ROCK THIS! THURSDAY

Title: I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone

Author: Stephanie Kuehnert

Genre: Young Adult

The Clash. Social Distortion. Dead Kennedys. Patti Smith. The Ramones.

Punk rock is in Emily Black's blood. Her mother, Louisa, hit the road to follow the incendiary music scene when Emily was four months old and never came back. Now Emily's all grown up with a punk band of her own, determined to find the tune that will bring her mother home. Because if Louisa really is following the music, shouldn't it lead her right back to Emily?

Honestly, I don't think I can even tell you all the reasons why I loved this book. It's just one of those that suck you and won't let you go, even after it's done.

But here's my spill....

The fact that I'm a complete music freak is what first perked my interest in this book. Plus take a look at the cover! Once I started reading it, I wasn't able to put it down. Stephanie Kuehnert knows good music and it shows.

This isn't a simple read. There's something very real and raw about it. Emily Black is a girl with one dream. Scratch that - she's got two dreams. She's going to get out of the small town of Carlisle. And she's going to do it by being a rock star.

I loved Emily instantly. She's edgy as hell, in your face, and damn do I wish I had the balls she had. There were so many things that I could identify with in this book. Espeically when it came to Emily and her best friend Regan. So many moments where I stopped, almost baffled and eventually called up my best friend and rambled some passages out because it sounded like us. (Even weirder my goddaughter name is Regean).

Even the issues that Emily goes through that I couldn't identify with - I felt them. There were moments I was laughing, got teary eyed, and sometimes even wanted to shake the crap out Emily for some choices she made. But hey, that's what a good book does to you, right?

There is more than one side to this story. It's not just about Emily wanting to be a rock star for the pure passion of music, but to find her mother. Find out what was so speical about it that made her leave without saying goodbye. While you read, you get to see what her mother had went through since the day she left that small town. And just like Emily, you feel her pain as well.

One thing I really loved about this book was the dream. Sure I wanted to be a rock star when I was like five, listening to my own dad's records and pretending to play the guitar with a duster. But in this story you see the dream that Emily, Regan, and drummer boy Tom create with their band She Laughs. Once you get sucked into this world of punk rock and teenage angst and the need for closure, I promsie you, you won't be dissapointed.

Stephanie Kuehnert is a very promising author and her next novel, Ballads of Suburbia will be hitting the book stores in July! *fist pumps air*

Check out her site: http://www.stephaniekuehnert.com/home.html

--Read a sneak peak into Ballads of Suburbia and join the street team!

♥Amber