The Astrid Notes by Taryn Bashford

The Astrid Notes

Author: Taryn Bashford

Publisher: Pan MacMillan Australia

Release date: 25th June 2019

Pages: 333 pages

R.R.P: $16.99

Astrid Bell

Dutiful daughter. Classical singer. Secret pop songwriter. And suffering from stage fright.

Jacob Skalicky

Trust Fund Kid. Indie singer. Immensely gifted performer. And refusing to sing again.

Are they polar opposites? In his grief and fury at the world, Jacob certainly thinks so.

But when Jacob loses everything and Astrid uncovers a shocking family secret, they may need each other to make sense of their lives.

My Review

Thoughts on the book: The Astrid Notes is the new YA novel set in the same world Taryn Bashford created in The Harper Effect. Told from the POV of Jacob Skalicky (who we met in The Harper Effect) and Astrid Bell. Jacob has the whole world at his feet, well except for the love of his life Harper who chose someone else, and is living the dream he always wanted surrounded by his friends but suddenly everything is ripped away from him in one awful night and suddenly singing is the last thing he feels like doing in the world. Astrid has the voice of an angel and is trying to follow in her famous mother's footprints and become a famous opera singer but gets awful stage fright that causes her vocal cords to freeze up and frustrates her father who also happens to be her music teacher to no ends. When Jacob is left with no choice but to take up singing again he turns to Astrid's dad who is a master music teacher nicknamed Maestro. But it's hard for Jacob to care about music when it's the one thing that causes him the most heartache but when he meets Astrid something seems to click. When they are together it seems as if anything is possible and they can both achieve everything they ever wanted. But what if what they really want isn't the thing they are chasing but something completely different?

A massive thank you to the team at Pan MacMillan for sending me a copy of The Astrid Notes by Taryn Bashford to read and review. I read The Harper Effect last year and I enjoyed it but also had some major issues with it. When I requested a copy to review I didn't make the connection that the author of this book was the same one who had written The Harper Effect and I'm kind of glad that I didn't realise this because I went into the book with fresh eyes and absolutely loved this quick easy read. 

Astrid and Jacob were amazing main characters and the personal changes that they go through throughout the book were so heartwarming and the transformations that take place for the two of them were just what was needed in this book. Both had such heartrenching beginnings but together they make their dreams come true and learn to love again after such heartache. I loved the fact that the book was based on music and felt like I was reading one of C.G. Drews books. It was refreshing though to not be based on a normal music genre that we read about in most books but on opera which I can't say I've ever really read a book set in this genre. It was really nice to delve into the world of an opera singer and all of the training they have to do. I can't wait to see what Taryn Bashford comes up with in her next book. I personally hope that we get a book about Dex who we met in this book.

Rating: 4/5