Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar

Name: Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar
Brand: Tantor Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Jessamyn Violet
ISBN: 9798350824940

Author: Jessamyn Violet

Narrator: Amanda Dolan

Unabridged: 9 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/13/2023

Categories: Young Adult Fiction, Coming Of Age, Historical Fiction, United States

Synopsis

Acclaimed musician Jessamyn Violet's debut LGBTQA+ novel sizzles with a coming-of-age story set in an industry of ambition, secrets, lies, and utter joy.

Eighteen-year-old Kyla Bell dreams of one day being a professional musician . . . but gets little to no support from her parents. Still, she practices every day and performs locally, harboring her own secret hopes. One night, her dreams are answered in the form of sultry rocker Ruby Sky, the magnetic frontwoman of her favorite band, Glitter Tears. Ruby hears Kyla perform and asks her to join the band on keys for their upcoming tour.

In order to accept, Kyla must drop out of her Western Massachusetts high school and move to Los Angeles immediately to live with a renowned yet highly volatile producer who has agreed to put her through "rock star boot camp" in a matter of weeks. Blindsided by her emerging feelings for Ruby Sky, Kyla tumbles through the lights and shadows of the nineties music scene in Los Angeles.

About Jessamyn Violet

Jessamyn Violet is a writer and musician, born and raised in Massachusetts. She received her BFA in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College, and her MFA in creative writing from San Francisco's California College of the Arts. In Los Angeles, she has written for entertainment magazines, interviewing celebrities including John Green and Matt Groening, and worked in film production. Her poetry collection, Organ Thieves (Gauss PDF), was published in 2017. Her full-length screenplay "Exit Strategies" was a quarterfinalist in Scriptapalooza in 2018. Her short stories have been published in Ploughshares, 805 Art + Lit magazine, Adelaide, Little Break, and Three Elements. Jessamyn plays drums for the band Movie Club. Secret Rules to being a Rockstar is her debut novel. She currently lives in Venice Beach, California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Starr on September 19, 2023

I received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: mentioned car accident, bodyshaming & fatphobia, substance abuse & peer pressure, abortion & mentioned botched abortion, attempted suicide, sexual harassment & mentioned sexually inappropriate teacher, homophobic parent, delusions 3 This book was a bit of an odd......more

Goodreads review by Naoé on October 04, 2023

It was definitely darker that what I thought it would be but I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the 90’ vibe of it and the journey of the main character and her growth and strength. It was a touching story about dreams and family and feeling enough and not enough at the same time about leaving home and fin......more

Goodreads review by Melissa on January 05, 2023

This was a phenomenal debut YA novel and will be releasing for purchase 4/18/23! The female main character is queer and trying to figure things out and I really connected with her in a way I typically don’t experience. The book deals with living the LA lifestyle, but there were several valuable less......more

Goodreads review by Kiri on December 03, 2022

Won this in a giveaway. So I'm not sure the drama of being a rockstar is completely my cup of tea. I spent a lot of this book being terrified for Kyla, and I hope younger readers understand that the risks she took are not risks everyone should take. Also have to demote a star because I feel like eno......more

Goodreads review by Motherbooker on December 13, 2022

Being born in 1988, I love a bit of 90s nostalgia. I admit that my experience of the 90s was very different to 18-year-old Kyla Bell's. Kyla is a pianist and singer-songwriter from Massachusetts. She dreams of being a star but her father would much prefer she stay closer to home. So, when she gets t......more