When The Scar Boys ended, the band has fallen apart. Harry and Johnny are barely speaking, and Cheyenne is feeling desperate about Johnny, who has retreated into silence. It’s only through their music that the group is able to rebuild their relationships, and they slowly begin to reach musical success and fame. In Scar Girl, Cheyenne, Harry, and Richie tell their own stories as they discover the ups and downs of being rock musicians—including meltdowns on stage, too much drinking, keeping secrets that should be shared, and having fights that test the limits of their friendship. The band’s reputation grows and grows, but will the kids themselves survive?
Len Vlahos delivers a powerful sequel to his bestselling YA sensation, The Scar Boys, with a story of love, music, and heartbreak.
Having not read Scar Boys, which was the first book, I wasn’t too sure if I would be able to get everything out of Scar Girl as I should so I had this book for a bit before I was ready to read it. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. I really liked it…a lot as a matter of fact. I had read some reviews and some were saying it was because of the interview format of the book that they didn’t like it. I have to say again, that I thought that the author did a great job. It was refreshing to read a book where the “rock stars” weren’t all the “hot looking” people that I normally read about. It made these kids seem more real. They each had their own issues to deal with. I thought the author had guts dealing with issues that are just as prevalent today as they were in the 80’s; bullying, suicide, drinking and pregnancy.
For me, I felt that the interview format gave you a chance to see each of the band members as to how everything that was going on had affected them. To help lighten it some I really liked Richie, he gave the lighter side sometimes when issues with Johnny, Harry and Cheyenne were getting pretty dark. Each of these individuals had their own battles to conquer; Harry was bullying and dealing with a deformity that was brought on by the bullying, Johnny was dealing with the issues of losing a leg due to a drunk driver, Richer had lost his mom at an early age, and Cheyenne was not only dealing with an unexpected pregnancy but with a miscarriage as well and because of this Cheyenne had developed a drinking problem.
I am really glad that I read this book and I have to say that I am going to go back and read Scar Boys because I thought the author did such a good job with this book and made me want to learn even more about these four individuals.
This book was provided as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
The band broke up in 1987 and I followed my other passion, books. I’ve worked in the book industry ever since. And, of course, I write. And I write, And I write, write, write.
My first novel, The Scar Boys — it’s labeled as Young Adult, but I’ve never really liked labels — published January 2014. It is, not surprisingly, a rock and roll coming of age story. No vampires or dystopian future, just a messed up boy and his guitar. (I have nothing against vampires or dystopian futures. I loved The Passage, The Hunger Games, and The Road.)
Scar Girl, the continuation of The Scar Boys’ story, is due out from Egmont USA in fall 2015.
I live in Connecticut with my super awesome wife Kristen, and our six year old son Charlie, and three and a half year old son, Luke, and I spend my days working at a small book industry non profit.
