Night Music by Jenn Marie Thorne

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! TOTALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH IT!!! Even when I was crying and felt shredded I loved it.

Night Music is a love letter to falling in love, to music, to NYC (my hometown), to finding yourself when you live in some pretty big shadows. Oscar is a young black man from Bethesda. Ruby is a NYC girl, white, and from a very privileged family. Their race is part of their story, it has to be, his experiences are so different from hers. Oscar talks about being quick to set people's minds at ease as to what kind of man he is. But it isn't the focus, and it felt ok. There are books where the stories dive deeper into the racial component and those are VERY IMPORTANT books. It didn't feel like a chunk was missing, it felt like the story of Oscar and Ruby unfolded in a way that we readers were invited in to see and feel and the challenges weren't brushed aside, but the story was about a specific set of challenges.

Ruby is our point of view for this story, and it is her background that we are wondering about. What ever happened at her audition that made her quit playing piano, where is her mother and why is she so distant, why are her siblings and dad so removed from her life, what the heck is up with this Nora chick, and will she figure out the purpose of her life?

Oscar comes from a stable home with two loving supporting parents, though that isn't the impression Nora is trying to put forward about him, playing the diversity card, to what purpose you have to find out for yourself. He wears bowties that he ties himself, no clip-ons for Oscar. And damn he is so talented. But he has insecurities too. And the sweet love story between these two 17 year olds is just so beautiful and painful and amazing and real.

Ok, can you tell I got a lot of feels from this one? I did. I like political books, I love books that teach me about other points of views, help me be a better ally to the LGBTQ community and for POC. I'm a fan of historical fiction and real a lot of nonfiction too. I read a lot heavy content. And from time to time I need something else, not fluff, this wasn't fluff, but something that makes me feel good, a return to the innocence of love and self-discovery even while tackling tough subjects or moments.

I feel now like I babbling but I really want you to understand that I loved this book!!!

(Finished March 20, 2019)