I love to read the synopsis of YA contemporaries and get really excited, but then I end up finding them to not quite live up to my standards. YA contemporaries tend to be a little more desperate and frustrating. Which is exactly what romance is like as a young adult, so it works...it's just harder to swallow as an actual adult because you're screaming at the character things like, "HOW DO YOU NOT SEE THROUGH THIS BS?!" and, "OH MY GOD JUST SUCK IT UP AND SAY HOW YOU FEEL, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!!"

All The Wrong Chords was cute and quick - a great summer patio read.

This was an awesome read about grief and how to balance life after the loss of a loved one. I would suggest it to music lovers, romance bingers, and teens who have a passion for reading.

This is a sweet thoughtful book that pulls your heart strings. Perfect for a teen, young adult or adult in general, this touches on topics anyone can relate to..love,loss and music.

I really loved this book. Perfect summer read that was quick and easy.

I did not finish this novel as it wasn't holding my interest. May try to pick it up again later.

I enjoyed the idea of this story but unfortunately I didn't really connect with the characters. Had I been in still in my teens I could picture me loving this book. I think the topic of coping with the loss of family member after a drug overdose is something that is talked so little about in YA books so I was really all for it when I read the synopsis of this. While it was interesting to see everyone dealing with it in their own ways the rest of the story just felt extremely predictable.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read and I did enjoy the writing as well I just wish I could have connected with the characters more.

This book had some good points being made through out. Overall, I wasn't enthralled by this story nor bored by it. This story just seems to exist.

Unfortunately I no longer have or interest in reading this book so I have made the decision not to. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and truly appreciate the willingness to share this book with me.

An emotional but heartwarming story about love, family and grief.

There was a great cast of characters which I loved, with the exception of Scarlett the main character who was unfortunately pretty annoying for a good portion of the book. Thanks goodness her character did grow and learn from her mistakes!

The romance was very predictable but still enjoyable. However the rest of the story regarding family / friendship dynamics was written extremely well. I also really enjoyed that the story was intertwined with music throughout the book.

All The Wrong Chords is such a heartwarming book about learning to live again after a great loss. Scarlett recently lost her brother and her parents
sent her to be with her grandpa for the summer where she meets The Beestings… more importantly Zack, who she almost flattened on their first encounter. I really really liked this book, it’s very sweet and I just love Zack. He’s the most amazing guy ever (which is something I’m sure I say with every book boyfriend I like… but I can’t help it), I didn’t hate him at all, he didn’t annoy me, I just loved him the whole time!

This book is very lightweight, it’s a good ‘in-between’ book even though it touches the heavy topic that is loss it’s still funny and cute, it’s not only romantic but it’s also very loving, Scarlett’s grandpa is the sweetest, I wanted to hug him all the time. Scarlett did annoy me a little, mainly because-spoiler alert- she falls in love with the worst guy ever and she didn’t see it and it really annoyed me but at the same time I kind of get it, it’s just when I was reading it I couldn’t stand it. I would still read this book again because of Zack, lol, no but I really liked the story itself, it’s kind of cliché and predictable but those are my favorites so I didn’t mind that at all, if you’re not one to love cliché… this book might not be perfect for you.

To wrap it all up, I really really liked this book and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind cliché stories. It’s really good, as I said, very cute, sweet and heartwarming. A very light read, very comforting and what I liked the most is that I can actually find some of the songs in the book on Spotify, I’ve been listening to ‘New To Me’ nonstop since I discovered it. It’s so good.

Scarlett was at her eighty-six years old grandfathers for the summer. Scarlett was eighteen and this was the summer before she started college. Scarlett’s brother who she had loved dearly had overdosed and Scarlett really missed him . Her grandfather had the same sparkling blue eyes her brother had when he was still alive. Scarlett almost hit a guy named Zach. Scarlett had been in a band and got invited to the rehearsal to the band Zach was in. Zach played lead guitar and was the songwriter. He also liked Scarlett and treated her well. But Scarlett had a crush on the lead singer Declan who rapidly went through females. Even though Scarlett knows that Declan isn’t good for her she still can’t quite break away from him.
I had mixed feelings about this book. I loved Scarlett’s grandfather. I also chuckled at times while reading this book. I loved the relationship Scarlett had with her brother before he overdosed. But Scarlett seemed to clueless to be eighteen and getting ready for college. The was pretty predictable as far as I was concerned. I didn’t really connect with Scarlett. So as I said I had mixed feelings about this book.

I read the blurb and picked it up based on that. Unfortunately, I ended up not enjoying it. I didn't like the main character and thought she didn't make smart decisions which ultimately ruined it for me.

Scarlett Stiles has had a tough time since her brother died of a drug overdose, so she agrees—reluctantly—to spend the summer with her grandfather, who’s getting older and, according to Scarlett’s parents, needs help driving. Except Scarlett is the one who really needs help in that area, as a near-miss proves. Scarlett’s near-miss turns out to be Zach, a funny, thoughtful boy with a band in need of a guitar player.

Scarlett hasn’t played guitar since her brother died, but one look at the band’s hot lead singer, Declan, has her agreeing. Just once, Scarlett thinks she deserves the hot guy, so she pursues the attraction between herself and Declan. When conflict between Declan and the rest of the band comes to a boil, Scarlett is caught between what she thinks and what she feels, while she learns new things about herself and her brother.

All the Wrong Chords is, at heart, a light YA read with a heroine who is drawn to a boy that no one else can see good in. Scarlett isn’t a perfect character. She struggles with bad decisions, feelings of inadequacy, and a tendency to be selfish. In the midst of her grief over her brother, she fails to see the pain of those around her, which causes her to hurt people she cares about. This is a good read, full of emotion and some laughs. The secondary characters make this very worth reading, and the issues concerning drug abuse and being true to yourself lend a deeper tone to the story.

(Galley courtesy of Flux via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

I’ve just finished “All The Wrong Chords” by Christine Hurley Deriso, and it was okay! It certainly isn’t on my top reads list of the year but I didn’t completely hate it.

3 Stars!

“All The Wrong Chords” is written in first person. I liked this because we could see what our main character, Scarlett was thinking throughout. She was sometimes a little annoying but all characters have their flaws as well as good points. Scarlett is staying with her Grandpa. I loved reading about their relationship. Her grandpa reminded me of my Grandad a little, too.

The title of the book, “All The Wrong Chords”, is a take on the music scene, which the book is very much about, but it’s also about life in general, I think. It’s about watching young people grow up, making wrong decisions and seeing how they resolve their issues.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this arc. All The Wrong Chords has just released, according to Goodreads.

Spoilers Below...

Most of the story follows Scarlett who’s in love with Damon, lead singer of The Beestings, the band she joins. She’s infatuated with him, it’s that bad! If you don’t like instalove this might not be for you. I like and yet, I was put off by this relationship. The author writes,

“It’s really insane how good looking he is”

This is what Scarlett thinks about the lead singer of the Beestings. I don’t think many girls fawn over guys like this. I know I certainly didn’t. It’s just so unrealistic. Scarlett has known Damon for a matter of weeks one summer and she’s already so in love with him. It’s tacky writing from the author.

A good part of “All The Wrong Chords” was representation for sibling loss. Scarlett has lost her brother to a drug overdose. This is reflected upon throughout “All The Wrong Chords”. She still has a sister, Sara, who she’s close too but Scarlett’s brother is who got her into music. This brother died of a drug overdose. She really joins the band for him, to carry on his memory.

Also there’s a parental figure that suffers with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which Kyle, one of the bandmates tells Scarlett is a

“horrible deal where your body freezes up inch by inch”.

It’s Zach’s mom who’s suffering. Zach is another band mate. He’s actually the one that invites Scarlett to join The Beestings. I’d never heard of this disease before reading All The Wrong Chords, and although it’s only a side character that has it, it’s again good for the representation.

There are gay characters as well. One of whom is Scarlett’s best friend, Varun. I don’t want to spoil who the other one is, but it was a surprise, to learn who’s also gay.

Another thing that I didn’t like about “All The Wrong Chords” was the pacing. It felt really off all the way through. One minute the characters would be practicing for a gig and the next Scarlett and Zach would be at the swimming pool, where Scarlett is working for the summer. It didn’t read smoothly at all.

What did I like about “All The Wrong Chords”?

I liked all the different forms of representation that were brought up in All The Wrong Chords.

I liked most of the relationships between the characters. The only one I didn’t like was Scarlett and the lead singer of the Beestings.

What didn't I like about “All The Wrong Chords”?

I didn’t like how the pacing of the story jumped around. One moment we were following Scarlett and band practice, and the next we were at a gig. It made the story hard to follow and keep up with.

I didn’t like how Scarlett was obsessed with the lead singer of the band. I don’t think it’s good to have characters like this in the books young adults read, as they could want to be like Scarlett.

Will you be reading All The Wrong Chords?

I confess that I requested this book because of the cover, only after I received that I read the synopsis and I was super curious to know why the wrong notes in the title and I was surprised at how the writer presented a strong and warlike girl succumbing to a crush that did not deserves her while the cutest guy in the world is right there in front of her. Actually if the right notes are not used all the music goes out and that's what the writer wanted to show.
Scarlett went to look after her grandfather during the summer, she is trying to escape the sadness that has taken hold of her heart after her brother's death. Upon meeting Zach, she ends up meeting his band and diving into his sweet lyrics.
I was just sad because it took a long time to her really see Zach and I thought the ending could have been more worked and shown a little more of the novel. I also thought that the writer changed the scene a bit abruptly within the chapter and this at times left me confused. Even so, I loved the book very much and I am sure that these details do not erase the lightness and sweetness of the book.

When I read the synopsis for this book I was expecting something a little... different. I had expected to read a story about a girl still grieving her brother and finding it difficult to enjoy living life again, but joins a band on a whim and meets a cute guy then that - and playing music - helps her heal. What I wasn't expecting was feeling frustrated with Scarlett for more than half of the book because she's hooked on a selfish asshole and is completely oblivious to all his red flags. But more on that later. First, let's go over the points of the book that I actually did enjoy.

Family was a huge theme in All the Wrong Chords. This was the first book I've read where the relationship between an elderly family member and their grandchild is highlighted and depicted so positively; it was really heartwarming to see. I adored Scarlett's grandfather and their interactions with each other. They have such a supportive and close relationship, and his personality was the most amusing one in the entire book. I also liked Scarlett's relationship with her siblings Liam and Sara because it sort of reminded me of me and my own siblings, except in my case I would be her older sister Sara. Scarlett was so devastated with the loss of her older brother, mainly because they were so close - she was even in his high school band - and I felt her grief very poignantly in the first half of the book. The sharp truth of their grandfather always explaining Liam's death as "heart failure" and refusing to acknowledge his drug addiction felt so real and accurate.

The members of the band Scarlett joins, the Beastings (minus Declan, of course) are really awesome guys and I generally enjoyed the scenes Scarlett had with them. They were all really passionate about their music and acted very professional for just being an amateur band, and this is where they always conflicted with their lead singer who had the passion for music but none of the dedication, consideration, and tact. I thought the fact that this book has an EP of some of the Beastings' songs was pretty cool and a fun way to make it feel more engaging.

The writing style was engaging and easy to follow, and I really loved the description of the music and how it made Scarlett feel. The lyrics were a nice touch but I did feel that there were too many and that caused it to feel boring after a while. I know most of the songs had meaning for Scarlett and Zach (who wrote them), but I would have preferred if only the significant songs' lyrics were shown and not most of their songs. That way, the writing wouldn't have felt as cluttered.

So, yes, if it wasn't apparent enough, I detested Declan and could not wait for him to just get out of the picture. There were so many red flags about him and his attitude that Scarlett blatantly ignored, despite Sara warning her. I spent more than half of the book frustrated and annoyed with Scarlett for always giving in to Declan when he was clearly bad news right from the start.

Zach, the complete opposite to Declan and obviously better guy for Scarlett, was great and such a gentleman. I adored his character and loved how he was always positive, the mediator, and had such an inner strength that you couldn't help but want to lean on him, despite all the stuff he already was going through. My only gripe about him is that there was no clear indication that he was even interested in Scarlett until he suddenly was? It was weird and felt like it came out of nowhere and absolutely did not flow. Something else that felt inconsistent was Scarlett grieving Liam because it was mainly addressed in the first third of the book, but then suddenly became lost and just disappeared in the middle when she was infatuated with Declan. Then resurfaced again briefly in the last quarter of the book.

I nearly gave this less than 3 stars because I was so frustrated with Scarlett, but I think Zach helped make up for Declan. Overall, All the Wrong Chords was just okay but I enjoyed it enough to recommend it for people looking for a quick contemporary read. Just be warned that you need more than a little bit of patience for the main character.

I liked this book, the side characters and background plots were exactly what I love in a book. I wish more time had been spent exploring those things instead of Declan. I just didn't connect with the main character and didn't find her very likeable. I will definitely recommend this book as aside from those personal gripes, this is a really lovely story.

Do you ever read a book where you spend most of it internally screaming at the main character(s) for being complete imbeciles? Well that was my experience through all 280 pages of this.

90% of the storyline follows the main character, Scarlett, fawning over the bad boy lead singer of a garage band she happens upon during the summer. Of course, we as readers know that she is being a massive idiot with a fair few of her actions to try entice said ‘bad boy’ and have to suffer through all of that taking place. We learn, or can take a pretty educated guess, as readers one of the biggest reveals of Scarlett’s life pretty early on in the book but it doesn’t get presented as an actual thing until the end. I’d have perhaps liked to have seen more of that angle (with Liam’s life pre-overdose) just to give the character a bit more of a fleshing out but it read nicely anyway.

The book itself touches on some topics that you rarely, if ever, see represented in young adult literature so that was a definite plus factor of the entire experience; we see gay characters, drug abuse (leading to overdose) and ALS all factored pretty strongly into the storyline. I cannot say for certain on some of these angles for obvious reasons but I do think that they were featured in a very realistic light (if I’m wrong, please let me know!) which added something to the book as a whole for me personally.

All in all, it was a quick fluffy read and I’d recommend it if anybody fancied something light hearted with a side of some more serious subjects touched upon.

“Then fine, date him. You’re here all summer. Go for it. But those other guys in the band seem a lot nicer.” I cross my arms again. “So you think Declan is out of my league.” She huffs. “No. I think you’re out of his. But do what you want. Geez!” I consider her words, then fall backward onto the bed. “I want the hottie for once,” I moan, then give an exaggerated pout, staring at the ceiling.'

This book ended up being a dnf for me and the above quote is the reason why. Scarlett is attracted to Declan who is the lead singer of a band and typical player/ jerk. Declan has the hots for Sarah who is Scarlett's sister and Scarlett still wants to pursue him because he's "hot"......I get that this is YA but come on!!! Her sister eevn stated she could do better!! Meanwhile she has a nice guy, Zach who likes her yet she insist on wasting her time chasing Declan.

This is my first Christine Hurley Deriso book and so far I'm not convinced.
But having said that this isn't the worst book out there.
This book by the end was pure and simple. After the month I've had with all the mafia books, after all the angst and the unneeded yet craved roller coaster of emotions, this was comparatively calmer, lighter and relaxed.

I love the Young Adult genre, you never know what you sort of Gem you'll find, sadly All The Wrong Chords wasn't it. At times, it was predictable.. I could literally see myself saying "oh oh... I can totally see that this is going to be a disaster!".
But having said this was a relaxing read.