How to Kill a Rock Star by Tiffanie DeBartolo is a 2005 Sourcebooks Landmark publication.

While this novel explores many of my favorite things- like fate, loss, and love- and it is set against a rock music backdrop- which should have been right up my alley- the book didn’t hit the right notes for me.

The story follows Eliza, a journalist who wants to write about rock music. Her brother is in a rock band called Bananafish and it is through him that she meets Paul. Despite being complete opposites the two begin seeing each other- but things go awry when Paul does something Eliza thinks compromises his integrity as a musician.

I believe this book might have been inspired, at least in part, by the author’s relationship with musician, Jeff Buckley. It’s a sort of homage to music and touches on music as an art form, rather than a commodity- again all things that should have appealed to me-

But I was not a fan of the execution. The author does capture time and place very well, the secondary characters were well-drawn. Unfortunately, Eliza and Paul…. Not so much. I never warmed up to Paul and I just couldn’t muster up a connection to Eliza- despite my best efforts to do so. Putting these characters together as a romantic couple fell flat - zero chemistry. Then comes all the melodrama- which can work for me- but just didn’t go over well in this case.

Then came the ending. Boy, was I ticked. I can do ambiguous- in fact, I’m often a fan of that approach. Open endings can allow me to give the book the ending I want it to have- but in this case it was not a good look… at all.

Overall, I have enjoyed some of this author’s work in the past and will certainly be open to reading more of her work in the future- but this one was a miss all the way around.

1.5 stars ( )

How can this book have such a high rating? It was AWFUL! The MC is beyond stupid and she is so selfish. The love story is boring and the MC is a know-it-all, a brat and a horrible person. I really don't like her! AND STOP USING THE WORD "GAY" AS AN INSULT!!!!


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4.5 / 5
I rarely leave comments or write a review after reading a book. I decide on my rating and move on. I'm a reader, not a writer. I have to leave a comment on the characters in this book though. They were written in a unique way, a smorgasbord of personalities. My favorites were Paul and John the Baptist. All the characters were well developed though and unique in their own way. I really enjoyed this book and will watch for more from this author. ( )

I have so many emotions about this book right now that I need time to process them all. AMAZING! Detailed review coming soon! ( )

This book was so much more than I expected. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it twisted my emotions around constantly, I loved the characters and got attached to them by the end of the book. I highly recommend this book ( )