Reviews

Rhythm & Muse by India Hill Brown

melycp's review against another edition

2.0

I was really excited to read Rhythm & Muse because I love books about music. Unfortunately, I didn’t love this one. It was pretty lacklustre from start to finish and I basically only finished it because it was a very quick read.  

I really didn’t like Darren, like at all. He was constantly judging people for their music tastes and would also have the meanest thoughts on people’s performances. This made him a huge hypocrite because the reason he stopped performing was because of the unsolicited opinions and mean comments he got after one performance. Now, I was a vocalist, I studied it at college and did god knows how many performances, trust me when I say people are never harsh about your signing to your face. Well unless you’re terrible, but apparently Darren has the best voice in the world, so it just doesn’t add up. 

He was always weirdly obsessed with Delia. There’s having a crush on someone and then there’s crazy stalker level. Darren was very close to the second one. There was little to no development of their relationship and sorry *spoiler* but there was literally no reason for Delia to want to date him. If someone wants to date you because you won their podcast song competition, they probably don’t actually like you.

I’m assuming the author doesn’t know anything about recording music because they mentioned something about producing or mastering the track in an hour, which is not how it works. Unless they have the quickest producer in the world, but this was a bunch of teens in what I can only imagine is a crappy studio (they are very expensive to hire) so I don’t think that was the case.

It’s such a shame to say that I didn’t get on with Rhythm & Muse. It was one of my most anticipated reads but it fell completely flat. I was hoping to have some good points to talk about, but as soon as I began writing this review, I couldn’t think of any other than it being a fast read.

elizelizelizeliz's review

3.0

This book just never quite clicked for me. It felt sort of like a first draft? Like the dialogue didn't feel very differentiated, the motivations weren't totally there, and also--i get this is a side point, but--do podcasts really air at specific times? Aren't they just radio shows at that point? Admittedly, i always have more difficulty with men's/boys' perspective sections in dual-POV hetero romances so i might be the wrong audience for this. But i felt like this could maybe get somewhere, it just... didn't. That said, i never wanted to give up on the book, so that is saying something.

elizelizeliz's review

3.0

This book just never quite clicked for me. It felt sort of like a first draft? Like the dialogue didn't feel very differentiated, the motivations weren't totally there, and also--i get this is a side point, but--do podcasts really air at specific times? Aren't they just radio shows at that point? Admittedly, i always have more difficulty with men's/boys' perspective sections in dual-POV hetero romances so i might be the wrong audience for this. But i felt like this could maybe get somewhere, it just... didn't. That said, i never wanted to give up on the book, so that is saying something.

ily_emmanuella1's review

5.0

I love it so much. I feel like this book could be a movie. It will be a amazing movie that everyone would like because it shows how you shouldn’t let the things that you love go.

mhworth's review

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

3.5

akhudson's review

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

tiffanyturnedtotext's review

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

cattyb1's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.75

thebookybabe's review

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective

3.0

 This story started off cute but got really irritating towards the end. Darren seems incredibly insecure and inauthentic, which is a good representation of wishy-washy teenaged behavior, but he had trouble with being honest with anyone in this story.

All of his waffling between being honest with what he loved and what he wanted and hiding out of fear of being ridiculed got ANNOYING. After a while I was rolling my eyes at him asking the same questions over and over again. He spent more time in his head than he did in reality.

Overall, it was a sweet, innocent love story between two teenagers, but the indecisive behavior got old super-fast. 

nicknick920's review

4.0

This was such a cute YA teen/romance written from a young black man’s POV. It is a slow burn romance that talks about, friendship, self confidence and young black love. I definitely recommend reading this book!