Lyrical and deeply moving—Isaac’s Song is a powerful exploration of legacy, love, and Black identity that resonates long after the final page.

Daniel Black delivers a heartfelt and gut-wrenching story in Isaac's Song. Set in late ’80s Chicago, the book follows Isaac, a sensitive, tenderhearted man who’s finally stepping into his truth after growing up in Missouri under the thumb of a hard, controlling father. For years, Isaac was told to suppress his creativity and desires because they didn’t fit the mold of traditional masculinity.

Encouraged by his therapist, Isaac starts writing his story, uncovering pieces of his past that lead him back to his family and his ancestral roots in Arkansas. Black masterfully weaves themes of inherited trauma, self-discovery, and resilience, reminding readers that healing often requires us to confront the pain we’ve long buried.

This book hits hard and stays with you. Black’s storytelling is rich and emotional, pulling you into Isaac’s world while making you think about the larger systems at play. If you’re looking for a novel that’s honest, raw, and beautifully written, Isaac’s Song needs to be on your list.

Reviewed by: Orsayor

#IsaacsSong surprised me in the best possible way. I wasn’t familiar with Daniel Black before picking this up, but now I’m all-in. Isaac’s Song is beautifully written—lyrical without being overwrought—and the journey it takes you on is filled with realistic conflict, emotional resonance, and an organic unraveling of self-reflection that lands with deep, internal weight.

I experienced this story in both print and audio, and I highly recommend the audiobook. The narration is warm, deliberate, and emotive—bringing a layer of intimacy to Isaac’s reflections that enhances the impact of the story overall. It’s one of those performances where the voice matches the emotional pacing perfectly, making the journey feel even more personal.

The story’s premise is simple enough: Isaac, mourning the death of his father, begins journaling as part of a therapeutic assignment meant to help him reexamine his father’s words and actions—many of which he had previously interpreted through the haze of internal conflict, misunderstanding, and assumption. But what unfolds as he fills those pages is anything but simple. His journey through memory and self-discovery creates a space where the reader is drawn to do the same—comparing, reflecting, reevaluating not just alongside Isaac, but within their own relationships. Whether you’ve faced similar revelations or not, Black offers just enough emotional clarity—an adumbration of understanding, if you will—to bring those realizations into reach. It’s not just Isaac who begins to see his parents in a new light; the reader is also gently coaxed into confronting their own assumptions about love, sacrifice, and emotional distance within family.

At least one pivotal moment in Isaac’s (and my) journey had my eyes welling with liquid emotion—not out of sadness or pain, but tethered-to and trailing-behind that magnificent limousine of deep, melancholic joy that arrives with a hard-won shift in understanding. It’s the ache that sets in when you realize something you believed to be true was tinted by absence, shaped by hurt, colored by emotional distance—and that maybe, just maybe, closeness could have changed everything. Black doesn’t just help Isaac make peace with his father—he helps the reader do the same, in their own way. His storytelling nudges you into seeing things from a perspective you may have resisted, and somehow, it doesn’t feel like a push. It feels like a quiet truth settling in.

The emotional realism here is rich with nuance. Nothing feels overdone or conveniently resolved. The tension in Isaac’s discoveries—both about himself and his family—builds with subtlety, honesty, and grace. This book knows how to sit with discomfort, and it invites you to do the same. Easily a solid 5 stars. I’ve already tossed the companion novel ("Don't Cry For Me", for those wondering) into my cart—along with a paperback copy of Isaac’s Song. This is absolutely a story I want on my shelf.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley, #HarlequinAudio and #DanielBlack for providing me with an ARC copy of this beautiful book. I only wish I'd not waited so long to read it.

I hate this book. It was just rambling introspection that's trying so hard to be smart. Also, the fatphobia is just not really my cup of tea

I will be giving this one a middle of the road review because I didn't finish it. This was a me issue as I was trying to force myself to be in the mood to read it when I just wasn't. That's not fair to the author or other readers who will love this story. I will save it and circle back when I am in a better place and can give it my full attention. Thank you NetGalley for the ALC copy.

I absolutely LOVE Dr. Black! There is not a book of his that I haven’t enjoyed. The audio for this book was very entertaining and kept me intrigued. Isaac’s story had me just as emotional as his father’s in Don’t Cry for Me. Amazing!!! I would re-read and re-listen over and over!

I loved this book so much! Everything about it was raw, engaging, heartbreaking, and hopeful. I wish everyone had the opportunity to explore themselves in a safe place and review their life experiences in an explorative manner that mine challenge their previous interpretations. This was a beautiful story narrated by one of my most favorite narrators.

This is such a wonderful book with a really interesting premise. I love the idea of writing things down in therapy and going through them on this intense journey. It was really great and a well done story. This book was so heavy though that it was difficult to wade through sometimes. Even if the scene wasn't heavy the tone of the book overall was heavy.
I think this truly is a wonderfully powerful book, it just didn't sit right with me unfortunately.

A tale that weaves the heartbreak of identity struggle, complicated family relationships, and an unjust world. Daniel Black does a great job at bringing the story full circle in such an authentic way. The audiobook ended up being a really good avenue to experience this story and would recommend this to anyone who is looking for an inspiring and enlightening read!

Isaac is a young man who has just lost his estranged father, several years after his mother’s death. Isaac’s Song tells the story of his new grief woven throughout his upbringing as seen through the lense of journals promoted by his therapist.

Isaac explores his tumultuous relationship with his father, largely caused by Isaac’s femininity and sexuality and how this conflicted with his father’s traditional views. This book does a PHENOMENAL job of really honing in on the experience of black, queer men, and I know it will hit very close to home for a lot of readers. The experience the author writes about is one many people will relate to, wholly or partially, especially older men who experienced the severe gay panic present during the AIDs crisis and Rodney King’s attack which create the backdrop for this story culturally. I really loved Isaac’s journey being non-linear, the reader gradually learns how he became comfortable and secure in his identity, until reliving his past with his father throws him back into the uncertainty he experienced as a boy.

The prose in Isaac’s Song is often breathtakingly beautiful. Towards the end especially, I found myself holding my breath and unable to do anything else while listening to this audiobook. The reading experience and conclusion is incredibly profound and will encourage introspection regardless of your connection to the story.

This gets a huge recommendation from me.

I wish this book had held my attention more, but I struggled to stay engaged while listening to the audiobook. The premise was interesting, and I appreciated the memoir-like style, especially the backstories from Isaac’s childhood that helped explain his relationships and emotional bond. However, I found it difficult to fully connect with the story overall.

I didn’t realize this was a companion novel, and I think I may have enjoyed it more—or at least followed it better—if I had read the related book first. That context might have helped me feel more invested in the characters and narrative.

I received this audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Don’t Cry for Me was a beautifully written book, full of raw emotion. A father’s plea for forgiveness of all his wrongs toward his son. I was just fine with how it left off, and not knowing if his son would ever forgive him. I wanted to leave the sons pov up to my interpretation.
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I ordered both books from BOTM, but I wasn’t planning to read I.S. I didn’t think it could live up to book one. But someone in a group said “Isaac’s Song hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves”, so I immediately started listening to it.
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This book stands apart — tender yet powerful, unlike anything I’ve read before. It bled truth and tenderness, heartache and healing. It touched on life lessons, deep connections to roots, and shared wisdom that really made me think.
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This is a story that anyone can learn and grow from. It is like a handbook for understanding how forgiveness frees us, how our past experiences shape our parenting. How our parenting can shape our future relationships with our children. How opening up and having compassion with each other can help deepen our empathy and give us a new perspective from how we were raised and what was passed down to us.
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Jacob had his flaws as a father, but I couldn’t help feeling for him—especially for the distance he created with his son and family. And Isaac… I just wanted to hold him close, to comfort him in his quest for healing and forgiveness.
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Not only did we get Isaac’s heartfelt story, we got the story he was working on in the the end that was stellar. I wanted more of that story on its own, but it helped give me insight into an author’s writing process.
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And the cherry on top? It’s narrated by Jacobi Diem, whose flawless tone and raw emotion elevate the story to another level. He delivers it with such depth, you’d swear it was his own. A truly outstanding performance!
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This was my last read of March, and is already top of my list for 2025. This is a MUST READ series. If you’ve ever wondered about any of my reviews, believe this one. ♾️ ⭐️

I loved this story about complex father-son relationships that examines toxic masculinity and homophobia in (Christian) black communities. The author does a fantastic job weaving in mental health and generational trauma into the narrative through his conversations with his therapist (can I have his therapist please 🥹) and the story he is writing.

The structure might not work for readers who prefer linear storytelling, but I really appreciate the multiple narrative layers that feel like a blend of fiction and memoir.

I especially love following Isaac’s journey of self-acceptance, self love, and finally forgiveness. The part where he reads his dad’s letters made me sob and made me wonder everything that a parent couldn’t say to their child, especially emotionally constipated dads 😭

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The audiobook was amazing—I loved it so much that I bought the hardback just to underline the passages that stood out.

Isaac’s Song is a beautiful and powerful story that left me rethinking my perspective on my parents, childhood, and so much more. It explores the complexities of growing up Black in America—then adds another layer: being gay in a Black household and in America. Navigating racism, family relationships, and love.

The struggle of putting yourself in boxes to make society and others comfortable while denying and hiding who you truly are.

The layers. The depth.

A must-read

Isaac's Song by Daniel Black is a profoundly moving exploration of forgiveness and reconciliation between a father and son. The novel follows Isaac, the son, on his journey of healing through journal entries that reflect on his childhood. As he writes, Isaac unravels the realization that things with his father weren’t as bad as he once believed. Through this process, he gains a deeper understanding of both his family and himself. This novel serves as a sequel to Don't Cry for Me, where Jacob, the father, writes letters to Isaac, confessing his faults and seeking forgiveness.

Isaac's Song is a beautifully crafted and heart-wrenching continuation of their story—a perfect follow-up to its predecessor.

I listened to the audiobook version, and the narrator did an exceptional job. His voice was a perfect match for Isaac, delivering the right emotional depth when needed. The narration flowed seamlessly, enhancing the overall experience.

Overall, I found this book to be deeply thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable. I highly recommend it to readers who appreciate historical fiction that delves into themes of family dynamics, race, sexual identity, and generational trauma. Thank you to Harlequin Audio for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I was so apprehensive about reading this follow-up to Don’t Cry for Me that I let it sit on my shelf for 2 months. The book I have googled about every few months consistently as not to miss any news of a release date. I loved Don’t Cry for Me and couldn’t bare the thought that I may not feel the same about this follow-up.
Although I love this installment of this family’s tale it pales in comparison to the original. It still gets five stars from me. It felt like it took forever to get to the letters but once we did the story steamed ahead at a break neck pace. A man talking about the shame associated with an affair blew me away and have me questioning whether Cis men ever think that way at all. The novel writhing the novel coming full circle was masterful! We got a mini masterclass on the writing process specifically pertaining to writing characters. Whereas the characters and the consciousness dictate the story and not the writer! I’ve heard other novelist allude to this but never quite so clearly. That will stay with me. I love how his father’s writing ultimately lead to him finally writing and connected him more to the father he couldn’t connect to in life. Isaac’s song is a love letter to men, to love, to men striving to get back to each other, to paternal love, to non sexual affection.

Wow. This book stirred my very soul. It took me on a deep journey alongside Daniel as he navigated processing his life story after the death of his father. The descriptions were so beautiful and vivid I felt immersed in his world. I don’t k ow if this was written as a memoir or if it’s truly fiction because it feels so absolutely real. I cannot imagine it being written by someone who hasn’t experienced that level of harm and heartbreak. The book was often sad and at times downright heartbreaking. But the times of joy and healing were that much sweeter when they came. I was moved to tears more than once which is quite a rarity for me. I sped through this book even with its very heavy themes because the humor and wit interjected was comic relief in all the right places. I can’t recommend this book enough. It should be required reading honestly as non Black and non LGBTQ++ individuals cannot fathom the obstacles faced by so many. The obstacles many of us cause in the first place. Please read this one.

It was such a pleasure to have been given this audiobook in exchange for my honest review by NetGalley and Harlequin Audio. Thank you for such a treasure and my apologies for the review taking longer than I hoped—I ended up hospitalized with an infection that delayed my reading.

Oh, Daniel Black. Your way with words and wisdom are the true gems of this novel. I get that you titled this Isaac's Song, but I started to have better emotions and feelings for his father than I did in the first book. Isaac is able to see the error of his own ways and the way he often discredited his father for not realizing "who he wanted to be" when he was younger. It saddened me to know that Isaac had to suffer because of toxic masculinity, a misinformed society, bullies, and religious doctrines. Isaac definitely had the world against him in nearly every way he turned. Nonetheless, Black gives us a story we can chew and marinate on. By the end, like Isaac, the reader will determine if they find a place to forgive and let go of the pain or better yet maybe consider the family dynamics in their own lives.

I was able to read this on audio format and it was such a good read. Good narrators and voices to help make these characters. I'd definitely read anything else Black writes because he gets the historical fiction, Black boys, and Southern wisdom so very easily. I love his writing style.

A young queer black man finds his voice in 1980’s Chicago.

The perfect book to be reading at any time of year! We should always be supporting our black authors and LGBTQ+ community.

Isaac is going back through his childhood with his therapist and his therapist recommended he write a book about it. So this book was like a fictional memoir that will leave your heart aching. Going through his life as a gay black man who only wanted his dad to love him for him. To feel like he could be himself without worry or question

He figured out how to not only understand and accept his sexual orientation, but he grew to understand his culture and learning that white American society is not the standard

Stories within stories told by Isaac with the context being about slavery. The struggle of black men. A black male ballad. Giving a voice to those who have always been silenced. The story Isaac was writing within this book was even better than the book itself. This book is heartbreaking yet so powerful. It’s a must read!

TL;DR: This started out so promising, but quickly became repetitive. While the prose was beautiful and the story and themes were fascinating, the story as a whole felt like a lot of telling and very textbook - literally parts felt like I was reading a 'condensed history of X' textbook.

Woof. This started out so promising. SO promising. I loved the premise of healing from flawed parents who just did their best. I loved the idea of therapy as a premise for storytelling (although this particular therapy as a medium for storytelling was hit and miss for me), and I loved the themes of race, class, sexuality, and intersectionality. As someone who likes to write, and would love to be an author, I did enjoy the narratives and musing on writing, although <spoiler>I would have rather read the actual book about the two enslaved brothers, and not read about the book's premise</spoiler>.

The first half of this really worked for me, and I really enjoyed the dynamics between the parents and Isaac and the childhood realizations as an adult. Parts of it seemed wildly far-fetched, but I could roll with it because the identity exploration was delightful. Then, halfway through the book, it got super textbook-like. Let me be clear, I really enjoyed the plot points, but I felt like it was written in a 'condensed history' style. I did not enjoy that nearly as much - especially because the musings on historical and current (for the setting) events seemed at odds with Isaac's character?

Let me explain that further. Isaac doesn't really *have* much of a character. He felt more like a vehicle for ranting, and some of his thoughts didn't make sense to me in relation to the person Isaac was set up to me. And many of the things he talks about felt random and disjointed. I think the author really wanted to talk about them because they're important, but it felt random. In fact, one specific scene had me almost DNF this at about 70%: <spoiler>Trevor as Isaac's lover being explained so bluntly and quickly (a loooot of telling, no showing) and then ending with Trevor dying and Isaac being like 'I won't reminisce about how I felt about this'. Duuuuude.... please tell me. Like please. Put some plot in this book. Please. Please please please.</spoiler>.

The plot felt meandering and odd, and Isaac's wandering character did not seem super realistic to me. At times, it felt like his narrative was checking boxes. Again, the prose was beautiful and I am really looking forward to reading more that Daniel Black writes. I think he's an incredibly talented author (please write the story of Jesse and Matthew. Please. Like the whole story?), but this just did not work for me. It might work for you if you want an exploration story with a lot of history and intersectionality, or if you just want to dive into lovely metaphors and writing. But if you need plot and relevant scenes of actions that further the narrator's ideas? This might not be the right choice.