Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!
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This was a really quick read for me, and I unashamedly love Young Adult books. I have a soft spot for books about musicians; I figured this one would be similar to If This Gets Out which was one of my favorite novels of 2021. Darkhearts deals with grief of losing a best friend, and also the grief of having missed an opportunity. David has never really owned the fact that the band he left found huge success after he walked away.
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I loved the gay/bi representation in Darkhearts, and Chance was working through a tough time and trying to find balance again. It was David that really killed me, as he was beyond selfish even after he and Chance started dating. He can’t see beyond his own version of history, which made me crazy, but also…he’s a teenager. Everything seems bigger than it is when you’re a teen, but the ending does finally make him see reason.

David lives in the shadow of his ex-band's big break. He dropped out of the band, but his former best friend, Chance, kept it going and became a pop star. When their friend and band member dies, Chance returns to town and tries to rekindle their friendship. This slowly turns into more, but will they be able to get over their past? It's an interesting and entertaining romance set in the shadow of fame.

This was an entertaining story that goes behind the scenes of a popular boy band—one that left one of its founders behind and lost one along the way.

David and Chance reconnect at a funeral—a funeral for someone who used to be a friend to both of them. Chance and Eli left David behind and made Darkhearts a worldwide phenomenon. Stardom found them but left David back home, the driving force of the band left behind to finish high school.

The encounter brings forth many emotions. A reconnection. A past due reckoning. Secrets, regrets and reconciliations. And romance.

Overall the story held my interest. I did feel the main characters could have used more development. I was hoping for some resolutions that didn't come and felt the weight of miscommunication as a plot device was a bit heavy.

Overall a good YA story with some cw for substance abuse, death, exploitation of young artists. 3-3.5 stars

If you are a lover of best friends to enemies to lovers with angst and rock bands, Darkhearts is for you. Larry Stan's will love the boys and if you have no idea what I mean, you'll still love it

Rounding up to 4 stars. I ended up listening to the audio for this and I quite like the narrator - it made for very easy listening. There was a lot I liked about this book. I absolutely loved how there was pretty much zero internalized strife around kissing boys. There were many times I chuckled out loud, and it was ultimately very sweet. At the same time, there was not a ton of depth and there were some small representation things that didn't quite sit right with me. I also had a really hard time buying the whole premise based on their ages (although, reading the author's post about it, sounds like it happens?) And - this is not the fault of the book - heads up that this is one of those misleading blurbs. While there is a thing about David possibly joining the band - it doesn't even come up for the first 2/3s of the book.

Overall I'd say that it's a solid YA novel and was elevated by the audio narration.

This book has a lot of potential but sadly didn't deliver for me. The characters were not only unlikeable, they made no sense together you actually want them to be just friends, or even better, acquaintances who rarely talk. One was meaner for absolutely no reason, and the other lacked depth. I know they're young and when you're young you act unreasonably, but there's a limit. I was not a fan of the story nor of the characters both alone and together.

Darkhearts is an absolute gem of a book that combines humor, heart, and the lovely journey from enemies to lovers. Former band mates David and Chance are brought back together by a mutual tragedy, the loss of a band mate. Old wounds resurface, but clandestine romance blossoms. The author masterfully tackles complex themes of friendship, sexuality, grief, and mental health.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Love the cover. The author deals with subjects of friendship, sexuality, insecurity, grief with authenticity and realism. There some heavy moments but also some lighthearted humor. Was attracted to the comparison of Red, White & Royal Blue or HeartStopper, but I found this book to be a little more heavy than these two. Ended well if somewhat abruptly. Received both the audio and print version from NetGalley and liked the audio best.

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced copy.

Darkhearts was such a beautiful book which also broke my heart. Their dynamic and characters are loveable.

I really enjoyed this LGBTQ+ Hollywood YA romance!!! I loved the premise and the beginning so much but felt like it started to fall flat for me around 60% through. Overall really enjoyed it though.

To be honest, I amn't really into the story. The character building is a little shallow. And the ending is quite rash. I'm not related. But I think someone will. I wish the next novel from James would surprise me.

Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for the ARC of this book to read early in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to @netgalley and @Stmartinspress for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @macmillian.audio for a free download of the audiobook.

Darkhearts by @james_l_sutter is a book I easily became fully immersed in. There’s something about relationships in boybands that seem to just hook me. The shared history between the characters and how it broke them and made them all at the same time. The enemies to lovers trope sealed the deal for me.

4 stars

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #stmartinspress #macmillianaudio #ltbreaderteam #darkhearts #jamessutter #smpinfluencers

I love books about musician, showing that fame isn’t always being rich and living your best life.
It takes a toll, especially when you’re still very young.
I also love a good second chance romance/ ex friends to lovers.
This had both, and yet I think I wasn’t the main audience for it. This is a book for teenage boys I think, I cringed a lot and found the MC not too likeable honestly.
The ending was very rushed too.
I still think that for the main audience this will be a book well liked!

Darkhearts is trying to be a story about a boybander who comes back to his hometown. It’s trying to be from the POV of the ex-best friend who falls in love with said boybander but honestly nothing really sticks for me.

The pacing of this story is entirely too fast and a lot of David and Chance’s love story is washed over by the drama of the band. The last 25% is David being a person straight out of an AITA Reddit post and yes David you are the asshole for using your boyfriend for fame.

The epilogue was cute, but because we don’t really see beyond it or understand what’s happened between the end of the main story and a month later it falls flat.

Also the Hitler reference??? And the dog ear reference during an intimate scene??? Yeah no thanks. The only reason this is getting two stars is that I actually made it to the end but at what cost.

OMG?? HELLO?? i can’t even process just how good this book was like it was genuinely SO AMAZING!

i’m such a sucker for friends to enemies to lovers and boy bands and TENSION. alsoooo, the characters were so cute and the growth holc has??? I’M LIVING FOR IT!

i loved chase and holc together SO MUCH, they were so cute and precious :,). their relationship was so well written and OH MY GOD I LOVED THEM.
thank you so much netgalley review for the arc!
-5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩, 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙚𝙨-𝙩𝙤-𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚.

I don’t think this book will be for everyone, but I had a great time reading it. It reminded me so much of other YA books I’ve read in regard to the celebrity aspect.

I switched back and forth between the ebook and the audio. I loved that this book had queer representation and followed a boy band. While this is a YA romance, there were a few difficult topics to read about.

Former boy band member David has split up from Darkhearts, but once his former member, Eli, dies from alcohol poisoning, he reconnects with the other member, Chance. I loved the relationship between both characters and I think the author did a great job at representing sexuality and identity.

It did take me a while to get engaged, but once I did, I couldn’t put this book down. I wasn’t expecting it to begin on a sad note with a funeral, but oh man, the love story was incredible. There were a few repetitive moments, but I just couldn’t stop rooting for the two.

The swoony romance was written so well. I loved David and Chance equally and both characters were relatable. I also loved the fame and music subplots throughout the story.

I thought the audiobook was incredible. The ending was also so wholesome and I just loved every moment of this love story. While I do think some references were unnecessary, I still had such a great time reading this. It would definitely be a great read for young teens/adults!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, and Body Shaming

I hate to compare books when they're similar, but I can't help it. This automatically made me think of If This Gets Out because Boy Band, but it's really different. I feel like its missing a lot of interesting elements. It's this cute and all, but I listened to it so it was easier to get into. I don't know that I would have stayed interested had I been reading it on paper.

Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”



Love it

This ya romance is filled with the angst of teenage confusion, big feelings, loss, and the desire to move into adulthood. David is a bit selfish and immature, mostly due to his own choices. Chance likes him anyway, but holds back at a crucial moment and keeps their relationship private. They're both grieving and learning to heal while navigating new confusing facets of their friendship and becoming the men they want to be. Complicated and sweet.

I thought Dark Hearts would be better... in some way.
As I was reading I sought no connection with the main characters and the story just moves on too quickly making it harder to get a sense of what is going on.
I like the fact that they were all in a band, there's a lot of angst, some bit of enemies to lovers which I love. It was fine though. The fact that the story moved way too fast gave the enemies to lovers trope no justice.