Book Review: Rock Angel (Rock Angel Series Book 1) by Jeanne Bogino

I received a free copy of this book for review through Tastemaker MOM. While I usually review books within the mystery genre, the topic of this book interested me. A story about the music industry and how a young women with a lot of talent would experience such a world. I did not know what to expect from a book with this subject? Would it read like an extended story in Rolling Stone that would describe in a lot of detail wild escapades, while still somehow managing to stand up on stage and make fans happy every night? Or would the book describe how a young girl, full of hope, gets used up in an industry that is always looking for the next big thing and churns out new talent every week only to drop those talents that do not bring enough in sales or fan appeal?

 

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In the end, Rock Angel is a little bit of both with Shan, a young woman landing a job as a lead guitarist, at the center of a drama that has everything and I mean everything in it. There is love, betrayal, loneliness, fan adoration and a cruel, but wonderful, music industry controlling the strings.

Shan seems to have finally made it and that at only 18 years - she gets hired as a lead guitarist for a band that seems destined for stardom and there is the cool Quinn, leader of the band. We immediately find out that not everything is perfect. Shan is addicted to heroin and seemingly can;t beat the addiction and Quinn is addicted to women, sleeping around like there is no tomorrow and so we sense trouble from the beginning between Shan and Quinn.

But we as the readers seem to be the only one that can sense the trouble because Quinn and Shan can't seem to sort things out for themselves. They engage in incredibly self-destructive behavior when together, tearing themselves apart, then taking a break and experiencing some resemblance of normalcy. Only to then have the cycle start all over - with us as readers wondering when will this nightmare stop? At times, Shan's and Quinn's behavior is extremely hard to stomach and I really just wanted the pain for these two people to be over, but I could not put the book down because I was curious whether in the end there would be something to salvage for either one.

This author has not stopped short of providing the harsh reality of the music industry. I would not recommend this book for teenagers, some of the scenes, especially those involving the self-destructive drug behavior, were hard to stomach and get through, even for me. I wold also not classify this book as a summer or beach read, the subject matter is too dark, the characters too messed up and the constant rollercoaster made me want to shake both Shan and Quinn repeatedly and ask them to finally come to their senses.But if you are looking a gripping novel about the music industry and are willing to take the fame with the dark sides, this is a great book.


Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed in this review is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.