LEAVING THE BEACH by Mary Rowen

5 GOLD stars

Contemporary drama ~ psychological ~ music

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

I read Mary Rowen's other novel, Living By Ear, about a year ago and liked it very much indeed, but hadn't got round to reading this as I knew it centred round a woman's struggle with bulimia, not a subject in which I have much interest.  Then I decided to give it a go - and I'm so glad I did.  It's nothing like the serious, emotional drama I expected.  Yes, of course it centres around this eating disorder, but the story's about so much more; Erin Reardon's bulimia is only one element of her bizarre, chaotic life.  Whether it is a symptom or the cause of the all the problems, it may be up to the reader to decide (or maybe Mary Rowen knows best of all).

'A novel of obsession and music' ~ lots of music.  Great to read about the rock stars and songs of my younger days (and yes, I agree, Erin, Station to Station was totally Bowie's best album, and the title track one of his best five ever).  It's about college, loneliness, growing up and feeling fat, ugly, isolated and wanting to impress, sex, delusion and obsession.  Lots of obsession, too.  The younger Erin lives in a cloud of serious erotomania with an ever changing cast of targets: her friend Colin (who's engaged to her friend Suzanne), rock star Lenny Weir, Jim Morrisson, David Bowie ~ and don't forget Elvis Costello...  She tries to blot out her loneliness with music, alcohol, and the endless cycle of junk food bingeing and purging.

The books alternates between the past, starting in Erin's mid teens in 1978 then moving onto her college days, and later chapters that take place when she's aged 28-30.  Although the subject of the novel is no laughing matter, it's often funny, in a dark sort of way, and there are some brilliant side characters: her boss and casual sex partner Salon Don, ghastly college friend Toni, and her mixed up, lonely mother.  I loathe the word 'quirky', but it's the best one I can think of to describe it.  It reminds me a bit of Catcher in the Rye, a bit of Alex Garland's The Beach ... I haven't read anything quite like it before, it's very unusual, different, and fabulously well written ~ Mary Rowen has talent oozing from her fingers!

Life changes for Erin after Elvis Costello, and again when she hitches a lift with a man called Luke ... there's a brilliant twist near the end that I didn't guess at all, very skillfully done indeed.

Loved it :) 

ps: Mary, I've had 'TVC15' playing in my head ever since I read it....

Living By Ear by Mary Rowen reviewed HERE 

L A PUNK ROCKER by Brenda Perlin and others

4 out of 5 stars

Teenage memoir

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

The main part of this book is Brenda Perlin's memoir from her teenage years, when she was a rebellious middle class schoolgirl flirting with the punk scene of Hollywood.  It's no Sid and Nancy type story, which was what I was expecting; it's actually rather sweet, a memory of Brenda and her friends having a great time together seeing bands, meeting people like Billy Idol and Iggy Pop, and having arguments with her mum.   Brenda's punk experience seemed fairly innocent as she wisely stayed on the periphery, just dipping her toe into sex, drugs and rock and roll.  The affection she has for that time comes across very clearly.

I wasn't into punk; it started in 1976 in England, which was the year I left school (and I was a long hair and heavy rock type!), but in my very early 20s I hung around with a few people who were into that scene, so it was interesting to read about it from the golden hills of Hollywood as opposed to a grey English town.  If you have similar memories to Brenda you will enjoy reading about the bands she saw, the places she went - it's highly enviable!  I would have liked to hear more about Skid Row and the darker side of life at the time, but I imagine that the decision was made to keep the book fairly upbeat.  At the back there are some of her own photos of the bands she saw.

Also in the book are some other peoples' memories, plus an introduction and story about Billy Idol by the fabulous Mark Barry - which, I hear, Billy Idol has actually read!  This is certainly worth a read if you're on a punk nostalgia trip, and I imagine it's something Brenda will always treasure.

FROM HERE TO NASHVILLE by Julie Stock

3 out of 5 stars

Romance, country music

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team

The debut novel by Julie Stock is a sweetly old-fashioned romance, in which English country singer Rachel meets her handsome prince, Jackson Phillips - who just happens to be a rich and successful independent record mogul from Nashville.  It's strong attraction at first sight, but the path of true love is not a straightforward one.

I think this novel will appeal very much to readers who love traditional romance stories; I describe it as 'old-fashioned' in a good way; there's little reference to popular culture or general 21st century attitudes and it's very much of its genre.  It's not what I gather is called a 'sweet romance' as there is a bit of earthy passion there too, but of the 'mounting desire' type, nothing at all graphic, and there's no bad language in it, a factor that will appeal to many.  Obviously it will have an added attraction to country music fans, too!

This is a difficult book for me to review as Julie Stock has written a weekly blog about her path to publication, many episodes of which I have read, so I know a little about the quandaries that presented themselves during the process.  As far as the continuity, structure and pace go I think she has made an excellent job of it, and she made a good decision to tell the story in two alternating first person points of view, which always adds interest.  The book is well presented with minimal errors.  I read that she was worried about lack of description of her settings, but I thought that the beginning, in particular, was illustrated very nicely.  The sense of an idyllic British seaside town in August is all there; there's a slightly dreamy quality about it which really worked. 

The majority of debut novels have room for improvement and, for me, the weak points in this book were the dialogue and the feasibility of some of the characters and their reactions.  I thought Rachel's co-musician Sam was very realistic and by far the most well written character; his reluctant sulkiness about Rachel and Jackson's attraction was spot on.   However, sadly, though I found Jackson delightful he didn't come over to me as a successful, multi-millionaire record producer.  Why not?  It's a hard one.  This is what I think: to have achieved all he had at such a young age would probably mean his being confident, very worldly-wise, street sharp, artful in dealing with people and no doubt experienced in romantic matters too, especially as he's a handsome chap, whereas Jackson comes across as just your average nice guy-next-door with insecurity issues.  The 'big row' that explodes in the middle of the book didn't quite work for me; I couldn't see a man of Jackson's age/standing/charisma/experience reacting in as extreme a fashion as he did to a few bitchy remarks (I won't say any more: spoilers), especially when he was so happy, and Rachel didn't behave like someone who loved him, either.  I do get that the story about their relationship is much to do with overcoming their own misgivings and hang-ups due to past events, though.

The problem I had with the dialogue in the first half of the book is that it's a tad stilted; characters talk to each other in perfectly structured sentences, giving just the right amount of information required to take the plot forward, whereas in real life people use colloquialisms, half sentences, private jokes, make grammatical errors, go 'um' and 'er' and 'y'know', have personal conversational quirks, etc (admittedly, Jackson says 'sweetheart' a lot, an endearing trait of his!).  I'd have liked to see a better understanding of how young single women talk to each other, how men discuss women between themselves, dialogue that illustrates character rather than merely supplying info.  I'm happy to report, however, that it does loosen up about halfway through; the lovely happy bit when Rachel and Jackson are first in Nashville together, and meeting his family, is very sweet and should put a smile on the faces of all romance lovers, as will further sections later in the book.

To sum up - the research of practical details throughout the book cannot be faulted but the lack of insight into the music industry and character realism weakened it. However, there are plenty of positives, lots of happy gooey bits for romance addicts, and I'll give this suggestion to Julie: try writing a big emotional scene over a couple of glasses of wine, it helps you to let go and feel what people really would say under certain circumstances.  I wrote a difficult chapter of one of my earlier books via Blossom Hill red, and it's one that people say actually makes them cry.  It works!

LIVING BY EAR by Mary Rowen

5 out of 5 stars 

Contemporary drama, romance, music 

On Amazon UK HERE

On Amazon.com HERE

I'd never come across Mary Rowen before but I read a very interesting interview with her on A Woman's Wisdom blog, which you can see HERE , thought this book looked good and downloaded it straight away.  I had a quick look at it to see what it was like, thinking I'd get to it at some point over the next couple of months - but I just kept reading it!

Ms Rowen is a terrific writer, so talented.  I loved every bit of this, there were no boring bits to skip read, no sections that sounded a bit contrived or unfeasible, and it all just flowed, so smoothly.  I love books about the music industry by people who know what they're talking about, and I was certainly not disappointed by this.  Chris Daley is a rainbow haired, freedom loving busker in the early 1990s who ends up married to a successful Boston lawyer, Jon, along with the whole suburbia and two kids bit.  She still hankers after her old life, though, and her old musician boyfriend, Curt.  We first meet her during her divorce from Jon, and the story is built up by flicking back and forth from present to past, a structure that always works for me.  Another thing I liked about this book was that it wasn't predictable; there were a couple of plot developments I guessed but more I didn't, and even at 80% I still hadn't got a clue how it was going to end up!

Don't know who this is, but she made me think a bit of Chris!

Chris Daley is a very 'real' character - very occasionally she got on my nerves (she seemed to be under the impression that it was all about HER at some points, and I felt sympathy for Jon), and at times I wanted to shake her because she couldn't get a grip and do the best thing for herself, but on the whole I liked her and felt I would have got on with her.

I'm so glad I found this, by a chance read of a blog post!  I shall certainly be getting Ms Rowen's other novel at some point in the not too distant future.  I'd recommend it to anyone who likes to read about musicians, but you don't need to have any knowledge of or interest in music to enjoy it as much as I did; essentially, it's just a contemporary drama about family, love, disappointments, hopes and dreams.  Well done, Mary, I hope you're really proud of this - and nice one, too, for the two mentions of Aerosmith, but I suppose in a music orientated novel set in Boston this is bound to occur!

MADE IN NASHVILLE by Mandy Baggot

4.5 out of 5 stars

Light romance, country music

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

I love the TV series 'Nashville' so I was very interested to read this - if you love it too, you should get this book! I'm glad I know more about country music through watching the series because it really helped me understand the atmosphere of this more.




This is a light, contemporary romance, witty and smart. Ms Baggot has got the genre licked! Jared's a terrific character, as sexy as hell! I think the absolute best one, though, was Mia, the slightly kooky best friend - I loved her, she's one of those characters I could really SEE, you know? I was very impressed by the way an English author has written Southern US so convincingly; she clearly has a real love for the whole Nashville/country scene, and this shows. She's done the throwaway remarks, the humour, so well. There are a couple of twists in the story which I didn't guess too - that's always a big plus!

Well done Ms Baggot - I think you should write more Nashville based books. I'll certainly read them!

RATHBONE KYDD by K J Bennett

5 out of 5 stars

Time Travel, Rock Music, Humour

Originally posted on Amazon HERE on 11 Oct 2012

I loved this book! If you love rock music, time travel, stuff about government conspiracies, and a good laugh, you'll love it too.

KJ Bennett has done something that many try and fail to do - he's created a truly fascinating, absorbing character. Rathbone Kydd is someone you'd like to know in real life, who you'd fancy if you're a woman and envy if you're a bloke. I want more of him!

If you're reading this review you've probably read the blurb, and know that Rathbone is a rock musician who inadvertently time travels from 1979 to 2012 - much of the first part of the book is Rathbone's account of the events that led up to this; I so enjoyed this part. It was absolutely spot on.

The only fault I can find is that I would have liked more evidence of Rathbone being astounded by the differences between everyday life in 1979 and 2012 - there was a fair bit, but I felt this element had endless mileage, humour wise, and was not milked to its full extent - however, this is hardly a fault!

The actual plot is unusual and held my interest in itself; the whole novel is clever in its humour and very well written, with none of the 'clunky' sentences or dodgy punctuation that can make me abandon a book early - KJ writes like a professional. I guessed the main plot twist - or what I thought was the main one, until I read the last few chapters - but it in no way spoilt my enjoyment of the book and all its characters (loved Nettles and Newcombe, and the awful Madeleine!) The ending was terrific - so often one feels let down by an ending, does one not? Rathbone Kydd's finale left me with a smile on my face. I so hope this is not the end of him...

Read it!