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genevieve_eggleston's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The story was generally okay, but I found the characters so frustrating, especially Emmy, the main character. She handles things in such an immature way and doesn't seem to ever grasp the consequences of her own actions or the lack of taking action. The story is painted as if to communicate that she has developed as a person, but in the end, she's really not a lot better than she was at the beginning. Anytime a romance scene came up, I found myself caught between laughing and cringing. The romance was poorly written and tacky, which was especially bad considering that this book was primarily a romance novel. Anytime actual portions of the band's songs came up, it made me want to cringe, or even skip over it entirely, even more. Overall, the characters are unenjoyable to read about, the plot is lacking, and the writing is just okay. This book was a very mediocre read for me and I doubt that I'll be recommending it to anyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity
This book focuses a lot on emotional abuse/manipulation, so take caution when reading. It also deals a lot with alcoholism and the resulting effects, both on relationships and physical effects (like vomiting). This book includes a lot of toxic relationships, so I would recommend avoiding it if any of these things upset you.jessnreads's review
medium-paced
1.75
I feel bad rating this so low but I didn't really connect with this book at all. There were some scenes I didn't mind and found really nice but beyond that, it just felt rather lacking. I wanted to enjoy it, love it even, but I didn't. There was so much potential for this to be utterly superb, but for me, it wasn't.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
booshy's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The amount of queer diversity in this book is great, but it also felt a little paint by numbers to me? The “plot” relied too heavily on drama and miscommunication which got old fast.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
longlost's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this was a lot of fun. i live for drama
jen wilde's writing style is enjoyable to read + the characters were very dynamic and enjoyable to read about. i even enjoyed reading about the asshole characters because they were just.... SO fucking awful i had to keep turning the page to see how it could get worse. the chaotic rockstar life feels like it was really captured in this book and i love that
jen wilde's writing style is enjoyable to read + the characters were very dynamic and enjoyable to read about. i even enjoyed reading about the asshole characters because they were just.... SO fucking awful i had to keep turning the page to see how it could get worse. the chaotic rockstar life feels like it was really captured in this book and i love that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Biphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Transphobia and Vomit
ashleereadsbooks692's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
anniereads221's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Car accident
Minor: Transphobia
HP referencesforeverinastory's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this so much!!
Rep: bisexual female MC, genderqueer pansexual love interest, Black bi femme nonbinary side character, 1st gen Korean-American questioning male side character, Chinese-Australian sapphic side character dating a sapphic Black female side character, achillean male side character.
CWs: Alcohol consumption (both legal and underage), alcoholism, biphobia, child abuse/neglect, drug use, emotional abuse, gaslighting, mental illness (anxiety), misogyny, outing, panic attacks/disorders, toxic relationship, vomit, racism.
Rep: bisexual female MC, genderqueer pansexual love interest, Black bi femme nonbinary side character, 1st gen Korean-American questioning male side character, Chinese-Australian sapphic side character dating a sapphic Black female side character, achillean male side character.
CWs: Alcohol consumption (both legal and underage), alcoholism, biphobia, child abuse/neglect, drug use, emotional abuse, gaslighting, mental illness (anxiety), misogyny, outing, panic attacks/disorders, toxic relationship, vomit, racism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Car accident, Outing, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Racism
the_escapist's review
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I feel like if I read this in my early to mid-teens I would have loved it, and that awareness (repeated thoughts of 'am I too old for this?') kept pulling me out of the story. The characters believably behave like teenagers in this, and, as such, there's plenty of teen drama. There were also some lines that made me cringe, but to be fair, that's bound to happen with the characters being the ages they are.
The positives: it pulled me in quickly and kept maintaining my interest throughout, the characters talked and behaved like real teenagers, the friend group was very wholesome, very positive depiction of a variety of LGBT+ characters, the main character learns a lot of important lessons and becomes someone who would actually make a really good role model to teens and kids, and even though I found it kind of mediocre, I don't regret reading it.
The main reason for my star reading being so in the middle is that this book isn't what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to really feel like the protagonist was a musician and get all the knowledge and habits that come with it, which didn't happen. The depiction of her being a drummer could have been substituted for any other instrument. I also wanted to feel the awe and terror that comes with a character becoming famous so young and feel the adrenaline of the band playing huge live shows, to really feel the process of songwriting and recording and the collaborative process. This was touched on a little, but I didn't feel it on a visceral level. And I kept getting thrown out of the story because the band is supposed to be a punk band and yet none of the lyrics and descriptions of the music we were shown made them feel like a punk band – they felt more like a pop group or a pop-punk band at the heaviest. I know, I know, it's very pedantic of me, but it was a thing that kept popping up and throwing me out of the story/irritating me.
I wanted more subtlety and nuance. The morality and behaviour of the antagonists felt very black and white. I'm not sure if this was a problem with this author or if it's more due to the age of the target audience for this book – I don't often read Young Adult books so I'm sure which it is. Sometimes I felt like sometimes the author would be speaking through the characters on things like queer issues and sexism, things that felt paraphrased from online spaces rather than being that character's own individual take on it.
I did finish this and enjoyed reading (well, listening to) it, I was just disappointed that the story wasn't what I wanted from the premise, which maybe means my review isn't all that fair, but these are just my honest thoughts.
The positives: it pulled me in quickly and kept maintaining my interest throughout, the characters talked and behaved like real teenagers, the friend group was very wholesome, very positive depiction of a variety of LGBT+ characters, the main character learns a lot of important lessons and becomes someone who would actually make a really good role model to teens and kids, and even though I found it kind of mediocre, I don't regret reading it.
The main reason for my star reading being so in the middle is that this book isn't what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to really feel like the protagonist was a musician and get all the knowledge and habits that come with it, which didn't happen. The depiction of her being a drummer could have been substituted for any other instrument. I also wanted to feel the awe and terror that comes with a character becoming famous so young and feel the adrenaline of the band playing huge live shows, to really feel the process of songwriting and recording and the collaborative process. This was touched on a little, but I didn't feel it on a visceral level. And I kept getting thrown out of the story because the band is supposed to be a punk band and yet none of the lyrics and descriptions of the music we were shown made them feel like a punk band – they felt more like a pop group or a pop-punk band at the heaviest. I know, I know, it's very pedantic of me, but it was a thing that kept popping up and throwing me out of the story/irritating me.
I wanted more subtlety and nuance. The morality and behaviour of the antagonists felt very black and white. I'm not sure if this was a problem with this author or if it's more due to the age of the target audience for this book – I don't often read Young Adult books so I'm sure which it is. Sometimes I felt like sometimes the author would be speaking through the characters on things like queer issues and sexism, things that felt paraphrased from online spaces rather than being that character's own individual take on it.
I did finish this and enjoyed reading (well, listening to) it, I was just disappointed that the story wasn't what I wanted from the premise, which maybe means my review isn't all that fair, but these are just my honest thoughts.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Car accident
Minor: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, and Transphobia