Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Morgan Parker's fictionalised account of her teen years as an emo-loving, clinically depressed Black teenager really does something special in less than 300 pages. It expertly weaves together the interconnected issues of Blackness and mental illness - Morgan's issues are exacerbated by her feeling like an outsider in her almost-all-white Christian high school, but also feels the pressure of 'not being Black enough'.

This book was weirdly evocative for me. Although I'm white, like Morgan I was a depressed emo fifteen-year-old attending a Christian school in 2008. If you were too, you might also find it almost uncomfortably relatable (remember classroom 'debates' over basic human rights, when you'd have to defend your own identity against the devil's advocates and edgelords? I'd just about blocked those out before this book brought them back in torturous detail.)

I also really loved all the musical references in this book. If you like books that basically come with their own playlist, this is one for you.

My main gripe with this book was that I wanted more from it, somehow. The ending felt a little tacked on to a book that is largely plotless, and smaller plotlines just didn't really go anywhere. But then I suppose there is no easy ending to issues like Morgan's. In that sense I appreciated the author's note at the end, that things really did improve, eventually, for the real Morgan.

All in all, read this if you're interested in the intersection between mental health and race, or you were an emo teen in the mid to late 00s and need some closure.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Such a good book, the story is captivating, the characters are dynamic, and I would definitely recommend to people, I enjoyed it immensely.

I loved this - realistic, heartbreaking and inspirational. Found myself making a spotify playlist of all the songs and albums mentioned as I was reading to get myself in the emo mood (lots of my old favourites are referenced, took me right back to 2007/8!).

Highly recommended for anyone who feels they don’t fit in.

Once I got around half way into this book I was suddenly really invested in the story. However, it did take me a whole to get through the first half (worth the wait though). The overall story was very unique and I really liked the character of Morgan. It did take me until the author's note at the end to realise the story was based on the author's own experiences. Both the author and the main character do have the same name but I didn't clock that while reading the actual story. Once I got to that part and made the connection, I really enjoyed the parts where Morgan revealed where her two friends were now and how they are all still friends - something you rarely get to know in books!

Thank you for sending me the ebook to review!

This book really touched me, dealing with mental health issues it’s such a well written book and you can tell the author knows her subject matter, brutally honest and real at times, I’d find myself crying with and for Morgan, in no way an ‘easy’ read this book touches on many important issues and isn’t scared to do so. It’s a real must read book and one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Who Put This Song On? is a fictional YA contemporary that's based upon the author's own experiences, which made it quite a unique read. It follows main character Morgan who is struggling with depression and anxiety, and gave an important perspective on the different ways in which mental illnesses affect people.

Religious themes pop up a lot in this book, and it was insightful for me to see how religion affected Morgan's mental illness and fuelled her negative thoughts. It was heartbreaking to see how Morgan's depression was linked to her race due to the prejudices she faced - the ignorance of most of the characters in this book when it came to racism was just astounding. I know this book is based back in 2008, but it's unsettling to realise I can still see such ignorance present today.

Prior to this book, I hadn't read anything that talks about mental illness this way - I didn't know much about how religion and race can be a major factor when it comes to someone suffering from depression, so I'm incredibly glad I read it. This is why books about mental illness are so important (books with any representation are so important) - there is no one way that a certain disorder affects those who have it, and books like this help reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health issues.

There were certain sections of this book that felt a bit rushed through, but I understand this was to keep the story moving. I would've liked to delve into certain aspects of Morgan's life a bit more personally (such as more about her therapy sessions), but I found this wasn't an issue towards the middle and end of the book. I enjoyed the writing style - it was easy to read and flowed really well.

This book wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be, but not in a bad way. It's not an easy read because of the content, but there are important messages to be taken from it. I also wanted to mention I really appreciated the extra chapters at the end from the author - I enjoy reading acknowledgments anyway, but it was especially nice to read about the author herself since the book is based off her experiences.

Who Put This Song On? is an insightful read that explores navigating life when you're struggling with mental illness, and is appropriate for older YA audiences.

Once I got more into the story - more on the start of it later -, I liked Morgan more and more. She started feeling multidimensional and layered to me. Even though it took a while to get to that point, I really did like the character she became over time. I ended up seeing a character struggling with life and people, who was still able to function and have conversations as well. It showed that anxiety isn't one thing or another but completely depends on all kinds of small things. The most normal thing to someone else might be the trigger to a panic attack for someone with anxiety.
I don't think I ever saw anxiety represented that well in a book. Or maybe I've just been reading the wrong books? Any recommendations are more than welcome!

The entire story is set in 2008, when Obama was running for president. I actually loved seeing that woven through the story because - being Belgian - I'm really not close to all that. Seeing the impact it had on a small individual was.. meaningful? I honestly can't think of a better word to describe it.
Since the story is loosely based on the author's own life, I felt like I was able to look into the mind of someone actually living through the changes that were happening in America at that time.

If you read the triggers I mentioned at the start of this review, you'll know there is a lot - a lot - happening in this book. Though to some it might seem like too much, I didn't feel that way at all. It's a dark story, yes, but sometimes you need a darker book in order to see some light in your own life. At least that's what this book did for me. Among other things.

But.. The start of the story? Wasn't my cup of tea. I struggled because it's mentioned too often how Morgan has depression. It made her seem like a flat character at first. Like I said, that changed after a while but I struggled reading at first because of it. To be clear: I don't mean to sound bitchy in saying her depression was mentioned too often. It's just that I want to feel her depression more than read about her having one - if you know what I mean?

Another small - and maybe to some stupid - thing I got annoyed by is how Morgan constantly says to be emo, says one of her friends is a wanna-be emo / a poser and.. I just cannot. Friends of mine were part of that scene once and there are so many different layers to being emo. It felt wrong how Morgan wanted to define what it had to mean to others.

3.5 / 5

Who Put This Song On? is a dark book. It's hard to read at times and might not be for everyone. But I honestly do believe it's worth reading if you're interested in an African American girl's view on how things were when Obama was running for president, while she struggled with depression and anxiety. All the layers woven into this story make for a worthy read for sure.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to really like this book because anything with depression is usually right up my alley but I must admit that I struggled reading this. I found it hard to sympathize with Morgan and the writing could sometimes be seen as bland or 'meh'.

The music mentioned in the book wasn't for me as I may have been far too young when it was released and in that sense, I found it hard to connect with the material.

I can appreciate that this book is honest and realistic but this really wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't walk away from this novel and feel satisfied.

Additionally, I hadn't realized this was semi-autographical until the very end of the novel.

I liked this, part memoir and part novel, about a depressed teenager in southern california. I was a depressed teenage myself so lots of it rang true to me. Morgan is black, and I liked her view on the white world she found herself in. I loved her BFFs especially James and Meg. My review will go live on the below link on 24th Sept, the day or publication

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Who Put This Song On? is a memoir of the author's life, with many fictionalized aspects, according to the author's note in the back. This authenticity really shines through in the novel, as it deals with a lot of heavy topics in a very real way. Morgan felt like a very realistic and relatable main character.

The book is set around the time Obama was first elected as president, which is exactly the time I went to high school too, so this was a really fun read for me, with a lot of recognizable elements in terms of music, fashion and other pop culture references.

The way Morgan deals with her depression and anxiety were very relatable as well. However, I did think this could have been portrayed more elaborately. The book had so much to focus on that it sometimes seemed to lose track, and it felt a little all over the place at times.

It's also a book that's very much focused on topics such as racism, from daily microaggressions to police brutality, and especially on the way this impacts the daily life of one teenage girl. Morgan was a very well-rounded character, but this also meant that the other characters were pretty flat, which was a shame to me. I would have loved to see more of a development of the relationship between Morgan and her parents and brother, for instance.

All in all, this was a very good read, but one that I would have probably enjoyed more if it had been a little more structured.

Rep: black MC, black side characters, gay side character, Afro-Latinx side characters

CWs: racism, police brutality, homophobia, depression, anxiety, mentions of suicide (ideation), alcohol consumption, drug use

This is a brilliant book, which truly captures teenage depression and anxiety, I really enjoyed the semi-autobiographical lyrical writing in this book and Morgan's story. I could never understand what it feels like to be a black girl growing up in a very white, very religious suburban community. So reading this really opened my mind. This is a book for the struggling youth or those who have fought through, a really enjoyable story.

WHO PUT THIS SONG ON? is a niche book that will probably appeal to a narrow group of readers and for that reason, I’m glad Parker decided to write it. I hate to criticize too harshly a narrative nonfiction story, because, in a sense, I’m criticizing the writer so I’ll focus mostly on what I did like.

Parker immersed me in her experience as a black teen among mostly white. I could see how, from her perspective, comments from her white peers that didn’t overtly intend harm stung. I don’t think the onus should be on her to educate her white friends. I do think a one time response like, “I know you are trying to be supportive, although when you said X I felt Y. Z would have been a better statement” could go a long way. If her peers don’t think they’re doing wrong, they won’t know to correct it. I do NOT blame her, even adults have difficulty addressing issues with people in a way that doesn’t put them on the defensive while expressing a point.

Unflinchingly honest and beautifully written novel which is loosely based on the authors on diary entries. Tackles mental health and having a different skin color to your peers head on, tackling themes which are very relevant to teens today.

This novel is a must read.