Reviews

The Monsters of Music by Rebecca F. Kenney

kittylisha's review

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5.0

Review originally posted to https://tinyurl.com/yaeej2fj.
What if some parts of fairy-tales were true and yet more complicated than we ever imagined? What if the muses of old were real and could increase your potential? That and more is a possibility. Mel is a muse and the pent up power within her is driving her crazy. In order to release it she must find a protege. Her biggest problem? She is terribly scarred due to acid being poured on her face. The best place to combat this, of course, is a singing competition. Here she finds the ever adorable Kiyo Darcy.

That is right, a real live Mr. Darcy. Except he is awkward and shy. He has amazing potential, but needs help to be the best he can be. With the help of his voice coach, Erin, he is sure to exceed every expectation. With a little bit of help, a lot of talent, and dash of love Voices Rising is sure to be a huge hit.

What can I say, I am a fool for young adult novels. This book was a great blend of tragedy, comedy, and romance. All things that play a part in the theater. The songs within the book were relevant to now, and I knew most of the titles. This book was a fun read and one I suggest to all ages. There is just enough "sexy" in it for adults and the thrill of the singing competition for the teens. In this book I hated someone, as the author intended, until she decided that that person wasn't for hating after all.

All in all I look forward to finding more books like this in the future and hope that others can enjoy this modern day phantom of the opera style book as much as I did.

bewitched_bibliophile's review

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4.0

The Monsters of Music by Rebecca F. Kenney is a modernized version of The Phantom of the pera with gender swap. The Book focuses of Mel and Kiyo. Mel is Lianhan Sidhe and Kiyo is a rising Star in a musical reality show.

Mel, being a Lianhan Sidhe (a faeirie Folk) she has to pour her magic to her protégé to save herself from insanity. I liked Mel's character she is daring and strong. Kiyo is Mel's protégé and her lover. What I like about Kiyo loved her not by judging her look but for who she is. Somewhere this book has also highlighted the reality behind reality shows.

I liked the character development throughout the book. The writing style was awesome. The part thing about the book was each chapter was name after songs name.

Overall I feel enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend this book to all who love fantasy, fae and Music.

katemac89's review

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5.0

Fantastic musical feast!

I am not a "music person" but this book really, really made me appreciate music. The sensual power of it came alive on the page. It was a wonderful read– read it in less than a day! Kiyo and Mel are adorable, all the characters had depth, and the story had plenty of twists and turns. It ended perfectly. A beautiful blend of fantasy and realism. Adored it!

brianna_4pawsandabook's review

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4.0

I really enjoyed this story!! Phantom of the Opera is one of my favorite stories and I think this did it justice, especially for a younger audience. A very fun and enjoyable read and perfect to pick up for the spooky season.

alexperc_92's review

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4.0

I received an e-ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. Review can be found on *Milky Way of Books*

The retellings of The Phantom of the Opera are rare and difficult to find. So I was very surprised when Rebecca approached me with the chance of reviewing her book! The Monsters of Music is inspired by the Phantom of the Opera, only that it's gender-swapped, set in a more contemporary time and with a slight touch of Fae myths.

The Phantom is Mel, a muse of the Lianhan Sidhe who needs to share her magic or she’ll become insane and in Christine’s role is Kiyoji who is also hugely talented. As she tries to share her magic with him, a bond will form which will evolve into romance. I loved how the book was set. Every chapter has songs and lyrics and the descriptions of the Fae were amazing as they hide and blend with the humans.

You are going to enjoy this book, especially ifyou had always supported Erik (like me.)

waesmilesreads's review

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4.0

Side note: I received this ARC from the author for an honest review so here it goes… 
Okay so this book makes me wish I read it when I was so much younger. This is such a YA book it is something I would’ve definitely loved about 8 years ago, I still really enjoyed it, but I know I would’ve loved it back then.
We have the MC, Mel who is our female Phantom and is looking for her protégé to transfer her magic to that has been building inside her. She manipulates her way into a singing competition, kind of like The Voice,  and has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve to ensure what she wants happens. The Celtic Folklore twisting with The Phantom of The Opera is an excellent direction to take and I’d love to read more like this!
I like Mel, she’s a moral-questioning MC (which I love) and a girl who strives to do things her own way instead of taking the easy way out. She’s quite easy to relate to and with this being a YA she’s your cliche YA main character. A he-will-never-love-me-if-he-knew-what-I-looked-like kinda gal. Although I did cringe slightly at the cliche-ness of it all, I know I would’ve ate it up when I was younger. I definitely think this character works well for this genre of books. The fact that I liked but disliked Mel all in one go made her such a well developed character – she is a phenomenal modern “Phantom” in my eyes and Kenney has done an amazing job with her.
The writing is beautiful in this book, it flowed so easily and was such an easy to follow read. Each chapter had a song title which I made sure to put on the moment I started reading a new chapter – it worked so well! If you like listening to music while reading (like I do) I highly recommend doing it with this book!
The world building doesn’t quite do it for me unfortunately. I would’ve liked to see a lot more back story surrounding the Lianhan Sídhe community and the other sections of magic that it’s divided into. You all know me and how much I love a good world building, where the Celtic Myth came from or maybe how the other groups mingle/go about their transferring of magic would’ve been another star for me. I do understand that this book follows the retelling however I was so interested to know more about the Lianhan Sídhe part of it all.
My favourite character would probably be Kiyo, he’s so innocent and cute and his nervousness and want to succeed is just so amazing to read. He seems like an easy target to start with but his development throughout the book is very well written.
The story is so easy to follow, it took me a very short time (with work in between) to finish this book and I enjoyed it. I would probably recommend it to a younger reader or to someone who does love YA for the younger easier reads and I know I’ve said this before, I would’ve loved this when I was younger.

katkinney's review

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5.0

Oh how I adored this modern day “Phantom of the Opera” retelling! Add in a twist of American Idol. One of the Celtic fae who has to use her magic on unsuspecting musical hosts or she goes mad. (And of course like in any good fairy tales, that magic is transferred in kisses.) I was sold from chapter one.

Mel lurks in the rafters above the stage where auditions are held, waiting for the voice who will speak to her. And then, he shows up! Singer/guitarist Kiyo is completely dreamy, and as a musician, I ate up the musical parts of this. Mel is also very much your modern-day Phantom, stalking the judges via text message (LOL) with threats should the contest not go her way, and helping her preferred contestant along. But their love story is fraught with complications. She has to use her magic to survive… and he has no idea he’s being used by his “voice coach” who isn’t quite human. Without spoilers, I loved some of the twists this took (so didn’t expect that!) and thought certain plot lines were resolved in a clever, clever way. A must read for music and Phantom of the Opera lovers!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.

mommasaystoread's review

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4.0

Think modern-day music competition mixed with a bit of the Fae for a Phantom of the Opera retelling, and you have The Monsters of Music. This young adult book is very well written, and in terms of classic retellings, it may well be one of the best I've seen. The characters are interesting and well-drawn, and the story is engaging. I don't read much young adult, but this is one that will appeal to young and old alike. This is seriously one hard to put down book, and yes, I'm being deliberately vague because short of restating the blurb, which I do not do, I don't want to go into the story and give spoilers. If you like classic retellings, or even if you liked the original Phantom of the Opera, give this one a go.

dawnhosmer's review

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5.0

I absolutely loved The Monsters of Music, a YA, gender swap Phantom of the Opera re-telling. I thought it was brilliant of Kenney to include links to the music in the book. Kenney is a master at creating characters that readers are invested in and a plot line to keep me turning the page. Excellent read!

mimiathereader's review

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5.0

4.5 stars

This book is a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera but it is also a story about a broken girl that thinks she is a monster (and she sometimes acts like one) and how she found love and acceptance. This is also a story about a lot of people that you come to care about although they’re minor characters with their very own flaws.

After the first few chapters, this book hooked me and I only stopped when I really had to. Can’t tell if it was the good writing, the so-real characters that want to do good but sometimes don’t go about it the best way, if the dark, theatrical setting, if a mixture of all that or something else entirely. All I know is that I read it in 1.5 days (with a pesky interruption in the middle) and I wish I could have read faster and at the same time that it hadn’t ended so I could continue immersed in this story for a little while more.

Being a book about muses and music, this book came with links to musics related to each chapter. I stopped reading to go listen to each one for almost the whole book but at the end I gave up and simply continued reading because I just wanted to know more about the story. Listening to the music before each chapter is very interesting because it sets the tone for the chapter before you start reading it and that was fun but the way I did it kept interrupting my reading rhythm so maybe not the best way to experience the book