Thursday, September 5, 2013

Review: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

This Song Will Save Your Life
by Leila Sales
Author Website | Twitter | Facebook

Publication Date: September 17th 2013
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9780374351380
Genre: Young Adult / Contemporary
Source: Netgalley

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together. (Goodreads)
This Song Will Save Your Life is the perfect read for anyone that never really felt like they fit in before. Elise has done everything just to try to fit in, but sadly, never has. That is until she meets Vicky and Pippa outside of an abandoned warehouse one lonely night. With the help of her new friends, and from a mysterious DJ named Char, Elise will discover that her life is not exactly what she thought it was.

The main character in the story, Elise, was a lot like me when I was a teenager. With the exception being that I did have a few choice friends and I really didn’t care what people thought of me, but I could totally relate to her feelings of never quite fitting in. Elise wants people to like her more than anything. To be honest, I had a hard time seeing how someone like her couldn’t have friends. I thought she was amazingly sarcastic and funny at times, but those are the types of people that I seem to be drawn towards. This girl, I felt so incredibly sad for this girl and what she had to go through. The author did a really great job of describing the emotions that Elise was feeling. I definitely felt her pain.

The most relatable thing between Elise and myself would have to be the music. I love music. It has gotten me through some pretty rough times in my life. Most times, my I put my headphones on and tune out the world. So I can’t definitely relate to that aspect of the book. Music is an amazing and powerful outlet; I wish more people would take advantage of it. I love that we get to see Elise find herself through the music, and she grows and blossoms from the amazing talent that she discovers.

I really enjoyed the characters in the book, and I think the author did a really great job of making them all very realistic. Everyone had their own problems, and I feel like their stories really helped Elise with her own issues, and showed her that people aren’t always what they seem.  I really liked Vicky the most. If Elise had not had Vicky cheering her on, I think she might have given up a lot sooner. But Vicky proved to be a really great friend, and that is exactly what Elise needed.

I really enjoy reading contemporary novels, and this book was definitely thought provoking. I started the book knowing that I would probably really like it, especially because of the music aspects of the book, and I found it to be a very enjoyable read. It’s definitely a book that I would love to share with my teenage daughters. I think they may be able to find parts of the book that they can relate to, just as I did. I think that maybe everyone will be able to find something relatable about the book.

Happy Reading!


10 comments:

  1. i so want to read this.... need to buy this soon.

    music has a magic of its own neee....

    great review
    Aparajita @Le' Grande Codex

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's so funny--almost every review I've read mentions how they relate to the MC. I can relate to her, too, which is why I think I loved this book so much. The music, the escaping, her personality...she's fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad you can share this book with your daughters! I always love when I can share a book with my mom.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay, a happy reader! So far, I've only seen bad reviews of this book :/ At least amongst my friends. Now I feel like I should pick this one up even though I decided not to. Yeah... I will definitely put it on my tbr list! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really like contemporary novels too. And I like that this one has a bunch of characters and that they are each going through their own things. It sounds like a good book with some good sub plots.

    Thanks for sharing this new book with me and thanks for the great review :)

    Michelle @ Book Briefs

    ReplyDelete
  6. I LOVE this one's cover! And I've only ever heard incredible things about the book. But I've never read a review on it - realistic characters? I'm in.

    Great review, Christy!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really loved Leila Sales's first book, and while this sounds completely different, I really want to read it. I like it when characters are realistic and it's great that you could relate to Elise. Fab review, thank you :).

    ReplyDelete
  8. This one was so beautiful, and I'm happy you enjoyed it like I did, Christy. I LOVED that music literally in a lot of ways is what saved Elise, but that she made some true, good friends along the way and learned a lot about herself. I could really relate to her, too, and it meant so much to me, to get to read this one. *happy sigh*

    Lovely review, as always!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm so glad you liked this book! It's been on my radar for practically EVER so reading all these positive reviews about it is nice! The cover is absolutely gorgeaus too but most importantly I feel like this is just such a perfect read for me because of the whole "music" thing. I feel such a strong connection to music myself that I feel like i really will connect with the protagonist. Great Review and can't wait to pick this one up! :)
    Lily @ Lilysbookblog

    ReplyDelete
  10. I related so strongly to never feeling like you fit in-that was so me at a teenager. I remember looking around and thinking that everyone else know what was what except for me and feeling so lonely because of that. I hope a lot of people will be picking this book up because it deserves a lot of attention!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by! :)