Secret Rules of Being a Rockstar
By: Jessamyn Violet
Genre: YA
Number of Pages: 288
Published: April 18, 2023
Publisher: Three Rooms Press
Dates Read: April 20, 2023 - April 28, 2023
Format: ARC / Paperback

Trigger Warnings: fat shaming, drug use, alcoholism, anxiety, talk of suicide, abortions

18-year-old Kyla Bell dreams of getting out of her dusty basement and playing the keys professionally, but she hardly gets any support from her parents. One night, her dreams are answered after the rocker Ruby Sky, frontwoman of her favorite band, Glitter Tears, hears Kyla perform and asks her to join the band for their upcoming tour.

In order to be ready for tour, Kyla must drop out of high school in the last few weeks of her senior year and immediately move out to LA to live with a producer who has agreed to put her through “rock star boot camp”.With her feelings towards Ruby emerging and the lifestyle of a rockstar, Kyla has a lot to learn as she stumbles through the 90s music scene of Lose Angelos.

This book definitely doesn’t sugar coat anything about the hard truths of rockstar life in the 90’s – there’s drugs, alcohol, fat shaming, abortions, and the stress of being in the public eye. I’m a ‘92 baby and grew up reading about all the craziness that happened back then, so it was interesting to see it from a band member’s point of view.

I had a little bit of a hard time with this one because of the exploitation of Kyla – which, the hard truths of rockstar life in the 90’s, I get that, but I wanted someone to look out for her better <spoiler> it didn’t seem like it was going to get any better by the end of the story and now I’m sitting here worrying about Kyla… </spoiler>.

Overall, I see a lot of people enjoying this book and behind the scenes of the rockstar life. It wasn’t 100% for me, and that’s okay. The story is interesting and kept my attention throughout it, but I kind of wish there was more to it.

*Thank you Three Rooms Press and LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review