First and foremost, thank you so much to the publishers and author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Isaac’s song is a definite must read for everyone. Following Isaac on his journey to forgive his father, even in death was beautifully written. There’s definitely something to be said for a book about one person’s journey into their past, the parents past to realize where they need to go. It reminds me very much of a quote I once read that said the greatest things you could ever give your child is wings to show what you can become and roots to remind you where you’re from. It’s never easy to talk to your parents in the present and never easy to understand that while you’re growing up, so are they. Parents aren’t perfect and they try their hardest, even if they get it wrong. Isaac’s father writing letters to apologize to his son and try to tell him what he really meant to him was beautiful.
This book is definitely a must read!

Isaac's therapist is what I desire! I underlined so many of her points! Isaac's Song is a masterfully composed tale that verges on being a biography.

I was astounded by the first few pages. When Isaac's father passes away, the story begins with Isaac sobbing unexpectedly. He sees a therapist a few weeks later as a result of his weight loss and lack of sleep. The core of this novel is Isaac's sessions with his therapist, with whom he revisits his early years and his perceptions of his parents, his Blackness, and his sexuality.."Sorrying doesn't make the hurt go away. They belong to the offender.

This narrative delves deeply. It's about love, our emotions, and our perceptions of what transpired. Isaac and his father never had a good relationship. However, as he reconsiders what transpired, he discovers that he may have been overly critical of his father. and might elevate his mother to a position she didn't always merit.


Certain realities you uncover, Isaac, will be at odds with your innermost feelings. Don't back down from them, though. You're searching for this. It forces us to reevaluate our presumptions.I sped through Isaac's life and the pages. His early years, his time at college, and the beginning of his career when he was still uneasy as a Black gay guy.

The moment you stop holding other people accountable for your mistreatment, you take control of your own life. We cannot be healed by those who harm us. That is our responsibility.


Tears filled my eyes as I read his father's letter. The affection that radiated from those words. Despite calling his son a girly and sissy, his father made an effort. I must read Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black. It will probably make me cry uncontrollably.

"Don't Cry for Me" was a journey of love, pain, and misunderstanding, and "Isaac's Song" is the other side of the coin regarding that story and all the emotions it brought. This book is a jewel and an emotional story that is infused in black culture but still has a universal appeal. In some ways, I see Issac and his relationship with his father in many relationships between male family members in my family, and I am glad to read a book that puts that relationship canter stage and discuss how it affects everyone in the family. This book is brilliant, and I highly recommend it.

4 1/2 stars rounded up to 5

I really enjoyed Isaac's Song and highly recommend it as an audiobook as the narrator is fabulous and tells the story in an incredibly engaging way. It's the kind of book that reads like a memoir and I had to doublecheck at one point that this was, in fact, a novel, and not a memoir.

Isaac's father has just died and he's having trouble dealing with his grief... Which is confusing because his relationship with his father wasn't easy. Issac spent his childhood is Missouri where his father was extremely hard on him. Isaac knew he was gay from a young age, but was forced to suppress his true self as his father expected him to be "manly" and athletic rather than excelling in theater and artistic pursuit like Issac does. He beings seeing a therapist to attempt to deal with his grief.

From here, the book jumps back and forth in time with the ongoing presence of Issac's therapist that he's seeing as an adult. She asks great questions that cause Isaac to contemplate deeper and invite the reader in more than if the story were just going back and forth in time. I absolutely love that the author chose this device to tell the story and think it worked very well.

Issac's Song is an incredibly emotional heartfelt book that deals with issues of self acceptance, family, race, sexuality, grief, and healing. I had no idea that it was a companion book to an earlier book about Issac's father (Don't Cry for Me), but I'll definitely be reading that now!

Isaac’s Song is my first 5 star read of 2025! This is a beautifully written story about the struggles specific to being a gay black man in America.

The novel reads like an autobiography as Isaac recounts his life as a child in the 1970s and 80s, then into his young adulthood in the 90s. In between the stories of his life, Isaac has conversations with his therapist which examine grief, forgiveness, and the construction of memories. It’s through journaling his life that Isaac slowly begins to heal and finally accept himself.

Isaac’s Song is Daniel Black’s companion to Don’t Cry for Me. This book, however, truly stands on its own. I never felt like I had needed to read the earlier novel to understand this one. But now I want to read it, simply because I’m intrigued to know more about Isaac’s father’s story.

This book worked especially well on audio. I loved the narrator’s voice and cadence. I listened at 1.5x speed which felt natural and gave me time to process the more thoughtful and powerful lines. There were times when I wished I had the book in my hands to highlight passages. I may re-read this in the future just so I can pull some quotes.

I absolutely loved this book! I really appreciated Issac’s journey and how revisiting his past through writing really helped him process his emotions and work through some things.

Daniel Black’s writing is captivating and thought provoking, inviting the reader to emerge themselves in the main characters story. I felt connected to Issac in this, and while our lives are vastly different, I felt like I understood Issac and empathized with various themes throughout this book.

The struggles that Issac faced as a queer man in the 80s, especially with his identity, have transcended time. I could not help but make a connection between some of the themes is this book and the current state of affairs in the world - especially for the LGBTQ community.

JD Jackson does a wonderful job of putting emotions into the words and story of this audiobook. His natural flow made this an easy book to listen to and kept my full attention throughout!

Such a beautifully written piece of work. A masterpiece of feelings and emotions. Isaac’s life is not as simple as it seems. His story is told through vignettes of the passed as he realizes that his father was responsible for where his life has gone. He grows and learns from his past and experiences life more fully as he grows.

I really enjoyed this book. I hated how Isaac’s father treated him but loved how he evolved throughout the book. This book is about Isaac going back through his memories and writing the details down. By doing so he is remembering the past in a different way. I’m sure being a gay black boy in the 70’s was very difficult and the need to hide this or change yourself was important. As an adult in the 80’s he is true to himself and separated himself from his father. After his father dies his therapist helps him work through his grief and anger towards his father. Which leads to a huge discovery in the end.

4.5 Stars OVERALL
I did an immersive read with the audiobook and the written book. The narrator, who I recognized from other audiobooks, does an excellent job! He has such a strong voice!

I read Don't Cry for Me, (the father's story) last month, and I could not wait to read the son's story. Now that I have read both books, author Daniel Black is an auto-buy author. I plan to read some of his older books next.

While this book could be a stand-alone, I do recommend reading Don't Cry for Me first.
This book is Issac's reflections on his life with his mother and father, focusing mostly on looking back at his relationship with his father. With the help of a therapist, Issac reflects on his memories, discovering maybe he got it wrong. Through that reflection, he learns more about himself, and most importantly, he learns more about his father, gaining a greater understanding of who his father was, his struggles, and why he was the man that he was.

It's a beautiful journey to follow. The questions the therapist asked him are ones that we can all ask ourselves. I highlighted many passages and plan to explore the questions in my own life.
The beauty of this book is not only the story, but how it can feed the readers soul.
Highly recommended read!

Isaac’s song by Daniel Black is an emotional story of one man’s healing towards a distant father. The story reads as a near memoir as the main character is encouraged to write by his therapist. However, the story within a story element added little to the overall resolution.

Don't Cry for Me will always hold a very special place in my heart as one of my top books of 2022. I still think about that book. I was so thrilled to get my hands on Isaac's Song and hear Isaac's side of the story. It's just as beautiful as Don't Cry for Me. Highly recommend.

This was such an excellent book. I listened to the audiobook as well as read the arc. I sadly put this off because I knew this would be a heavy read. This book feels like it healed something in me, particularly the way I’ve viewed and thought of my own family. Isaac gave his all in this book, Daniel Black did an amazing job of tying in history lessons with a very relatable story.

The relationship between Jacob and Isaac strengthened even after Jacob was gone. I feel like this was a great way to show that you can always seek forgiveness and gain understanding that it’s never too late.

This isn’t necessarily the kind of book I always gravitate toward, and yet I found myself finding myself reading it whenever I found the chance. It’s very immersive, intriguing, and I would argue very well-written. We follow the main character in the time after his father dies, writing down the story of his life as part of his work with a therapist. It’s something of a series of interconnected personal essays that immerse the reader into Isaac’s story growing up as a young queer Black man in the late 20th century, into his present of finally trying to be an author, and the book that he writes. It’s a bit of a family saga, a bit coming-of-age, and really just what feels like a deeply personal story. I found myself disagreeing with Isaac at multiple points, but it felt like further proof of my immersion.

Specifically, listening to the audiobook of this book was a really great reading experience for me. JD Jackson brings the story together and makes a book that might’ve been a little harder to get through as it’s out of my comfort zone as something I sped through pretty quickly.

This was a really interesting book and has some (imo) really interesting exploration about identity and the creation of identity as a Black queer man (although I don’t have personal experience here), and I would recommend checking it out!

It's the story of so much more than being a black gay man. While yes that is the meat of the story it is a story of misunderstanding, hurt, joy, and ultimately a story of understanding.

Daniel capitalizes on how we view our experiences depending on how we recall the experiences. Both Isaac’s mother and father were deeply flawed but they also had their individual strengths, as Isaac is recalling his experiences through his therapy sessions we see his therapist challenges his worldview.

Isaac’s father, although fallible, clearly loved Isaac.
I don’t think that is up for debate. Later in the story, we get more context around Jacob’s upbringing and how this informs his decisions around Isaac’s identity.
I believe he does this out of fear (not that I am excusing the behavior of course), but that is why having open and honest conversations is so important.

When Isaac received pushback from his therapist regarding his mother’s actions it was refreshing.
This novel is so well written and made me cry at parts, it is more than queer fiction, it is the ability to dissect the actions of others with their intentions in mind.

I absolutely loved this audiobook; JD Jackson's narration was phenomenal, and he's quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite narrators. After giving Daniel Black's previous book, Don't Cry For Me, five stars, I had high expectations, and Isaac's Song delivered beautifully, earning another five-star rating from me.

It was a deeply moving experience to reconnect with familiar characters, this time exploring the narrative through Isaac's eyes. The novel brilliantly portrays Isaac's emotional journey as he navigates complex feelings toward his father following his death, guided by therapy and expressive writing. Black captures grief and loss in such an authentic way that it left my heart aching alongside Isaac's.

As someone originally from Arkansas, I particularly enjoyed Black's depiction of rural Arkansas, offering a fresh and compelling perspective that resonated personally with me. Daniel Black consistently excels at crafting emotionally rich, character-driven stories, and Isaac's Song further cements my admiration for his work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for providing this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Don't Cry For Me was one of my favorite reads in 2022 and it's stuck with me since. So when I found out that Isaac's Song was a continuation of Don't Cry For Me but from Isaac's perspective I couldn't wait to get my hands (or in this case, ears) on it. I am once again left speechless by Daniel Black's ability to create characters that we can feel we know so intimately and weave a story that is so poignant and beautiful. This book is a gift and I cannot wait to read what he writes next.

I also want to give credit to JD Jackson for adding even more vibrance, emotion, and life to the audiobook.

No surprise here another solid read from Dr. Daniel Black. I really enjoy the ease with which he weaves such insightful stories.

This story is about Isaac and is the follow up to Don’t Cry For Me which was an amazing read. This one takes place after Isaac’s father has passed away and takes us on a journey of him as a young boy and growing into the man he is now.

You get a lot of perspective in this book for Isaac, his mother & father…much more than I expected and it added so much more depth to the story and provided deeper understanding I regards to the first book.

I was very invested in the story Isaac was writing and at first I wasn’t sure how it was related to the overall story (despite it keeping my attention all on its own) but towards the end it comes full circle.

Dr. Black is just such a great story teller.

Isaac grew up in the 1980s and was always more artistic, sensitive, and "feminine" than the so-called stereotypical boy. His father was very hard on him, trying to harden him up and force him into being more masculine. Now his father is dead, and Isaac still harbours resentment for the way he was treated. His therapist prompts him to write down his life story, and those memories and his reflections on them form the bulk of this book. I thought it did an excellent job of showing how even a young child can tell they are "different" even if they are unsure of how and of the reality of growing up largely closeted. I especially liked how reflecting on his memories led Isaac to a more balanced assessment of both his mother and his father. His father often treated Isaac badly, but there were other times when he really stepped up to support his son. This doesn't undo the harm he caused, but he wasn't all bad any more than Isaac's mother was all good. This book is an excellent advertisement for the benefits of a good therapist and also for the benefits of creativity in dealing with trauma. Examples of Isaac's fictional writings are included within this book, and I loved seeing how he used his writing to help him process issues. This novel also explores Isaac's identity as a Black man - how impactful events like the police assault of Rodney King were, how omnipresent microaggressions are in his life, and the toll they take. This book is a companion to Don't Cry for Me, a series of deathbed letters written to Isaac by his father, attempting to apologise and make amends. You don't have to have read that book to appreciate this one, but I'd highly recommend it on its own merits. When Isaac discovers the letters and reads them, it is clear how impactful they are for him and how they help him better understand his father. Isaac's Song is a beautifully written and poignant novel, one that reads like a memoir. I'd highly recommend it for its exploration of masculinity, father-son relationships, memory, intergenerational trauma, and the intersection of Blackness and queerness. I listened on audio, which was excellent. JD Jackson did a great job expressing all the emotions Isaac experiences, really immersing me in his world.

What a lovely emotional little book.
It read like a memoir with bits of the main character’s own novels pieced inside to illustrate complicated feelings Isaac was experiencing/ dissecting.
Excellent writing.
5 stars no notes.

Thanks to netgalley and harlequin audio for an alc

Another stunning novel by Daniel Black. It is a follow up to Don’t Cry for Me but can be read as.a standalone, although having read the two back to back made it such a full and robust experience. After his estranged father’s passing, Isaac begins to come to terms with his upbringing and the family history that informed his life. This book illustrates generational trauma and its impact on Black families. This book is about identity, empathy, and acceptance. Isaac’s father could not accept that Isaac was gay and Isaac could not accept his father’s harsh discipline but through therapy and examination a level of understanding begins to form and inspiration is found. This was such a touching and revelatory story. The writing is gorgeous. The message is heartfelt. I loved JD Jackson’s narration. He is one of my favorite narrators because he emotes so well. This is an absolute must read.