After years of boredom in her rural South Carolina town, Maria is thrilled when her father finally allows her to visit her estranged artist mother in New York City. She’s ready for adventure, and she soon finds herself immersed in a world of rock music and busy streets, where new people and ideas lie around every concrete corner. This is the freedom she’s always longed for—and she pushes for as much as she can get, skipping school to roam the streets, visit fancy museums, and flirt with the cute clerk at a downtown record store. But just like her beloved New York City, Maria’s life has a darker side. Behind her mother’s carefree existence are shadowy secrets, and Maria must decide just where—and with whom—her loyalty lies.
When I decided to read this book i think that i was expecting something a little bit more fun and happy. Seriously, got it very wrong, Maria is one messed up teen and her life is also messed up. this isn't a happy musical book at all, it's grungy and grimy and whilst I did like it I may not have chosen to read it at the time that I did if I'd known that. There isn't a real plot to it, it's really just a story of Maria's self-discovery.
I really liked the characters in this book, Maria was very believable. She's very damaged and because of that she does some pretty stupid stuff like lying to Grant, I didn't feel as though I knew enough with her past to have any sympathy for her but I empathised with her self-discovery. I though that Grant was a little seedy but at the end he turned out to be a decent enough guy and I feel really sorry for him. I really liked Travis, Maria's mum's boyfriend but I really didn't like where his character was taken and Maria's mother was also a very layered character - she cared about her daughter but was also very shallow.
The thing that I didn't like about this book was the amount of times the plot stopped and the characters started to go on about music. Seriously, I knew this book would have a lot of music in it but it happened too often. If you're a massive fan of grunge and punk rock you may actually really enjoy this but for me it just disrupted to plot massively.
Overall, an alright book with great characters, though I did get annoyed with the music references every other page that disrupted the flow of the book.
Overall rating: D+
Released on 24th April 2012 by HarperCollins.
Received as an eBook for review from NetGalley.
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