david hasn’t seen his former best friends and bandmates, chance and eli, since they left him behind to become famous two years ago. but when eli dies, chance is brought back to town, and reconnects with david. can they move past their history together to become friends again—and possibly something more romantic?

i don’t often read books featuring musical artists, but i’m so glad i decided to pick this one up! darkhearts took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. there were times i laughed, swooned, and even cringed. i loved seeing david’s growth throughout the novel and the many different realizations he had about himself. i also thought the relationship was well-developed and didn’t seem too rushed.

i can normally tell what i’ll rate a book when i’m pretty far into it, but my rating changed when i read the ending just because i loved it so much. i highly recommend this book to any YA readers.

DARKHEARTS by James L. Sutter is a contemporary romance about a teenage boy, David, who was once in a rock band with his two best friends, Chance and Eli. David quit before the band skyrocketed to superstardom. The death of Eli brings frontman Chance back to Seattle, where he reconnects with David. The characters fall flat, which makes the romance unbelievable, as the reader can't understand the source of attraction. However, I like the story and the author's take on queerness and attraction, that it's more about attraction to a specific person than slapping on a label.

David was part of one of the most famous bands in America ... before they were discovered. David formed Darkhearts with his two best friends in high school. But he quit before they rocketed to stardom, and he's been bitter ever since. When one of the two members of the band dies, David finds himself reconnecting with the other, Chance, now a major rock star. Although still deeply hurt, David begins spending more time with Chance and their relationship grows beyond a friendship, even as they continue to struggle with past hurts and the pressures of fame.

This is a well written and perceptive story, exploring timely themes around celebrity, identity, and second chances.

Highly recommended!

I’m not the primary audience for this book, but I have enjoyed quite a few YA books, including some that deal with sensitive topics like this one does. Unfortunately, Darkhearts didn’t really grab me at all. I never felt a connection with either main character, David or Chance. We follow the two of them after the sudden death of their mutual friend, Eli. I think if more of the book had been spent on Eli and his issues, and their grief over his death, it would’ve been a stronger story. But the story quickly moves on and barely refers back to Eli for much of the book.

Chance and Eli were Darkhearts, a famous teen music duo; David was part of the band when they were younger, but before they got their big break, David left the band and has resented their success ever since. He is still in high school in Seattle and he’s learning woodworking/carpentry and loves it but he’s still holding a grudge against Chance. The two of them wind up reconnecting and more - there’s a lot of angst about whether they should kiss or not, whether Chance will let their relationship become public, and so forth. I just didn’t buy it. I could not figure out what Chance saw in David. David’s big transformation happened so suddenly that it was not believable.

The publisher’s blurb compares it to Red White and Royal Blue - nope, except for the basic premise of enemies-to-lovers maybe. And David and Chance weren’t even enemies, just former friends. Also the publisher called it “hilarious.” Nope, not hilarious in the least.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! I thought it would have more of them actually being in a band together but what actually happened was way better. I liked seeing David fall for Chase and slowly understand what it was really like to be him. They had such a genuine connection.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the eARC of <i>Darkhearts</i>. All opinions are my own.

First and foremost, <i>Darkhearts</i>. is a delicious little read. I gobbled it up in about 2 days flat. The writing is very catchy, as is the storyline—a hometown reunion between two former bandmates at the funeral of their mutual friend. Our protagonist is David, otherwise known as the one who walked away—from a budding musical career, only for the remaining two bandmates, Eli and Chance, to go on to worldwide fame in the band David left behind. When Eli dies unexpectedly, Chance and David reconnect, and feelings that have long been festering under the surface boil over in surprising ways.

I love an unsure gay in a YA book, and that's exactly what we see here—both David and Chance's sexualities remain undefined throughout the book, and I really liked it that way. However, as much as this really should have been the main problem, it wasn't. Instead, the problem is David needing to face down his own abandonment and jealousy issues and decide whether he can live in a world with Chance being one way to the world, one way with him, or continue to rage at him from a distance.

Overall, this was a great read. The relationship between David and Chance had enough chemistry to be believable, but it wasn't a seething cauldron or anything (until they get together—then it's kind of whoa). I think the only thing that felt a bit off was how little time each of them spent mourning Eli, especially chance. Eli was Chance's bandmate. It seems like he would have been mourning far longer than it seems he does in the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this "boy in a band" book. It landed with me where others of this genre hadn't.

The ending?!?! Are you joking!!
I wanted to see so much more after that ending! I hope the author writes a sequel to this book!!!

Darkhearts is a book about fame, romance and a boy band. David, our main guy, quit the band Dark Hearts before the band got super famous and he's been living his ordinary life. Until tragically, Eli (one of the members of DarkHearts and his former best friend) dies. At Eli's funeral, Chance (Dark Hearts front man) and David reconnect. This re connection not only opens their friendship back up, but also sparks fly when they realize that they are actually into each other!!! I loved this coming of age aspect of the book as they are coming out together as a couple.

I really enjoyed this book and flew through it. There were so many times when I would get annoyed w/ the characters and then had to reel it back in because I just needed to recognize that these characters are teenagers and I probably would have acted the same way!
This book navigates so many themes - death, grief, jealousy, fame, friendship, relationships.

Totally recommend!

Thank you Wednesday books for my ARC!!! <3

I received an advance copy in exchange for my own opinion. Thank you NetGalley for this opportunity!

I’m not really sure where to start with this one. I had to really think about what I was going to rate this and settled on 3 stars. I *really* wanted to rate it higher but I think there’s a few things that warrant 3 stars.

1. To me, the plot feels almost disconnected and very drawn out. There were parts of the book that were honestly so uninteresting I almost wanted to quit reading, but other parts that were so interesting I didn’t want to put it down. Overall, I feel like the idea of the plot is very compelling, but the execution left much to be desired. I really enjoyed the ending, but it felt extremely rushed and like an afterthought. I think the ending would’ve made more sense if they had built up the fight and resolution a bit more.

2. I’m not going to lie, I love awful, flawed characters. I love when they develop into not flawed characters, and when they stay a POS. But something about David just didn’t vibe with me. I really wanted to like him and root for him, but he was kind of an asshole the entire book to pretty much everyone around him? I think his development from jealous asshole could have been more spread out but was concentrated in the last 10% of the book which was really disappointing. Conversely, I loved Chance and wished we had seen him develop more beyond the whole “famous me isn’t me” shtick. I don’t feel like we really got to see all of who he is.

3. I did not enjoy the side characters. All of them acted as plot devices while also being extremely annoying. Riley was overall an awful person who’s personality didn’t entirely make sense together - to me she felt like she had conflicting personality traits. David’s dad didn’t add anything to the story beyond being a plot pusher and the same goes for his dad’s employees. It was really disappointing that they didn’t have any substance to them.

Overall, I did enjoy the book. I think it’s a great read as long as you’re ok with pushing through some really boring parts.

This was a great YA read. It started off with a literal gut punch as you find yourself at a 17-year old boy's funeral., definitely set a tone for the story. Ex-best friends and ex-band mates, Chance and David, are thrown back together again after the death of their mutual friend, Eli. Chance and Eli found stardom after David quit the band, leaving David to wonder 'what if' for the last two years. Suddenly, Eli's gone, Chance is back in town, and he wants to start hanging out again. David could think of a million things he'd rather do more, but ends up going along. Slowly, they begin to rebuild burned bridges and grow closer again. Friendliness turns into romance which puts the boys in a precarious position. Now these two lovebirds find themselves in a forbidden romance, forced to keep their relationship a secret. Despite this, everything starts off pretty perfect, but unresolved conflicts, demanding managers, and crazy fans are set on tearing these two teens apart for good.

Darkhearts was a beautiful coming-of-age romance with lots of sweet moments and some tragic moments as well. A great read if your looking for a famous/not famous, queer, YA romance!

Rating: 4.5/5

DarkHearts is perfect for anyone who loved Red White & Royal Blue and Perks of Being A Wallflower. As well as fans of books like Kiss & Tell and If This Gets Out. It explores romance, fame, the consequences of fame, first-loves, and more.

I am a sucker for any lgbt boy band book, and if you add in friends to enemies to lovers? I’ll devour it. And this book did not disappoint. I loved the romance and banter between Chance and David and I thought it was executed very well. I did want more of the side characters, as for the most part they were just there, which was my only downside of the book. However, that did not hurt my view of this book too much be I was absolutely entranced with Chance and David.

I would love another book with Chance and David, but I also just want another book by James L. Sutter as fast as possible. I’m looking forward to seeing what James comes up with next!


Thank you Netgalley for the eARC!!

E-ARC generously provided by Wednesday Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

5 stars. Written with an inky, bleeding heart that thumps like a bass line throughout every line of it, Darkhearts is a gritty and authentic love song of a novel that explores queer teen boyhood in a way that I couldn't help but fall in love with.

A fun romance overall! The main reason this is 4 stars and not 5 stars is that there wasn't any discussion of the ethical implications behind Chance Ng, as a Korean American frontman, deciding to use an ethnically ambiguous surname, Kain, as his stage name. The decision was framed as Chance leaning into Darkhearts' punk/vampire aesthetic for his public stage persona, but it didn't mention or seem to consider the implications of not using a Korean name on stage, and how that has the potential to feed erasure and racism in showbiz—I'm thinking in particular of Chloe Bennet, who changed her name from Wang because Hollywood wouldn't give her roles while she had her Chinese name. Even if that wasn't the central focus of the story, it ended up distracting from what was otherwise an enjoyable read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I took a chance on Darkhearts on the strength of the premise alone, and while it is one of those books that suffers from the unfortunate trend of trying to shoehorn everything into the romcom genre lately (spoiler alert: its heavy themes are not compensated for with any recognizable humor), I still enjoyed it, and respected that the blurb was at least honest about the role the tragedy of a friend’s death plays in the plot.
I definitely resonate with David in terms of feeling left behind by people I consider friends, and while his jealousy and bitterness is not admirable, it feels believable. His path of self-discovery of his identity as bisexual, while reconnecting with his former best friend, Chance, was also really sweet.
Chance’s story also really resonated. I felt for him as he described the difficulty of being friends with Eli as Eli was struggling and not knowing what to do, and shouldering the blame for not doing “enough” to help him. And some of his (and Eli’s) decisions did play a role in the destruction of their friendship with David, so I appreciate how it was about both of them coming to terms with the loss, and making amends with each other as they got reacquainted.
While this is my first book by James L. Sutter, it definitely won’t be my last. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys queer YA with messy main characters.

I really, really wanted to love this book, y'all. I thought it was exactly what I needed to fill the hole in my heart that has existed since the likes of If This Gets Out, and I think it genuinely had the potential to be that, but there were just some... issues. It wasn't by any means a bad book, rather solidly middling as a fun angsty YA enemies-to-lovers story, but there were some glaring issues that stopped me from rating it higher.

Pros:
-First of all, I have to give it credit for the angst. It was good angst. I'm always down for a "but can they make it work" story that feels like a solid punch to the gut.
-And there was some interesting discussion of sexuality and fluidity in this book, which is something that I am always delighted to see more of when it comes to male-led YA.
-Healthy child-father relationship!

On the other hand, there were little things that just kept building up that took me out of the story entirely:
- The random HP reference.
- For all the talk of grief, I feel like very little grieving actually gets done? Honestly very little actually gets solved in this book at all.
- A super out of place line about a character doing the "sort of rocking people call 'self-soothing' in autistic kids, but which everyone has in them somewhere, if they'll just let in run." which... um. Yikes.

I don't know, y'all. I wanted to like this book so much. But this just wasn't it.

'Darkhearts' by James Sutter was a unique and beautiful read for many reasons; the humor reminded me of my friends when we were teenagers, the music part of it reminded me how much I loved going to pop/rock shows with said friends, as well as dealing with my inner turmoil of being queer in such heavily cis/straight places.

This book also deal with grief, friendship, coming out, and the pressures of being a high schooler in such great ways. The book opens with the main character David talking about his ex-band mates and the recent death of Eli, who was a founding member of Darkhearts, a now extremely popular pop/rock band, and also brings Chance back into David's life. The teen angst is heavy, especially dealing with two teenage boys having to balance life, loss, and the constant fettering of societal expectations within the music industry.

While not your typical boy band dynamic, Sutter managed to give a new voice to the YA sub-genre. I appreciated the immaturity of the characters, but also that they were allowed to be teenagers and given the space to deal with more mature topics in their own way.

Darkhearts is a queer YA romance that focuses on what happens after a boy band becomes famous and their old friend is left behind. James L. Sutter creates realistic teen characters who can be both inspiring and infuriating.

David, Chance and Eli started their band Darkhearts in middle school. But David quit after one argument too many, and then Darkhearts went on to a record deal and fame and fortune. Two years later, Eli is dead from alcohol poisoning, and Chance and David reconnect. But can they re-learn how to be friends, when David is getting ready for his senior year of high school and Chance is living like a rock star? And what about all those new feelings of attraction?

This book is billed as being for fans of If This Gets Out (which I love) because they both feature gay boy band members. But there are intangibles that separate a good book from a great one. Darkhearts focuses on David’s life in high school after his friends becomes famous; he’s both dazzled and jealous of Chance’s life. But because David is the focus, it takes forever for him to understand the darker side of fame. Instead he acts as a typical self-absorbed teen, and only worries about how things affect him. While it’s probably a more realistic representation, it doesn’t make David a particularly likable character in parts of the book.

Since this book is only from David’s point of view, there are few breaks from his self-absorbed thoughts. A lot of the time, Chance seems almost like a caricature of what a teen rocker would be like, which is probably accurate from David’s perspective. There were highlights in this book too, which leans in to themes of discovering who you are, and making mistakes. I also adored his BFF Ridley, and her film obsession. In fact, all the secondary characters were great supports to the story.

Darkhearts is a queer YA look at the development of a boy band, and the perils of fame. These characters make age-appropriate mistakes, which doesn’t always make for likable characters. This story is a YA journey that rings true, though, and if you enjoy a lot of angst with your teen romance, you should check it out.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Love love love love. The character interactions felt accurate and the meme content was top tier. Some of the dialogue felt flat and too much like the author was trying to hard to talk "like a modern teen". Other than that loved it.

Truthfully, I did not love any of the characters and I had a hard time believing the chemistry between them, but I still had enough fun with the plot around it to suspend my disbelief and still enjoy it.

I really wanted to enjoy this one. The premise is one that I’m naturally drawn to, due to my love for fame and chaos. It’s really unfortunate that I couldn’t fully dive into Darkhearts like I wanted to.

The pacing felt very choppy to me. It didn’t feel like things were naturally setting into place. The dialogue felt emotionless as well. There were things happening but I couldn’t connect to the story or characters. I knew from early on I might struggle with the development of the story and the structure but I was hoping those things would fix itself as the story progressed.

I think there is a lot of potential with this story and I hope others can feel differently than I have. We can never have enough queer celebrity storylines.

I'll be honest, I have no idea how many starts to give to this one. It was a good read, it had me entertained, but it also felt like something was missing from it. While in the beginning this only made me look forward to when things really started, as it advanced and the feeling persisted, it just whispered to me: it should have been better.

3+

The story centers on David, who left his band as he felt the other two members were too much, despite being his childhood friends. Moments later, the band signs a contract and becomes a big thing. Two years later, he meets them again in unexpected circumstances: Eli died, and Chance is expected to return on stage too soon. But it becomes a way for Chance and David to reconnect. Even if it opens back the wounds that never healed properly.

This was my first book by James L. Sutter, and it seems like he did a big jump of genres from what Goodreads has listed under his name. It doesn't feel like it, though. And the story is good, the way David needs to get over himself is built stealthily, and it's rewarding. The romance is also cute, and at times hot. The couple has real chemistry. And maybe because of the author's background, the music scene in Seattle was very well described—at least for someone who has no idea how it is supposed to be, lol.

But as I said, there was something unfulfilling about the story. It would seem to be getting there but it never did. Maybe because we, the readers, could tell that as David was, the romance could never work out, so whenever he was with Chance, that dark cloud of doom loomed over. (I'll confess the parts about David's work were also a little too detailed and bored me a bit; good research, little use to make the plot more interesting).

The cover is pretty, the story is good, we have a lot of extra stuff going on that would be good discussions in book clubs. It goes beyond what many queer YA romances explore.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.