I loved this story so much! I was not expecting as much depth as it delivered and I'm pleasantly surprised. Some of it felt a bit far fetched but aside from that I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you for giving me a peek!

Haunting and lyrical, this novel feels like a dark fairytale unraveling in slow motion. Seddon’s writing lingers long after you finish the last page.

Not a fan of this book. I should've seen it coming since I wasn't in love with Malibu Rising, though in my opinion that book was much better than this one. The writing style is certainly captivating, and I kept turning the pages. However, as the story went on, I grew to dislike the MCs more and more. I couldn't find a single likeable thing about either of them. I felt as though there were jumps in the storytelling and I didn't understand the character arcs of both girls. With no music industry background, I've no clue if that aspect of the story is authentic, but I don't doubt that the story is rooted in reality.

The blurb claims that the story is about friendship, yet I found none. There is no point while reading when I sensed any platonic love between Eva and Alora. I was so much more interested in side characters who appear very briefly, like Ade (Eva's boyfriend), Julia (Alora's mother), and Katerina (Eva's sister). The story is definitely more plot driven than character driven, so if that's not something you enjoy, this one mightn't be for you. I personally saw part of the ending coming and wasn't surprised in the least, but it didn't satisfy or sit right with me.

Darkening Song focuses on the friendship between a young manager and her teenage musical discovery amid the whirl of fame. Eva, fresh into the music industry, takes a bold leap when she attempts to guide 16-year-old Alora into superstardom. It’s a gritty look at ambition, trauma, friendship, and betrayal in an industry that can be as glamorous as it is corrosive.

Alora is 16 when Eva finds her recorded reel on Gramzee, a social media platform that sounds like a blend of Instagram, TikTok and music owned by Tusk (a thinly veiled poke at Musk). At the time she views the reel, Eva is an intern at a music label and is determined to make a career of it. Through a combination of chutzpah and persistence on Eva’s part and risk taking and a wing and a prayer, Eva becomes Alora’s manager and the two rocket to stardom.

Darkening Song is the story of how these two women’s lives are torn apart by the voracious music industry.

I found Darkening Song incredibly readable. The chapters moving back and forth from Eva to Alora were easy to follow, and while so much was wild, it also felt totally possible.

This novel touches on a lot of tough subjects including sexual consent, alcoholism and drug addiction, eating disorders, and grief. It’s a bit tragic, which is what you’d expect from a 16-year-old whose fame is built on creating the genre of “misery pop” (so clever!) because she is so depressed. Overall though, I really enjoyed it.

Highly recommended. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite quotes:
“Don’t know how to love myself So how could he love me?”

“Some of the female guests were wearing so much makeup that they looked like cadavers in the morgue, heavily spray-painted and ready for their own funerals.”

“‘There’s always a power dynamic in any relationship, to a degree. Money, age, socio-economic status. But those guys knew they had something on me or at least they should’ve known. Like I said, consent’s a complicated concept.’”

“And I wonder what I’m supposed to do with all this unrequited feeling. Pack it away in a box maybe, hope that someone else comes along one day who’ll take it off my hands, make sure I never prioritise work over love again.”

Eva, a lowly intern is looking for her big break in the music business. Inspired by her edgy older sister, Eva falls in love with the world of music. Growing up lonely and not having many friends, Eva seeks success in her new industry. One day, Eva discovers Alora Storm-Jones - a teenage songstress. Eva ends up managing Alora’s career, which instantly blows up. The book details love, loss, addiction, fame, and friendship.

I wish we saw some more redemption in the Eva/Alora dynamics but overall enjoyed.

This is a story about the going ons in the music industry. Alora is an aspiring singer with a talent that can potentially bring in big dollars. Evan an intern at a recording label who see the talent and wants to help Alora succeed in the business and by taking her underwear wing and managing her they should both succeed. But Alora also has a past and often what we saw isn't the full picture of how things are.
It's a good story about friendship, trauma, loss, mental illness and life under the magnifying glass. Shared in alternating voices as well as past and present it flows well. Many will enjoy the journey these two young women experience together.

Thank you NetGalley and Saturday books for the advanced E-book in exchange for my honest review.

First of all I want to thank the publisher for allowing me to read the arc of this book. I had never read anything by Delphine Seddon before but after this experience I was really impressed and I cannot wait to read more of her work.

Tropes:
Fame and Fortune
Trauma and Recovery
Complicated Relationships
Industry Exploitation
Rise and Fall
Redemption

The story follows Eva and Alora, two young women who are suddenly thrown into the ruthless world of the music industry. Eva, an intern at a record label, discovers Alora online and decides to take care of her career even though she has no experience. Alora is a talented girl with a traumatic past who is quickly thrown into the spotlight. The plot explores their friendship and collaboration, their rise to success and the difficulties that come with it, including abuse, betrayal and impossible choices. The ending leaves you breathless and very curious to see how they will survive the price of fame.

Eva is determined, protective and willing to take risks without holding back. Her growth from intern to manager is believable and full of nuances. Sometimes she is obsessive, sometimes gentle, but always guided by the desire to protect Alora. She is a realistic character with weaknesses and fears but her strength is very clear.

Alora is a pure talent with a voice and presence that capture everyone’s attention. Behind her skill there is a difficult past and mental health issues that affect every choice she makes. Her story is never simplified. Trauma and fame are connected and the story shows how they can become both creative fuel and personal obstacles.

Eva and Alora have a complex and intense bond. At first it is a simple friendship and collaboration, then it becomes more complicated. Protection, dependence, betrayal and loyalty alternate continuously. It is a dynamic that keeps the reader engaged and shows how friendship can save or destroy depending on the choices made.

Delphine Seddon writes in a direct but evocative way. She makes the music industry feel alive with realistic scenes and believable dialogues. Her writing balances intense moments and slower ones, building tension without weighing the story down. The emotional complexity of the characters is the main strength. Nothing is simple and nothing is predictable. Some parts may seem a bit descriptive but they add depth to the context and to the characters.

“Darkening Song” is an intense and engaging book with strong female characters, a believable central relationship and a realistic depiction of the music industry. It stays in your mind even after finishing it and makes you want to read more from the author. I recommend it to anyone looking for complex romance, deep friendships and stories of personal growth under pressure.

A story of two teens trying to navigate the world of fame, fortune, drugs, sex, and alcohol. A life style neither are prepared to deal with. Not to mention the complicated relationships with experienced adults out to abuse and take advantage of them. The situations and characters response seems to reflect our society today.. I found I could not stop reading this- had to know what was going to happen next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of Darkening Song by Delphine Seddon. Emotional story of young talent navigating childhood trauma while rocking to stardom.

Well, that was fucking beautiful and everything, but i'm not sure i'm happy about the experience - which...i'm certainly not supposed to be, but that isn't the point.

What a ride! This novel is a vibrant story about ambition, identity, and chasing your bliss.

At just 18, Eva is working as an intern at a record label when she stumbles across a video of Alora singing online. Convinced she has discovered the next big star, Eva throws herself into making Alora famous. The pace is fast and the stakes rise as the chapters alternate between Eva’s transformation and Alora’s spiral into rehab.

The result is a book that practically begs to be adapted for the screen. In fact, it has already been optioned. Fans of Daisy Jones will not want to miss this one.
#stmartinspress #darkeningsong #delphineseddon

Not the book I expected when I started reading this gem. Two young women lives come together and they reach the pinnacle of success and fly to close to the sun. I won't say more and give away the ending, but I was dismayed that the ending was fully laid out for one and murky for the other. Excellent writing, character development and story line.

Eva is interning at a record label when she comes across Alora online, a 16-year-old singer with a haunting voice and vibe. Despite Eva’s best efforts, the record label won’t give her the time of day to pitch new talent, so she offers to represent Alora as her manager. Eva has no experience managing artists, let alone working in the music industry, but the two become fast friends on Alora’s rise to stardom. As they become more successful, the line between friend and manager becomes blurry, leading to a betrayal.

At surface level, Darkening Song ticked a lot of boxes for me. The premise sounds a little out there, but I know someone who became an agent after realizing they weren’t destined for success as a player in their industry. I thought the story would focus more on Eva learning the ropes of being a manager and offer some insider perspective on the music industry. Unfortunately, this just wasn’t a book for me because those aspects were almost nonexistent.

It can be tough to get music stories right — I find that they tend to focus too much on setting the scene with big name musicians, extravagant settings, and stereotyped characters. They also tend to revolve around addiction, which makes them feel the same.

Darkening Song relied heavily on these tropes, and telling rather than showing. The book opens with its crescendo, so we know where we’re headed. But because it was formulaic, the story felt like one I’ve heard before.

It also had a snarky tone, and that doesn’t work for me. I felt like I was told how to feel about each character, rather than being trusted to come to my own conclusions.

I love a music story, alas this one didn’t feel fresh. I listened to the songs on SoundCloud though, and they were very catchy.

***Will post to Goodreads closer to pub date on February 2nd.

Darkening Song pulled me in right away. I loved the dynamic between Eva and Alora. The behind-the-scenes look at fame and the music industry felt both glamorous and gritty, and the writing kept me hooked.

This is a hit in my book! Young people chasing their dreams and finding themselves along the way are among the topics that Seddon excels at in this title. The writing is propulsive and captivating. I found myself staying up late to see how everything would play out. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Intense storyline. Very deep and thought-provoking. It takes you on an inside ride through the music industry.
Eva and Alora are the two strongest female leads in a book that I have ever read. Her selfish parents undoubtedly tarnished Alora's childhood, and every choice she makes in life reflects this.
Superb writing. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book. It will appeal to fans of contemporary fiction.
Thank you to the publisher and the author for the gifted advanced reader copy.

What an amazing book. I loved Alora and was rooting for her from the start. Having to go through all she did just for her music is sad. I’m sure this reflects someone’s story unfortunately. I loved Eva as well. She did the best she could with what she knew. Vanessa was a great addition to this story for sure. I would highly recommend this book.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press - Saturday Books for this advanced reader copy. This is my honest review of this book.

I enjoyed this one! I've never heard of this author but would definitely read more from her. If you enjoy a fast paced thriller with twists and turns you'll enjoy this.

Darkening Song strikes like a chord progression you didn’t know you needed to hear—Delphine Seddon has crafted something that resonates with the raw authenticity of a late-night recording session, all exposed nerves and unfiltered emotion. This is contemporary fiction that doesn’t merely observe the music industry; it dissects it with surgical precision, revealing the machinery that grinds up young women and spits out commodified dreams. Seddon writes with the kind of insider knowledge that feels both intimate and devastating, as if she’s pulled back the velvet curtain on an industry that trades in manufactured authenticity.

The relationship between Eva and Alora forms the novel’s emotional core, and Seddon renders their bond with such complexity that you find yourself holding your breath whenever they share a scene. These aren’t the sanitized friendship dynamics of typical industry fiction—this is friendship as survival mechanism, as creative partnership, as the kind of codependency that can either save you or destroy you. Eva’s transformation from intern to manager feels earned rather than convenient, driven by a fierce protectiveness that borders on obsession. Seddon understands that in an industry built on exploitation, sometimes the only way to protect someone is to become their shield, even when that shield begins to feel more like a cage.

Alora emerges as a character of remarkable depth, her talent inseparable from her trauma in ways that feel heartbreakingly authentic. Seddon doesn’t romanticize the tortured artist trope but instead examines how mental health struggles become both fuel for creativity and obstacles to genuine connection. The way she handles Alora’s dark past is particularly masterful—never exploitative, never using trauma as mere plot device, but showing how the past lives in the body, in the voice, in the spaces between notes. The mental health representation here feels lived-in and honest, acknowledging both the reality of struggle and the possibility of healing without offering easy answers or miracle cures.

The music industry setting becomes more than mere backdrop; it transforms into a character itself, pulsing with its own predatory rhythm. Seddon captures the intoxicating rush of sudden fame—the way flash bulbs can feel like falling stars, the way applause becomes a drug more potent than any substance. But she also shows the machinery behind the magic: the executives who see dollar signs where others see souls, the way young women’s bodies become billboards for other people’s visions, the psychological toll of living as a public persona rather than a private person. The authenticity of these industry details suggests either extensive research or personal experience, and either way, it lends the narrative a credibility that makes every betrayal feel more devastating, every small victory more precious.

Where Darkening Song truly excels is in its unflinching examination of how women navigate spaces designed to consume them. This isn’t feminism as afterthought or trendy addition—it’s woven into the very fabric of the story, examining how young women’s ambitions are simultaneously celebrated and weaponized against them. Seddon shows how the industry’s treatment of female artists reflects broader societal attitudes about women’s worth, their right to take up space, their permission to be complicated and difficult and human. The feminist critique emerges naturally from the characters’ experiences rather than being imposed from without, making it all the more powerful.

The exploration of friendship under extreme pressure forms another of the novel’s great strengths. Seddon understands that true friendship is tested not in quiet moments but in the crucible of success, failure, and the gray areas between. The way Eva and Alora’s relationship evolves—sometimes growing stronger under pressure, sometimes fracturing under the weight of unspoken resentments—feels authentically messy and human. There are moments of genuine betrayal here, but Seddon is wise enough to show how betrayal often stems from desperation rather than malice, from the impossible choices that arise when survival and loyalty come into conflict.

The novel’s pacing mirrors the rhythm of a well-constructed album, building tension through quieter character moments before exploding into dramatic crescendos that leave you breathless. Seddon has a gift for finding the emotional truth in even the most heightened situations—a skill that serves her well when dealing with the inherent melodrama of the music industry. She never lets the glamour overwhelm the humanity, never allows the spectacle to overshadow the intimate moments that give the story its emotional weight.

The theme of redemption runs through the narrative like a bass line, steady and grounding even when everything else threatens to spiral into chaos. But this isn’t redemption as neat resolution—it’s redemption as ongoing process, as the daily choice to be better than your worst impulses, to fight for the relationships that matter even when they’re difficult. Seddon shows how dreams can indeed come true in unexpected ways, but she’s honest about the cost of those dreams, the sacrifices required, the way success can sometimes feel indistinguishable from failure.

The writing itself deserves particular praise—Seddon has developed a voice that’s both lyrical and grounded, capable of soaring when describing musical transcendence and equally adept at capturing the mundane brutalities of industry politics. Her dialogue crackles with authenticity, each character speaking with their own distinct rhythm and vocabulary. The sensory details are particularly effective; you can almost hear the studio sessions, feel the heat of stage lights, taste the champagne at industry parties that mask bitter pills of compromise.

What elevates Darkening Song beyond typical industry fiction is Seddon’s commitment to emotional honesty. She doesn’t offer easy villains or simple solutions but instead presents a world where good people make terrible choices, where systems of oppression are maintained by individuals who genuinely believe they’re helping. The moral complexity never becomes moral relativism—there are still clear rights and wrongs—but Seddon understands that real change requires acknowledging the humanity of everyone involved, even those who perpetuate harmful systems.

For readers who like:
-Complex explorations of female friendship
-Contemporary fiction
-Stories about the price of artistic success and the meaning of authentic creativity

Final Verdict
Darkening Song is a triumph of contemporary fiction that manages to be both deeply personal and broadly relevant, offering insights into the music industry that extend far beyond entertainment into questions of power, gender, and the cost of dreams. Delphine Seddon has written something rare—a novel that entertains while it educates, that breaks your heart while it opens your eyes. This is the kind of book that will have you questioning your own relationship to celebrity culture, your own complicity in systems that exploit young women’s talents and vulnerabilities. It’s fierce, honest, and ultimately hopeful in the way that only the most unflinching examinations of difficult truths can be.

Grateful to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Delphine Seddon for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.