Dear
Rockstar
by
Emme Rollins
Publication
Date: July 1st 2013
Publisher:
Fido Publishing
Source: Author
Source: Author
Find
This Book: Dear Rockstar (Dear Rockstar #1)
Rating:
4/5
This
book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
This
book was quite the quick read and REALLY enjoyable (which I needed after work
haha). This was done in a couple of hours tops and I barely put it down to eat
dinner! I read this so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to change my
Goodreads status to 'currently-reading' before I had finished the book!
The
main character of the book is Sara and she lives with her mother and stepfather
in an apartment. This apartment just so happens to be the same complex that the
new boy at her academy lives in. The guy, Dale Diamond, looks just like her idol,
Rockstar Tyler Vincent, and she's captivated at first sight. Sara's family is
poor, she's not allowed to date, and quite obviously there's abuse going on in
the way she calls her stepfather the 'stepbeast'. Fantasizing about meeting
Tyler Vincent, becoming friends, and escaping her life has been her goal since
14. Her bedroom is completely covered in his pictures and she draws him all the
time (she's an amazing artist) and he's really become her obsession. Sara
believes that Tyler Vincent, her idol, is perfect and will be her savior if
only she can meet him.
Sara's
best friend Aimee also has some very real problems. Aimee is anorexic and
bulimic which I found a bit odd. I don’t really know anything about these
personally, but starving oneself and then binge eating/puking just seems like
an odd combination. Aimee has been Sara's friend for years and Sara seems to go
starving from lack of food at school a lot (because she can’t afford the school
food). Aimee knows this and eats in front of Sara only to puke it up again
later. Like, if Aimee’s not going to eat the food anyways, why not just give it
to Sara… Though I suppose it stems from an insecurity issue on Aimee’s part. My
point of view probably sounds really judgmental and naive, but I've never been
in that situation and really can't decide what to make of it.
With
issues of their own (which I can’t get into without spoiling the whole plot),
Dale makes Sara happy and they help each other through a lot. Reading their
relationship grow and have its ups and downs was completely relatable and very
well done. Especially all of the plot twists that I won't talk about because I
don't want to spoil the book haha. But the truth just really brought everything
down to earth and freed Sara. Her journal addressed to "Dear
Rockstar" tied in nicely and the detail was great.
Though
I will nit-pick here and say that in some circumstances the detail was a bit
repetitive. As in, almost every time they had sex, Dale cumming inside of her
was always a "white-hot burst". I mean, there are other ways to say
the same thing, vary it up?
That
brings me to my next topic, sex. It wasn't super descriptive or anything, but
it was a spotlight of the book multiple times, and (Game of Thrones aside) not
something I typically read. I don't mind sex in books, I just don't think it
should be in YA because while I personally don't mind, thinking about kids
reading this sickens me. I WILL praise the fact that these characters were
older (out of high school at least) and were prepared for consequences. So
kudos to you, Emme, for making quite the interesting book. I just think it
should be strictly New Adult, not YA/NA.
So, all in all, a 4 star book that I'll be sure to
re-read!