as you read the book. You can thank me later.

This book is for all of the music lovers and friends out there. It’s truly a stunning debut.

I absolutely loved this book. It’s one of those stories that completely pulls you in—it’s engrossing, a little nostalgic, and full of emotion. It’s romantic in a way, but not in the typical “romance novel” sense, which I really liked. The early 2000s setting feels so authentic, like it actually captures what that time felt like instead of just throwing in references. The writing is sharp and heartfelt, and I didn’t want to put it down.

I received an ARC of this upcoming debut novel through NetGalley.

This book is about a young lady named Percy Marks. It takes us from her college years through to about age 30. The author develops this character brilliantly. As a reader, you feel like you know her and root for her like you would a best friend.

Percy loves music and rock songs, especially indie rock songs, are used as chapter titles. The Shins, The Eels, Hot Chip, Outkast, Hall and Oates, Joni Mitchell, The Beach Boys, Neutral Milk Hotel, among many others. I love the music she cited and had to listen immediately to some of the songs referenced.

Percy finds herself with a young rock musician and sort of collaborates with him (Joe) writing his songs. Their relationship is largely platonic, but the reader senses a likely change in that state.
Joe forms a band and experiences some success, aided significantly by Percy's support and constructive criticism. But life as a rock star strains Joe's relationship with Percy. Percy then tries to find her place in life, sorting through friends and jobs. But she never permanently loses touch with Joe.

The book has a definite Daisy Jones and The Six vibe. That Taylor Jenkins Reid novel (2019) was a big hit and made into an Amazon Prime TV miniseries. Deep Cuts is every bit as good if not better than Daisy Jones and The Six. FIVE STARS for sure.

What's not to love about a book with it's own Spotify playlist??? This was a unique take on the musician/friends to lovers trope, set through the early 2000's until present day - following three college friends as one drops out to become a musician, and the other's forge their way from college to career through multiple moves cross country. There's a lot more to it than that, including song writing partnership, lyric evaluation, break ups and reunions, and still m ore. I really enjoyed the writing and the wit, as well as a bit of social commentary on influencer society and marketing, all with some romantic satisfaction!

In this novel, Percy has a music critics talent while desperately wishing she had the actual lyric and singing talent of her friend Joe. As she begins to give him feedback on his music, it kicks off a partnership that spans years, wavering off and on in its intensity, passion, and pressing on egos. This book is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow if you replaced the video game aspect with music. You can tell Brickely is deeply involved in music as the insights she shares are astute to the point of being hard to understand to those of us who just enjoy music (me). But what I really liked about this book was the exploration of envy and obsession between both Percy and Joe, as well as the reliance on someone else within a partnership. I do feel like some of this may have gone over my head simply because of the deep leaning into the meaning of music, but I never felt bored by this book and was really impressed by this as a debut novel. I’ll definitely be looking out for what she rights next.

I loved this book. I'm not nearly the music fan that these characters are, but that didn't matter and in the end, the book made me want to listen to more music too, and so that's a bonus. I enjoyed these characters and their passion, and I also enjoyed reliving the 00s. Just a really enjoyable read.

I listened to an interview - I think it was Jack Antonoff on the And the Writer Is podcast - where they were talking about how there's not many tv shows or anything that capture magic of songwriting, because a lot of the time it's really internal and not something you can see or express aloud. But this book is everything I hope that process would be like anyways. It's got the creative collaboration that offers a totally unique mode of connecting with someone, for which reason I think anyone who loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow will eat this up. It's got questions of college and post college what am I doing with my life in a way that reminded me of Normal People. And it's got music and songwriting collaborations, and revenge, like Daisy Jones & the Six. Ok now I've compared this book to three of my favorite ever novels, so I guess you could say I'm a fan. Oh also! The friendship arc. I'd liken it to The Rachel Project in that the friendship in this book was just as moving as the romantic love and that is something I am personally always looking for in a book. The dialogue is witty, the world is sharp and specific, and the time period which takes us through years when music distribution evolved is so fun to watch. Oh, and there's a playlist of all the songs on Spotify already so you can listen along!

If I had to describe this novel in one word, it would be "electric." This novel has a pulse, a rhythm that carried me through to the end. Once I hit the halfway point, I couldn't put it down. There's comedy, and tragedy. It's got just the right amount of early '00s cheese to make it endearing without being too much, and a gritty realism aspect that doesn't feel forced. I particularly enjoyed the music writing littered throughout the novel, as well. It was a nice touch that added a fair amount of literary value, while also adding to the narrator's character. It was a surprisingly relatable novel and one I found myself fully invested in from beginning to end.

I LOVED the vibe of this book. Gave me Before We Were Strangers energy in the best way. Loved the historical aspect and the music aspect and the ending. Perfection.

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. At times, Percy was annoying. She was too much of a cool girl. She was not like other girls. She made a terrible choice at one point that turned me off from her. But what I did like about this book is that it was unique. I like that it was set in the 2000s and it felt like how I remembered those years. Zoe was the standout character.

From Berkley to New York, Deep Cuts follows Percey and Joe as they navigate their friendship over the years. Both love music. Joe sings and Percey is a music critic that has an ear for writing and producing.