Princess Fuzzypants here; All Harmony wants to do is write music. Somehow, through the machinations of her family and her music teacher, she finds herself on New Voices, a talent show that gives up and coming artists their big break. Never expecting to make it through the first round, Harmony is amazed each time she goes on to the next round. In the end she and her rival are the two to beat. A trip to Mallorca in between the semi final and the final turns her world upside down.

Things change dramatically and she learns some tough lessons but she also gets the inspiration to write “the” song she knew she had within her. She discovers at the final that another song she wrote also has “legs’ but that realization almost scuppers her. She learns that not everything is on the up and up and that power and influence can be bought. But talent, talent lives on regardless of whatever else gets in the way. The end is uplifting and I longed to learn what happened next in Harmony’s life.

A lot of fun for anyone with a soft spot for Scotland or fond memories of the middle 1970s in Britain. Guilty as charged. Five purrs and two paws up.

The summer of 1976 I was 22 so this book really intrigued me since its about Harmony McVeigh a 17 year old songwriter. She enters a competition and her song is on the rise. There is a lot going on in the story plot which at times was a little too much for me. The characters are good. Thanks #Netgalley and #BooksGoSocial for the eARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are mine.

In the summer of 1976, 17 yo music student Harmony McVeigh dreams of being a songwriter, like Barry Gibb or Bernie Taupin. While her music teacher enters her into the tv competition Young Faces, Harmony enters a song into a songwriting competition. With her song gaining interest, and the pressure of the television show, Harmony's world is turned upside down.

There was a lot going on in this book - the central plot of the Young Faces competition; her crush on her music teacher; the seedy underside of the music industry; the summer heatwave; Mallorca; and a thousand names of people Harmony meets on her way. Oh, and Chopin. There was a lot about Chopin, too.

I really wanted to like this one, as I do like a good vintage music story, but unfortunately I found this one a bit too all over the place for my tastes. It read like excerpts from a diary, and I struggled to connect with the characters. It didn't feel like a mystery or a romance, and there just seemed to be too many different threads and incidental tangents for me to concentrate on the story.

Wasn't for me, but I do hope other readers enjoy it more.

~Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ~

historical-fiction, historical-research, history-and-culture, 1970s, novella, coming-of-age, self-identity, romantic, mystery, shyness, developing-talent, new-series, Scotland, teenager***

Shy teenager Harmony McVeigh lives on the Scottish Isle of Cumbrae and is somewhat overwhelmed at placing in the semi-final of the national TV talent show in 1976. She skips away to Mallorca with friends and finds that she has more talent than she believed. Good characters.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from BooksGoSocial via NetGalley. Thanks.
#PerfectHarmony #NetGalley #IBPA @newbooksplease #BooksGoSocial

Exams, applications for college and crazy TV competitions. Harmony is doing a singing competition before it was a thing. This was the summer of 1976.

Harmony is also in love with a few boys, fitting with seventies style, I think. Walt Whitman is one and Frédéric, her music teacher; named after Chopin is another.

At the competition Harmony does well, but Annie London does better singing a song that Harmony aka Leslie wrote and then sold.

There's an inserted mystery about the song, but no real mystery. I think this would be a good coming of age novel if the author removed the mystery from it and perhaps changed the decade, however this is the author's favorite decade.

The coming of age plot meanders along nicely, Ms Doyle does move smoothly through the summer and through the various people in the novel.

The only real problem I see is a disconnect between young adults today and the seventies.

Good story, I enjoyed it, I rate this book 3 stars, mainly because the decade is jarring as is dropping Walt Whitman in.

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy.

Kinda meh. Nothing outrageously wrong with it, I just struggled to maintain interest in the plot or characters. I am very pick about the teenagers I like in books, and Harmony is not one of the ones I like. I found her irritating and naive. I also just felt that the plot moved slowly and it was hard to care much about what was happening. Someone younger might enjoy this book, but I didn't and skimmed most of it just to get through.

Not sure who the target audience is for this book, but as an adult and a librarian I would classify this as good for middle school or high school readers. Even though it is set in the 1970s the whole premise is definitely more suited to a younger reader.

Sadly, I wasn’t much of a fan of this book. It was a little too slow for me which made most of it boring. I came close to DNF but I decided to push through in hopes it would get better. I didn’t really get a sense of mystery or romance like it was promised.

I would still encourage others to try this book out and see if maybe they will like it especially people that are more musically inclined

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

This is a fun summer read, set during the 1976 heatwave. The story is told by Leslie 'Harmony' McVeigh, who was 17 at the time but the perspective suggests she is looking back on it. She is trying to get into a songwriting career and is on a TV talent contest, where her rival is Annie London, whose punk-style music is different to Harmony's. The action moves from the Scottish island of Cumbrae to Mallorca as the competition heats up. The story is categorised as a mystery but I didn't feel there was much mystery at all. Moreover, I struggled to understand what the narrative pull of the story was. I felt that the plot should have been stronger and that more detail could have been included. The writing style could have been improved also. I liked the discussion of Chopin although this sat a bit awkwardly with the pop music theme, I'm sure the book will be enjoyed by other readers but I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to.