Found this all a bit too far-fetched from the beginning, and the story veered too far on unbelievable rather than enjoyable for me.

This was ok. I got Gossip Girl vibes from the offset. I heard a lot of great things, but it just didn't click with me. I didn't like the main character, so I wasn't rooting for her and that ruined the experience.

I don't think that this was really the book for me.

With a few contemporary books coming out recently with similar themes, I feel that A Secret Beat had a lot of strong competition and for me it just didn't really stand up.

I went into this book hoping for a fun contemporary about fandom and the music industry. Sadly, I didn't get off to the best start with it, and things didn't improve for me until the last quarter of the book. Also, I didn't realise when I requested this, or before I started reading, but this is the second book in a series. I believe the books are more companions than direct sequels, and I've seen people say that it can be read as a standalone, but I wish I had known before.

My biggest issue with this book was the trouble I had connecting to Alexia as a main character. While I understood her ambition and dreams were motivating her, I found that her disregard for her privilege grated on me. She throws away so many opportunities without appreciation for the fact that so many people would never have them. In fact she openly complains about all the support and opportunities that her parents offer her, and stops talking to them because they aren't on board with her doing unpaid internship abroad. It made it difficult for me to relate to her. She is also incredibly naive, I found myself wincing at so many things she did throughout the book. She is the queen of bad choices, and while some of them are because she is naive and spoiled, others are pretty selfish and inconsiderate. The worst part is that she is virtually unchallenged for most of the book. I just found her incredibly frustrating, and found myself disliking her more and more as I read on, and I'm not usually the sort of person who dislikes characters completely.

Greta on the other hand was a little easier for me to connect to, she's less assertive, and is most confident online, where she secretly leads a second life as a fangirl. But she also has less page time, the focus is often on Alexia, which is a shame really, because Greta could have been a really interesting character, given more time and development. I would have also loved to have spent more time with Greta's Granny (who is amazing), and explored their relationship a bit more.

It wasn't all bad, the writing style was easy to get on with, I found some of the story interesting, and I did like to see Greta's interactions with the celebrities she worked with. What redeemed this book a little bit for me was the ending. The last quarter really deals with consequences, and the impact that Alexia's actions had on the people around her. It  feels as if she might have learnt something, and was at least a somewhat satisfying conclusion to an otherwise frustrating read.

Overall, I wanted to like this book, but while it was gripping, and a relatively quick read, I just didn't find it enjoyable. I had trouble connecting to the characters, and often found them frustrating. I wish I had more positive things to say about this book, but I just don't. I'm not saying that you shouldn't read this book, or that it's bad, it just wasn't right for me, and I have to be honest about that.

"Granny parted the crowd like a boat cutting through water. 'COMING THROUGH!' she boomed, as the young fans hastily made way for this doddery old lady who was heaving and puffing like she might keel over and die at any moment. She winked at Greta, who knew that this was a tried and tested trick."

The kind of unassuming humour above is one of the best features of A Secret Beat. Combined with Rebecca Denton's career experience in media, the result is an entertaining venture into the music industry that doubles up as an emotionally resonant coming-of-age tale.

In brief, this is a book about friendship, staying true to yourself and doing the right thing. Despite the strength of the relationship between Alexia and Greta, Denton doesn't need to spend much time writing in sappy declarations of the protagonists' feelings. Their connection is apparent in between the lines, through hectic weeks of work filming on set and managing the talent. Maybe a little more focus could have been placed on developing their friendship--the plot skips quite quickly--but what's given is more than enough to appreciate its complexities.

It has to be acknowledged that Alexia can be extremely unlikeable. At times, it beggars belief that readers should still sympathise with the rich, entitled white girl who grew up on daddy's money as she complains about the hardships of her life. In certain scenes, her behaviour had me close to chucking the book out the nearest window. (Figuratively, as I don't hate my Kindle that much.) I wouldn't say that Alexia ever fully redeems herself within the timespan of the novel, as people don't change instantaneously, but she does impressively take responsibility for her mistakes and seek to become better. That's what ultimately makes her somebody we can root for.

Greta, on the other hand, begins as a bit of an enigma. You don't know if she's supposed to be charming or uncomfortable, but once you get to know her well, she's impossible not to like. Greta doesn't beat out her granny though, who's hands down the awesomest character of the bunch.

Then there's the matter of A Secret Beat being flat out funny. Greta's effusive, bubbly personality is contagious, and Alexia's snarky disenchantment has its own perks. Add in a few well-timed mishaps and a bucketload of chemistry, and the wit flies off the page. This is a comedy, after all--regardless of how grim things seem, the HEA makes it all worthwhile.

The electric cast of supporting characters jumps to life in admirable realism. Alongside Greta's legendary granny, there's Mr Coleman, Alexia's landlord, Karen, head of Bright Star Productions's factual team, and many others whose little quirks and moments of personality make everything better. In fact, with its mild awkwardness and maturing of its main characters, the whole story feels like it could take place in real life. That can't be said of the majority of YA novels, even purportedly realistic contemporaries.

For readers like myself who are unfamiliar with the behind-the-scenes of music and media, Bright Star Productions will additionally be a fascinating foray into the fast-paced, oftentimes dirty world behind the glitz and glamour. A Secret Beat feels true to its characters when it balances a refusal to pan the entire industry with a willingness to expose its dirty bits. London, with its cosmopolitan outlook and colourful culture, is naturally the perfect location for this venture into showbiz.

There's a lot going on in A Secret Beat, from the lighthearted banter to the much heavier realisations about ethics, independence and friendship. Recommended to anyone who wants a fun novel infused with pop culture and music that also incorporates a great deal of relevant YA/NA themes.

This brief review appears on Goodreads. My book blog is currently on hiatus due to finals, so when I'm able to get it up and running again, I might cross-post this; however, as it's a negative review, I probably won't as I prefer to post positive reviews there!
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I actually really didn't like this very much, which is a shame, because I'd heard good things and it only has positive reviews so far. But it just didn't work for me. In part, that's because I didn't click with the writing style, but mostly it's that I strongly disliked Alexia as a character, never felt anything vaguely resembling sympathy for her, and actually didn't *want* her situation to work out because she didn't deserve it.

Alexia is... well, she's spoiled, frankly. She's had every opportunity handed to her, she's flown to London and found herself a flat and a job in media at the age of eighteen, and while she's finally facing some real-life consequences for the first time because she has no idea how to live on a budget or behave like an actual human being with empathy, you never get the impression that these will have a particularly meaningful impact on her as a person. Especially as she still seems to get away with everything -- and though she does some fairly unpleasant things, everybody seems ready to forgive her.

There were a few wry jokes about how privileged she was and how it was her upbringing that made it possible for her to live this kind of lifestyle, but those didn't really make up for how jarring it was to hear a character complain about her immensely wealthy lifestyle. At one point she states that she's learned not to complain about it because it makes people dislike her -- not because, you know, she doesn't have anything to complain about. I also just wasn't a fan of how she blames her mother's mental illness for her own behaviour and effectively accuses her mother of not being there for her when she clearly had problems of her own; something about it felt off.

In her own book, Greta would probably have been annoying; she managed to be endearing solely by comparison to Alexia, who made everyone else look stunningly sympathetic, but on the whole... nah. None of them were characters I could root for. And I'm usually way too attached to all characters too, so this level of apathy/downright dislike is unusual for me.