Me on All Summer Long

Title: All Summer Long
Author/artist: Hope Larson
Release Date: May 1, 2018
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Macmillan imprint)

Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he's off to soccer camp for a month, and he's been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it's up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own. At first it's a lot of guitar playing, boredom, and bad TV, but things look up when she finds an unlikely companion in Austin's older sister, who enjoys music just as much as Bina. But then Austin comes home from camp, and he's acting even weirder than when he left. How Bina and Austin rise above their growing pains and reestablish their friendship and respect for their differences makes for a touching and funny coming-of-age story.

All Summer Long is a moment in time, a summer of loneliness and discovery. For Bina, it's rather lonely, having a summer apart from her best friend, but there has to be something to do beyond eating chips and watching TV all the time.

Bina's fun and energetic. She loves music and playing the guitar, hanging out with her best friend Austin, and she's all ready to spend another summer with him finding out how much fun they can have. Keeping track of it all in their Combined Summer Fun Index. But on the last day of school before the summer, Austin puts the brakes on their plans because he's off to soccer camp. And he thinks they need to grow up a little. They are thirteen, after all. Once Austin's gone, Bina's a little lost. What she supposed to do? Summer reading? Watch loads and loads of British teen dramas online? Leave the house? What follows for Bina is a summer of exploration, of meeting new people, of getting to know people better, of learning some hard lessons, and of continuing to love something that already brought her enjoyment.

The art style fits with the story. There's something casual and summery about it. I rather enjoyed the expressions Hope Larson gave the characters, the frowns and the grumbles on Bina's face, the sneer's on Charlie's. The way the lyrics of the songs Bina listens to float across the page. There's something about Larson's art the brings Bina's story to life.

This is a sweet coming of age story about a girl who loves music and is still figuring out the world, figuring out the people around her and what she wants from life. What she's interested in, what she thinks she'll continue to be interested in. Things will change, as they always do, but the people close by, the ones who've always been there, will continue to be there. And as Bina gets older, as she learns and practices, whole new worlds will open up to her. I would recommend this to those middle-grade graphic novel readers looking for more stories about growing up and getting older while also being light-hearted.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from First Second Books through NetGalley.)

Me on Shadowsong

Title: Shadowsong
Author: S. Jae-Jones
Release Date: February 6, 2018
Publisher: Wednesday Books (Macmillan imprint)

Six months after the end of Wintersong, Liesl is working toward furthering both her brother's and her own musical careers. Although she is determined to look forward and not behind, life in the world above is not as easy as Liesl had hoped. Her younger brother Josef is cold, distant, and withdrawn, while Liesl can't forget the austere young man she left beneath the earth, and the music he inspired in her. When troubling signs arise that the barrier between worlds is crumbling, Liesl must return to the Underground to unravel the mystery of life, death, and the Goblin King—who he was, who he is, and who he will be. What will it take to break the old laws once and for all? What is the true meaning of sacrifice when the fate of the world—or the ones Liesl loves—is in her hands?

Shadowsong is haunting, a slow-moving journey brought on by consequence and fate. It's an exploration of reality and madness, of desire and practicality. Of what will come from Liesl's return to the mortal world and what had been unleashed.

Liesl has returned to her family's home and inn after leaving the Underground, released from its bizarre hold of her. Released from the Goblin King. Now she has her chance to live her life again, to compose and create music with her brother Josef. But Josef is away performing and Liesl cannot let go of her time in the Underground. Cannot let go of the young man she found in the Goblin King, of their time together and the music he awoke in her. But her leaving has brought consequences. The barrier between the worlds is thinning, the hunt is on, and everything is at risk of coming to an end.

Reading this book, remembering the previous one, makes me wonder about the world itself. About impossibility in reality. About madness and identity, about who we are and who we hide. About the reflection in the mirror, who it is and who we are. About connections brought by blood and music and love. This book moves slowly, weighed down by Liesl's own warring inside her heart, but I don't think it could move any faster. Here is Liesl coming to terms with her relationship with her brother, with the darkness that's come between them. The secrets and the truths left unspoken. For those who enjoyed Wintersong, know that the story does continue here, still lyrical and fantastical, but as more of a slow and haunting search.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Raincoast Books.)

Me on Kill the Boy Band

Title: Kill the Boy Band
Author: Goldy Moldavsky
Release Date: February 23, 2016
Publisher: Point (Scholastic imprint)

Okay, so just know from the start that it wasn't supposed to go like this. All we wanted was to get near The Ruperts, our favorite boy band. We didn't mean to kidnap one of the guys. It kind of, sort of happened that way. But now he's tied up in our hotel room. And the worst part of all, it's Rupert P. All four members of The Ruperts might have the same first name, but they couldn't be more different. And Rupert P. is the biggest flop out of the whole group. We didn't mean to hold hostage a member of The Ruperts, I swear. At least, I didn't. We are fans. Okay, superfans who spend all of our free time tweeting about the boys and updating our fan tumblrs. But so what, that's what you do when you love a group so much it hurts. How did it get this far? Who knows. I mean midterms are coming up. I really do not have time to go to hell.

Kill the Boy Band is outrageous, full of four teen girls, their current obsession, and the lengths they'll go to to meet them. Only things go a bit weird and nothing goes according to plan.

This book is all kind of insane. I knew going it that it was going to satirize fandom, that it was going to highlight the dark dark DARK side of fandom. The obsessive side, the oblivious side, the nasty side. Everyone seemed like they'd lost their minds. That for the four teen girls, consequences didn't matter. Than they could kidnap a member of a boy band. That they could tie him up. That they could ransack his hotel room.

There's always going to be a dark side to being a fan, unfortunately. To be part of a fandom. There will always be people who spend all their time on their fandom. Who go to every concert or event. Who try to get backstage. Who follow them. Who send them creepy-sounding messages. It's not healthy. This book shows how unhealthy it is, what it does to people. It makes them vicious, like Isabel, or in denial, like Apple, or regretful, like Erin. Or thoughtful, like the narrator. The narrator, by whatever name she goes by, seems to be the most sensible. She's shocked at every turn when her friends do something crazy. Like kidnap Rupert P. Like go through his pockets. Like go up to the band's hotel room. But she still goes along with it. She wants to know. She wants to see.

I can see where many will find this book funny. It's outrageous, both in plot and in the different characters. In the beginning, I thought it was fun. But I kept waiting for common sense to kick in with someone, anyone, and it didn't. I think that's where I went wrong with this book, that I had to suspend my common sense, and I couldn't fully do that. This book just wasn't it for me. BUT. But. If you were already interested in reading this, if the summary grabs you, if you're looking for a dark comedy about being a crazed fan, then by all means give this a read.

(I received an advance copy of this title from Scholastic Canada.)

Me on Chorus

Title: Chorus
Author: Emma Trevayne
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Publisher: Running Press Kids

The dream is all white from a memory that is too real, and its melody has continued to haunt Alpha, even though she has moved as far away from temptation as possible. Eight years after she was exposed to her first and only addictive musical track from the Corp, Alpha has established a new life with a band of her own in a city that has given her the space she was seeking, Los Angeles. However, it only takes one urgent call to bring Alpha back home to Anthem, the older brother who raised her as well as a revolution, and Omega, her twin brother whose contrasting personality makes her feel whole. As Alpha spends more time in the Web, she notices that the number of people who look sickly and addicted seems to be rising. With Anthem's health declining, Alpha and her friends will have to dig deeper into the mainframe than ever before in order to find the root of the Corp's re-emergence.

Chorus is a return to an enhanced future with secrets still lurking in the shadows. After the rebellion, after the revolution, the Web became a better place to live for Alpha and her brothers. But something has returned.

Alpha is her own person. She's finally comfortable with life, with living in Los Angeles by the beach. Away from the Web. But the Web is like a web. It can trap you, surround you, make it impossible for anyone to escape. Alpha has to find the strength to fight back with everything around her begins to crumble, and the strength to share the truth of what happened to her and Omega when they were children. I like Alpha, she's strong and dedicated. But she takes on too much. She keeps her own problems hidden away, buried deep where they only cause more problems. She doesn't share them in order to keep everyone safe, but she needs to if they want to get through this new crisis.

Power is addictive and insidious. In Coda, the Corp was everything. It controlled everyone, and Anthem brought it down. But pieces of it would always remain, waiting for the right moment, that perfect second in time that would allow it to rise up again and regain what was once theirs.

As with the first book, music is the backbone of this story. It's the message, the vessel, the drug and the cure. It's about what music does to us as human beings. How it lifts us up, how it breaks us into pieces. How it lets us express ourselves to those close to us, to those we've never met before. It gives us the chance to share hopes, dreams, thoughts, fears. It fuels us. And the Corp attempts to abuse it in the worst way possible.

As the titles implies, this is the chorus, the repetition. It suggests a cycle that exists in the world. Freedom, subjugation, rebellion, and back to freedom. It suggests that it will happen again and again, that there will always be  those who risk everything, even themselves, to save the world. It suggests that someone will have to make that sacrifice every time a force rises up in an attempt to exert control over the general population. It's a bit dismal, but it's honest. Things happen in waves, war and peace. There will be sorrow, but at the same time there will always be hope.

(I purchased a copy of this book.)

Me on Strange Sweet Song

Title: Strange Sweet Song
Author: Adi Rule
Release Date: March 11, 2014
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (Macmillan imprint)

Outside Dunhammond Conservatory, there lies a dark forest. And in the forest, they say, lives a great beast called the Felix. But Sing da Navelli never put much faith in the rumors and myths surrounding the school; music flows in her blood, and she is there to sing for real. This prestigious academy will finally give her the chance to prove her worth, not as the daughter of world-renowned musicians, but as an artist and leading lady in her own right. Yet despite her best efforts, there seems to be something missing from her voice. Her doubts about her own talent are underscored by the fact that she is cast as the understudy in the school's production of her favorite opera, Angelique. Angelique was written at Dunhammond, and the legend says that the composer was inspired by forest surrounding the school, a place steeped in history, magic, and danger. But was it all a figment of his imagination, or are the fantastic figures in the opera more than imaginary? Sing must work with a mysterious Apprentice as her vocal coach, who is both her harshest critic and staunchest advocate. But he has secrets of his own, secrets that are entwined with the myths and legends surrounding Dunhammond, and the great creature they say lives there.

Strange Sweet Song is ethereal and mystical, a slow magical tale of magic, wishes, and one girl's desire to sing. But something lurks in the forests and the shadows around her, something that could change everything.

Sing isn't a normal girl, daughter to world-famous musicians. What I noticed most about her was her insecurities. She has some confidence in her ability, yes, but she's trapped in her mother's shadow. She's in a precarious situation in which she wants to sing in the role of Angelique, she desires it above all else, she craves to prove her worth to the world, but it's those inadequacies she feels that weigh her down. It's only until she's pushed by her father and to the side by those around her does her ego appear and she becomes ruthless in her quest. But that part of her is still missing, the honest part of her that will shine when she sings. Without it, she's nothing.

The rotating points of view tell different sides that come together to form the story as a whole. One is the Felix, one is a tale of magic and curiosity in Dunhammond's past, and the last is Sing in the present day. All three worked with each other, revealed secrets and suggested possibilities as the book went on.

Sing heads to the conservatory to spread her wings, metaphorically, in a new place. To sing as she wants, to find a place of her own, to grow. Of course, what she gets beyond that is the competitive setting of a musical academy for gifted people. What she gets is high-stakes, high pressure, divas looking down their noses, and more than a little backstabbing and cattiness.

The book moves at a gentle pace, never rushed, never missing a beat. I was surprised at the slow build in tension considering the mystery and the intrigue. A slow book, yes, but also an enjoyable one. I imagine this will intrigue those with a love of music and a slight gothic quality to their mysteries.

(I received an advance copy of this title from Raincoast Books.)

Me on This Song Will Save Your Life

Title: This Song Will Save Your Life
Author: Leila Sales
Release Date: September 17, 2013
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Macmillan imprint)

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

This Song Will Safe Your Life is both refreshing and brutally honest about what it is to live as a unique semi-misfit teenager who's slowly figuring out who she is. This book is about finding friends who will actually be friends, about connecting with other people, and about coming to terms with being different.

At the beginning, Elise is depressed and ready to give up on life. She doesn't see the point in being special or being different because of the ways her classmates have reacted to her during their school years. Basically, what Elise does isn't cool/is different from how they do it and they don't like it/she should change everything about herself. And so she gives up on being different. It never got her the friends or the popularity she thought she would get.

Elise's problem is that years of bullying have left her with the inability to like herself, to appreciate her quirks and interests. Getting over that big a hurdle will be difficult, but she'll have to do it if she wants any kind of opportunity to make friends and finally be happy. If she really wants Vicki, Pippa, and Char in her life. If she really wants to DJ.

The book is peppered with flashbacks of the bullying Elise suffered during her school years. Classmates laughing at her for using complicated words, talking behind her back, stealing her things. This kind of bullying is all too familiar and common. It seems to be part of being a kid that, when someone does something different (meaning not the way they do it) it's funny. Talking different, wearing different clothes, liking different music. Elise's differences unfortunately make her an easy target, both as a child as as she attempts to navigate the complex social cliques that make up high school. Their bullying leaves her to see life as hopeless. It's sad that it hurts her so much as a child, and it's sad that it still hurts her as a teenager, but unfortunately, bullying like that is common.

It's all about Elise figuring out who she is and where she fits into the massive train wreck that can be life. It's not necessarily about fixing all of her flaws because they make her the weird, honest, precocious, confused, music-loving girl she is, but more of her understanding them. More of her understanding that popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be. More of her realizing that maybe she's okay the way she is. More of her learning how friendship can be messy with all its unwritten rules and the ways it can save you.

I found this book to be complicated and sad and painful, but those are the teenage years. As unfair as they are, as torturous as they are, as revealing as they are. It wasn't hard to see bits and pieces of my own high school experience in Elise's, which meant it wasn't hard for me to follow her so closely throughout this book, from the first page to the last. For everyone who felt like a misfit in high school, I would recommend this book.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Macmillan through Raincoast Books.)

Me on Coda

Title: Coda
Author: Emma Trevayne
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Running Press (Perseus imprint)

Ever since he was a young boy, music has coursed through the veins of eighteen-year-old Anthem. The Corp has certainly seen to that. By encoding music with addictive and mind-altering elements, the Corp holds control over all citizens, particularly conduits like Anthem, whose life energy feeds the main power in the Grid. Anthem finds hope and comfort in the twin siblings he cares for, even as he watches the life drain slowly and painfully from his father. Escape is found in his underground rock band, where music sounds free, clear, and unencoded deep in an abandoned basement. But when a band member dies suspiciously from a tracking overdose, Anthem knows that his time has suddenly become limited. Revolution all but sings in the air, and Anthem cannot help but answer the call with the chords of choice and free will. But will the girl he loves help or hinder him?

Coda is an extremely inventive and thrilling story, one young man's journey towards revolution and towards freedom. This book is ripe with danger and suspicion, and it highlights the key points of a dystopian setting. The horrors of an oppressive corporation and their corrupt goals, the dreary and dismal setting, the unflinching desire to keep those you care about most safe from harm, the overwhelming search for identity in a world where everyone is forced to be the same, and the discovery of limits, of how far we will go to stay alive. Of how much we will fight back.

Anthem has simple hopes, simple dreams. Keeping his siblings safe is paramount. Keeping them safe from the Corp, from tracking, from addiction. Keeping his father alive. He knows the Corp is dangerous, that it controls everyone, and that there's nothing he can do about it. But whispers are always in the underground, always in dark corners, and Anthem plays music in secret to keep the Corp from gaining complete control over him.

In Anthem's world, music is a drug. Tracking keeps you under the Corp's control, keeps you compliant, and alters your mind. Currently, music is a drug to some. There are songs we can't escape that make us sing along, make us dance, but this in mind control on a new level. This is dangerous and twisted, combining sound and rhythm and something else in order to control the population. Music is no longer seen as an enjoyable form of expression, as freedom, as communication, as art. Except for those willing to go underground.

Addiction is also dangerous, but that's what the Corp does, it uses music to control and keeps the population coming back for more. Then people are always chasing after that next high, that next track, working for the credits to purchase the next track that will send their mind to a different place. Drug addicts doing it to themselves in frightening enough, but when the government does it, when the people in charge does it to their own subjects, it's especially horrifying. And the sad thing is that, even while they cry out for a stop to it, they can't help but go back for another track.

I want more books where sexuality is a non-issue, where characters are who they are and no one questions the gender of their crush or romantic partner. Recent books like The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson and The Culling by Steven dos Santos also have this. Anthem is drawn to Haven, there's something between them, but he has some history with Scope, something that goes beyond friendship. This is part of Anthem, part of who he is as the unlikeliest of heroes and the most caring brother ever. Straight people, gay people, they're still people, it doesn't make them any less human.

The Corp is deadly, everything they do is done under the guide of help while it's actually population control. Tracking keeps them happy, keeps them quiet. Technology keeps everyone under watch. This makes Anthem's situation, his mission, that much more important. And also life-threatening. The Corp's power is seemingly absolute.

Those pushed down by the Corporation, those under its control, are crying out for revolution, but will Anthem be brave enough to pick up the mic and be its voice?

(I received an advance copy of this title at ALA Midwinter.)

Me on Drummer Girl

Title: Drummer Girl
Author: Karen Bass
Release Date: October 1, 2011
Publisher: Coteau Books

The Fourth Down needs a drummer, and Sidney's easily the best in school, but the all-guy band has some conditions for her to be allowed in... such as dressing like a girl. Accustomed to invisibility, Sid soon discovers the consequences of her makeover. It's not just that playing her drum kit in a skirt is impractical, but as someone who was once taunted about her sexuality for being a girl drummer who likes shop class, she's now forced to deal with guys who see her as fair game and Sid soon realizes the the price of compromising who you really are.

Drummer Girl is an interesting look at someone who is clearly not a "typical" high school girl (I mean "typical" as what society and pop culture consider "typical" for high school girls, it's a stereotype I hope you'll forgive me for referencing). She's quirky, she's comfortable in jeans and old band t-shirts, she's a huge fan of classic rock bands, and because she's not "typical," there are assumptions and stereotypes placed on her. It's her choice to dress how she wants, to be interested in what she likes, to hang out with who she wants to, but she'll have to decide if she wants to stay the way she is or chance for the sake of others.

What I liked about Sid is she was certainly her own person. She just wanted to play drums, to listen to classic rock bands like Rush, to have fun in shop class. She wants to be the one who decides who she is, and when people start thinking she's something else, she gets punchy. Which I understand, no one wants to be called names or put down when they're being themselves.

But there was something that bothered me, and that was Sid's desire to change herself because some people assumed that she was a lesbian because of how she dressed and acted. There was nothing wrong with Sid, nothing beyond a warped sense of needing to completely change her image in order for people to see her as "straight" and "normal" and "a girl." It's not all her fault for changing, there were many times when I wanted to scream at all the jocks and the band guys and her cousin for making her think that she was wrong and they were right, but I wish Sid had a bit more inner strength. Of course, if she did, the book would've been very boring. Still, it's upsetting when teenagers, girls and boys, feel the need to dress or act a certain way because they think it'll help them fit in or make friends or stop the bullying.

One of the purposes of high school, besides learning, is giving teenagers the chance to figure out who they are, to invent yourself and reinvent yourself until you're comfortable with who you are. That's what one of the most important things, discovering who you are and what you're going to be, but you have to make sure you know where the line is between reinventing yourself and lying to yourself.

(I own a copy of this book.)

Me on Beautiful Music for Ugly Children

Title: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children
Author: Kirstin Cronn-Mills
Release Date: October 8, 2012
Publisher: Flux

Gabe has always identified as a boy, but he was born with a girl's body. With his new public access radio show growing in popularity, Gabe struggles with romance, friendship, and his parents, all while trying to come out as transgendered. An audition for a radio station in Minneapolis looks like a ticket to a better life in the big city, but his entire future is threatened when some people find out that Gabe the DJ is also Elizabeth from school.

At times humourous, honest, and complicated in the way only life as a teenager can be, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children is a glimpse into Gabe's life as he's transitioning from Elizabeth to Gabe near the end of high school, a look into his life, his hopes and dreams, his pain and struggles.

What I loved about this book is its raw honesty. Who we are when the world sees us, who we are on the inside, who we want to be, who we see when we look in the mirror, they're all different. When you're a teenager, you're figuring out who you are, questioning your life up until that moment, questioning what you're working towards, questioning how your body doesn't look the way you want it to, and some even question their gender.

Gabe is wonderful. I like calling him Gabe because he's Gabe. When we meet him at the beginning of the book, there are little pieces of Elizabeth, but there's mostly Gabe. Of course, there will always be the little pieces of Elizabeth in Gabe. He deals with so much in the book, the trials and tribulations of high school, keeping Gabe a secret apart from his best friend Paige (who he has a crush on) and his family (who can't accept Gabe because all they see is Elizabeth). The only time Gabe can be himself is that one hour a week in the middle of the night at a community radio station talking about something universal: music. I loved how he was one of those music geeks who appreciates music and its message while being unable to play an instrument.

But then there are the times when Gabe would hide, like he wanted to be open with the world but not in front of people who knew him as Elizabeth because he feared the backlash. The way people can turn on each other because of differences and opinions is terrible. No one in the entire world is exactly alike, so why does it bring out the worst in people when our differences are exposed?

People, like records, have their A sides and their B sides. The side the world sees, and the side you are on the inside. Lots of people have their different sides. What's important to remember is this book is about Gabe and his different sides, Gabe the human being who deserves to be the person he wants to be and not the person his family or his friends or the whole world want him to be. It's all about Gabe, and he just happens to be transitioning from being a girl to being a guy.

I read YA because of books like this. New worlds, new viewpoints, new characters. It's not always a completely accurate representation of real life, but it's as close as the author can make it. I can only imagine the confusion and the struggles of teens like Gabe not just in the US but all over the world, but there are also good moments. There are the friends and the family members that keep supporting them, laughing with them, loving them. Everyone has their A side and their B side, and whichever you choose to live, live it the best way that you can.

(I received an e-galley of this title to review from Flux through NetGalley.)

Me on Amplified

Title: Amplified
Author: Tara Kelly
Release Date: October 25, 2011
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (Macmillan imprint)

When Jasmine gets kicked out by her dad, she heads straight for Santa Cruz to pursue her dream of becoming a musician. She sort of finds an ideal room in an oceanfront house, but first she has to convince the three guys living there she's the perfect roommate and lead guitarist for their band, C-Side. Too bad she's got major stage fright, and the cute bassist doesn't think a girl from the rich side of the hill can hack it in their industrial rock band.

Tara Kelly's sophomore novel introduces us to a girl who has dreams, who knows what she wants her future to look like, but there's the in-between stage that she needs to navigate and figure out before she can come out on the other side. If she can come out on the other side.

Jasmine is an interesting character. She's musical and creative, she's smart, but she's screwed and lost and unsure and maybe a little clueless when it comes to the real world. Like the real real world where people work two or three jobs and live in crap apartments and eat ramen noodles and pizza and struggle every day to make a better life for themselves. Fortunately for Jasmine, she knows what she wants and she will fight for it, even with her crippling stage fright. She's fragile and shaky, she needs to find her voice (so to speak), and when she does her own piece of the world will be ready for her to take.

It was different, being shown that glimpse of someone's life right after high school but without college to look forward to after the summer months (like my life and lots of others). This does happen, some take time away from school or choose not to go to college, but the lost feeling is so much more powerful and poignant and overwhelming. I kept rooting for Jasmine, hoping she wasn't continually kicked to the curb.

As for C-Side, the characters in the band worked as a unit for me, a group that Jasmine wanted to weave herself into. Sometimes there was more Veta or Sean, depending on what was going on with Jasmine, but that's how I felt. I couldn't always see the band as individual characters. Which I'm not knocking. For me, it worked.

I was very intrigued by the music aspect (as someone who loves music and is interested by people who play music but who can't play or sing to save her life). Perhaps it was a little technical here and there, but this is an industrial rock band. I imagine that in such a band, there's a lot of equipment. I could also understand Jasmine getting swept away by the music, trying to find her own place in a band that's already established with their own quirks and habits.

Tara Kelly once again gives us a narrator both brutally honest and unwilling to back down from her dreams, even when the journey has more bumps, rocks, and pot holes than most. Life isn't perfect, but sometimes, when you face facts and face your demons, you find your ray of sunshine and crank up the music as loud as you want.

(I bought a copy of this book.)