The Girl With Stars In Her Eyes

Thanks to Sourcebooks and Edelweiss for the advance copy. Opinions are my own.

Summary: Antonia "Toni" Bennette does not want to be a rock star. She's fine playing her guitar, doing shows in Philly's indie music scene and doing session work. What she wants is to be part-owner of a recording studio. But Toni gets an opportunity of a lifetime when she is recruited to be a temporary guitarist for up-and-coming band The Lillys. But it also reunites her with Sebastian, the manager of the band and her old friend who shared her dreams as a teen.

Review: I really like this book! It touches on a lot of issues that many have dealt with, but not all deal with them in a Rock and Roll setting.

Toni has modest dreams despite her tremendous talent. She is also dealing with the absence of her mother (who is also a guitarist and abandoned her to follow her own Rock and Roll dreams) and her aloof father. As a teen, she found comfort in her friendship with Seb (who had similar goals), but he leaves their small town and she feels abandoned. It's not until they are reunited that the old feelings come back.

There is drama (Candi!), issues with sudden fame, issues in fitting into a new band and money issues (Minx!) that also come into play. Another important theme is that you don't have to be related to be family.

The friends-to-kinda enemies-to lovers romance between Toni and Seb was a slow burn. There's not much action until the end of the book. But the story flows along.

And if this become optioned for Hollywood, my choice to play Toni would be H.E.R. She can sing and shred! And she's looking for some acting gigs. Sometimes I visualized her as Toni while reading the book. Maybe this can be for TV so she can get the E in her quest for an EGOT.

This is a good book for those who like women's contemporary fiction with some romance on the side.