Review: Dear Rockstar by Emme Rollins

Dear Rockstar

by Emme Rollins

Publication Date: July 1^st 2013

Publisher: Fido Publishing
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!