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A review by laurieb755
Once More from the Top by Emily Layden
2.0
I kind of liked this book (a bit of equivocating here!) but when push came to shove it was simply okay. While the story is told from Dylan Read's perspective, she being the 'legendary pop star', I was more interested in the story of her best friend, Kelsey. In general, I am not all that interested in the lives of pop stars, other than perhaps an occasional 'oh, now I know what's trending.' Thus it is the same with this story; I was not interested in the life of Dylan Read, but hearing her story was the only way I'd learn about Kelsey's story.
Going into the book I thought perhaps this would be a murder mystery given that Kelsey's body is found at the bottom of a lake some 15 years after she ostensibly disappeared from her home town. At the very least it was a mystery as to how and why she disappeared. [NOT a spoiler as this information is provided on the inside book cover.]
While I didn't parse the song lyrics that Dylan has written, it might be an interesting exercise to isolate them from the text and see what stories they tell independent of the book's narrative. Author Emily Layden spent her twenties teaching English to high school girls and, from what I gathered based on reading a few interviews, is interested in telling stories that resonate with the female teen experience. Maybe that accounts for why I found Dylan's story, and thus the book, simply okay.
Going into the book I thought perhaps this would be a murder mystery given that Kelsey's body is found at the bottom of a lake some 15 years after she ostensibly disappeared from her home town. At the very least it was a mystery as to how and why she disappeared. [NOT a spoiler as this information is provided on the inside book cover.]
While I didn't parse the song lyrics that Dylan has written, it might be an interesting exercise to isolate them from the text and see what stories they tell independent of the book's narrative. Author Emily Layden spent her twenties teaching English to high school girls and, from what I gathered based on reading a few interviews, is interested in telling stories that resonate with the female teen experience. Maybe that accounts for why I found Dylan's story, and thus the book, simply okay.