Summary
Clay Coolidge is country music’s latest bad boy. He might only be 18, but his drinking and carousing and recklessness is starting to catch up with him. And his record label is NOT happy.
Their solution is to have him convince Annie Mathers to open for him on a summer tour. Annie’s parents were music legends before their deaths (overdose and suicide) when Annie was 13. While Annie doesn’t want to ride their coat tails into a music career, her own talent and their names would be a great asset on a tour.
Clay and Annie are drawn together by undeniable chemistry both on and off the stage. But their personal baggage, grief, and Clay’s self-destructive behavior could destroy both of them, condemning them to a repeat of Annie’s parents’ lives.
Review
This is SO good! The social media buzz for this has been tremendous – and it’s well-deserved. My heart broke for these two teens trying to negotiate adult decisions and the pressures of music careers while weighed down by the grief they each carry. I LOVED both of these characters. I wanted to hug them – and shake Clay several times. The supporting cast – Annie’s best friend and cousin who are her band mates and Clay’s best friend/band mate – are also fantastic. It’s easy to get caught up in the story and forget how young they all are.
The music pieces – recording studios and summer festivals, concerts and song writing – all felt absolutely realistic. I traveled on the fringes of such things once upon a time, and this felt very familiar.
This is a fantastic example of dual-perspective storytelling done well. Each character has a clear and distinct voice. Telling their own parts of the story – their thoughts, their grief, their feelings about one another – was so rich for me as a reader. I also liked that they were fairly honest with each other. This is not one of those “If only they TALKED about their feelings” books. Their feelings were apparent. The roadblock wasn’t secrecy but grief, fear, and Clay’s choices.
If you enjoy a star-crossed love story, or stories from the music scene, be sure to check this one out! It’s fantastic. (Language, alcohol/drug use, hooking up [off page], TRIGGER WARNING for suicide)