I really enjoyed this. It gave me similar vibes to the movie Crossroads. It also gave me a what if Dolly wasn't Dolly kind of vibes. Decklee Cassel has a persona that is bigger than life, and it shows how if you use your power for yourself, it can leave you in a place you're going to regret. I found Darren and Kendall to be interesting characters as they began their journey to find the Decklee Cassel time capsule.

I found the journey so satisfying because Darren doesn't know herself hardly at all. She just knows what she thinks she wants. But I think as the journey goes on it's interesting to see how her views start to slowly change for the better. I think the dual timeline of learning the history of Decklee from the start as a runaway to the end of the novel was an excellent addition to this story because it allowed you to form your own opinion about Decklee and not what Darren thinks of her.

I also really loved that Decklee loved a woman,

but at the same time I hated watching her tank every relationship she had because she was too afraid to be true to herself because in the long run she never really did love herself enough. She thought success was the only way to measure your worth which is so untrue.

I sobbed at the end of this. Not because it's sad, but because I was so hurt for all of the characters at the end. I found that I was very invested in their journey, where they were going how they got there. I cried as a small-town girl who left and came back, because even though it has its moments it for sure has its high points too.

Did I see the twist in this book coming like a third of the way in? Yes. But did it still almost make me tear up when I finally got the payoff? Absolutely. What can I say? I am not immune to a dual narrative queer coming-of-age story with a tragic sapphic love story. I do wish that we'd gotten a little more of Decklee's story, because there was A LOT of ground to cover in not that many chapters (and bc she starts her rise to stardom by

locking her lover in a closet

and then only gets worse from there. I love a woman with ambition lmao)

This also doesn't affect my rating really, but I need to say it: jail time for Jenna Voris for making me have to pretend that names like Decklee and McKenlee belong on rising stars in the country music scene in the 60s instead of in a classroom full of 7th graders born in 2012 whose parents named them like that white lady with the chalkboard who named her kid Lakynn after a road sign. I think about her a lot.

Overall, though, this was SUCH a fantastic book. I've been in a bit of a reading slump recently, and this was exactly the kind of thing I needed to break it. I flew through it in a single evening, and I feel like I'll definitely be coming back to this one again and again. <3

I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Every Time You Hear That Song is for those readers who absolutely love Taylor Jenkins Reid’s works, but wishes she wrote YA. Detailing Darren’s journey to find her favorite singer’s time capsule, Vorris has a uniquely atmospheric voice and setting that draws you in from the very first page. While some parts of the book dragged on a bit, the dual timelines between Darren finding the time capsule and the legacy of Decklee Cassel’s career was a really nice touch for the book. That being said, if you’re looking for a YA novel that gives off a similar vibe to Taylor Jenkins Reid, you would probably enjoy reading Every Time You Hear That Song.

Wow wow wow. I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this book in a giveaway and I am so happy I did. I went into this thinking it would be a queer, coming of age story set in the South about the perils of fame and how the choices we make define us. And though this book was definitely that, it was also so much more and I wasn't entirely prepared for what I got.

Every Time You Hear That Song is such really two stories in one. One begins with Darren in present day and the other travels through several decades with Decklee Cassel. So in a way, one story is mostly stationary and it's the mystery of it that's moving Darren's POV forward. And then there's Decklee's POV that is jumping through years and we're seeing her go from being a young, fifteen-year-old, to eventually being much older in the present, so her story eventually catches up to Darren's in a way that was really fascinating to read. I loved having this book told in this way and I think it worked perfectly for these stories.

The characters themselves are really brilliant to read. These characters go through a lot and there's a lot of messiness surrounding them, particularly Decklee and Darren. But they felt so authentic and flawed. The ending is bittersweet, but felt right for the characters and the core of who they were. This made it a little sad for me, but it felt very true for how life is and the way it works out. So it's realistic and messy and sad but a really beautiful narrative of being a queer teen in the South and the complicated feelings and experiences this brings up. 

This book was such a pleasant surprise and I can't recommend it more!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I didn't expect to like this story as much as I did. I'm not much of a country fan and the idea of a scavenger hunt road trip didn't really appeal to me but I decided to give it a shot! I was really glad actually that Darren wasn't the one who found the time capsule. It would've felt unrealistic to me if she was the one to figure everything out/find all the clues. Her finding the first one was great but I fully expected her to overall loose the competition. Having her loose was a good climax for the story so she could look inside of herself and think about what Mayberry really means to her/what is really important to her in life. 

I also expected, since Decklee was a really big star with millions of fans, that Darren wouldn't be the only one to come to these kinds of conclusions about where the clues might be. Not everyone would've been able to put it altogether obviously but having other people be able to figure out the clues as well alongside her made the most sense in that situation. Having Darren be wrong about the last clue in particular was really great too because I was also fully convinced that the last clue would be in Mayberry because that's where Decklee was from/where Micknlee ended up. When the time capsule showed up in Nashville, in front of the studio, it really captured how in the end, Decklee was only thinking of herself and what kind of impact she would have and not the people who helped make her in the industry and who tried to love her. 

Ending the story with Darren talking about how she and Kendall broke up was also very realistic. Honestly, if they'd stayed together I would have probably rated it lower. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed them together. They were a cute couple but Kendall didn't want to leave Mayberry and Darren couldn't stay. It wouldn't make sense for them to try to force something that ultimately wouldn't work and leave one of them miserable. 

Ultimately, the road trip Kendall and Darren took was really fun. their personalties really shone through everything and I liked how they were able to stop and have fun on top of searching for clues. I was also glad that Darren made some really good apologies to the people she hurt in the book. It really put into perspective how AWFUL of a person Decklee was. (I really didn't like Decklee. I could understand wanting to be something BIG and be remembered but you don't have to step on all the people who helped you get there). The contrast between both girls was great so I really enjoyed the dual POV's even if I didn't like Decklee herself. 

 A huge thank you to the author for approaching me about reading and reviewing an early copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

You don't have to be a fan of country music to enjoy Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris—I'm certainly not. Even though this is a massive love letter to country legends and their impact on fans, it's so much more than that. It's a queer coming-of-age story wrapped up in a road trip with dual POVs to give an added layer to the story.

Having Decklee's point of view through her career helped round out the story for me. Knowing that Darren and her mom strongly connect to Decklee Cassel was great and all, but seeing how Darren views her vs how Decklee actually was and seeing her do what she thought she had to to get where she ended up was so much more impactful that if we hadn't gotten her POV at all. She may have clawed her way to the top from nothing, but at what cost?

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It's the perfect read to kick off summer and what's typically considered road trip season. Darren and Kendall had such great chemistry and the slow build was totally worth it. I loved seeing Darren wrestle with her queerness and all the little things along the way that helped her realize that it's okay to be bisexual. Even in a small Arkansas town that seems to defeat you before your life has really begun. The road trip and scavenger hunt not only helped Darren learn more about her favorite musical artist, but it helped her learn more about herself and what she wants out of life.

I won't spoil more than I already have, but I think this is such an impactful read. Especially to young queer girls. The ending isn't the payoff I wanted, but it was incredibly realistic and a breath of fresh air, honestly. Not everything has to end up with a flashy ending. Things turned out well in the end for Darren and cast, but it didn't exactly go where I expected. That said, I highly recommend this for fans of Brian D. Kennedy's A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY.

CONTENT WARNING for talk of cancer and potential relapse, parental abandonment, and homophobia