Although there are some good aspects in this book I really can't deny that this is my worst nightmare. 

This is the first novel I read about Laura Nowlin although I seen her name before and was planning to read her other book. I really her writing, and sadly that is the only thing I can say about this novel. Oh and I appreciated the book's effort to explore asexuality although it failed miserably. The love triangle was just.. a mess.

It really dragged, it keeps readers reading because it will make you believe that there will be a big revelation or something important will happen but sadly, that didn't happen at all. I was bored and I was just pissed because the girl is just annoying and the other guys came out as crybois instead of swoony and charming. I did not anyone at all. Plus, this book is filled with such music snobbery that it makes me wanna throw it. Yes, things that makes me a violent person.arc for-review41 s Laura NowlinAuthor 9 books5,107

This book is not for you.
37 s1 comment Sarah Elizabeth4,780 1,350

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley.)

“So here’s the plan,” I say. I am taking Ramona glitter bombing.



This was a slightly strange story, about three teens and their relationships.

Ramona was a bit of an odd character, and she always seemed to be hyperactive about something. Tom was a quiet boy who d glitter a lot, and d to do illegal things putting fish into fountains, and Sam seemed the most normal out of the bunch (which isn’t saying much).

The storyline in this seemed to be about these three teens playing weird music, and glitter bombing things (including a fire hydrant! So irresponsible!), as well as their relationship with one another. We started the book with Ramona and Sam secretly fancying each other, and then we got Tom thrown into the mix, even though he seemed to have no libido at all.

The ending to this was okay, although things were still a little weird on the romance front.



6 out of 10contemporary love-triangle netgalley-edelweiss ...more19 s Hannah ?ReaderintheRough?213 88

And I realized that maybe Tom was good for us. It’s good for Ramona to have someone to pull the rug out from under her every once and awhile. She turned and smiled at me. And I realized that it’s probably good for me to have another person between me and Ramona.

Um.

This is not at all what I expected.

*spoilers*

Polyamory. Strangeness. Music without descriptions. Love without conviction.contemporary14 s Debbie364 302

One of the very few YA books that explores non-monogamy. Whilst the plot isn't going to blow you away, the relationship between the characters makes this book important. bookshelf-read lgbt polyam11 s Amber186 52

Not sure where my review went!

I picked up this one because it has an ace character and , and it had an unexpected polyamorous aspect that I was pleasantly surprised about. I loved all three of the main characters and their individual POVs. The way the relationship played out between all three characters was so interesting. I loved seeing how they grew closer and how Ramona and Sam's dynamic changed as they added Tom into their small friend group and band. I highly recommend picking this one up! ace-aro books-i-own lgbtqia ...more9 s Chelsey368 114

I wouldn't say I loved this book. I enjoyed it and the love triangle but then that kinda got weird towards the end. She should have chosen one person. I d how there band was different and they weren't afraid what others thought23 s sara865 194

I FREAKING LOVED THIS.

The characters are absolutely all able. I literally love all, even secondary ones, because this book doesn't leave them at just being secondary characters, but actually acknowledges that there are stories we might not know behind every personality.
Tom is my favourite, because he's such an edgy artist who wants to educate himself constantly and change the world, and it was beautiful. I also love that he honestly has nice things to say about people he fell out with, and he's actually lovely. He loves glitter! Come on!
They are all very open minded teens and it was beautiful to see this when YA is usually filled with dumb af teenagers.

Also this book contains discussions about gender issues, calls out misogyny and sexism and explores various sexualities and relationship types. It was brilliant.

It's a short one. Make yourself the favour of reading it. Surprisingly nice. I'm not that much of a music person, but if you're into that (making of music, old bands), then this book is even more for you. 8 s Elle629 70

Love, love, loved! This wasn't what I was expecting but I loved it. Everything from plotting, characterizations, to the ending. I can't rave enough about this one. The concept of love and how we all see it and what makes love different for everyone is just amazing. Highly recommend and can't wait to add this to my personal library.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.arcs-netgalley-edeilweiss mature-young-adult music ...more8 s Jessica White480 37

I tried to read this, I really did. But this book was (not) for me.7 s Christina567 71

My original review of this title can be found here on The Book Hookup.

**SPECIAL NOTE:** An eARC of this title was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. However, that did not influence this review in any way. All thoughts, quotes, and opinions will be of this version and not of the published edition.

? Quick Thoughts and Rating: 2.5-3 stars! It's been weeks since I've read this book and I'm still not quite sure how I felt about it. It was...slightly weird--sometimes even good weird--and I'm not really able to formulate my thoughts into something that's review-worthy, to be honest. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, and had some pretty great quotes and ideals worth sharing, but overall left me feeling generally indifferent about it all.

? The Lowdown: Ramona and Sam are best friends and bandmates, but also secretly in love with one another. When they find their missing sound in oddball artist, Tom, everything seems to be looking up for this duo. But then Ramona starts falling for Tom while she's still in love with Sam, and Tom loves Sam and Ramona, but has zero sexual interest in either and everything is suddenly...weird. But when the group has a major communication breakthrough, they manage to find a rhythm that suits their personal interests, the group's interest, and romantic interest all in one go that creates a perfect harmony and a satisfying ending.

I am in love. With Tom. And with Sam, who I knew was my Sam as soon as I met him.
Some people don't think this could be true.
But I do.
I am.
I love.
~quote taken from the eARC of This Song is (Not) for You at 59%

? Review: I've spent the better part of a couple of weeks trying to untangle all the opinions in my head when it came to this book, and I still don't feel I've successfully managed them at this point either, but I'm going to give it an honest-to-goodness go. In the beginning, I found it rather difficult to connect to the characters. The pacing was slow-going and each of the characters felt almost caricature- and very one note: Romana was always hyper and cheerful, Sam was super pensive, and Tom appeared to be quiet despondent. For it to have been written in alternating first person POV between all three main characters, I felt a general lack of varying "voice" between them all. However, over time and as the story progressed, allowing their stories to finally intersect more, I came to appreciate the uniqueness of each character and the differences they brought to the story. I also enjoyed all the musicality that the story had in it, but I'd imagine for those that aren't aware of certain music elements or those that don't care to go in-depth about it will find it difficult to trudge through, even skim-worthy at some times because music seems to be at the heart of who these kids are. I also respected the way the author decided to handle the ending, and while it felt a little open, I can see the need for it to happen this way in this situation.

The biggest reason I feel people need to read this book is because of Tom. He was the first asexual character I've read about, and while I would have loved to have delved into his character a little more, I d the brief explorations into his mind when dealing with his sexual desires--or lack thereof--arose. I almost wish the author would have spent a little more time on this particular aspect, but seeing that sex didn't necessarily interest him that much, I can see why it wasn't in his thoughts a little more.

"I'm not gay. I'm not straight. I just don't really care about sex."
"You don't care. About sex." She said it I'd said I didn't care about curing cancer.
"I don't know why," I said. I tried to gather together my years of puzzling over this and lay it all before her. "I just never developed this obsession with sex that everyone else has. It's never interested me, and it just seems to cause everyone else a lot of trouble. I love you, Sara. I think you're so smart and beautiful, and I love being with you. I just don't want to have sex with you."
~quote taken from the eARC of This Song is (Not) for You at 45%

-?-

I have a lot of love in my life. I don't feel I'm missing out on anything.
I don't know why I don't feel sexual urges, but I don't.
I didn't have anything horrible happen to me as a child.
I've told a doctor and been checked out. Nothing's wrong with me.
Except that something must be wrong, right?
Right?
So I should try to be with Ramona in the way she wants. I should try to feel sexual desire. Maybe it's a muscle that can be exercised. Maybe I can be jump-started, and then I'll still be me, but I'll have this thing that everyone else feels.
~quote taken from the eARC of This Song is (Not) for You at 55%

? Rec it? Maybe. Certain elements in this book give me the perfect reason to push this on others (namely Tom and his asexuality), but other reasons (love triangle-y bits and music music everywhere!) make me a little more hesitant to tell people to jump on it. Mostly, I appreciate that with the setup, it could have been drama overload, but it was relatively light and ended on a good note (heh, see what I did there?).

Mostly I appreciated this book because it once again reminded me that love isn't quantifiable or can't be shoved into some tidy label, nor does it look or feel the same to everyone. We're all different with our own unique experiences, and that means that love is going to be expressed and accepted differently by each individual in our own way.

I love how they laugh together. I love how Tom is able to get mellow, dreamy Sam excited. I love making music with them in pairs and as a trio. I love listening to them as they make music together. I love how Sam can get hyper Tom to stop and think, just he can with me. I love it when they tease me together.

I love them. Their friendship is at the center of my mind's maze, and their love is the highest-flying banner on my heart. Loving one does not take love away from the other. There isn't a limit to the amount of love I can feel.

There isn't a limit to how much I can love, and this knowledge makes me want to fly. Lying here on the couch, I feel as if I could lift off and away. The boys laugh and grin at each other.

This love makes me want to love everyone more. Everyone."
~quote taken from the eARC of This Song is (Not) for You at 74%

? A very special thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.2016-publication actual-tbr arc-galley ...more6 s Zemira Warner1,569 1,237 Read

“Growing up isn’t summiting a mountain, you know. There’s no end point.”


This is one strange book.

On one hand I had a feeling it was robotic at times and there were brief moments where I got everything these kids were saying because I too am dealing with my (a)sexuality for the past year. You're never too old to change or even realize things about yourself.

So in a way, this review is about me coming out. I was brave enough to come out to 2 people. One in person, which was really hard but liberating and one over text.

For the longest time I've felt people were judging me for not wanting to date again or even hook up with randoms. Those feelings are still there and I've already explained a million times why I'm the way I am, I can probably recite it in sleep. I'd try to tell them I have bigger priorities, that having a boyfriend is the least of my worries. I've never outright told them: "I'm ace." because they've probably never heard that term and they would say very helpful things -you just haven't found the right person yet, you'll feel differently when you're thirty, or even look down upon me and ask me if I was into women, which sets me off completely. I guess other people find it hard to grasp the fact not everyone wants to have sex, get married or have kids.

I've been always obsessed with couples on tv and in book mostly because I've never felt that connection you share with someone else. I've never been in love despite being in a couple of long relationships. I've always been the cold one in a relationship and I've been (in a way) bullied because I wasn't showing my affection in a more physical way. I've cherished the friendship parts of those relationships but for some reason those moments can easily be interpreted as sexual attraction to some people. Why is it so hard to have a normal conversation with someone without them asking me out after that? People to call me a bitch and mean cause I to say it how it is but why is it so hard to accept someone who thinks nothing you?

I'm an aromantic asexual! I've been this way my whole life. Yes, I've had sex and no, I don't really want to have sex just to please someone else. I don't want to repeat those experiences. I accept my very flawed, over the top, sometimes too serious/immature and opinionated personality. I'm just human and I'm not perfect. But I'm okay with that.

I'd to thank Laura Nowlin for writing about something as complex as asexuality and for other reviewers saying she misrepresented ace community I say this- everyone experiences sexuality in their own, unique way so you shouldn't be saying things you probably know nothing about. Some aces do have sex and they do experience some form of sexual/emotional attraction towards same/different gender. You are not entitled to define anyone. aces-on-shelves contemporary music15 s fatima?????? ?336 31

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Okay, so, I read the synopsis of this book and thought, "Ooh look, a book with a love triangle!" I have nothing against love triangles, in fact, if written well, most of them are right up my alley! So when I got accepted for this book on NG, let's just say... I immediately delved into it. The love triangle totally turned out to be more than what I expected, which I'll be discussing below.

I started reading this book at 11 pm and finished at 2 am even though that was a TERRIBLE decision considering the fact that I had school in three hours. , I didn't even notice the book go by - not once did I check which page I was on! That's how much I enjoyed this book.

Each character had such a unique & distinctive voice and the POVs alternatively switched between the three of them in a very well-paced manner. This pleased me... a lot! Also, the characters' personalities were amazing! Their evolution throughout the story was definitively something to read. Ramona was cheerful and quirky, Sam was adorable and soft-spoken, and Tom was just such a driven character!

This book turned out to be more than just a love triangle, I won't be spoiling, but there was such a positive outlook on so many things! The relationships, the experimental music...etc. There are many small and realistic life lessons hidden within the book, and many of them really resounded through me.

Part of what made this book such an enjoyable page-turner is the writing itself. The prose was beautiful and the metaphors had me rereading half the paragraphs again. The descriptions were flawless & flowed smoothly; they effortlessly allowed the reader to get an idea of what's going on without being excessive. It was just fantastic.

Overall, this was such a refreshing change from other books in the genre. This book had such a positive outlook of many things in life not usually reflected in typical YA books such as high school, relationships, and love. If you reading atypical YA Contemporary books, then this book is for you. (Haha, that was accidental, but I'll go with it.)netgalley6 s Charmaine729 1 follower

This book is not for everyone. But I'm one of those that this book is meant for, because I enjoyed it and it resonated with me.

This book has a lot of "deepness" and profundity to it. I'm not saying that it's actually profound, but that it tries to be... or at least, the characters are trying really hard to make sense of the world and determine how they fit in the structure that underlies society.

These kids are on the cusp of adulthood. They're trying to figure themselves out. They have so much love within them. You could call this book a love story, even though it's not one in a traditional way. I would love to see them a few years down the line, and then again a few years after that. Would they still be Ramona, Sam, and Tom? Or would they change and grow apart? Could they possibly be merely a product of their environment; friends by pure chance? I think one of the great things about enduring friendships is that people actively try to make it work even when they are far apart. Even when those circumstances don't align, they still intend to seek each other out. I would love to see that come to fruition.

There are some wonderful supporting characters here, especially in the form of parental figures. Each character has his or her own side character as well, I guess to show that they are their own people (and not encapsulated in a tiny, lovely, bubble): Emmalyne, Sara, and that guidance counsellor. I was a big fan of all of this.

This book is complicated. It has a lot of layers. There's a part early on where Sam and Tom argue about whether Ramona prefers piano or drums. It didn't click that these instruments were metaphors (or perhaps, they were the metaphors?). I didn't realize that conversation was foreshadowing something bigger that would happen to this motley crew. Or rather, that they would choose to make more happen.

This review is getting cryptic since I don't want to spoil anything. Trust me, it's a perfectly ironic, quiet, and thoughtful read. 6 s Austin CaseAuthor 3 books68

I found this to be an extremely enjoyable read. The protagonists in the shifting perspective each have a clear voice and have unique drives that evolve throughout the narrative. The focus on experimental music and the [SPOILERS!] positive take on unconventional love and relationships is refreshing in a genre that too often reverts to an overly simplistic love triangle unavoidably ending in heartache. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a new take on high-school romance and friends staying true to what they believe in. 6 s Brigi796 81

I came across this book in a list of books with poly relationships, and so when I noticed my local library acquired it, I borrowed it on Libby.

Do I think it deserves the low rating? Yes and no. Obviously yes because I also gave it 3 stars, albeit they're not necessarily bad ones. It's not a bad book per se, but it is quite surface level and never digs too deep into anything. The writing is also quite simplistic and the style of one of the POVs reminded me of a novel in verse from time to time with the short, choppy sentences starting in a new line.

I that Tom, one of the main guys, is ace and that Ramona, his girlfriend, didn't make a big deal out of it his previous girlfriend. I had hoped the relationship between Tom and Sam would have been more explored - they're not romantic partners, but it's also only the text calling them best friends - it's not really shown to the readers.

Rep: main characters in a poly relationship, ace mc21st-century contemporary lgbtqa ...more5 s Rachel Geiger139 132

This Song Is (Not) for You takes the love triangle and gives it an unexpected twist. I have never read a book that explored asexuality and that was a pleasant surprise

As a lover of music, this book was right up my alley. Some of the narration was a little confusing since it went back and forth between the three main characters, but it was still nice to get to see what all of the characters were thinking.

I'll release a full review closer to publication, but this is a fascinating book that I truly enjoyed. music netgalley own-kindle ...more5 s Joanna Marie269 7

received an eARC copy care of Sourcebooks and Net Galley! Thank you guys.

Uhm this book is an ok book for me. Fast read? yes. I don't know if it's just because it felt weird reading this or it really lacks the energy. It took time before it got my interest because the plot moves so slow. But towards the end, I already enjoyed reading it. The characters matured and the words used became more beautiful every time.

And if there's one thing that the book shared to me, it's positivity :)2016-reads contemporaries5 s DahliaAuthor 19 books2,623 Read

Until this book is actually out, all I really wanna say about it is that it was really, really great to see asexual representation in a main character, and I look forward to hearing what ace friends think about it. 2016-releases dahlbc i-own-in-hardcopy ...more5 s Sarah {Literary Meanderings}680 282


This review can be found on my Youtube channel here: This Song Is (Not) For You by Laura Nowlin
angst-is-angsty bittersweet-ending clean-romance ...more5 s Kat(ja)382 85

This review was first published on Life and Other Disasters .

I was kindly provided with an eArc by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I practically flew through this book, I read it all within a couple of hours and that does not happen when I don't a book. I think Nowlin's style of writing is very easy to get into. Her language is relatable and her chapters short, funny and succinct. All her characters, Ramona, Sam and Tom, are equally passionate about what they do and that's what I d most about them. It really goes a long way when an author can portray people who truly care about something or someone, because it's almost as if those characters can infect you with their passions.

However, the book wasn't a 5-star read and that was for a couple of reasons. Sam was probably the character I could relate to most, Ramona was a bit of a selfish drama queen and Tom just too extreme in his art for me sometimes. As I said above, I can appreciate passion, but I don't hypocrites. A lot of the time I felt it was them against the world, but they did all the things they hated about other people. They were a very exclusive clique - the rebel version of the popular kids - and they were very snobbish about their music. Not everyone has the same tastes, but they were judging the people because of it, even if they didn't want to be judged themselves. Also, I did not get Ramona's feud with Emmalyn, because in my eyes she started ridiculing that girl first.

But that was enough of a rant, because in the end, I really enjoyed reading This Song Is (Not) For You, even if it had some flaws. I've rarely encountered such an open and unique view on what love is supposed to be , especially with characters this young. I definitely don't want to give away the ending, let's just say that I am not entirely sure that the band is mature enough to make it work over the long run, but I truly and sincerely hope it for them. Also, I very much enjoyed reading about an asexual character for once and having that person be depicted in such an honest and positive way.

Last but not least, I just want to appreciate what an awesome band name "Vandalized by Glitter" is! I love it!

Fazit: 3.6/5 stars! Very fast paced read with an interesting perspective on love!4 s Katie69 11

I received this e-arc on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Months ago when I first requested this book on NetGalley I started, I always do when writing , writing down notes as I was reading to make sure I remembered what I wanted to write in my review. Looking back on it now, all I managed to write was:

'Ramona is one of those quirky girls who so rarely exist in real life but so often exist in YA novels'.

I'm quite proud of that line. It sums up most of how I feel of the 51% of the book I managed to read. Months later, and after multiple re-attempts, I have come to the decision to give up on this book. In many ways I am therefore not a good judge of how good this book is, seeing as a major plot twist may have happened, and probably did, after I gave up. This review is shakey to say the least.

The book follows Ramona, who I said before, is THE manic pixie girl of so many YA novels, some kind of combination of Luna Lovegood's ditzy-ness and a massive kick of Rose Hathaway's teenage rebellion, a dash of angst and some black eyeliner for good measure, and you have this main character down pat.

There are two guys too, at this point I can't remember their names (Sam and someone else...) but they seemed generic enough too. One was the best friend, the other an aloof newcomer. Together the three form a band. Both boys are struck by Ramona's amazing ability to flit along and always be cool and above it all. And thats pretty much all that had happened when I gave it all up.

I felt I had read this book a million times- on Wattpad of all places. It's that kind of story, it seems the writer was writing about an idolised version of herself, apart from her selfishness Ramona had no faults at all. The book flitted between all the main players point of views, which I have no problem with, but its execution was amateurish. I picked this up because I used to love books about band; this definitely fell short of the mark.

I've given this 1 stars. I have been quite harsh, and I feel bad that I never got to the end. I hope the issues I had with the book were resolved by then, but I couldn't make it to see.

If you want a good YA band novel, check out Guitar Girl by Sara Manning, and skip this one.
4 s Cristina (My Tiny Obsessions)473 103

Read full review HERE



I have to tell you that I did not expect most of the things about this book, and that is a good thing.

First, the writing is pretty great. The story is told in three different POVs, Ramona, Sam and Tom, and each has their own voice and that translated well into the book. Each one has its own characteristics and it felt they were writing is their own diaries and I d that.

I really d the characters too, though I had a hard time identifying with Tom and Ramona most of the times, Sam was easy enough, and I was rooting for the three of them, and I really wanted them ALL to be happy.

This book also talks about issues that I had never seen depicted before in writing, it has an asexual character and a kind of polyamorous relationship, and I felt that it was well written and captivating.

The plot is where this book kind of lost me, I felt that it had no real plot, but it was more of a coming of age and accepting and dealing with diferent things kind of thing. Though neither character had any problem dealing with any of the changes in their lives, so… I also felt that these 3 almost adults read kind of young.

All in all, good read, and the only reason this books doesn’t get a higher rating was because I didn’t really connects with some of the characters and its lack of plot.4 s Beck298 198 Shelved as 'dnf'

Ugh. I HATE books about music snobs, but I thought, since I loved Nowlin's last book to pieces, I'd give this a shot anyway. Then at 6% I came across this passage:
I'd written the word "Darfur" over and over again on my left shoe, and "Auschwitz" all over the right shoe. Then I'd designed and printed fifty copies of my own four-by-four informative pamphlet entitled "Darfur and Other Holocausts You Might Not Know About!" to hand out to anyone who asked about my shoes. It was my first PSA (public service art) and I was very enthused."I can't really adequately explain why this pissed me off so much but compounded with ALL the other pretentious bullshit ( assuming one of the other [female] characters who showed up for orientation at a music school was just someone's girlfriend, the music snobbishness I mentioned earlier, or the fact that he "glitter bombs" random places to make people appreciate glitter?) just made me hate this character and no, I cannot spend a third of this book, no matter how short, dealing with him, his man-pain over his ex, and the angsty romance between the other two characters.

I'm sad but that's life.

I may come back to it in the future because 1) I loved the author's debut, I said, and 2) I never see ace rep anywhere, so I think it deserves another look. But not right now.4 s Audrey Lane3 3

I first picked up this book thinking it was a typical teenage love triangle type of story that would appeal to some of my middle school students who those types of romances. To my surprise, I ended up becoming seriously emotionally invested in all three of the main characters and their stories. With a lot of YA fiction, I've found that the characters are so "quirky!" and "different!" they become irritating instead of endearing. That's not the case with these characters. They're all endearingly genuine in their internal dialogue and their interactions with each other--I read through to the end honestly hoping that Ramona, Sam, and Tom would all find happiness by the last page.

Furthermore, instead of indulging in the "love triangle" angle we're all sick of seeing, This Song is (Not) For You actually ended up being a sophisticated critique/deconstruction of...well. No spoilers in this review, so I'll just leave it for you to find out.

TLDR; This book IS for you if you're looking for a YA Lit novel with genuine, likable characters and a fresh take on the teenage love triangle trope.4 s Mehtap564 18

I received a ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

3,5 stars
Okay I found this book to be a bit weird, maybe it wasn't the book but what I felt when reading the book. To me it had a 70's feel and the characters gave me a hippie vibe. Maybe by the look of the cover I imagine it to be a rock band. But I loved the plot. The characters had a lot of potential but it was a three characters POV so it was jumping from one character to another and it was confusing at times. The author used some words to describe instruments and music genre that I never heard of, so I had to stop and goggle the word. I loved that it had a love triangle, but I said I couldn't love one of the guys because when I felt I was learning more about one character it jumped to another characters POV. With the bit of physical description I couldn't imagine the characters. but maybe I will give this author another chance with another book. 4 s Kelly Hager3,103 147

I've now read both of Laura Nowlin's books and I am so impressed with them and with her as an author.

Both of her books would be easy to ruin. This one, especially, which is sort of the world's most uncommon love triangle (I don't want to get too specific but it's a very unique story)---it would be very, very easy to not do it well. Instead, every character is completely fleshed out and nuanced, and every character is handled respectfully.

I also love the way that the band in particular and music in general is basically another character in the book. Ramona, Sam and Tom are all so into music and I always enjoy seeing people be passionate about things.

This book was just a sweet, fast read. And I cannot wait to see whatever Laura Nowlin writes next. I'll read it for sure, whatever it is.

Recommended.4 s Sass364 34

I needed this book to be something it wasn't. I picked up This Song Is (Not) For You because I was searching for books with asexual characters, and this one got recommended to me over and over. Nobody warned me that for the bulk of the book, when Tom comes out as ace people react with 'that's not a real thing'. That Tom himself, while he doesn't buy into that idea, never really puts up a strong opposition to these claims. The end is supposed to be uplifting, but it rings hollow.

As for other aspects of the novel, I didn't love the voice or the plot. They were okay. If this book had gotten the ace rep right, the plot would have been fine, but it wasn't enough to even slightly soothe my disappointment over the reason I'd picked up the book in the first place.4 s Laina SpareTime485 20

Cross-posted from my blog where there's more information on where I got my copy and everything.

I've got mixed feelings on this one. Let's address the elephant in the room first, I guess - I ordered this for my free space for book bingo because I heard it had an asexual character. And that rep is... not so amazing. The asexual character is Tom. He is never labelled asexual. The closest the book gets is mentions "sites about other people me". His asexuality is linked solely to him not wanting to have sex, and lacking, in his words, "sexual desire". While I d that he stated that he wasn't straight, at one point he says, "I don't have a sexuality." This... kind of sucks. I have a sexuality. Asexual is a sexuality.

If you're going to make a character asexual, label them. So few people know what asexuality is. There is absolutely no reason you shouldn't label your ace characters, especially when you're writing for teens. Also if you're going to write an asexual character, maybe include a little nuance about the difference between sexual attraction and sexual desire. This is not very nuanced. There's also absolutely no mention of aromanticism at all, and "just friends" is used, which is arophobic. It isn't deconstructed or addressed, either.

Honestly, I'm kind of at "an attempt was made". I the character, but the representation leaves me wanting more. I hate that there's no asexual label, I'm not fond of the way it's represented without nuance, and I would be wary to recommend this to my aro friends because this could hurt them. Trigger warnings for the arophobic language, and also for acephobia from Tom's ex-girlfriend, by the way.

Now, the rest of the stuff in the book - I think it's great there was polyam rep. That's not my thing (romance in general is not my thing, lol) so I can't speak to how it's done, but I think in general they are adorable and I d that there was no real jealousy or slutshaming towards Ramona or other grossness. I think we should do more of this in YA. I would wonder, though, that it might have similar problems to the ace rep - it's not labelled ever. If you're polyam and you've read this, tell me what you thought.

There are also no other queer characters besides Tom (who's, again, not labelled as such) and this is a super-de-duper white book. Ramona has dyslexia, but there's no other disability rep, and to be honest it doesn't really come up often. And there are no fat characters at all. So intersectionality is not good. There's a bit of ableism, as well, some girl hate, and a crack about strippers that I thought was highly unnecessary.

Half my notes are me calling this book some variety of hipster, and the characters really are. I wouldn't exactly call Ramona a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but she has some of those traits, and everyone is just super... hipster. It's not bad, but I spent most of the book feeling incredibly old. Mostly the book is cute. I was sitting there calling them adorable and just wanting them to be a happy little triad forever. But I hate that the ace rep wasn't labelled, and that kind of ruins the book for me. I'm honestly wondering if people who don't know what asexuality is would even understand that the character is, and if I have to ask that, I think it fails as ace rep.

I loved seeing a polyamorous relationship in YA, and the book being a little weird and hipster didn't throw me off, but the ace rep just disappointed me. I don't think I could recommend this one, at least not as an ace book.aspec-books-aspec-reviewer reviewed-queer-books3 s Erin Arkin1,746 366

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