ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know why but I've always been fascinated by stories about fame and fortune- particularly when it comes to singers or bands. Some of my favourite books with this theme have to be Kill the Boy Band and Slay so when I saw Darkhearts, I was certain I was going to find a new favourite read.

The premise of the book follows David who missed his chance in making it famous with his high school band. After he left, the band blew up and became world-wide famous. David spends a majority of the book seething over his missed opportunity-questioning what could've been. After his former bandmate and friend, Eli dies, David has the opportunity to reunite with the lead singer of the band, Chance who is also in grieving. As the two get closer and reminisce over what didn't but could've been, we see David's complicated and messy feelings over his lost chance at fame and if the fame was really worth it in the first place.

This book really highlighted the ugly side of being famous - specifically what it feels like to have missed an opportunity at fame and dealing with the fall out of that. David has a lot of self-hatred and angst towards the band knowing that he would've had fans, fandoms and sold out shows if only he hadn't left.

At times, David came off as an unlikeable character- you don't really enjoy reading from his perspective- but you understand his emotions and why he's feeling this way even though the band took off years ago. At times, he seemingly took his resentment out towards Chance and yet again, while I understood this, it didn't make me ship them together on the basis of poor treatment. Because of how he acted towards Chance who was so kind and patient, it made the ending and when David finally worked his feelings out and stopped taking his internal anger out on others- a bit rushed. Having more pacing and transition from past behaviour to his new behaviour would've really helped this book out - taking the reader on David's journey of self acceptance and discovery rather than leaving us there thinking how we got to this conclusion so quickly and out of the blue.

All in all, a fascinating read. I'd highly recommend this to readers looking for messy main characters (specifically in contemporary/romance fiction).

thank you to wednesday books, st. martin’s press, and netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I thought this was going to be a 5 star read for me because it has all the elements I love! A Queer, Boyband romance with angsty backstory. Sounds like perfection but the reality was anything but… David was a super unlikable character and by the time he gets any sort of redemption it’s too late and who would want to be with him.

My interest was piqued by the comparison to Red, White, & Royal Blue, but the book didn’t really deliver on that aside from being a queer “enemies to lovers” romance.

This book was… fine. The best parts were David’s interest in woodworking and his rapport with the other craftspeople who work with his father. David clearly had a passion and it’s always nice to see kids finding fulfillment in paths that aren’t the traditional four year college degree.

And I know that’s not the point of the book, but I said what I said.

I also liked David’s friend. She’s a hoot. I want her to have a spinoff book.

There was nothing inherently wrong with David and Chance and their relationship but it was fairly predictable. Of course they’re going to start jamming together. Of course the idea of David rejoining the band is going to come up. Of course it’s not going to be that simple.

I would recommend Darkhearts. This was a sweet book with a lot of big feelings. I mean that in a sincere coming-of-age way and not in a condescending way. There’s a lot of space devoted to what was and what could have been, but there’s also the importance of what IS right now happening in the moment.



I received a digital ARC of this book from St. Martin’s/NetGalley.

This book stole my heart and I think I will never get it back!!! What a delightful read! I love anything and everything that involves famous people (even made up ones) and behind the scenes Hollywood style. .When David and Chance reunite, Sutter expertly ties all the insecurities of fame with all the insecurities of a new relationship. I loved the tension, the conflict, the struggle between fame and love. Well done and an lgbtq romance I'd recommend to all!

This was one of my quickest reads of 2022. It was short, sweet and read like a fanfic, which is something I loved most about it!

I have to admit, I gave this 3.5 stars. Although I enjoyed the fic aspects of it, there was a lot of growth that these characters needed to go through that they ultimately didn’t. It’s YA, so it’s messy, its dramatic and filled with angst, which I adore about YA. In this particular book, however, I feel like I just kept reading the same issues over and over again.

The two main characters didn’t hash their feelings out until about 3/4 of the way through and kept having issues because of that. They didn’t talk about their individual struggles with themselves or each other and kept it in until it all blew up. Again, this is YA, so that’s understandable and I actually liked how everything was cleaned back up after the initial falling out. But, again, I wish there was a conflict in here that made sense. Because all I got was that one of them was mad because he felt abandoned and the other was upset because he felt like all his friend cared about was fame.

I also didn’t like the sterotypical “straight best friend who’s a girl” that they did in this book. She honestly felt like she was just tossed in there as an afterthought and didn’t contribute much, if anything to the storyline. She could’ve been a bystander and it would’ve made more sense, but overall, I think having her here was a little unnecessary.

So, once again, I wish there was something that forced them to look at each other and hash things out to start with and then a different conflict to get through the rest of the book.

Aside from that, however, the rest of this book was pretty well done. The characters, collectively, were interesting. One of the main characters was also written as being "built like a football player" and "having a little pudge" which I think is something that really needs to be shown more. There's a lot more body diversity written for women/feminine people, but not nearly as much for men/masculine people and I really liked the fact that it was written into this book.

I love a book about a band (or a former band), and James L. Sutter's Darkhearts had unexpected depth. This queer YA book has both complexity and that swoon factor.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

I really enjoyed this. I liked the story telling and the emotions in this book. There were a lot of "what ifs" and I loved seeing these characters navigate all of their feelings and seeing how they were healing.

I struggled to get into this one. I love YA books, but I struggle with books where the kids are too angsty or overly emotional about small things. The main character David doesn’t like the “love interest: due to their past and it just irritated me how he was just willing to be around someone who betrayed him so easily. Then to start having feelings for a person who treated you bad it just triggering. I tried to get through this one but it was a DNF for me.

In Darkhearts, former band members Chance and David are reunited after the death of their fellow bandmate. Old scars of their friendship are poked at, reexamined, and healed as the two fall in love.

This one didn't totally work for me, but I did recommend it to a friend who I knew would love it and he gave it five stars, so take my opinion (as always) with a grain of salt!

Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

In James L. Sutter's debut Young Adult romance, former best friends find themselves reconnecting and venturing into something deeper.

World-renowned Korean American rock star Chance Ng reunites with his estranged friend and former bandmate, David Holcomb, following the tragic death of their mutual friend and bandmate Elijah to alcohol poisoning. David's departure from the band before its rise to fame caused a rift that has kept them apart for years. David, having found a passion for woodworking, contemplates a career in carpentry. Despite the somber backdrop of Elijah's funeral, the narrative shines with witty banter and vibrant secondary characters.

Intimate moments between Chance and David are tenderly depicted, imbuing the story with a heartfelt sweetness. David's reflections on his sexuality are portrayed with authenticity and complexity, contributing to a refreshing and sex-positive atmosphere. However, occasional awkward phrasing detracts from the otherwise charming dialogue, and discussions around body image and fat stigma could have been explored more thoroughly.

Overall, Sutter delivers a funny and heartwarming tale that celebrates friendship, love, and personal growth.

💭WOOOOOOOW did this hit me in the most unexpected way! YA books are starting to really raise the bar for me.
This book was hilarious, full of great banter, full of love in every different kind of relationship…. & the LESSONS… the GROWTH, from multiple characters. It was just incredible. Sometimes the characters went through moments of being… not unbearable because that’s too strong, but a bit of an annoyance? But they’re teenagers and it never lasted long because the growth HITS. Also the author did an incredible job writing about navigating confusing parts of life as you enter adulthood, which is not always easy.

This is also great representation of the LGBTQ+ community. The part about “labels,” … like just… IYKYK, you just need to read it. I’ve had friends go through this exact thing but have trouble really explaining it and this hits the nail right on the head.

By my shock, it’s obvious I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did and I can’t believe I took so long to pick it up. Even it’s imperfections where perfect for me; What a fabulous story!

Overall I did enjoy the book even if it didn’t become a new favorite. If you’re a fan of queer YA and a story about teens reconnecting and the pressures of figuring out your sexuality in the spotlight sounds interesting then I say to give this one a try.

This book is about two friends who come together after a tragedy. It deals with a boy band, substance abuse and death. It deals with relationships and forgiveness.

I want to thank Netgalley and St Martins Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not quite the primary audience for this book and I do definitely know that affects my thoughts on it. The concept is cute but it just didn't hit the mark for me. The amount of times someone was referred to as "bro" or "dude" got too excessive... and kind of felt like compulsory heterosexuality. Also docking a star for the HP References which I really didn't understand in a queer romance?
I also felt like there wasn't a whole lot of character development, considering what the plot of the book is I would've loved to see much more. I don't want to say much about the characters lack of maturity because I do realize this is meant to be a young Adult book but immaturity of a character in a YA book tends to work best when there's a fair amount of character growth and gaining of at least a bit of maturity which this book felt like it was missing.
Again I know I am not the primary audience for this book so I can guarantee there are readers who will love this!
Thank you St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for the e-copy

If you're a lover of boy bands, this is a book for you to check out. It's a bit darker and covers some more intense topics such as substance abuse and death that I wasn't expecting in a YA book. However, as a result the emotions were high and I think they were well done.

I actually didn't end up finishing this one. I listened to about 2 hours of the book and still wasn't invested in the characters or the story. I tried reading the ebook as well and gave it to 20% and still didn't really get invested.

Good book. I found the characters really enjoyable and would read again and reccomend to friends and family. Thanks!

Super disappointing. I wanted angst, boybands and drama but all I got was undeserved forgiveness and pettiness. The entire boyband and ex-friend intrigue drew me in but honestly, while the author was painting the main character as wrong or petty, he was right. He had the chance to be famous and he has it again with his friend back but now his friend doesn't want him to be famous? I get the reasoning but the conflict felt so last-minute and unnecessary and I didn't enjoy any of the romance or surrounding aspects.

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

Thank you so much to Wednesday and Netgalley for allowing me an early peak at this hidden gem! I am saddened to see so many One star reviews (because I'm posting this review so, SO late- per normal) because I absolutely adored this one! I feel like I love reading about the drama that happens behind the scenes of a boy band and this didn't disappoint me. Although they are very similar in premise, this book and Kiss and Tell are VERY similar, but different enough that I had no issue telling them apart and I actually ended up liking this one way more. I don't really have much more to offer other than I liked this one very much, loved all the characters, and felt that teenagers were accurately depicted. Highly recommend!