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{{infoboxinfobox2
|title=This Song Will Save Your Life
|author=Leila Sales
|publisher=Macmillan Children's Books
|date=October 2013
|amazonukaznuk=<amazonuk>1447252837</amazonuk>|amazonusaznus=1447252837|cover=<amazonus>1447252837</amazonus>
|website=http://www.leilasales.com
|video=lmYeS4PykN0
|summary=This is one that really, really needs a sixth star. The best of an outstanding year for YA contemporary novels, it's an emotional, sometimes brutal, but ultimately hopeful read with an amazing voice. An absolute must read. Leila Sales popped into Bookbag Towers to [[The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Leila Sales|chat to us]].
}}
Elise is a fragile girl who's never felt like she fitted in anywhere. Shuttled between her divorced parents, she's desperate to be popular at school but can't work out how. Then a chance event leads to her DJ'ing in Start, a hot underground nightclub and her life suddenly improves dramatically - but can she really leave behind her old self, or are the bullies who make her feel like there's nothing worthwhile about her life right all along?
(On the subject of that voice; I'd bookmarked on the Kindle app particularly good lines. When reading on Kindle, I do this for perhaps one or two lines per book, five or six for a really good one. I've just checked, and this one has sixty-eight. I'd share them with you, but many are venturing too close to spoiler territory, and how do you pick just one or two out of sixty-eight?)
So, there are parts which came close to completely destroying me, and did bring me to tears in the end - possibly a first on public transport; [[The Sky Is is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson]] would have got me there but with ten minutes to go of a journey I put that one down so I could burst into tears back at home. I had three quarters of an hour left of my train ride when I could feel that I was about to cry here, and just couldn't bring myself to leave off reading for that long.
However it's also hopeful, and it does an incredible job of showing the value of true friendship, as Elise begins to meet people she does feel comfortable with, both in and out of Start. In addition to the tears at the saddest parts, there were plenty of smiles as Elise really blossomed into a happier character through her DJ'ing. Oh, and it gets bonus marks for the outstanding taste in music Sales displays through the songs used in the book.
This review was kindly given to us by the ever-generous [http://yayeahyeah.blogspot.com/ Ya Yeah Yeah]
 
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{{commenthead}}
{{comment
|name= Nigethan
|verb= said
|comment= Great review and great recommendation! I never thought a book would make me feel quite as intensely as The Sky is Everywhere did, but Elise's story is such a stunningly beautiful one filled with both incredibly sad and wonderfully uplifting moments all told through a voice that is so thoughtful and incredibly sincere that it never felt like I was merely just reading words on a page.
 
And I totally agree with you about the quality taste of music. So many of my favourite novels have music as a key component: the aforementioned, The Sky is Everywhere, You Don't Know Me, Gayle Foreman's If I Stay, and Kevin Brooks' Naked, to name a few, but This Song Will Save Your Life, for me, tops them all in the music department.
 
This really is a six star book!
}}

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