💭Thoughts: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m still trying to decide how I feel about this book. It was a fun YA romance, but it was really lacking a significant plot. The relationship was the plot and basically nothing else happens. The story is also repetitive and i wanted to DNF about 40% in. The flow was off and the story didn’t really pickup until about 85% and then it was over.

There were several things I did like though. The cover. I think it represents the book well and I like the colors. The narration and music in the audiobook was great. I liked Chance and I liked David’s friends. I do wish there har been more character development though.

Sadly, I feel like this will be a very forgettable book for me. I had high hopes, but the lack of plot and unlikeable MC made it a miss for me.

i listened to the audiobook while reading along with the ebook (because audiobook + text is my fav way to read!)

audiobook review:
i enjoyed the narrators voice and the way he voiced the characters! the audiobook definitely added to the experience in a positive way but i felt the speed at which it was read was a bit too slow. i normally listen at 2.5x-3x speed for all my books anyways as most books are too slow for me to pay attention to, so it might just be a me thing, but this one in particular felt super slow on regular speed. i would still recommend giving this a listen!

book review:
i enjoyed this book so much! i am currently trying to get myself out of a reading slump and it felt so good to read a book i thoroughly enjoyed :) i requested this arc many months ago that by now when picking it up i had basically forgotten anything it was about so i went into it blind and was surprised and happy to see that it was not one but TWO of my fav tropes! childhood best friends (who have a falling out) to lovers, AND a famous musician/boyband romance! i loved all the characters and as a bisexual myself it was nice getting to read david's journey to discovering himself. the romance was cute and fun and i loved the ending so much! another cool thing was how it was set in seattle as i have been there many times, i love when books take place somewhere i know/been because it makes the story feel so much more real! overall i would highly suggest this book for anyone looking for a queer band romance because it perfectly hit the spot <3

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for early access to this audiobook.

Emo boys falling in love has me so 🥹🥹🥹 I love Chance and David together and they had so many sweet moments that I was just smiling at while listening to. A lot of the negative reviews I’ve seen have been about how David is unlikely and immature, but I think it makes complete sense because he’s a 17 year old who has never had to reflect on his actions and take responsibility before like he had to do at the end of the book. Yeah, he was a little bitch boy, but it’s realistic!!! I think most teenagers in his shoes would have acted the same way. Anyway, this book was so sweet and I loved it.

Stop comparing everything to Red, White & Royal Blue and making Harry Potter references challenge.

Darkhearts sounded like a book that would be perfect for me. Coming-of-age. Forbidden love. Bandmates secretly dating. Friends-to-lovers. *chef's kiss* That's some top tier stuff. But Darkhearts also suffers from not being sure exactly what it's supposed to be. A drama? A romcom? We start out at a friend's funeral who died from alcohol poisoning. I wish this had been explored more. Said friend, who was also in Darkhearts (the band), and was, once upon a time, best friends with David and Chance. Chance, the sole surviving band member, (because David quite 2 years ago), returns home to try and reconnect with David. Their reunion blossoms into some resemblance of a relationship. But Chance has to return to the life on the road (As a one man band? A solo artist?) and David is, once again, being left behind. Feelings are hurt all around. Though, there is some resolution by the end. And everyone lives happily ever after. Just kidding! We actually have no idea because just as the book gets exciting, it ends. Maybe we could have seen some of the *after* and cut out some of the boring mundane stuff. Not that I don't love fluff. Idk. Side note: let's play a game where we count how many cringe popculture icons and phrases are mentioned. I'll wait.

I know it seems like I disliked Darkhearts but I actually did enjoy it. I listened via audiobook. Ramon de Ocampo is a narrator I typically enjoy.

If you are looking for some great companion novels: If This Gets Out, Catch My Breath, A Summer Soundtrack for Falling in Love, Boy Banned, A Little Bit Country, and Beyond the Sea all had some similar vibes.


***Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy.***

This was SO SWEET. The beginning was overly formulaic; I worried whether I’d be interested enough to finish. But though the plot remained fairly standard enemies-to-lovers, with bumps along the way, character development saved the day. I do wish the one nonbinary character weren’t just tossed in as an afterthought and then lumped with girls when the main character considered his sexuality. That wasn’t great. But points for great representation of a queer Asian love interest and sexuality as something to be explored and embraced.

David, Chase and Eli formed a teenage boy band named Darkhearts. But when they were fourteen, David decides to leave the band --- only to have them get signed by a label and catapulted into fame less than a year later.

When Eli suddenly passes away, Chase comes back to town to mourn and regroup. This leads him to reconnect with David, but the two are not on the same page about what the new connection means for their future as a new couple and as a band.

Fans of "Love Simon" and "Royal Red White and Blue" will love this book about two former bandmates and best friends trying to create a future together as partners -- in love and in life. Their relationship is messy and has many bumps along the way, but watching these two figure it out together is an enjoyable ride.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Young Listeners and NetGalley for allowing me to read this early copy

rep: mid sized achillean mc, achillean Korean American li (they’re both either bi or pan, its not specified), POC scs
Rating: 4.25

This book is about grief, reconnecting with a past friend, forgiveness and the effects of fame. It has angst with hurt and comfort, enemies to lovers, but also lots of funny light moments. Also has a queer awakening with an ex best friend.

David is a messy disaster, very dramatic and selfish. But he’s also hilarious. He’s the most flawed character. David makes so many mistakes and has so much built up anger and resentment. He’s very much in his feelings. It takes him a long time to come to terms with his those feelings and start to move on.

The humor in this book was hilarious. Some of the sayings/quotes had me laughing my ass off and them to friends. David and Ripley were so funny.

Chance is such a people pleaser (mood). He has a hard time dealing with the fame and his fans, so he’s constantly putting on a persona and pretending to be what he thinks people want to see. Becoming so popular and rich and being surrounded by so many famous artists so young must be so hard. It was pretty easy to empathize with him.

This isn’t really a bad thing, just an observation and maybe something a bit unrealistic. I kind of expected David and Chance to be affected by their friend’s death for longer. I know David hadn’t talked to him in 2 years and they didn’t end their friendship on good terms, but still. Chance did struggle more, but I feel like it moved on to just him dealing with fans and stardom in general instead. I don’t think either of them really mention losing Eli and their grief for most of the 2nd half of the book. I just would have expected their grief for their friend to have more lasting effects on them, especially for Chance.

I liked how supportive Chance’s mom was. She was always happy to see David. Meanwhile, David’s dad hated Chance with a passion. It was kinda sweet to see him be so protective of his son, but I’m a bit surprised how long it lasted. He did not want to let him off the hook and held a big grudge lol

The ending was well done. I was a bit worried for a second that Chance wouldn’t do something, but he did, and in the best way, for everyone involved. It was pretty perfect for them.

I'd like to point it out that there was harry potter reference (a spell and someone was dressed as Hermione at a costume party). This is the 2nd ARC this week that has a HP reference. It’s 2023, when will we ever let it die? Especially seeing it in queer books, its just disappointing.

The narrator did a great job of bringing these characters and their personalities to life. I also like the cover.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It had a lot of sweet and funny moments to match the more angsty ones.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book

Brought together by the death of a friend only to catch feelings he didn’t even know were there for his enemy, ex-best friend? Who was now famous and in the band he helped start. What happens when the famous lead singer drops the act? What happens when long drives out of town end with surprised kisses? And how long will it all last before David is left behind like he was before?

Dramatic and humorous and entertaining. There was so much I enjoyed about this book. Getting lost in the audiobook for hours was lovely. The audiobook was brought to life really nicely. The setting was done nicely and really brought in the comforting elements when David and Chance were able to get away from the rest of the world even if it was only for a little while. The characters were detailed, friendships were comforting, David finding himself in the end, and the overall plot kept my interest. The only negative I have to say was the Har*ry Pot*er references, which were only mentioned but still.

I really liked this and how things played out, the hurt/comfort really worked well and I’m very happy with how it ended!!

A little bit sweet and a lot angsty, upper YA, queer, popstar romance!

When David was 13, he started a band with his two best friends, Chance and Eli. They had a fight and David quit the band at 15. Soon after that, Chance and Eli got a record deal, went on tour, became super famous, and left David behind. Chance and David reconnect after Eli's death and eventually their tentative rekindled friendship turns romantic.

• This is a bi-awakening story! Very much enjoy bi-awakening!
• It's messy. The characters are teenagers and they definitely do not have it all figured out. As an adult reader, I found a lot of the main character's behavior unfortunate and problematic when it came to the romantic relationship. He was jealous, possessive, and held a lot of resentment towards the boy he was supposed to be falling for. I felt like only some of this was resolved by the end -- however, this book wasn't only a romance and definitely had a bildungsroman aspect when it came to David coming to terms with his missed chance at fame and his tendency to run from conflict.
• I like that Chance turned out to be a lot more than met the eye in the first half of the story, but I wish we saw behind his people pleasing mask a little sooner.
• Sweet ending, but also a bit abrupt. This romance reader could have used an epilogue with a glimpse into a few months or more down the road!
• Overall, a bit of a mixed bag! But I think worth a try for YA readers.

🎧 I listened to this book and highly recommend the audio! Ramon de Ocampo is one of my favorite narrators. He does young adult/new adult dialogue so well and brings extra humor to the story. I have to admit I believe I enjoyed listening to Ramon de Ocampo more than I really enjoyed the content of the book... he's just that good for my ears.

I really didn’t like the main character at first, which made it hard to get started…but once I was a few chapters in the story was GREAT. Grief, jealousy, friendship, missed chances…this book covers a lot. Even though the main character continues to be kind of a bad person, you still root for him and Chance, hoping for him to turn himself around and earn his happily ever after. I love a flawed protagonist, and this book delivers

Darkhearts is a beautiful book about love and second chances and learning to forgive others (and yourself) for missed chances. It's about figuring out who you are and what you really want, and letting the rest go. It's messy and painful and beautiful and full of second-hand embarassment and sheer joy. I loved it.

Watching David and Chance figure out what they can do, what they can't do, what they should do, and what they want to do was a lot of fun. It was very much an end-of-highschool coming-of-age story, with the added complications of fame and missed chances at fame. I loved being along for the ride.

The audiobook is performed beautifully and the narrator really brings the characters to life. I'm glad I listened to it because I think it adds to the story and makes it easier to get swept up in it.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy and early audio copy for review.

With hints of Never Been Kissed (Janovsky) and If This Gets Out (Gonzales, Dietrich) this YA romance has all the feels of a young romance, LGBTQ2+ style. David (the Hulk) and Chase have been separated for two years since David quit their band that then promptly got signed and made it big. And then Eli, band mate #3 died. And so the book opens at the funeral of his once upon a time bestie and bandmate - and he comes face to face with Chase.

And together they begin a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something deeper, a recognition that something may have been there this entire time, and yet this is the summer that they're able to see it, and lean into it.

Between driving lessons, learning how to bench press and mini putt there's a lot of personal growth and to go with it - growing pains. And let's just add a dose of young love to complicate it.

I really enjoyed listening to this book and it was nice to be in a single POV romance despite how easy it might have been for the author to cast this as a dual-POV. I also (*cringe*) LOVED the epilogue. This should tell you something ;)

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan and James L. Sutter for providing me with advanced assess to the audiobook for Darkhearts. Ramon de Ocampo does an amazing job narrating this great story.

I really enjoyed this book. I ate it up in less than two days. I don't want to be over the top but this book had me wanting to walk down the street for unnecessary caffeine just so that I could listen to it!

I loved Hulk and I particularly enjoyed his journey. This story has so much energy and so much growth for him from teenager to young adult. I think that so many of us struggle every single day at comparing our own existence to other people then imagine falling in love with that picture of perfect that you once wanted. Extra struggle.

I liked Chance a lot, but then in that climax, my repeated audible gasps at the shreds he was taken from our Hulk, insert something about 'no crumbs being left!' I felt, I felt it hard and my god. I wanted to take Hulk in a hug.

This romance reminded me a lot of a TikTok I saw with a young man claiming 'Everyone is Bi until proven otherwise'. And even those it still uses a label, I think the concepts of romance and attraction are really well presented in this story. I also feel quite old referencing a 'TikTok' in such a manner.

I also really appreciate Hulk being presented as a larger body character without comedy or extreme self esteem issues. It is nice to see a larger body character never question if they deserve love just body of their body. One issue, I would never think that there is a size difference significant enough to comment on between Hulk and Chance based on the cover art.

Publishing 1 June 2023, will post to socials closer to the release date.

I did not know that I needed this book but I NEEDED this book!!! All I can say is you need to read this one. The characters, the storyline, and THE ENDING (!!!) were perfect. I loved this story with my whole heart. This was a perfect ARC read because I won a physical copy from Goodreads and then got the audio from NetGalley. Ramon de Ocampo is one of my favorite audiobook narrators, so this was a real treat. Thank you to the publisher, Goodreads, and NetGalley for the physical and audio ARCs!

I seem to really be in the minority with this one because I didn't love it the same way all these other reviewers are rating five stars plus. This was very much a middle of the road for me. I didn't like it but I didn't hate it. I'm not going to reread it and I don't know that I would recommend it.

I'm going to start with the couple things that threw me the most:

- The Harry Potter reference. It's just one sentence about one spell that's common in Harry Potter but are we really still doing this?

- The kind of fat phobia? I honestly don't know because there's some borderline fat phobic jokes but then one of the characters is supposed to be midsize and it's very unclear whether it's supposed to be like internalized anti-fatness or what. I mean there is one comment from the second main character where he says some bullshit about " spending time with you is going to make me fat " and I'm just not here for that.

- On the note of anti-fatness, you're going to look at me and you're going to tell me that the main character on the left side of this cover is supposed to be midsize? Really? We're doing this again?

- there's a point where the two main characters are, let say "exploring each other's bodies for the first time" and this is YA so it's obviously not explicit but there's a comment about comparing a dick to the inside of a dog's ear and I'm just still not over it. I actually had to stop the audiobook and process what I just heard because what?

- This book starts with a funeral yet there's almost no grief on it whatsoever It's supposed to be the death of the main character's ex best friend but the love interests best friend get I think there's only one paragraph in one chapter or he even talks about the death of his friend.

- lastly, there's a chapter where they're talking about labels and one of the characters says something along the lines of quote wouldn't everyone be a little bit bisexual if gender and sexuality are supposed to be a spectrum " and had this been discussed further or talked about again maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm trying to be a little bit lenient because I know that this is an own voices bisexual story but no, in fact not everyone is a little bit bisexual.

Okay so moving on This book is about a kid named David who started a band with his best friends when they were 14. He quit the band and then the band got famous. So David is very butthurt throughout this entire thing and has got some serious jealousy to work through. He doesn't have his kind of like coming of age moment until almost the very end of this book and it was a bit exasperating.

Actually didn't hate the plot of the story very much but it did remind me that I really am glad I'm not a teenager anymore. Also that teenage boys are gross. This book is very YA. And that's certainly not a bad thing. I'm not going to sit here and say that it's getting negative points from me an adult in their late twenties when I'm not the intended audience for this book. That's definitely not happening. But definitely be prepared for teenage boy nonsense including all matter of dick and poop jokes.

I genuinely don't think this is a bad book, even though it's certainly not a favorite of mine. I feel like I would recommend it to teenage queer boys and that might be the extent. I also feel like it's probably what I'm going to forget very quickly.

Two bi/pan questioning cis boy MCs.

Years ago David and his two friends, Elijah and Chance, started a band as young teens. When high school began, he chose to step back and shortly there after the remaining duo was signed by a label and rocketed to stardom - leaving David behind.

Now one of those friends is prematurely dead and the other is back in David’s life after two years of not speaking.

As they reconnect and build a new sort of relationship, past resentments and new fears come to a head.

How can they move forward?

This is an angsty teen romance with some pretty heavy topics loosely touched on (substance abuse, sexuality, parental abandonment, racism, etc).

This is actually and 3.5 stars. Darkhearts is a very cute story. I did find our MC to be quite frustrating at times. While dealing with new love, David seems very stuck on his missed opprotunity to stardom, even though it was his choice to quit the band. I wish we could have heard from Chance's point of view as well, instead of just David's. Overall this was a cozy read. I found myself smiling and laughing at their banter/dynamic. I also did enjoy the pop culture references. I did not think they were overdone. Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for my ARC in exhange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved Ridley, and at the beginning I liked the MC, but the 3/4 of way I was irritated with how he was acting but the author really rounded out the ending and left my squealing at the last page. I also loved chanced, my teenage heart was about sold instantly lol I loved him and hulk together and really just ended up adoring this book.

Thank you to netgalley for giving me in alc of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

First and formost, can we stop using Red White and Royal Blue as a comp for every mlm book?? Please. It's not accurate at all and not fair to the book.

This book had alot of potential: celebrity, queer, childhood friend to lovers, ya romance.
But unfortunately the potential was not fully realized. The narrative voice was so far from a teenage boy, the referencing of memes and outdated slang had me constantly cringing.
There was also no chemistry between our main characters due in parts to the writing and the pacing.

Finally, I really didn't like the narrator. I know this narrator has done lots of ya work, but I almost immediately DNF'd because it was unsettling listening to that narrator speak as a teenager. Publishers need to keep in mind the age of the characters in the book before choosing a narrator.

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/</p></i>I had a hard time with this book: the story is so narrowly focused as to be almost claustrophobic and none of the characters felt realistic or believable. Our main character spends a good 95% of the book thinking about or obsessing over the love interest - to the point where it felt uncomfortably stalkerish. No other character, milieu, situation, or even plot was allowed to to develop unless it was about the love interest. Talks with best friend - about the love interest. Time at work - about the love interest. At home with dad - about the love interest. I never got an idea of location, character depth or nuance, or even that our main character liked the other one for any reason beyond that he suddenly became attractive now that he was famous.

Story: David works for his father's general contractor business - finishing his days at high school and preparing to apprentice to a carpenter. But what burns him up inside is that the band he started in middle school made it big just after he stepped away from them for a break two years ago. But now, former friend and songwriter Eli is dead of an alcohol overdose and lead singer Chance is in town for the funeral. David must come to terms with his jealousy as well as a developing physical attraction for Chance. Not to mention Chance being an avenue through which David can regain the fame he felt was stolen from him.

I wish more was developed in terms of their three friends. Eli's death is just an excuse to throw Chance and David together again and even scenes of any emotional repercussions from the death are about throwing the boys together. David seems only interested in Chance after he got famous and so feels no different than any of the stalkers or fans that Chance constantly complains about or deals with. Moreover, we're supposed to feel like Chance is interested in David as well but the only impression I got is that Chance just wanted to be with a guy from his past who knew him before he was a rock star - David was convenient but not necessarily a love interest. By the end, there is a bit of David coming to realize his own shortcomings but they don't really address either of the above. Even the ending scene is about David getting his moment of fame.

I think the hard time I had with the book is that it felt almost like a fanfiction for BTS that was reworked into a standalone story. Either that, or a written-by-the numbers story capitalizing on the K-Pop popularity at the moment. None of the characters really felt like they could be actual people. The pop culture references were fun but a bit overwhelming at times (e.g., vibrations will be described as being like the stomping of a kaiju and something thrown at the window of an annoying little sister will be accompanied by the cry of, "For the Fire Nation!"). But mostly, I never liked David, felt Chance was an object of lust and not a person, and the side characters were made up nerd fantasies or rock industry clichés.

The audio version is decent and I had no problem following the narrator. He did a decent job with the different voices and gave the characters a bit of personality even though they felt so completely underwritten. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.