A review by wdianasheppard
Battle of the Bands by Eric Smith, Lauren Gibaldi

5.0

This is an interconnected series of short stories about a concert and a competition: the titular Battle of the Bands... and it was ADORABLE. Despite having entries from 16 different authors, tonally, "Battle of the Bands" felt like one cohesive story: a snapshot of a single night from many different perspectives. This collection is fun, loose, diverse, funny, occasionally sad, but altogether it gets wrapped up in a perfect bow of optimism and charm. I honestly can't prefer any single stories out of this collection; they were all strong (but I did have a soft spot for Cecilia and Roxy). I recommend this book for any music-lover wanting to relive those moments in high school when anything and everything seemed possible. "Battle of the Bands" was a wonderful palette cleanser between heavier works, and utterly sweet to enjoy.

Thank you to Candlewick for my ARC!