Book Review

REVIEW: This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Lately I’ve been going through an unconscious phase. For some reason I’ve been reading a lot of music related books and This Song Will Save Your Life was one of those books. I don’t think I have an expert ear when it comes to music but I have some knowledge and one of the things I loved about this novel was that it was so informative without you realising until afterwards. It’s a book that definitely deserves the hype it’s getting.

Elise Dembowski is one of those people who have never fitted in. She sets out, over the summer, to ‘popularise’ herself, but when she turns up at school for the new year nothing has changed. She’s still the social outcast and she realises she’ll always be the same. So she makes a big decision and walks the many miles home and plans to take her own life. Skip forward a few months and Elise is walking at night when she stumbles across two girls who lead her to a nightclub. It’s only there for one night a week and it could offer her the chance to finally be accepted.

I really liked Elise and grew to like her even more as the book progressed. She was quite a complex character but it was easy to slip into her head and understand her. Sales has written her in such a way that you feel as if you are her and I enjoyed it more because of that.

Vicky was by far my favourite character. I just wanted to give her a massive hug and she was so accepting of Elise. Do you know how sometimes you crave a companion novel to a book? I would love to read a book entirely about Vicky. She was so awesome!

One of the main things I loved about This Song Will Save Your Life was its originality. I don’t think I’ve ever read a similar book before that contained so many different elements. Although music is a large theme, there was so much more going on in the background.

The musical element felt so natural and to hear that Sales is not a DJ herself really surprised me. For someone like myself who knows nothing about it, I was eased right into DJ’ing and didn’t struggle to understand it at all.

I really think you should all pick up a copy of This Song Will Save Your Life because you won’t regret it. It’s a truly beautiful book that will blow you away.

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12 Comments

  • Reply
    Nova @ Out of Time
    6 January, 2014 at 2:24 am

    I loved this book so much. I just connected with it in so many ways. it was more because I’m a musician myself and I totally get how songs can actually save your life. I wrote a paper for a magazine on it. (For school.)

    I think this book is just a bring me up that when I read it, I totally needed. What a nice review, it was so much fun and easy to connect to! Lovely, Lucy! <333
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  • Reply
    Jessica Nicole
    Twitter:
    6 January, 2014 at 2:29 am

    I really want to read this! I’ve heard nothing but good things about it so far. I love music and I’m very curious about DJing and the like! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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  • Reply
    Chrissi Reads
    Twitter:
    6 January, 2014 at 5:38 am

    Great review Lucy! I really liked this book too. Much more than I anticipated.
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  • Reply
    Jaden (booklol16)
    6 January, 2014 at 12:56 pm

    Been keen to read this now go to reads see you have been tell Debbie too read this
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  • Reply
    Sunny A
    Twitter:
    6 January, 2014 at 1:35 pm

    This Song Will Save Your Life was my first read of the year and I couldn’t agree more. A companion novel in Vicky’s POV would be down right awesome. I also loved the DJ’ing aspect of the book and it left me wishing I’d end up at Start’s doorstep. I loved how original this read was and the beautiful message it carried. Great Review 🙂
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  • Reply
    Zoe @ Bookhi
    6 January, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    I’ve been seeing this book everywhere and it seems to have a lot of posisitve reviews. I love music and even though I’m not very good at it, I used to play the violim and take part in productions. I don’t think I’ve read many books inolving music so I’ll keep my eye out for this one 🙂

    Elise and Vicky sound like great characters! 😀 Thanks for sharing your opinion, Lucy. Fantastic review, as always!
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  • Reply
    Caroline Taylor
    6 January, 2014 at 7:56 pm

    I read this book about a month ago and absolutely loved it, I was a little wary that it wouldn’t live up to all the hype it had been getting but it did for me and more.

  • Reply
    Maya
    6 January, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    I saw this in Waterstones the other day and was very tempted to buy it but then I decided to get a different book instead. It sounds really good though and I haven’t read a single negative review so I’m guessing it must be! I’ll probably try to find a copy soon, and thanks for the lovely review!
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  • Reply
    Eileen @ Singing and Reading in the Rain
    6 January, 2014 at 10:20 pm

    I feel like I was one of the fewer people who didn’t identify and love this one, but I completely agree that Elise was such an interesting character and the book had such originality. All the reviews i’ve been reading that have been raving about this one makes me want to pick it up again and give it a while, because I feel like I’ve been really able to relate to this one recently based on what I remember from the beginning. Fantastic review, Lucy! <33
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  • Reply
    Melanie (YA Midnight Reads)
    8 January, 2014 at 1:46 pm

    I’m so happy that you liked this one, Lucy! I resonated well with Elise–she was such a flawed yet brilliant character. And yes! Vicky was the best >.<

    Great review, Lucy! <33
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  • Reply
    Georgia Walters
    10 January, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    Such a good book review, Lucy! 🙂 I completely agree.. and what? Leila isn’t a dj? Wow. She definitely caught the profession really well in the book! I read it recently, and loved it too. Have you listened to any of the playlist, at the back of the book? So, so good! IF you listen to *any* of the songs, make it a letter to elise by the cure. It’s amazing- kinda relates to the story too! 🙂
    -Georgia
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  • Reply
    Aly @ My Heart Hearts Books
    17 January, 2014 at 6:41 pm

    I loved this book too. I loved Elise’s relationships with other people and I love how each relationship was different and yet dynamic. That’s my favorite thing about this book, because even though she’s insecure about social interactions, Elise is better at them than she thinks. She’s just not as good by her own standards..
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