Beautiful - YA that doesn't condescend to the reader - and is a smart, moving and clever book that addresses queer love in a way that manages to be both adult and yet appropriate for the YA audience

Thanks to James L. Sutter and @netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of Darkhearts to review.

This young romance novel revolves around David, a former member of a band who missed his chance at fame when he quit. He's been living an ordinary life in Seattle while his former friends, Chance and Eli, became popular teen pop stars when their band shot to fame. However, when Eli tragically dies, David and Chance are brought back into each other's lives. David must grapple with his mixed feelings for Chance, as they try to rekindle their friendship amidst old wounds and a budding romantic connection.

While they navigate their complicated relationship, David sees an opportunity to rejoin the band and gain the celebrity status he desires. However, Chance is wary of people using him for personal gain, including the boy who's won his heart. The story explores the tension between their personal and professional lives, as well as the question of whether David's pursuit of fame is more important than his relationship with Chance.

Darkhearts is an incredibly cute read. The budding relationship between our two main characters is a very enjoyable ride, and the pair are genuinely likeable together. I did find myself rooting for them throughout, even through the basically non-existent conflict surrounding them. I did have to remind myself that these are two teenage boys as they do act like such. They're a bit self-centred, they don't communicate, and I did have to remind myself that I, too, was a teenager once.

I especially loved the less-than-stereotypical twist regarding the reformation of the band. I won't mention what I was expecting to avoid spoilers, but the epilogue in particular really did warm my heart.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cute romance read and look forward to reading more from this author! It's a solid 4/5 from me.

I liked Darkhearts by James L Sutter.
It was a good read but one of my issues with it that made me give the book 3 stars instead of 4 was I was not a fan of the main character, David.
He was was just really unlikeable and that made me struggle a bit with reading.

I did like everything else in the book and it was well written and I would still recommend this book especially if you are a fan of queer YA books.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.