If I could give this book 10 stars I wouldn’t hesitate.
Comparing it to ‘tomorrow and tomorrow’, ‘One Day’ or ‘Daisy Jones’ is frankly reductive. And Percy, the star of the story, would be annoyed. This is a book about love and passion which isn’t always smooth or compatible. It’s about obsession, jealously and above all music. Funny, intense and profound, it will make me listen to music differently. I loved it, to me this was a perfect book.

Percy is not an easy narrator, she’s young, neurotic and obnoxious and I like her all the more for these flaws. I like that she’s ballsy and not kooky. Joe is young and insecure with too much talent. They love each other. They hate each other. They are the person you can never quite get over.

Epic love is heartbreaking and world building, but love and passion aren’t always about a person and I think that’s what Holly Brickley explores so beautifully. The love story is a threesome between Joe, Percy and music. The writing is acerbic and clever and wonderful. A commentary on the early noughties told through music, who doesn’t have a song that takes them back? We read books, we view art but we experience music with our whole bodies. I feel like I lived this story. It’s bold and brave, there’s a section of the book describing something so uncomfortable when it shows us how we are and not how we want to be portrayed and that’s exactly true.

I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait for more. I hope there isn’t a sequel because it’s perfect as it is. Thank you for this. Thank you #harpercollins and #netgalley for my #arc

I’m sure there will be an audience for this book just as I’m sure I’m not it. I found it one dimensional and the central character of Percy irritating, self-absorbed and juvenile. I quite liked the musical references and the memories they conjured up but found the technical aspects of songwriting uninteresting. There’s more than an echo of David Nicholls One Day but without the defined story arc or any sense of direction it’s a pale imitation. Not my cup of tea.

Apologies, but I was unable to read this book. I only managed a few pages and realised it was just not the book for me.

This was an incredible read, I was so immersed in Percy's world and really loved her journey to discovering what she really wanted out of life.

A Music Lovers Dream! I loved every single second!

In Deep Cuts we follow Percy, a music lover from a small town, as she navigates her friendships and relationships throughout the early 2000’s.
Percy meets Joe, an extremely talented musician, and she soon realises Joe is destined to be a star. Joe notices Percy’s love for music and asks for her opinion on a song he is written and from this, a relationship centred around Joes music is born.

I can’t even begin to describe how much I enjoyed this book. As a music lover, I was hooked straight away and once I found the Spotify playlist to accompany the book too, I genuinely don’t think I have enjoyed a reading experience more.

Truly a music lovers dream!


I can’t wait to recommend and buy this for all of my fellow music fanatic friends and I will be thinking about this book for a long time

Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Colin’s and Holly Brockley for this arc

This is truly an INCREDIBLE book! It's so captivating, engaging and unlike anything I've read before.

If Lily King's Writers & Lovers, Daisy Jones & The Six and Normal People had a child, this would be it!

Deep Cuts follows Percy Marks and the ups and downs of her life as a music lover and writer, as well as her relationship (in its many different forms) with Joe, a musician she meets when they're both studying at Berkley, in 2000. Their connection felt like a mix between Marianne and Connel's and Daisy and Billy's - raw, inevitable and, at times, toxic. Their relationship - a mix of friendship and romantic love - was magnetic and messy, and I just wanted more and more of it.

I adored the way the author talks about music. I didn't know most of the songs mentioned in the book, but I was still able to really connect with the commentary about them during the novel and felt like all of them meshed so well with Percy's journey. I would definitely recommend reading this book while listening to the novel's playlist, as every chapter is the name of a song, and they sometimes even matched how long it took me to read each given chapter, which was just perfect. Holly Brickley's writing felt incredibly immersive, and I just didn't want to leave that world.

I don't usually reread books, but Deep Cuts begs to be experienced once more, so I am so happy I was also able to get the audiobook version of the novel through NetGalley. The fact that this is a debut is just astonishing; it means I'll have to read anything Holly Brickley writes from now on.

If you love stories about music, messy relationships and journeys of self-discovery like I do, then this one is for you! I'll be raving about this book any chance I get!

Thank you so much to Borough Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC and the ALC!

I really enjoyed this! I am big lover of music and really enjoyed the references to various bands etc in the book. I loved the complex relationship between Percy & Joe, and enjoyed that it was set over a long time period.

Zoe was my favourite character and I loved her relationship with Percy too!

I think anyone that enjoyed Daisy Jones & the Six would enjoy this. I also found the way that the story was told over time, with the main characters coming together at various points in their lives quite similar to the pacing of One Day.

What’s so stunning about Deep Cuts is how it explores that bittersweet truth: sometimes, to love someone fully, you have to let them go. The emotional depth and complexity of this story is impossible to ignore, and the writing? It’s as smooth as a pop song, but with the emotional pull of a ballad that’ll leave you breathless.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7191518452

I really enjoyed this. It's relatively slight but a very believable love story. The protagonist, Percy, is an interesting, fully rounded character with a tendency to analyse life through the medium of pop/rock songs. The only slight downside was its tendency to read like an academic essay in places, as Percy takes a particular song apart and explains it. That's not to say that these sections of the book aren't interesting and impressive - they are - and someone with more knowledge of music than me might really love them. It's just that to me they felt more like a thesis than a novel!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I was really hoping to love this as it seemed like the perfect literary read for music lovers... and I enjoyed it. I had seen SO many people compare it to daisy jones and the six and despite the ensemble of messy, endearing and painfully raw characters and their, of course, infatuation with music... it was naturally VERY different.

there was so much of this story that I adored: the push and pull between the two protagonists and their inevitable heartbreaks and coming back togethers, the messiness, the setting etc. but what I didn't adore as much: the MILLION pop culture musical references every other sentence. at times, many of them landed and allowed for an incredibly realistic atmosphere. but due to the quantity of them, it absolutely took me out of the story slightly.

I appreciated this for what it was and can see MANY people falling in love with it.

Just want to start by saying that I honestly think that listening to the playlist on Spotify would have made all the difference to my experience, unfortunately I don’t have Spotify and didn’t find out about the playlist until after I had finished the book.
This is the perfect love story for music lovers, I enjoyed it but I don’t think I was able to fully appreciate it. There are so many music references that underpin the entire experience, especially Percy’s writing, and it just wasn’t for me.
Apart from that I liked the play between the characters, their truth and their growth as people worked really well. I was rooting for them, and it was agonising at times as they kept losing their rhythm.

This is an absolute banger of a debut novel from Holly Brickley. It's a love story set to music. I absolutely loved it and have reccomended it to all of my book club friends.

So to start, a personal preference.

I hate it when books feature fake songs.
I hate it when characters sing them.
I hate the lyrics in a book.

I always always skim over them and find it cringey.

So it says a lot that this book, ostensibly about song-writing, is a 5 star from me.

I absolutely loved this. I think it helps when a book is set in the early 00s which was when I was a teen and goes into the early 2010s when I was in my early 20s as it’s such a nostalgic time for me.

Percy felt so real and I loved how she wasn’t perfect. She was annoying, pedantic, condescending. I loved how well-rounded she was.

I loved her relationship with Joe and even more so with Zoe. I loved how this was about the love of a friend, not just a partner.

I love a book which progresses through time - this starts in 2000 and travels to a recognisable almost-modern-day.

This is going to be huge and I can’t wait to see its success.

5 stars.

I feel like I've been waiting to read this book for the last 20 years! As a uni student during the Brit Pop years I LOVED all the nostalgic references, I LOVED all the in depth music conversation (and strong opinions!), I LOVED the ever-changing relationships between Percy, Joe, Zoe and all the others who entered and left their lives through the years, and most of all I LOVED how it showed how music can be one of the most defining influences in our lives, loves and relationships. Occasionally the pace felt a little off, sometimes too lethargic, sometimes racing too fast but that is just the smallest of niggles as there is so much heart woven throughout that more than made up for it. Surely this is going to be one of THE books of 2025 and someone has been smart enough to have bought the rights to make this into an amazing, ensemble cast, 5 star movie!

Wow a great book and new musical loves too

I really enjoyed this book by Holly Brickley. It’s tells a story of two young people Joan and Percy who in whilst they are in college bond with their love of similar music. They write a song together and Joe goes on to become a famous musician using that song as a springboard for his career . Percy uses her musical interest to springboard a career in music journalism.
We meet the two through various time periods and their on off will they won’t they? Relationship forms the backbone of the story.
Both the main characters and the selection of cameo characters are beautifully described and seem real people you’re quickly invested in their relationships.

From the start you need your Spotify open as you will need to listen to the music from the book
I’d never heard of the band Neuutral milk hotel before but I rather loved them The Shins magic fields neutral milk hotel eel thank you so much for introducing me to these artists

Whilst , I was reading a novel I posted on social media Open I’m reading Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley the novel I dare you to read without your music streaming service open as you listen to the songs from the novel I’ve only just started and I’ve discovered new songs and rediscovered old favourites .ohh this is such fun
The only problem is I can’t listen to music and read at the same time so this book may take a while “
It’s not often that I feel the need to post before I finished a novel but this novel was one of them. I knew I found a little gem and I know this book is going to be very popular.
The author has a clear concise easily read post style making the book and easy immersive read
It is bound to be compared to Daisy Jones and the six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published on the 13th of March 2025 by Harper Collins UK Harper fiction.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com.

After publication the book the review will also appear on Amazon UK

Between getting this on NetGalley and actually reading it, I had heard so much about this book! Set between California and New York in the 2000s, it follows Percy, obsessed with music, and her connection with up-and-coming indie musician Joe. I both liked and didn't like this as much as I was expecting: I wanted more from the romance, and all the musings on what songs meant to the characters occasionally left me cold. But I've never really enjoyed analysis of music: even though writing is my favourite thing, I've never found it an adequate medium to truly describe how music makes us feel, and I experienced the same thing with this book.

But Deep Cuts was so readable, a perfect train book. My favourite thing was the evocation of early 2000s Brooklyn and Berkeley; all the little details made the time period feel so so vivid and authentic, without being a pastiche. I really liked the songwriting discussions and how much their deep love of music made Percy and Joe's bond shine. I'm much more well-versed in British indie bands than American ones, but the musical references were great – I can't wait to listen to all the songs mentioned!

Deep Cuts is an incredibly beautifully crafted book. It touches on creativity,, authenticity, innovation, passion, love, collaboration and obsession. Written is with such honesty, electricity and intensity it is an irresistible read. The reading hours passed and the time was not noticeable, What stands out is how timeless this story is and how relevant it is today.. This debut novel is a masterpiece. Joe is a star. Percy can bring out the very best in him and shape his music into something very special. How will they work with the tensions and dilemmas in their relationship?

You don't have to be a music geek to love this book (although it probably helps). The characters, the interactions, theprose - this book just works on so many levels.

Firstly, I’d like to extend my gratitude to HarperCollins UK and HarperFiction for granting me access to this ARC. The writing itself was exceptional, showcasing a talented author. However, I struggled to connect with the characters, which hindered my overall experience. The premise of young love intertwined with music, presenting an almost perfect romance with a soulmate and a satisfying ending, is undoubtedly appealing and could be exactly what many readers are searching for. Despite this, I found the pacing a bit too slow for my taste. This is simply my personal opinion and doesn’t imply that others wouldn’t enjoy it. I rated it a 4 because the writing was truly remarkable, and the storytelling was well-crafted. Yet, I felt the characters fell short of being the strongest aspect of the book.

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.