Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date: September 17th 2013.
My rating: 4.5 stars.
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.
Leila Sales first impressed me with her wit and charm in
Past Perfect; it was a book after a recommendation from two great bloggers (Nomes
& Flann) I devoured in a few hours. It had an interesting mix of characters
and was a book which had me laughing endlessly. It was a story I absolutely
adored. This time once again I fell in love with this beautiful story by Sales
but for different reasons entirely.
Sales has a beautiful talent for making a story appear so
real. With Past Perfect I wished that I could attend a history set up, it
honestly bought out the inner geek within me. With This Song Will Save Your
Life all I wanted to take care of Elise. Elise had experienced a torrid time at
school and through no fault of her own. She tried to do as much as she could to
fit in, until it all became too much. Elise was an intelligent girl but lacked
so much confidence because of the constant taunting she had to deal with. So
I’m glad that by accident a chance came her way which allowed her to shine. It
did take some time for Elise to finally realise her full potential, there were
a lot of hurdles which got in her way, but I’m glad when she needed the support
her true friends came through.
It took Elise a while to get comfortable with who she was,
she had friends but they weren’t friends just people she hung around with. I
did appreciate the people she did come in Elise’s life such as Vicky and Harry
and even Char who accepted Elise for who she was and didn’t make instant
judgements about her. The kids at school just believed what they were told, but
with the people at Start Elise had the chance to actually have her own new
fresh start. In This Song Will Save Your Life, it was a huge learning and
growing process for Elise, like I said before there were a lot of stumbling
blocks along the way, but a lot of them I came to realise were there so that Elise
could learn from them.
This Song Will Save Your Life was a fun read, it was such a
different book to what I was expecting, it was a raw honest story of a girl
that I’m sure many individuals out there could relate to with her situation.
Sales once again weaved a story which had me up reading until the early hours.
I truly appreciated the heartbreaking story she decided to treat us to. I liked
how she showed that despite loads of things getting in the way you should never
give up, Elise continued to battle through things and I admired the character
which emerged in the end and that she could show so many people out there that
anything was possible.
34 comments:
I love when book makes you laugh. I haven't heard of this one before but it seems like a book I should read before this summer is officially over. Great review and I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)
I've been excited for this since BEA and I still have not read it, despite all the wonderful reviews, like yours, Jas!
I love honest books, so I cannot wait to read this :) And I also want to read the rest of Sales' books.
This one sounds really good. I haven't yet read Leila Sales but I think I'll have to check out something of hers soon!
AHH I want this book so much, the early reviews seem to all be only positive.
Lovely review, Jasprit! <33
It was so hard for me to write a review for this book because of how deeply it affected me. I'm so glad you loved it, though. It's very different from Past Perfect, but wonderful all the same. Lovely review, Jasprit!
I'm so glad to see you enjoyed this one, too, Jasprit. This book seriously spoke to me on so many levels, and I can't believe I underestimated it as badly as I did. I'm so, so glad to see it resonated for you, as well. Wonderful review!
For some reason, I was under the impression that Leila Sales was a debut author, but clearly not. :) I'm so glad you enjoyed this Jasprit! I've heard nothing but good things about it, and although it probably wouldn't be my usual sort of read, I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Lovely review!
Ah yes, raw and fun sounds like a great mix to me!
I'm so glad you loved this, Jasprit. I read it a few weeks ago and I adored it as well. It took my by surprise because I did initially have a hard time connecting with Elise because I had never gone through what she had, but she eventually grew on me and I loved watching her mature and make new friends and learning to live life.
I haven't tried Past Perfect yet, but I think I should, because Leila Sales has a beautiful writing style.
Lovely review, Jasprit! :)
Yaaaay! This Song was great, love the underground DJ world :) Such a shame what Elise had to go through when all she wanted was a friend. Brilliant review, Jasprit!
I've read only really great things about this one Jasprit, I'm so happy to see you loved it as well! Gotta love those books that keep you up way to late reading, I live for those kind of stories. I can't wait to meet Elise, she sounds like a very strong character and a fighter and I'm a fan of her already! Fantastic review:)
Oh yes, growing to love and appreciate oneself stories are always so good and inspiring to read:) I think there're lots of people we know really well, but there can only be very few true friends and I'm glad that Elise found those people to connect with. I actually thought about requesting it, but ended up not doing it since I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it, but now I'm thinking I kind of do. So happy you enjoyed this one and connected well with it. Lovely review, sweetie!
OH, btw I see that you're reading Time Between Us. I hope to read it soon and I really, really hope you'll love this pretty:)
This one sounds so good! I'm glad Elise was able to find nice people to hang around with.
Fantastic review... so glad you loved this one! :)
I wasn't really paying attention to this book but now that I've read your review, I'm adding it to my read list. I want to get to know Elise :)
I hadn't actually heard of Past Perfect until people started mentioning it in their reviews of This Song Will Save Your Life. Both sound really intriguing (perhaps Past Perfect a little more for me and my interests). But I love the idea that TSWSYL is an in-depth look at bullying and about a character gaining confidence in herself. Sounds well worth a read. Lovely review, Jasprit!
I've heard great things about this one and I'm glad it didn't disappoint you, Jasprit! I haven't read the author before, but since she is 2-0 for you, I'll have to check a book out by her asap. Man, this book sounds lovely with the honest story and the connection with the character...everything :) Thanks for the great review!
I like books that feature music in some way, so that's definitely a plus for me. I'm glad you enjoyed the latest by this author!! It's great to hear that there are some memorable characters.
I've never heard of Leila Sales before...but after reading your review, I'm certainly going to check her out. This Song Will Save Your Life sounds wonderful, Jasprit. Thanks for sharing a great review and introducing me to a new author. :)
Oh, holy cow, I loved this book. You're so right -- Sales really does have a way of putting you right there with the character, of making it real. I'm thinking I need to re-read this one soon!
What a beautiful review, Jasprit. I've been curious and anxious to read this, and am even more so now.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I haven't read Past Perfect, but you're making me want to, and I'm getting more and more convinced that I'll love this book and want to go back and read PP despite the huge TBR. Elise and Sales' writing sound right up my alley. Elise's experiences especially so, since I think those kind of situations are so emotionally resonant.
"It took Elise a while to get comfortable with who she was, she had friends but they weren’t friends just people she hung around with." <-- Super easy to relate to right there. Friend-acquaintances? Acquaintances only? Eh.
"The kids at school just believed what they were told, but with the people at Start Elise had the chance to actually have her own new fresh start." <-- The best, and again so easy to relate to. I've heard wonderful things about the side cast of characters, and that's just great-- all of my favorite books have been stolen by the side cast ;). And a huge learning and growing process already makes me enthusiastic to read from Elise's POV.
"it was a raw honest story of a girl that I’m sure many individuals out there could relate to with her situation....I liked how she showed that despite loads of things getting in the way you should never give up" <-- I once read that this book was previously called the SUICIDE PLAYLIST. I haven't had the chance to read it just yet - scheduled soon, in a week or two, I think - but I'm getting so excited because your review and the others I've read have said that themes and character growth are developed to the point where the story is so raw, so affecting. And those are always great to read.
Did you get a chance to look up the playlist for the book? I'm still trying to decide whether I want to read the book while listening to those songs. I'd imagine it should come out more layered...
I love music in books. I've been eyeing this one for a while now. I'm glad it's not going to disappoint me, Jasprit.
Great review!
I have heard brilliant things about this authors books and really need to pick one up by the sound of it! I love the message behind this story and think it'd be something I'd really enjoy. Thanks for the beautiful review! I also really love the cover for this one.
It sounds like this book is hitting everyone hard, which just makes me more and more excited (and nervous) to read it! I want to be right there with all of you experiencing live with Elise. I'm always impressed when authors are able to connect with so many people at once. Lovely thoughts, Jaspirt! Hopefully I can add my voice to the masses soon.
Ugh, I wrote your name wrong. SORRY! JASPRIT.
I have to admit, books that feature music as a big part of the story are hit or miss for me, but 4.5 stars?! I need to hurry up and get to it. :)
Wendy @ The Midnight Garden
Jasprit, thanks for making me soo excited for this one now!! I have a review copy, and I wasn't as excited as I am now for it! I love books where a character grows and accepts who she is and all.. It's so inspirational!! Also, I really want to read Past Perfect too now! Great review!
- Farah @ MajiBookshelf
"Sales has a beautiful talent for making a story appear so real." - I always want stories like this! Thanks to your post I'm now adding this to my TBR list. :-)
Sounds like Elise is a very strong and inspirational character!! Can't wait to read her story for myself! Great review =)
I wasn't 100% sure on this one before but now I think I definitely need to read it!
Ahhhh I am so excited to read this! I have heard nothing but great things about it so I know I'm going to enjoy it. I love that its different, and an emotional story. Plus, I love the sound of Elise. She sounds like a well-developed character and I can't wait to meet her! I'm glad to see you enjoyed this Jasprit! Great review! :D
~ Maida
Literary Love Affair
Great review! This sounds really interesting, I like the sound of Elise as a character and the fact that Sales deals with those issues of friendship and popularity that can be difficult to deal with. Definitely one for the TBR list :)
This sounds interesting.
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