Early Reaction to BEA Title #2... This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

"'I see you as Elise, DJ extraordinaire," she said, settling a big pair of sunglasses on her nose. "So buy the rhinestone pumps."

This Song Will Save Your Life was one of those cases where I had no idea what to expect (DJing + suicide? *scratches head*) but was completely—and I do mean completely, utterly—taken by surprise, in the best way possible of course. I was on author lines during BEA with my head bent over, shoulders hunched in an unmistakable picture of anti-social behavior, my body language screaming “I don’t wish to be disturbed!” because I was unreservedly, deeply engrossed. It’s the way Leila Sales pulls you in, so honest and unpretentious, nudging you into the trap of Elise’s bleak, hopeless state, until you’re caught firmly and her feelings of loneliness and despair consume you until you can’t see or feel anything but her, and her deep desire for someone to matter, to have friends, to be accepted, to feel right in the world when everyone’s made her feel wrong, out of place.

You think it's so easy to change yourself.
You think it's so easy, but it's not.
What do you think it takes to reinvent yourself as an all-new person, a person who makes sense, who belongs? Do you change your clothes, your hair, your face? Go on, then. Do it. Pierce your ears, trim your bangs, buy a new purse. They will see past that, see you, the girl who is still too scared, still too smart for her own good, still a beat behind, still--always, wrong. Change all you want; you can't change that.
Because I tried.

God, I get completely worked up emotionally. I feel tears pushing just thinking about her at the beginning of this book. That feeling of being left out, never having anyone, constantly being overlooked is no stranger to me, and while I do feel like this book resonates deeper, stronger if you’ve ever been in her shoes (some of her thoughts were like echoes from my high school self, which isn't that distant), I don’t think that’s the only way to feel this story. Something about Elise’s heartbreaking disappointment over the life she’s leading, and the people she doesn’t have in it, speaks more to me than many of the other tragic emotional plights I’ve read.

Elise has always been around music, but she’s never experienced it the way she does whilst on her nighttime ventures to an out-of-the-way dance club, called by its mystery and its promise. It’s a whole other world, surreal and vibrant, and getting caught up with the music, getting to know the DJ behind the booth and experiencing firsthand what it takes to create an exclusive world built upon layers of music brings something to life in her. Her first attempt puts you in a place where you’re looking down at all those bodies moving ecstatically to the beats working through what Elise has made for them and you’re happy, proud even. It gives her purpose, motivation, friends, everything she’s ever wanted and that’s the most beautiful thing about this book overall. Because it’s in that moment when the essence of the title becomes stunningly clear, washes over you, until you’re completely swamped with emotion on Elise’s behalf.

I remember when I went up to get this one signed, at Mandee’s urging (thank you!), the publicist, after I’d explained I’d never read anything from Leila but was enamored with her after her part in the panels at Teen Author Carnival, said it’s like Leila Sales in a book. And the woman is hilarious but I remember thinking ‘who is she really?’ After This Song, I get it. With Elise’s wry, self-deprecating narration, and her story that chronicles her heart-breaking, restorative journey to a self that's never been more true, a life she can lead that she can finally accept, I understand her publicist entirely.

This Song Will Save Your Life is an unassuming gem that I’m terrified people will overlook, a contemporary book with an odd synopsis that leaves you with only the tiniest hint of what is really undertaken in this book. It’s real and powerful, filled with characters I adore, and a resounding note of faith, hope, and love experienced most deeply by the end. This is a story I never want to let go of.

Hardcover / 288 pgs / Sept 17th 2013 / FSG Macmillan / Goodreads / $17.99

I picked this one up at Leila's signing during Book Expo America.

10 Things I Love About These BEA Titles

It's quite obvious that one such as myself would not be able to resist reading some of the highly anticipated titles I got during BEA. In fact, one could assume that I've scarcely read ANYTHING ELSE of late. And it just so happens the three I've read so far have landed (not necessarily equally) on my favorites list of this year, but because I'm a good little blogger I won't be doing full reviews until marginally closer to their respective release dates.

That doesn't mean I won't torture you with hints as to my reactions to each of them.



I know, I know, what an evil bastard I've turned out to be.


1. Leila Sales has given me one of my soul books. If I could be
ANYONE in the real world, it's been decided that I want to be Elise Dembowski, who knows a little something about pain and loneliness
and what that feels like when you're in high school and just how hopeless you can feel. And then rises up into something great, all because she follows an unexpected dream.

2. THIS SCENE: "People in the daytime see Vicky Blanchet, English major, or Vicky Blanchet, fat girl. And they're not wrong, but they're still somehow overlooking me. Is this silly? Does this make sense?"
"It's not silly," I told Vicky. And I suddenly wanted to tell her more, wanted to tell her how Amelia Kindl saw me as a crazy girl whose life needed saving, how Ms. Wu saw me as a student in trouble, how Lizzie Reardon saw me as an endless source of amusement, and how I saw myself as so much more, so much brighter. But I didn't even know how to begin, among these used cowboy boots and vintage ball gowns, how to lay out years of my life for Vicky in a way that would make sense. I didn't want to tell her how Amelia or Ms. Wu or Lizzie or anyone else saw me, because I didn't want Vicky to start agreeing with them.
So all I said was, "I see you as Vicky Blanchet, rock star."
"And I see you as Elise, DJ extraordinaire," she said, settling a big pair of sunglasses on her nose. "So buy the rhinestone pumps."

3. This isn't your typical contemporary book. Yes, the issues are big. Yes, there may or may not be a boy. But because it's about so much more than that, I love it more than your average contemporary. This is daytime magic, this is Leila Sales wrapped up in a book. It's beautiful.


4. There are muggles, ya'll. In this book, there are magical people who sometimes live in the nonmagical world, and they view nonmages in a very Harry Potter-esque manner, with a certain amount of disdain and unexplainable envy. There are also pockets of our world (though this not our century) that have magical aspects which connect both worlds. The world-building is just so super fly, you guys, I'M UNABLE TO EVEN.

5. One of my favorite plot lines is used, and USED MAGNIFICENTLY. The main character, "the chosen one," must masquerade as a boy in an all boys school. And she's so damn good at it, with her cockiness and boyish bantering, she not only fits right in but she's charming and it's almost like she develops this whole other self so you're digging two characters at once.

6. There is something ABOUT the relationship between Prince Titus and Iolanthe that takes the whole Hate Turned Love But We're Still Friends thing and makes it so delicious. Because, yeah, they like each other, but more than that they're companions, trusted ones and unable to go on very long without the other, and then there's the fact that Thomas is dangling that ULTIMATE declaration in our faces and pulling it away every time we reach for it.

7.There's a Prince Gaius in this book. #MERLIN. ALSO: #Fangirling.


8. Now, as a contemporary book with really close ties to actual life, my soul book is THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE. BUT. There is no one I would rather be more than Celaena Sardothien in my other life, the one that only exists in my brain. There is much controversy on this series in that people either really love it or hate it. I DON'T UNDERSTAND how anyone could do the latter. For me, it's as if Maas has literally taken components of my soul and put them in a series, so that I recognize SO MANY THINGS I like to read about. I mean, COME ON, there are freaking quickies in the broom closet. BROOM CLOSET. I thought only I could be so sly and dirty and I LOVE THAT I WAS WRONG. Oh, so deliciously wrong.

9.Celaena makes the absolute TOP of my favorite female characters list. Now for those of you who don't like this series, you're like WHAAAA? But here's why I will never understand you. This girl is more than just an empowered female, a teenage assassin with a mysterious past. She is the female version of Sage, a little of Loki and Daemon Black, and Sherlock and Kirk and Iron Man... CHRISTMAS, SHE MIGHT AS WELL BE DAMON SALVATORE! THIS WOMAN IS EVERY MAN I'VE LOVED that has proven to be arrogant, self-absorbed, confident, brash, crude, and BADTOTHEASS. Within her are so many familiar faces, and yet she's all of her own, and of her own making.

10. Focusing a little more on CROWN OF MIDNIGHT, things are much much darker. From rolling heads to bloodied carcases of good friends. The death count is so high in this one, and I LOVE IT. In a non-creepy feeds-on-death kind of way, just that this darkness brings out the savagery that people have forgotten Celaena possesses.. and she's only too happy to remind them once they bring her to the point of no return. This series would be kind of like if Zelda were an assassin with less of a sweet nature. Oh, there are so many exciting possibilities for the next and final book and man, I'm almost willing to buy a cheesecake. A whole one. Just for me, because I'm elated and miserable. Miserable because the wait is now FOREVER.

And now that I've tortured you long enough, which book are you most excited for?