This Song Will Save Your Life

Elise has endured a lifetime of social isolation and bullying at school. Walking alone one night soon after a halfhearted suicide attempt, the 16-year-old inadvertently ends up at an underground nightclub. There, an aspiring musician befriends her, and she catches the eye of Char, a cute DJ who agrees to teach her to mix music. But as talented, driven Elise spends more nights sneaking out to learn how to DJ (and kiss Char), her double life spins out of control. Elise is a complex, well-drawn character, and it's easy to relate to her sense of feeling like an outsider ("There are so many rules that you don't know, and no matter how much you study, you can't learn them all"). Sales (Past Perfect) fills her third YA novel with honest insights about high school's cruel politics, tender conversations between Elise and her equally struggling parents, and visceral descriptions of life as a DJ: "It felt like invisible veins and arteries ran between me and every person in that room, communicating information between us instantly and noiselessly." Ages 12 up.