How to Kill a Rockstar by Tiffanie DeBartolo

Written in her wonderfully honest, edgy, passionate and often hilarious voice, Tiffanie DeBartolo tells the story of Eliza Caelum, a young music journalist, and Paul Hudson, a talented songwriter and lead singer of the band Bananafish. Eliza's reverence for rock is equaled only by Paul's, and the two fall wildly in love. When Bananafish is signed by a big corporate label, and Paul is on his way to becoming a major rock star, Eliza must make a heartbreaking decision that leads to Paul's sudden disappearance and a surprise knock-your-socks-off ending.

Initial Thoughts:
Continuing on with my rockstar obsession lately, I thought this would be a bit of a change of pace with some familiarity. And I was right.

The Pros:
This was not your run of the mill romance novel with a rockstar. Not even close. It had so much depth beyond the "hottie rocker seduces innocent girl" trend.

Eliza is a smart, but damaged girl. Her heart is bigger than her head, which leads her to make some confusing decisions.

Paul is crazy. But in a good way. He is devoted to what is in his heart, much like Eliza. His music speaks for his heart, and it is beautiful. He's also quirky, not a "rock god" like a lot of these rockstar books have. I think I prefer the quirky.

The Michaels. I thought it was hilarious that every guy but Paul in the band was named Michael.

Loring. I loved him. I feel like I was on the wrong side, but I think I was team Loring.

I like that the author showed that you CAN still be friends with mutual friends of an ex. It doesn't have to be the end of the world.

The portrayal of 9/11 was heartbreaking and so dead on.

The Cons:
I know that the ending was supposed to be the best part, but I didn't like it.

I wanted to kick Eliza a bunch of times throughout the book. She was making stupid and confusing decisions constantly.

Paul handled the break up rather scarily. That's why I was not shocked by the faux ending. He seemed imbalanced throughout the book.

The Wrap Up: 3.5/5
This book was beautifully written, but the dysfunction of the characters threw me a little. I wish that the characters had been developed a little better, I felt like the only person I truly knew was Loring, and he wasn't one of the top two characters. Overall, it was a good story, but the characters ended up annoying me too much.

Favorite Quote:
"Isn't it funny to think that this magnificent piece of matter is in a state of decay? Really, can you think of any other living thing that looks this glorious as it's dying?"