A review by ethannku
It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano
5.0
This book was one of the sweetest things I've ever read! As a band nerd and flute player myself, this book felt like the representation I sorely needed. The way that the book describes being in band and playing flute and marching on the field during halftime all struck a chord (hah) within me. This book perfectly captures what it means to be a band kid. Other than the representation of band kids, the casual queer representation in this book was so amazing to read. The main character, Yasmin, is on the aroace spectrum, her love interest is aroace, her other love interest is queer of some sort, her sibling is nonbinary, and there is a smattering of identities represented in the rest of the low brass section (including a transmasc character!!).
The story focuses more on the main character's personal journey and relationships with her friends and family than any potential romances, which I thought were very well explored and defined. The main interpersonal relationships were between Yasmin, her childhood best friend Sofia, her mother, and her sibling Ellen. The broader relationships, such as Yasmin and the band and Yasmin and her section, were also well done and captured the spirit of being a band kid very well. I went into this story thinking it would be more romance-heavy, which it wasn’t, but the subtle moments between Yasmin and her love interest were so cute! I also loved the treatment of anxiety and social media in this book, plus the toxicity in band. People might think that band is a harmless activity where we just play instruments and make cool shapes on a football field, but there is so much drama and tension in band. I thought that this book captured the toxic parts of band just as well as the exhilarating parts.
The main thing I loved about this book is that Yasmin’s character arc is really defined. She starts out as a goody-two-shoes who is dependent on her best friend and bottles up all her emotions (as a gifted child in a nontraditional household does). She finishes the book as, well. Still a goody two shoes, but with an understanding that just because you’ve been friends for a long time doesn’t mean that who will always be friends, and with a realization that she doesn’t have to be perfect all the time. If you like smaller stories about personal growth and overcoming obstacles, I would highly recommend this book!!
Arc was provided by NetGalley and Penguin Teen in exchange for an honest review!
The story focuses more on the main character's personal journey and relationships with her friends and family than any potential romances, which I thought were very well explored and defined. The main interpersonal relationships were between Yasmin, her childhood best friend Sofia, her mother, and her sibling Ellen. The broader relationships, such as Yasmin and the band and Yasmin and her section, were also well done and captured the spirit of being a band kid very well. I went into this story thinking it would be more romance-heavy, which it wasn’t, but the subtle moments between Yasmin and her love interest were so cute! I also loved the treatment of anxiety and social media in this book, plus the toxicity in band. People might think that band is a harmless activity where we just play instruments and make cool shapes on a football field, but there is so much drama and tension in band. I thought that this book captured the toxic parts of band just as well as the exhilarating parts.
The main thing I loved about this book is that Yasmin’s character arc is really defined. She starts out as a goody-two-shoes who is dependent on her best friend and bottles up all her emotions (as a gifted child in a nontraditional household does). She finishes the book as, well. Still a goody two shoes, but with an understanding that just because you’ve been friends for a long time doesn’t mean that who will always be friends, and with a realization that she doesn’t have to be perfect all the time. If you like smaller stories about personal growth and overcoming obstacles, I would highly recommend this book!!
Arc was provided by NetGalley and Penguin Teen in exchange for an honest review!