[Review] Noteworthy - Riley Redgate

Summary: It’s the start of Jordan Sun’s junior year at the Kensington-Blaine Boarding School for the Performing Arts. Unfortunately, she’s an Alto 2, which—in the musical theatre world—is sort of like being a vulture in the wild: She has a spot in the ecosystem, but nobody’s falling over themselves to express their appreciation. So it’s no surprise when she gets shut out of the fall musical for the third year straight. But then the school gets a mass email: A spot has opened up in the Sharpshooters, Kensington’s elite a cappella octet. Worshiped . . . revered . . . all male. Desperate to prove herself, Jordan auditions in her most convincing drag, and it turns out that Jordan Sun, Tenor 1, is exactly what the Sharps are looking for. (Pub Date: May 2, 2017)


Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Thank you to the publisher for giving me this opportunity.

What a fun and meaningful book!

Jordan can't land any role in the musicals at her school, and she's getting desperate. To the point she'll audition to an all-male a capella group—in disguise, obviously. And for the first time, she gets it!

This book was surprisingly entertaining. I almost cried in the beginning while Jordan described her situation at school, so, as crazy as her idea to dress as a man and audition to a group may sound, even I was like "You have to try it!". So I can't say this book is not engaging.

What I didn't expect was it acquiring depth. As Jordan struggles to hide her identity, she faces multiple challenges and makes you wonder about how gender roles are formed. Even though she only wanted others to think she was a he, her male persona Julian turns out to feel ironically freer than she ever was.

Also this was a book that knew how to integrate diversity in a subtle way. I won't go into details but if you like checking a successful attempt, go ahead. We have not only race and sexuality on debate, the author also managed to discuss social classes and the struggles of a student on scholarship—and again, I couldn't help but identify, for I was also in the middle of paradoxes caused by how lacking scholarships can be.

The book will certainly become food for thought, which is ideal for a book club. Although it is an YA, I'm sure it can be enjoyed by older readers.

The writing is not perfect, of course. I found some scenes needed editing, for example, the competition, around which the whole book revolves, turned out to be underwhelming. I really liked the romance and at the the same time I wish we had seen a little more there. And... just a personal note, Jordan dressing up as a guy and researching about it led her to transitioning pages but it would have also been cooler if they mentioned the musical theater all-female troupe that exists in Japan, in which girls will take male roles—after all, this has everything to do with her. I confess I was so sure they would mention this I felt disappointed when they didn't.

Still, this was a book I loved reading so much I wish there it were even longer. If you like reflecting about gender, prejudice and the like, this is surely the book for you. I don't recommend it to those who don't. Even though most of it is subtle, I think you would still feel bothered. You don't have an opinion? Then go ahead, you'll like this.

Final note, I'm tagging romance because there is one for those like me who live for romances but this was more of a gen book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.