Songs About Red - Book Review

Rating: 5/5

I am a cynic when it comes to love. I hate romance novels. I cannot stand them. I hate the soppy idealized concept of love within them. Love isnt perfect. Love is too often manifested to be this "magical feeling" shown through loud words and big gestures. To me, it is the little things that make you fall in love and that is exactly what this book is about.

The tagline for this book explains how the characters "prove how loud unspoken love can be and how the quiet ones can be the bravest". I cannot praise this book enough and it is so frustrating how unknown Songs About Red is because it deserves so much more recognition. So if you take anything from this review, please go and buy this book because it is such a beautiful and heartfelt novel about first love.

Songs About Red follows Kyle and Amber, who are quiet and pretty average 17 year olds. Kyle is a musician; he plays guitar and he sneaks out most evenings to play gigs in the bar downtown. Amber is the quiet red-head who loves to write. They meet by chance of fate at a diner and their relationship blossoms as they write songs together.

I adored the writing in this book and some of the lines are perfectly crafted. I am going to quote my favourite lines from the book which is an extract from a poem Amber has written, it is just so beautiful and I just had to share it!

STARS
You said,
"You are not doomed to a star
Not when there are brighter stars
In other galaxies."

And I believed but I knew
I was doomed to you because
You weren't just a star
You are a galaxy.

I loved the characters of Kyle and Amber. I felt so emotionally involved within their lives. For me, very few writers are able to make me feel so connected to the characters yet when I first read it I just wanted both of them to be happy. Their entire relationship is so beautifully crafted and it was nice to see a fictional relationship looking into how they first met and the growth there was over the years within their relationship. Even though they are 17, this book is not restricted to young adult fiction. It just tells the tale behind first love and finding yourself in a cruel and difficult world.

I will confess I hated the idea of romance until I came across this book. It completely changed my view of romance books - mainly because it tells such a deeper story which also discusses important factors in life and the concept of change. This is possibly one of my favourite books and I have been wanting to write about it for a while but after re-reading it. I feel even more contempt in the fact I love this book to pieces.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK, YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT AND IT WILL MAKE YOUR HEART MELT BECAUSE OF THE BEAUTIFUL PASSAGES OF WRITING AND ADORABLE SCENES OF 'FIRST LOVE'.