Noteworthy is a super cute novel with much needed-to-be-discussed topics. The characters were relatable and fun to be around. It was really interesting for me to be inside Jordan's head while she was trying to figure herself out. I think the character growth was great. The friendships in this book were great, too. It's awesome to see that girls can be friends with boys and not everyone has to like each other in a romantic aspect. I would highly recommend this book to my friends or anyone who is a contemporary reader. Some topics discussed are so relatable to a lot of teenagers and this book will really help those who have the same feelings as Jordan.

Loved the first half, but unfortunately the second half wasn't as good. The first half was so much fun. I loved the discussions of bisexuality and the experiences of being a person of color. The second half dragged and I can't get over the fact that a character outed the main character. It is never okay to out somebody and nobody in this book seemed to realize how horrible this was.

Noteworthy was an unexpectedly good read – although the idea of a girl disguising herself as a boy and infiltrating an all-male acapella group just so she can live her passion sounded amazing, I wasn’t sure how good it would be in novel form. Happily, my concerns were quickly made null and void, and I can honestly say this is one of the funniest books I have read so far this year, with genuine laugh out loud moments in abundance – I am not exaggerating when I say I was cackling with laughter.

'I reached up with both hands, one for levering bags out of the way and the other for shampoo retrieval, which meant dropping my towel, and that was how I found myself naked in the trash closet digging through the garbage like a sad hairless raccoon.'

The story focuses on Jordan Sun, a student on scholarship at a prestigious performing arts school whose singing voice is considered too deep to be suited to ‘leading lady’ roles within musical theatre. However, when she disguises herself as a boy and auditions for the Sharpshooters (an all-male acapella group), she finds a place where her voice fits and she finally feels herself. Even though she is technically in disguise as Julian, she feels freer than she ever has before.

Although a lot of this book is generally light-hearted and hilarious, Redgate also deals with difficult subjects – the ideas of sexuality, privilege, poverty, inequality, uncertainty, what constitutes femininity and masculinity, are all explored with sensitivity, and Jordan learns a lot about herself and her preconceived notions about gender throughout the novel. She accepts her own bisexuality, and realises that just because she is comfortable dressing in what is considered a more masculine way, she is no less of a girl for it – gender is a social construct, and what you have between your legs or what you choose to wear has nothing to do with it.

'But the longer I thought about the possibility that I might not be a girl, the more I became sure that I was one. I knew it innately. The struggle to fit into some narrow window of femininity didn’t exclude me from the club.'

I cannot recommend this book enough; it deals with difficult subjects in an accessible way, and is truly funny. Those of us who have seen Pitch Perfect already know how aca-awesome acapella can be, but if you haven’t experienced the world of making music with your mouth, I suggest you give it a try.

I've gotta say, there were a lot of warning bells going off in my head when I saw what this book was going to be about, but I'm going to put it out there and say that this was a well written, tasteful book that was self-aware enough that it could have alienated trans readers with its depiction of a girl who pretends to be a boy so that she can enter an all boy's a cappella group at her private school.

Jordan Sun--AKA Julian Zheng--comes from a poor family who have high expectations of what she is going to do at this school they are paying for her to attend. Every time that she doesn't get a lead out of a theatre audition, it's another failure. Not just in her eyes, but compounded by her family. It's this desperation that pushes Jordan into joining the Sharps.

At first, she'd determined to keep her personal life separate from her persona's life, particularly as she doesn't want to lie to any of the boys more than she has to. But, to her surprise, the boys are startlingly amazing. I absolutely fell in love with the prickly but charismatic Isaac and the shy and sweet Nihad. Intersectionality is a big theme in this book.

But it wasn't just one of those books that ticked all the boxes and tried not to offend anyone on the way. It was a really striking plot. I was invested the whole way through, most especially once I saw from the prose that Jordan thought of such things as how her chest binding might be seen by those in the trans community, for example. I knew that this was a book that would do its best to take care of its reader.

The only thing I was a little bit confused by was the labelling it in with LGBT fiction. I don't really feel like it fit that mark. Jordan, while she questions her gender at one point, does come to the conclusion that she's perhaps a tomboyish girl, but definitely a girl. The relationship she ends up in is definitely a heterosexual one. The only thing about this whole book that was LGBT was the side character gay content.

We will probably purchase this book because of the YA popularity, but I had problems with the themes and tropes. Gender was not represented well. Sexuality and being "out" was not represented well. For all the praise this book is getting, I found it very, very problematic and know some of my other friends have been triggered by the issues within the book.

Last year I read Riley Redgate's debut novel, Seven Ways We Lie, and I loved it so I was really excited for this one. I've gotten even more excited with all the amazing reviews I read about this book. However, I ended up a little bit disappointed. I ended up enjoying this book but the beginning didn't work for and because of that it took me a long time to finish this book.

One of the things I liked in this book were the characters. I kind of liked Jordan but I had a hard time to connect with her. She's a flawed character, which is great because no one is perfect, but I had a hard time getting her. I understand why she did what she did but she would frustrate me sometimes. I do think she grew up a lot with everything that happened to her and she ended up growing in me a lot. I did love the guys from the Sharpshooters a lot. They were amazing and I loved the connection they had between them. Also, Isaac and Nihal were some of my favorite characters. I would have loved this book so much more if they showed up even more XD. I also really enjoyed the diversity in this book. Jordan is a chinese-american bisexual girl but there are other diverse aspects in this book I loved. However, one of my favorite parts of this book was the a capella storyline. I loved everything about it.
While I enjoyed this book I have to say that it took me a long time to get into it. In the beginning it was just too slow and I couldn't make myself read it. Noteworthy is split in three parts and I can tell you that I really enjoyed it after part 2.

Overall, this ended up being a really cool book. It's true that it took me a long time to get into but the story and the characters really grew a lot in me. I especially loved the connection between the Sharpshooters. While I was still a little bit disappointed with this book I still can't wait to read Riley Redgate's next book.

I enjoyed this more than Redgate's debut novel, but I still feel unsettled by the way that the cross-dressing versus trans+ aspect was handled (or not handled).

I am not going to be reviewing this book, but thank you for the approval.

I LOVED this book! It's exactly what I never knew I wanted so much. I'm really sad I'm not getting to write a more detailed (and on-time) review, but don't let that make you think I didn't swallow this book whole. It's incredibly diverse, it's hilarious (I can't even begin to count the number of times I laughed out loud), the premise is so unique, and Jordan is an instantly likable character. It's a pretty light contemporary, but it also doesn't shy away from bigger topics and a few darker elements. I also really liked that it was set at an arts high school - I went to an arts school for middle and high school (not a boarding school like Kensington-Blaine, though), so a lot of the things in this book were more familiar to me than the typical high school setting of your average YA contemporary. It's one of those books where I don't really have the words to express how much I loved the book, so I just want to shove a copy into your hands and say: "Trust me. You want this book."

How much fun was this book? Tons! I loved the premise behind this book before it was even published, the idea of combining an A Capella group with a bit of hidden and mistaken identify sounded like so much fun and it really was just that. I'm trying to think of another way to put it so I don't continue to use fun over and over again. It was entertaining, it was thought-provoking, it was real, it was just an excellent read. Not just for the YA audience but for anyone.

Let's start with Jordan. I loved her as a character because she was so determined. She is at this posh school for the arts and she knows it is a privilege for her to be there, unlike some of her fellow pupils, and so she is willing to do what it takes to make a success of herself and make her family's hardship worth it. I mean whatever it takes. I loved the fact that she builds relationships with people quickly and gets on with most adults and the rest of her cohort.

There are some other really likeable characters in this novel too. The A Capella group that Jordan, as Julian, joins is full of characters, diverse characters and I really enjoyed seeing how they interacted with each other, as well as how they reacted to each other. There are other A Capella groups on campus too and they also bring interesting characters. I really liked Jordan's adviser too and I hope that that is the kind of teacher I am.

The storyline is great. It is fast paced and your will definitely find yourself turning pages over and over again as you read this. There is of course a singing competition, which provides a certain level of intrigue, then there is whether Julian is going to be found out. And of course there is some relationship drama, Jordan has more than a few skeletons in her closet. There are also some scenes of real, difficult family dynamics, throughout the book, and not just involving our main character and that really grounds this book and makes it more relatable to just the average Joe who doesn't attend a fancy arts school!

I loved this book, as I say I don't think that this is just for a YA audience, I think that this book would appeal to anyone with a sense of humour and a reader who wants the good guy to win for a change. This is quite a difference read from this author's previous novel and so don;'t be expecting the same thing, but do be expecting something wonderful!

I highly recommend this book; it discusses the intersections of race, religion, class, ability, gender, and neuro-divergence in a format that feels as though Pitch Perfect and She's the Man had an adorable love child. The main character actually addresses the issues of cross dressing and the characters are vivid.

Full review can also be seen on my blog LairOfBooks:
https://lairofbooksblog.wordpress.com...

PLOT

n another case of “The Goodreads Blurb Does It Best” lol, I’ll try my best not to reiterate what’s listed above. Noteworthy by Riley Redgate is one of the most unique Young Adult books I’ve come across in a long time. I knew I had to request it when I saw it pop up on Netgalley simply because I am a big fan of the Pitch Perfect movies & most recently the Pentatonix. As a matter of fact I am listening to Bohemian Rhapsody by Pentatonix while typing up this review ;) Acapella as a whole has always interested me possibly because as mentioned in this book, there’s humor in it. The idea of a student cross dressing in order to join a all male Acapella group & leading a double life…sounds exhausting no? Jordan Sun manages to pull off try outs for Kensington’s uber popular & exclusively all male Acapella group the Sharpshooters securing the 8th spot in the group. She goes on to live on campus as both Jordan and Julian successfully since for the most part, she has no friends on campus. After her in school boyfriend broke up with her, Jordan realized that she had made him her center focus & that with him gone, she is pretty much alone on campus. Jordan has a small group of gal pals back in California, but life in New York attending Kensington Blair has pretty much isolated her from them. Attending Kensington also hasn’t been without it’s challenges, Jordan’s parents are struggling to keep food on the table & we see her spend holiday breaks alone on campus to avoid burdening her parents with the cost of travel. Jordan’s dad is also disabled & the subpar healthcare system in the United States is briefly touched upon. We see Jordan going through her day to day routine while handling the very sobering reality that is her financial situation.

“The problem was the money this place asked us to drop on textbooks and supplies, even those of us on financial aid. A lot of other boarding schools were adopting full-ride scholarship options that paid for books, travel, laptops-the whole deal. Kensington hadn’t caught on yet. Every semester, i calculated my textbook costs, usually three or four hundred dollars, and prayed it was offset by the money my parents weren’t spending to feed me”

In getting accepted into the Sharpshooters as Julian, she finds a home away from home with a distinct group of guys. We get to see Jordan’s perspective as “one of the guys” when she’s dressed as Julian. Jordan’s insider pass grants her access to male friendships & bonds as well as the first stirrings of sexism in young males. As we see Jordan grow accustomed & more comfortable living as Julian, we see her question her sexuality & identity. Noteworthy touched on so many subjects that are not written about as much in YA making it a much more relatable read.

CHARACTERS

Noteworthy has to have one of the most unique and awesome cast of characters in YA at the moment…I’ve convinced myself of this lol. Starting with our main protagonist Jordan aka Julian a Chinese-American student attending a boarding school in NYC, I’ll be honest and say that it took me a bit to warm up to her during the beginning chapters. I almost felt like she was in a haze going through every day life which I pinned most of on her stress levels lol. It was hard to connect with her in the beginning but then you see her start to develop & show her personality and I started to look forward to her coming & goings. She does mention that as Julian, she feels a confidence that is missing as Jordan. The Sharpshooters are as follows:

Trav- leader of the Sharpshooters, also composes pieces for the group & takes his position very seriously (barely cracks a smile lol)

Jon Cox- is your typical popular guy with good looks & a little muscle only he is described as having an operatic voice

Mama or Theodore-My 2nd fave, Theodore was given the nickname Mama for his tendency to clean. He is described as a big lovable guy who also happens to be Jon Cox’s roommate & best friend. He’s described as having the type of deep voice you’d find in movie trailers

Nihal-hands down my FAVE of the group! Nihal is also a Tenor 1 like Jordan, he introduces himself as being Sikh & not Muslim, Indian & from Jersey who wears his turban. Nihal is very outspoken, sarcastic (LOVE!), and loyal

Isaac-Trav’s right hand man, is described as being a tall man bun rocking type of guy. He’s lively & often times the glue that holds everyone together

The 2 Rooks aka Freshmen Erik & Marcus- these 2 guys get stuck with all the grunt work since they’re freshmen & pretty much operate as one.
Riley Redgate gave each of these characters a distinct voice making it very easy to follow each one & learn their individual character traits. All very well fleshed out, these characters were a ton of fun ;)

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS

With Noteworthy, Redgate has gifted the YA genre with a magically diverse book. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel reading about a cisgender character cross dressing. These concerns are addressed when Jordan thinks of the Transgender community and how they’d feel if her secret of cross dressing for a spot in the group were to be revealed. In many ways, this book felt very much aware of the tough topics it was trying to grasp. I appreciated that it included many issues that we often do not see in YA such as socioeconomics, Healthcare, and disability as it pertains to the head of household. I also really appreciated the Chinese-American cultural experience we got a glimpse of through Jordan’s character. The fact that this is a Own Voices YA book only added to my love for it. On another note, I do wish that Jordan’s sexuality was explored a bit more because we were seeing her question her sexuality as well as the gender she identifies with. This is one of the reasons I docked it a star, Jordan’s development towards the end felt unaddressed. The other reason would be strictly pacing which was a bit slow in the beginning. I’ve heard other readers say that Noteworthy is a much quieter read than it appears & I’d have to say that I agree. Around the 40% mark it does pick up & maintains until the very last page. I highly recommend Noteworthy to lovers of diversity & Acapella ;)


*HUGE thanks to Amulet Books, Netgalley, and Riley Redgate for the eGalley of Noteworthy in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

On the whole I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would if I'm being entirely honest. It was a good and cute contemporary with complex and likable characters that ended up having some good conflict when it finally kicked in. I just wish it didn't have such a slow start and the conflict was more heightened.

I LOVED THIS BOOK TO PIECES??? I thought I might have found it enjoyable because of all the diverse elements and the concept, but I was not prepared for the affect it was going to have on me. I can almost guarantee that this book will be on my “Fave Books I Read In 2017” post at the end of the year. I annotated pretty much EVERYTHING. Honestly from the very first line which was:

“Monday morning was the worst possible time to have an existential crises, I decided on a Monday morning, while having an existential crisis.”

I knew I was going to love this book.

I WAS SO SAD WHEN I FINISHED IT BECAUSE I WAS SO ATTACHED TO EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING. I’ll try to stop screaming at you all, but no promises!!!

So, our main character Jordan is a bisexual Chinese-American girl who has definitely become one of my favourite characters EVER. She was so wonderful. She made me laugh and cry and feel a whole range of emotions. She was so incredible real and considering this is an #ownvoices book it’s probably not surprising.

Jordan is trying to figure out herself and her sexuality whilst also trying to succeed in scoring a spot in her school musical. She’s starting to think that she may be bisexual, but is unsure because she was in a relationship with a boy. Riley Redgate did a great job of portraying that despite your current or past relationships you’re still valid as a bisexual person. The romance in this is ultimately F/M, but that doesn’t erase the fact that Jordan is bisexual. Another thing I loved was that Jordan’s family was depicted as not being well off financially. As someone who comes from a poor family, this was so comforting to see. Normally class in books is always middle or upper.

I was fully expecting to hate the a cappella group that Jordan infiltrates. I thought they would be really shitty ass boys that would make me wanna punch things. Boy, was I wrong. Don’t get me wrong – there are some REALLY shitty people in this book, but the Sharpshooters aren’t one of them. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. In fact, if he was like 10 years older Isaac would be one of the new loves of my life. It’s not often that I get invested in romances, but this was one I was definitely getting behind. Jordan and Isaac were ADORABLE. I also loved the diversity within the Sharpshooters. I loved the friendship between Jordan and the guys. They all cared about each other so much?? IT WAS SO PURE.

This book is so, so important and brings up so many great issues and topics. It delves into gender, sexuality and race. I feel like everything was handled pretty damn well. One thing I loved was just how much Riley Redgate went into “dressing up” vs. being trans. I always get worried with the “pretending to be the opposite sex” trope because so much can go wrong. It’s one thing to just dress up for fun and another to actually be transgender or genderfluid/non-binary. However, that was really bought to light in this book and Jordan totally recognised her privilege (in that sense).

Even though this book does delve into a lot of serious topics it’s also incredibly fun. I LAUGHED SO MUCH WHILST READING THIS. Like, the inevitable scene where Jordan’s facade ended was PERFECT and even though I knew it was going to happen the whole time I was like AHHH WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN???????? It’s a super quick read that I didn’t want to put down which sucked because WHY DID IT HAVE TO END. I WANT A SEQUEL !!!!!

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids for the advanced reading copy of Noteworthy by Riley Redgate. I can't wait to start this book.

This was a unique read to me. I haven't read many books on singing, but those I have I thoroughly enjoyed! The structure of this novel delivered important social aspects with the perfect mix of humour.

This was one of the most diverse novels I've read this year! I was very impressed! There was diversity in the characters cultures, religions, sexuality, physical ability, and mental stability. With all those topics being covered it felt very sincere and realistic. I loved the friendships within this novels pages.

Noteworthy follows the story of Jordan Sun navigating the obstacles and difficulties of Kensington, a boarding school for the Performing Arts. Riley Redgate does an amazing job at creating Jordan’s voice, and making her character feel close to home to, let’s be real, anyone who has had to go through the nightmare that high school can be. Her struggles to find a main role in the theatre plays of her school due to the fact that her voice “is a little bit deeper than the ones needed for female main protagonists in plays” lead her to make the drastic decision to apply for auditions of an a cappella male group, as a boy. There are plenty of instances of discourse where the main character thinks about how she might be appropriating a part of a community that she does not identify herself with, and because of that, being disrespectful to said community. She questions whether what she is doing is wrong when there are so many people out there in the world who ARE trans having to suffer the prejudice and rejection of society, while she does it not because she is transgender, but for the sake of keeping up appearances with the Sharps, the a cappella group.

Besides that, there are several examples of conversations about important social issues that I've never read about in any other YA contemporary book. And I think that is one of the reasons why this book comes like a breath of fresh air to the genre that has been lately lacking so much originality when it comes to plots and tropes. Besides the diversity we find in the Sharps members, in Noteworthy, social issues like sexuality, gender identity and privilege are discussed thoroughly.

While these issues played a major role in me liking this book, it was definitely the characters’ dynamic that did it for me. Each one of the members of the a cappella group were well-developed and important to the plotline, even though certain characters were given more importance than others, Jordan’s interactions as Julian with all of them were the highlight of the story.

All in all, Noteworthy ended up being a funny and light-hearted story that incorporates important conversations of social issues that, in my opinion, need to be developed more within the Young Adult genre. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a diverse YA book with an original plotline, especially if music or a cappella is one of your interests.

I’m sad to say that I was disappointed by this book. The hype is huge but I felt some things about the narrative went unexplored.

The plot was serious. We follow Jordan, a girl who is struggling to find her place in life and in her performing arts school so she decides to cross dress as a boy to audition for an a Capella group. At first, I went into this book thinking it was going to be a light and fluffy contemporary read but it was a lot more intense than I was expecting. There’s a lot of serious themes woven throughout the story and it was kind of hard for me to get into the plot because of it. The way the story ended up being made it hard for me to get lost into it the way I like to. What originally attracted me to this story was the music and a Capella elements though they weren’t as prominent as I was expecting. However, I really liked how they were done! It’s definitely hard to explain music, it’s something you listen to and experience in a different way, so one of the challenges with these kinds of themes in books is to be able to make it tangible for the reader to imagine. I really enjoyed the way the author described the way the group’s dynamic was and how they practiced. I’m glad it wasn’t something that was brushed aside for the rest of the story because some books do that, they say it’ll feature some form of music or dance but won’t really describe the characters being part of that activity so I’m glad this book actually showed them practicing for a big competition. I really liked the different and complex relationships between the characters and the diversity within them. That was probably one of the most important parts of this story. They all interacted with each other in different ways but I kind of wish there would’ve been more time spent on those developments within the friendships and relationships within the narrative. Despite all of this, I feel like some of the most important themes in the book felt underdeveloped. Jordan discovers her bisexuality in this book and I liked how it was just something she realized and accepted about herself when she understood it, though it’s not something that’s discussed a lot within her own internal monologue. Also there’s some talk about gender identity and what it means to be a girl or a boy and I felt like that wasn’t explored as much as it should’ve been. Jordan thinks about what she’s doing and how it could easily be seen as her being trans to the people who might find out what she’s doing, she understands it’s a problem, and yet there’s really no other non-binary or trans characters to really explore that theme and how what she’s doing might make them feel. Here is a twitter thread that describes the issues a little more. There wasn’t enough page time to show this topic the respect and nuanced it deserved in my opinion.

Jordan struggled a lot with the choices she made in this book but I wish she would’ve come clean about what she was doing sooner. She struggled a lot with guilt over her decision and over keeping it a secret but in the end, she didn’t make any moves to fix that for herself. The ending also kind of reiterated the thought that there’s really no consequences to lying to everyone you know, including your school which isn’t something that I can support because I don’t think lying is okay. I wish there would’ve been some personal responsibility involved with the decisions she made and how they might’ve affected people, specially when if I would’ve been in their position, I would’ve felt betrayed. However, I understood her family struggles and the loneliness she dealt with in school. I’ve always felt like I owed my parents everything because all they sacrificed for me and I totally connected with her feeling torn over what to do when it came down to staying at school or not. Also, I struggle a lot with feeling isolated from the people around me and it was actually kind of comforting to see a character dealing with that as well, even in such a big school.

As for the side characters, I really loved the Sharpshooters dynamics. They felt like a real group of guys who’d be into singing and rehearsing together. I was also really pleased that there wasn’t blatant misogyny within the group and they didn’t spend the whole time objectifying women. Their relationships were really genuine. There was a great atmosphere within the group, but also down the relationships between two individuals within the story. Jordan and Nihal had a really nice friendship though I kind of wish there would’ve been more page time to see it develop. The friendship between John and Mama was also really sweet, I love how they took care of each other while still teasing each other mercilessly. (Though I wish everyone would’ve just listened to him and called him by his name, specially since he asked them too.) I liked Isaac, though he was a little bit too impulsive for me. He was really charming and charismatic and I was really interested to see more interactions between him and Travis and to know more of their history. Something that I didn’t really like about this book is the high amount of bullying and violence, it was really intense and overpowering.

Overall, I’m beginning to think that the author’s writing style isn’t really for me. I liked the story overall but nothing really wowed me or made me fall in love with it. The plot was a lot more serious than I expected and while I liked some of the themes the author explored, some of them felt underdeveloped. I loved the music and a Capella part of the book, honestly it was my favorite part. I liked the characters but I also wanted to see more of their relationships and friendships develop on page. I’m not sure I’ll read more of this author’s work since I felt the first two books I read were kind of okay for me but it all depends on what it’s about.

It's charming. The whole pretend to be something you're not always leads to misadventure and that can be really funny. Of course it seldom ends well and that can be uncomfortable. So charming, just not overly believable. The whole base concept of scholarship kid at a performing arts boarding school is already so far beyond relatable, a significant strain on the willing suspension of disbelief. Then to add in this scenario of a girl joining a boy's group, fitting in, fooling everyone. And to top it off when her secret is inevitably revealed pretty much everyone is cool with it. No one feels betrayed or gets particularly angry. Even the administration takes up for her and not only maintians her place in the group but finds a way for her to stay in school when her funding falls through.