This book may sound like a normal contemporary, but wow it deals with so much more. This took me on an emotional rollercoaster of both anger and joy. Beck is our protagonist, ruled by a controlling and abusive mum (this is where my anger comes in), he is forced to follow in her footsteps and play the piano professionally. Beck’s family struggle to get by, financially and emotionally. He is a troubled guy and he’s living a very different life to most boys at his age, isolated and controlled, he doesn’t have the freedom to enjoy his younger years. Immediately we have a main character that we care so much about, we can see his daily unhappiness and we want him to be free, to smile and laugh, we want to give him one big squish and make all the bad things go away. The key selling point of this book is the characters, so let's make this review about them. 

I always care about characters that are written well, but Beck’s story was different. He meets August who is a girl unlike the rest, she wants to break his shell and make him happy, she is unusual, fun and kind and she is what the reader wants most for Beck. She represents our hope for his happiness and for him to stand up to the abuse in his life. Ultimately August is the contrast of happiness to Beck’s misery; her parents are loving and kind, she is surrounded by her choices and she revels in her lifestyle. I’m so desperate for August to break Beck down and for him to let her in, I need Beck to be helped. 

I don’t think I’ve ever hated a character as much as I hate Beck’s mum, the Maestro. She is the most hideous parental figure I have read about, she easily tops the Dursley’s and Matilda’s parents on the hate scale. I cannot stand the way she treats her children, I am desperate for the smol humans to be loved and cuddled and fed. But they are forever trapped in this hellish nightmare. Well done Cait for making me despise this woman so much! I kept thinking maybe there was a chance of The Maestro's redemption, but then she kept being such a cow that no, that woman will never see a smile from me! Her title rather than the name mum already evokes fear in me, she is someone in control, some distinguished and respected - but she is not, she has expected to be given respect, not to earn it, this is her downfall. 

The plot for this book is very simple at its base - an unhappy boy in an unhappy household wants a normal life, he wants to smile and be free and be loved by more than just his sister, Joey. This simplicity captivated me, I lived for this book for the three days it took me to read it. The writing is beautiful and fun and feels like I'm reading a book written by a friend. If you don't know, the author is other wise known as PaperFury on her blog and social media, so her writting is already well known within the community. I loved diving into a whole book of Cait's, she my inspiration as a writer, she merges delirious happiness with terrifying sadness - not an easy thing to do and do well. 

Days after finishing this book I find myself making up the rest of Beck's story, I am desperate to know what happens to him after the book ends. Not every book stays with me after I finish reading it, but this one certainly has. I urge you to pick up a copy of this book once it is published, it truly is superb!

This was such a beautifully emotional book! It was so well written. I connected with it straight away! I’m so blown away with this and think everyone should read it! A full review will go up on my blog soon!

This was a very quick read for me, its a pretty slim book and I practically tore through it. There was so much emotion contained within these pages. I became quite attached to these characters very quickly. The main character, Beck, is very much a product of the abusive environment he lives in, he pushes everyone away because of the fear and insecurity his horrifying mother has beaten into him, however seeing his protective love for his little sister made me immediately root for him and desperately want his situation to improve. This book is so beautifully and powerfully written. The author has created multi-faceted characters that were burned into my mind. The running theme of music as both the tool of Beck’s oppression and his release is extremely effective. The reader does not have to understand the obsession with classical music because anyone can understand passion and extremes which is the real issue here.
This is not always a pleasant book to read. There are some truly horrible scenes and my heart absolutely broke for Beck and his sister, Joey. In some ways, it reminded me of another book I recently read which was Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. It also affected me deeply. The stories are not particularly similar but the emotion and devastation I felt whilst reading them was the same. I think A Thousand Perfect Notes is such an important read for young adults, it speaks volumes about how difficult getting out of an abusive situation can be and how friendship, or even simply kindness can change everything for someone.
Despite the intensity and sadness of the characters situation there are also moments of hope and light contained within this story. I thought the relationship between Beck and August was beautifully written. She is the tough and idealistic force of good that enters his life unexpectedly and changes everything for him but it never feels cliché or predictable. Their relationship is subtle and careful but also powerful and optimistic.
Overall I loved this novel, I did not want it to end and could have read so much more about these characters. I became very emotional reading A Thousand Perfect Notes and I cried several times during it, which is something I do not often do whilst reading. It is a powerful story that is written in a direct and sensitive manner. I will be looking forward to any further work from this new to me author. I would really recommend this book to anyone but especially young people who are struggling under any kind of pressure.

Unbelievably heart rending and terrifying. Beck's Mutter is awful, lost in grief and guilt and pain until she can't see what she's doing. Beck is so strong to stand up under all of it, even as he thinks he's weak and useless.

I was desperate for him to find a way out and terrified his uncle would be just as bad. But when it mattered, Beck found the strength he needed. I really enjoyed this. Now I need a lot of chocolate to recover.

Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in any way.

A heartbreaking story but I just couldn't find myself connecting with the material here.

Actual rating 3.5/5 stars.

Beck's violent mother stifles his daily live and his creativity. Her imposed rules of piano coming before school, friends, and happiness leads him to feel estranged from his peers and the world at large. But when Beck meets August, he is introduced to a life lead by happiness and is given the option to approach what is missing in his own life, and figure out exactly why.

It is hard to separate a book from its author and my initial interest in this stemmed from the person who penned this, rather than from the synopsis. I did also find that the synopsis somewhat ruined this book for me. I would rather have known less facts about this novel and would have probably then found the abundant sorrow in this, more deeply touching.

I also found, early on the book, that the reader is told of Beck’s fears rather than being shown them. The book opens with Beck informing the reader of his daily routine and the inner-anger he struggles against unleashing on his omnipotent mother. When we were actually introduced to her character and shown heart-wrenching examples of her wrath, it made it far harder for me to feel the desired shock and sorrow such a scene was supposed to emit. I found the story built up far too quickly and would have rather had a prolonged introduction to Beck’s character, divorced from his familial worries.

I found August’s character was my ultimate favourite aspect of this novel. I found her to be the most intriguing part of this story from her very introduction into it. Her constantly shoeless state, her ‘Save the Whales’ t-shirt and her “soliloquy on tree-frogs” made her immediately interesting. We were introduced to her character in a small series of images that worked up to slowly reveal the entire character. This honed my interest, as opposed to learning of Beck’s greatest struggles before we got to know his individual character, which at first did the opposite.

That being said, my initial hesitations were quickly forgotten as I was soon immersed in this troubling story-line. I thought the author dealt with the harrowing subject matters in an extremely thought-provoking yet sensitive light. I found the emotions I was earlier missing were soon in abundance and I was immersed in the narrative. This a tragic book, but not one without moments of tenderness and hope. I found that the dark and light moments, as well Beck's warring emotions, worked to heighten each scene and every feeling. This interplay of opposites became a factor in the power of this book's story and my ultimate, overall enjoyment of it.

Hmm. This is a strange book – all about familial abuse and music and falling in love. The author is a well-known YA book blogger, so I was intrigued to see how this book would turn out. My reaction? It’s alright. Admittedly I’d seen people raving about it already, so I had expectations – but for me it didn’t meet those expectations.

The characters were a major problem for me. A lot of them felt very flat, and I couldn’t connect to Beck at all – besides him being abused by his mother and hating the piano while being forced to play it, I felt like we didn’t know that much about him. He seemed to be totally defined by the abuse, and how he played piano out of fear. August, the love interest, was a little better, but she came off quite manic-pixie-dream-girl-ish (she’s quirky and hippy and goes barefoot and gets Beck to do things against his mother’s wishes). She is also a white girl with dreadlocks – I saw the author is aware of the cultural appropriation and will remove it from the finished copy, so there’s that at least.

But the worst character for me had to be Beck’s mother, the Maestro. She felt like a cartoon villain, her dialogue peppered with random German and Beck referring to her as “the Maestro” constantly. I get she was meant to be intimidating and more obsessed with music than anything else but it just felt over the top and kind of ridiculous.

However, A THOUSAND PERFECT NOTES was a relatively fast read (despite the heavy subject matter), and I was intrigued to see how Beck would deal with his mother and I thought the relationship between him and August was sweet. But for a book that seemed to want to be deep and poignant, it didn’t really work – the characters just didn’t click. Not my thing, unfortunately.

Beck's mother wants him to be a child prodigy on the piano, to live the life she believes she missed out on and make the family name famous. He spends his life practicing but it is never enough for the Maestro, he is never good enough. He feels like he hates the piano, even though music is his life. The only thing that keeps him going is protecting his little sister. Who knows what his mother might do to punish him if he can't make her proud. When he is paired with August for a school project, Beck tries to be cold and distant, like his mother, but August bashes through his defenses with barely any effort. Your heart breaks with feeling everything that Beck goes through and you can't help but wish for him to be strong and break the cycle before his mother causes irreparable damage to him or his sister.

A Thousand Perfect Notes is such a dark tale, where, at the beginning, there seems to be no hope. Then August enters Beck's life and shows him that there is more. And wanting more can be dangerous...

I read this book in one sitting - only a few hours. It’s the most unputdownable book I’ve read this year, full of thrills and feels, and this beautiful musical heart that mine is breaking for.

I’ll start off by saying that the plot of this book is very different to many of the contemporaries that I’ve read recently. Not in a bad way, not at all. This plot is subtle, and it’s fuelled by characters and desires and thoughts and feelings rather than events that occur to drive the story on. That means that all the characters are spectacularly and beautifully written. And I love the style in which the story is told – it has a very conversational tone that dragged me into the story from the very first page.

This book has some good family. Saying that is an interesting point as Beck deserves so much more than the mother he has, but his younger sister Joey is a delight and he is a loving older brother. I don’t think we get enough brother/sister relationships in contemporary, so this one made my heart feel all warm and soft on the inside. The only thing that keeps Beck going is protecting Joey. In contrast to Beck’s monster mother, August has an amazing family. They provided a moment of light and hope in what was otherwise a very dark moment, and that’s refreshing to read since so many books like to give all character’s family problems.

The friendship is a highlight. Beck is a grumpy cinnamon roll and August is a ray of sunshine and snark. They’re paired together for a school project, and Beck tries to be cold and distant, but August easily breaks him down and the purest friendship starts. This book has romance. A tiny bit of romance that doesn’t affect the story at all, but it’s there and it’s pure and it’s beautiful. It’s not InstaLove at all: it’s a mutual love that’s born out of one of my favourite friendships I’ve ever read in a contemporary. It was hardly noticeable but still absolutely stunning. And heartbreaking. Very heartbreaking.

I might have brushed on it briefly before, but I can’t stand when in films or books the characters are about to sit down for a meal then are suddenly like, “I gotta go.” But this book had so much food. And it was eaten. And I loved everything about it. Beck’s home diet is cereal and sandwiches, but August’s food is practically magical in comparison. It’s so refreshing to read a book that cherishes food so much – especially since I know the author is a foodie – and that I could feel myself salivating while reading the descriptions. They were delicious.

This book made me feel so much. Lots of it hurt me to the core, but the rest of it was so wonderfully real and made me welcome the pain. This is a book that makes me want to live and breathe, slightly ironic as I spent a majority of it holding my breath and just hurting for Beck,
This may only be C.G. Drew’s debut novel, but I can’t wait to see where she goes with her next book. I am already a lifelong fan.