Nettie Delaney is the daughter of a star ballerina, however her mum has recently died and she's due to audition at Duke's Performing Arts school, the same one her mum attended. But then a bizarre technical glitch on the day throws her off and she flunks her audition.

Miraculously she manages to get in but Nettie has lost her voice and must rediscover it before she's kicked out of school. All under the watchful eye of headmistress Mrs Duke herself who was a friend of her mother, and whilst trying to avoid her cruel ballet teacher who was apparently an enemy, creating a new mystery for Nettie about her mother's past, something she never spoke about.

This was an easy super cute read. I can't say personally how accurate it was to the real life performing arts school experience but it read well although content warning for disordered eating which is depressingly predictable for this sort of setting.

I loved the characters but I was disappointed that we didn't get the story about Nettie's mum although apparently there is a sequel so hopefully that covers it.

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.

Do you like the Step-Up movies? Well your in for a treat. I loved this book, whilst it had elements of that finding your talent or where you fit in, with the storytelling there was so much more to it. Characters had depth, they cared for each other and there was also the classic rivalry to who is best in the academy.

I loved the added mystery as well, you wanted to know who the secret singer who could get …. out of her shell and the true person her mum would want her to be as well. I really loved her group of friends, they are the ones that supporters you through thick and thin and doesn’t ask to many questions.

Vanessa Jones has created a smash hit, pardon the pun. I loved how contagious her writing is and I really wanted to watch loads of musicals, sing them loud and be inspired by making your mark in life, there is obstacles in life but there will be something or someone that will help you get through it.

I’m going to preface this review with a few trigger warnings, which I don’t normally do but probably should try to do more of. SING (Like No One’s Listening) contains the aftermath of parental death, bullying, one instance of physical abuse and potential eating disorders. Now perhaps seeing as it’s a book about a prestigious performing arts academy I should have foreseen at least the latter of my warnings but I didn’t and given my history with a friend who nearly died from anorexia after her ballet teacher told her she was too big to make it professionally, the ballet teacher saying some quite vile things to Nettie, including about her weight hit me hard and I had to put the book down for a while and come back to it.

Nettie’s mum dies suddenly from cancer, moving from diagnosis to death in only a few weeks. Following her mother’s passing Nettie is forced to live with her grandmother, a woman she barely knowns and insists on being referred to as Auntie. There’s only one thing Nettie wants to do and that’s to secure herself a place at Duke’s, a prestigious performing arts college. There’s only one problem, on the day of her audition she loses her voice, she simply cannot sing, the words won’t come out. By some miracle she makes it into the college and the book follows her through her first year as she tries to find her voice.

Considering the amount of time that passes over the course of the book the plot moves on fairly rapidly, with key points of the year being covered, despite the pace at which the book moves at no point did I feel short changed or that I would have liked more time to be spent on a section. I really enjoyed seeing the day to day life within the school, plus the build up to some of their major events.

There’s a great variety of characters introduced in the book, with both students and teachers to meet. Nettie or Antoinette Sylvie Moira Delaney-Richardson to give her her full name, is the central character and what a wonderful central character she makes in my opinion. She wants to succeed and do her mother proud, she’s aware of the dancing legacy her mother has left, the expectations people have as soon as they hear her name, and she knows that’s not where her talents lie. Instead her talents lie firmly with music, throughout the book, even when she can’t sing it’s clear she’s got what it takes to be a talented song writer. But most importantly for me, and the reason I connected with her, is that she is kind. No matter what is thrown at her she remains supportive of her friends, and stands up for herself. Even when her friends are rejoicing at something going wrong for one of the girls who bullies her, she can’t bring herself to enjoy it, she still feels bad for her.

Fletch, who wouldn’t want a guy like Fletch in their lives? He’s cute and talented. He also has his own experience of grief that lets him connect with Nettie in a unique way. I’m definitely fond of him but there are still moments where I would have liked to have given him a gentle shake

Kiki, Alec and Leon become Nettie’s support system and I enjoyed them all. Kiki was the hardest of the three characters for me to read, because of my personal history, and at points I did worry for her, I was very pleased she had a friend like Nettie constantly reminding her how beautiful she is. Alec is one of the characters who probably comes closest to being a stereotype, as the gay ballet dancer, that said he’s out, he’s proud and yes he’s a little risqué and says things he probably shouldn’t get away with but his heart is in the right place, plus the little bit of backstory we get about his time at school makes it that bit harder not to love him. Then we have Leon who is the one in this group that I felt we saw the least, we get a little of his family life though and I’d love to delve a little deeper into that but there’s a time and a place and this story wasn’t it.

Jade and Natasha – they’re definitely stereotypical mean girls. They take a dislike to Nettie because she doesn’t immediately bow to their word as senior students and stands up for themselves. I wish I could say some of what they do is unbelievable, and it is in one sense, but having known a girl decide to crack an egg into my friend’s backpack just because she could, it’s not unrealistic. Would part of me like some deep backstory to explain why the pair of them are the way they are, absolutely, but the fact is some people are just not nice… and I feel that’s the case here…

The last character I’m going to talk about is Millicent Moore, the ballet teacher. She is without doubt the character I found the most problematic. I don’t think she’s necessarily an unrealistic character but I certainly struggled to read the hatred that she showed Nettie. It’s becomes clear within the story that there is a history between her and Nettie’s mum but we never get to discover what it is. To be honest whatever may have happened in the past cannot excuse her actions in the book, I’m not sure there’s anyway she can be redeemed in my eyes…

Finally I was very lucky to receive this book from the publishers on NetGalley but there were some issues with the formatting. A couple of paragraphs seemed to be in the wrong order, so the narrative took a strange jump in a couple of places, fortunately it was only a page or so out so not too difficult to work out the correct order. The book also contains text messages between some of the characters and for some reason the eARC contained be black squares with some text around but it wasn’t the easiest to work out who was saying what, and there were a couple of messages where I felt like part of the message may have been missing. I feel it’s only fair to mention that as I think it may have slightly affected my overall enjoyment of the book.


Final Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed SING (Like No One’s Listening). Yes some of the characters are probably a little cliched but that doesn’t mean they’re not authentic at the same time. I would argue Vanessa is far better placed to judge that that I. I really grew to like Nettie and although the plot wrapped up nicely I still didn’t feel quite done with Nettie’s story, I definitely still have some questions about her mother’s past so I was very pleased to discover a short extract from a sequel hiding after the last chapter. I’ll be sure to get my hands on DANCE (Like No One’s Watching) once it’s released.

I am such a big Musical Theatre fan and this was such brilliant escapism into that world - like Fame for London, and peppered with so many MT references, who could ask for anything more.

I couldn’t get into this novel. I felt it was slow and ultimately did not finish it.
Having read a good chunk of the book, I wasn’t enjoying Netties character or the setting, and I felt the writing style was rushed. It was very much telling rather than showing what was happening.

A book based in the world of the West End? And a cute contemporary romance? Yes please!!!

This book immediately called to my musical loving heart, and I found myself clicking 'Request' straight away, completely unprepared for what I was letting myself in for. Fancy a cheeky synopsis? Here ya go!

Since her mother died, Nettie Delaney hasn’t been able to sing a note. This wouldn’t be a problem if she wasn’t now attending Dukes, the most prestigious performing arts college in the country, with her superstar mother’s shadow hanging over her. Nettie has her work cut out for her and everyone is watching.

But one night, in an empty studio after college, Nettie finds herself suddenly singing, as someone behind the curtain accompanies her on the piano. Maybe all is not lost for Nettie. Maybe she can find her voice again and survive her first year at Dukes. But can she do it before she gets thrown out?

A novel about dreaming a dream, finding and raising your voice, and not throwing away your shot!



This contemporary was a great mix of Mean Girls meets The Upside of Unrequited and oh boy did I enjoy it!
I'm a sucker for a contemporary, and an even bigger sucker for musicals, so this was almost always going to call to me. And it's such a unique setting and concept that of course I fell in love with it.

Nettie is struggling to cope after her mother's death. It's been a year, but things haven't gotten better (and I'm really not surprised) but the last thing she expects is to freeze up during the most important audition of her life. And when she gets in, it's a complete and utter shock...
Because Nettie wants to sing, but suddenly she can't. And that doesn't bode well for a West End Theatre Academy...
Until she hears a musician playing in a practice room, the other side of the curtain/divider, and it's like her muteness has disappeared.

I adored Nettie.  She's bullied, disregarded, and struggling to cope, but she carries on trying, and I loved that about her. Determined to make a name for herself, and not to rely on the fame her mother's name brings, she befriends the oddest people, and falls head over heels for the typical boy-next-door, but still holds her own. I felt like she could walk off the page and we'd be friends instantly. And I kind of wanted her to.
Her struggles are completely understandable, and the boy drama was low-key and the right amount. I was dreading something like the things I've seen before, where the guy is cute and almost date-worthy, but a complete arse, aware of his good looks and magnetism. Instead Fletch is flawed, and completely and utterly swoon-worthy, without being over the top. 

Of course, we had the stereotypical gay best friend (seen in almost every teen chick flick film made in the 1990s and early 2000s) alongside the typical 'I'm "fat" and you better believe me, even though I'm a size 6' girls as well. And who could forget the "stay away from my man, or my tanned, tall, drop-dead gorgeous bestie will come for you" nemesis? But I loved it! Because although they're the things we expect in every chick flick, in every teenage drama school, the complete contrast between characters made this so much more enjoyable.

My only real flaw with it was that it seemed to speed by so quickly. At the start of the book Nettie's only at the audition stage, but by the end, maybe 300 pages later, the school year is over. Seasons almost get skipped through, or at least that was how I took it, and I wanted more time with the characters, watching them progress. I'm hoping there is a sequel in the future, because I want more of their story, and more of the drama!

Nettie has only ever wanted to perform. Her mother was a famous dancer, but Nettie is drawn to singing and musical theatre. Until a mistake on the day of her audition to the prestigious Duke's Academy means she loses her singing voice. Nettie is amazed when she gets in anyway, chalking it up to her legacy status, but her joy turns to horror when she realises they expect her to regain her voice immediately. Fighting a teacher who hates her, a student who's jealous and the expectations of the entire faculty, can Nettie rise above and Sing?

This was an enjoyable story set in the business of show. I was a little surprised when Nettie met basically all the important characters on the first day, complete with two Crash Into Hellos, but maybe things really do move that quickly in show business. And I know this is a personal thing, but I wouldn't be friends for long with anyone who called me Dear Girl all the time, no matter how often he signed me in when I was late.

But Nettie is not me, and she makes the best of her time at Duke's. The story has some good ups and downs and a couple of nice twists. I'll be looking forward to reading the sequel to see what happens next.


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