Guitar Girl

Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Pub Date: February 9, 2004 (Originally published by Hodder Children's Books in Great Britain in 2003.)
Pages: 224
Age Level: 15+/YA (For some drug and sexual content)

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Molly Montgomery never planned on becoming famous. Molly's band, The Hormones, was just supposed to be about mucking around with her best mates, Jane and Tara, and having fun. But when the deliciously dangerous Dean and his friend T join the band, things start happening fast. Soon The Hormones are front-page news, and their debut album is rocketing up the charts. Molly is the force behind the band, but the hazards of fame, first love, screaming fans, and sleazy managers are forcing the newly crowned teen queen of grrl angst close to the edge. Fame never comes for free, and Molly's about to find out what it costs.

Review:
If you are the kind of person who only likes to read about the happy-go-lucky side of fame, then this book is not for you.

In Guitar Girl, Sarra Manning explores the harsher and more realistic side of being a teenage rock star through her main character, Molly Montgomery. With sharp wit and raw emotions, Molly tells the story of her, and her friends, time in the spotlight. In the beginning, I felt somewhat detached from the story and the characters because of the way this book tends to fastforward through weeks, even months, at a time. However, I quickly became accustomed to that and developed a good connection with this book, finding it extremely difficult to put down.

One of the things I loved about Guitar Girl was that it didn't shy away from the more poignant truths of being a star. Sure, being famous has its perks, but it has a nasty little habit of causing you to lose yourself, and others, in the process.

Manning's characters were very genuinely written. At times, they could be a little immature but I grew very fond of them. When one of them was hurt I felt hurt too. Guitar Girl even proceeded to bring tears to my eyes on occassion.

The ending was excellent. It was sad, I'll admit, but practical. I truly felt that it was the ending that this book required to make it believable and honest. In my opinion, a happy ending would have really messed up the whole purpose of this book.

I don't really want to give away a lot of the plot details because I believe that you may enjoy Guitar Girl better if you discover them on your own. So I'll just conclude by saying this. Overall, it was a great, thought-provoking read and I highly recommend it.

Grade
Characters: B+
Writing: B-
Plot: A-
Ending: A-
Cover: B
Recommendable: A

Overall: B+