ARC was given by NetGalley & Sweet Cherry Publishing | Clock Tower Publishing

Actual Rating: 3.5 ⭐

Content/Trigger Warnings: Overdosing, drug use, fatphobia, severe guilt, and more!


As much as I really wanted to love this book, I just couldn't love this book that way I wanted to. Maybe my expectations were too high or maybe I was expecting a big emotional impact, but I just wasn't having as good of a time reading this as I hoped. It probably also doesn't help that there's a character in this book who a massive jerk the entire time and then later on we sweep all their actions under the rug with the good ole' "Life has just been so hard lately" excuse. Which I don't know about anyone else, but for me personally, life being hard for you is no excuse to be a terrible person to others.

I will say, I did like a lot of the topics that were addressed and talked about in this book. And the pacing is really steady, easy to fly through. Plus, if you're a musical lover, I think you'll love the fact that all the songs are available of Spotify to listen to. I thought that was a fun little element to this book.

Overall, I think this book just missed the mark for me personal reading tastes. I do recommend this to those who enjoy books that deal with heavy topics and are fans of musicals. Even though this book didn't land for me, I think I still recommend this book because I do think there's a lot to love and appreciate about it.


All thoughts, feelings, experiences, and opinions are honest and my own.

The Songs You’ve Never Heard was such a heartfelt surprise. Going into it, I expected a sweet, music-infused YA contemporary—and I got that—but I also found a lot more depth than I anticipated. It’s a story about finding your voice, navigating complicated friendships, and learning that sometimes, the spotlight we crave doesn’t shine where we expect it to.

Meg, the main character, instantly pulled me in. She’s relatable in that quiet, overlooked kind of way—someone who’s been living in the background of her own life while her best friend, the dazzlingly popular singer Ariel, soaks up the attention. But what I loved was how genuine Meg’s journey felt. There’s insecurity, jealousy, loyalty, and all the messy feelings that come with growing up and realizing you want something more.

The musical element was a huge plus. I loved how the authors wove original song lyrics into the narrative—it added an emotional rhythm to the story and made Meg’s internal world feel that much more vivid. The idea that everyone has “songs” inside them—stories, talents, emotions they’ve never had the chance to share—was such a beautiful metaphor.

That said, some of the plot points felt slightly predictable, and the supporting characters didn’t always feel as fleshed out as Meg. But honestly, I didn’t mind too much. The heart of the book—Meg’s growth, her rediscovery of music, and her gentle romance—kept me fully invested.

If you love books like Daisy Jones & The Six (but in a younger, softer key), or if you’re a fan of music-themed YA stories with emotional depth, The Songs You’ve Never Heard is a quiet gem. It reminded me that sometimes the most powerful stories aren’t the loudest—they’re the ones sung softly, waiting to be heard.

I am incredibly grateful to both NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for the opportunity to read and review The Songs You've Never Heard. Being selected to explore this captivating story before its official release has been such a treat, and I can’t wait to share my thoughts on it with all of you. A huge thank you to the teams at NetGalley and Sweet Cherry Publishing for their generosity and for making this advanced reading experience possible.

Meg McCarthy seems to be everything Alana Howard is not: rich, glamourous and thanks to her famous pop star brother, a social media influencer that every brand wants to sponsor.

While Meg is feeling trapped by the squeaky clean McCarthy brand, plagued by online haters and too terrified to share her own talent with the world, songwriter Alana doesn't seem to be scared of standing out.

But when Meg and Alana's worlds collide, they learn that appearances can be deceiving.

I struggled to get into this book a little bit but once I did, I was unstoppable. I even took an extra 10 minutes after my lunch break was over at work just to finish it.

I fear that The Songs You've Never Heard has made me delusional. Towards the end it truly had me believing that this could be me. However, I am a karaoke queen at best.

I liked the story as a whole but I struggled with the constant lyrics. I understand that the book is about music but I want to hear it. It's very hard to read lyrics without being able to conjure up a melody.

With that being said, I feel like this is a book all about girl power and I am so here for it. Meg and Alana's friendship is something we all crave. I can't help but feel like there's room for a sequel...

I need to know what happens next!

I enjoyed this one a bit more than I expected and I enjoyed the music component. However, I found the main character to be a bit obnoxious and I kinda felt like it was a slow moving story

I ended liking this just a tiny bit more than I first thought I would. I didn't really like the main character, she was pretty obnoxious most of the time. And the "romance" didn't really work for me. Treating someone like shit because you like them is not cute and has never been cute. I guess I enjoyed the music part of this and Alana was pretty cool. But her relationship with Meg ran weird. Meg didn't think highly of her for a long while there but they fell into friendship really fast, becoming best friends in a second. I couldn't understand it. Also, I felt like the brother was forgiven for his bigotry and all around awfulness quite easily...
Basically, this didn't really work for me but it still had some good parts and it was a really fast read.

The Songs You've Never Heard was a cute YA novel. I've read a few YA novels that are heavily based on music, but this was the better one of the ones I've read previously. I would recommend it for teens and young adults and will be getting a physical copy for my teenager to read this year.

This was such a nice read. I really love how music played such a part in the story. As a music lover and YA lover this book warmed my heart.

This was absolutely amazing, gut wrenching and perfect. It made me happy, sad and all warm inside. I really enjoyed the online aspect of the story, it’s just very relatable for every Gen Z Person out there I think. Definitely a hidden gem

Thank you so much @netgalleyuk for my digital copy of this book.

YA is not a genre I typically go for outside of fantasy YA but this book was so cute! Very notable characters and a nice storyline.
It has made me want to delve deeper into YA as a genre.

This was a very cute YA book that I would likely recommend to other YA fans. I enjoyed the part that music played in the story and the characters’ lives. Also, I always appreciate a story about friendship.

I loved this book so much and wish I had actually gotten around to reading it so much earlier than I did.

This book follows Meg and Alana who meet each other and automatically assume each other's life is perfect, but as they get to know each other they realise that that isn’t actually the case and there’s so much more to each other than what meets the eye.

There was so much I loved about this book and once I was invested I could not put it down. One of the things I found extremely unique about this book was the fact the authors have created a whole album based on the songs in the book and it’s just so good, and I thought it was a really cool touch. I also loved the characters and how they developed such a strong friendship over the course of the book. There really was not very much romance in this book at all which was nice to see when most YA books include a decent-sized romance subplot these days, yes it was there but really not in excessive ways. Instead, the book was focused on these characters finding themselves, music and their friendship all of which I loved.

I wasn’t a massive fan of Carter for a decent chunk of the book but he did grow on me, as did Meg’s parents. It was really interesting to see a different look on the topic of being a celebrity and famous, you could see how much it affected these characters in many different ways and what went along with that well was the plus-sized rep. This rep and fan culture led into a really nice conversation (that wasn’t really nice to read, but nice in execution) on being plus-sized, having a different body type and briefly racism as well.

Overall I really loved this book and am so glad I finally read it, the YA book prize shortlist prompting me a bit. I can understand exactly why this book has been shortlisted and am so happy to see a book like this on the shortlist, it may not be wildly diverse but it is still relatable and I’m just glad to see a book with a main character like me on the shortlist. There was so much I loved about this book and I highly recommend it. 5 stars all the way.

Thank you for Netgalley and Clock Tower publishing for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loved this book!

Becky & Ellie you are amazing!

I was hooked throughout and couldn't put this book down.

Thank you for accepting my ARC request

A very cute book, the main character irritated me a little, but I think that was the biggest problem with me about this reading: the book was a little too adolescent for me. Which by far isn't a problem, it just didn't work for me. But I'm sure younger audiences will love this book.Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I was a little scared when I seen kpop and I’m always weary when my 2 interests clash but this was a cute read . Characters you enjoy and another you find annoying.

3.5/5

Thanks for the ARC

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Songs You've Never Heard was a pretty cute book to dive into. Though, I will admit that sometimes these characters just down-right annoyed me. Especially when it came to Caspar being a complete douche canoe and thinking the world revolved around him. It didn't help that his parents were sort of helping with this little diva act either. Then there's Meg, and I get that she's just annoyed her summer was ruined in order to help out her older brother. Trust me.

As for her friendship with Alana? I completely fell in love with it. These two were completely cute and I liked how she didn't use her for her older brother. Their friendship felt genuine, and they definitely bonded over their love of music. Which, sure, the internet has some trolls and people can be very harsh. I felt so mad when Alana was attacked based off of her body image and Meg was always attacked by people who were jealous based on her family.

Either way, they felt trapped in some way, and it hurt to see. Luckily, they ended up working things out and still sticking to who they truly were. Music wise and friendship wise. Eventually things ended up working out for almost everyone involved in this book. Not sure what is exactly going to happen romance wise down the road. but maybe these two will find love along with way. Whether it's Meg with Matty or with someone else. Alana definitely needs someone to lift her up and treat her way differently than her ex.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely look into the next book that Becky writes.

alana has my heart forever and ever <3

the songs you’ve never heard is about meg, who has a passion for songwriting and music but lives in the constant shadow of her older popstar brother. she meets alana while working at a yogurt shop, and they start writing and performing music together.

meg can be insufferable but, in most instances, her bitterness is justified either by her past experiences or by her family’s behavior. she does grow throughout the book and so do the other characters. her anger and negative attitude are part of the story for a reason, which is why it didn’t bother me too much (except when she was being horrible to matty. more about that below).

alana is bright and loud and exuberant. her positive energy and passion are contagious and i often found myself smiling during her scenes.

unfortunately, i couldn’t stand the romantic subplot at all. meg is literally catfishing matty. she saw his phone screen in school one day, then joined the music server he’s in and started chatting with him. she knew who he was from the start and purposely sought him out, but he had no clue who she was. they became “best friends” online over the years but the entire time, in real life, she’s a borderline bully with him (while mentally referring to him as “the love of [her] life”) and he rightfully hates her. this subplot made me so uncomfortable and i wish it had been done differently, because i really enjoyed the rest of the book.

that being said, i would like to point out that the cover of this book is, like, one of the prettiest covers ever <3

thank you to netgalley, the publishers and the authors for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 💗✨

The Songs You've Never Heard was such an engaging YA read. I loved the character dynamics and the honest depiction of what growing up famous was like. Overall, this was one of the best books I've read this year and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys high-emotion coming of age stories.

Also, I found out after I read the book that there were YouTube versions of the songs in the book so you can actually listen to what they are talking about. So cool! Definitely worth a listen if you love this book.

This was a NetGalley review.

Cute story with a fun premise, I read it in one night!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
Meg is suffocating under the pressure of her brother, Cass's fame, and her parent's attempts to keep up. Meg also has a secret. She is also a singer and songwriter, but unlike her brother, she has only shared her music with one person. This summer Meg's got to deal with Cass's return home as he attempts to write an album, her parents catering to his every whim, and her new summer job and coworker Alana.
I thought that this was a good book. I thought that the focus on Meg and how she was dealing with the pressure of unwanted fame was dealt with really well. While there were some elements of romance, they were not the main focus and did not take over the story like is common in this genre. For fans of YA and music-based stories, this would be a good book.

probably more of a me issue that i didn't love it. was just a bit juvenile for me but it was cute enough. thought it was quite wholesome and i liked that romance wasn't at the forefront of the story. had nice plus-size rep as well which i enjoyed.