Kelley McNeil

In the present day, after the death of their father, Evie’s children discover an old magazine of a mystery girl with rockstar Carter Wills. Evie begins telling the story of her relationship with Wills and the band Mayluna. Interspaced with her story, Carter finally decides to tell his story during an interview while he travels to his next gig.

This book was extremely nostalgic and felt sad. I wished it had been written in the present day rather than having both narrators telling us a story about the past. The story itself was interesting, but the pace was very slow. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.… (mais)

This book was an Amazon First Reads for Kindle described as "women's fiction," although it's really more a romance.  The latter is not normally something I would have selected as my free book, but this was a month when the book in my favorite genre was not getting good reviews, and women's fiction is something I often like.  Although I'm not really the target audience for this book (which I would describe as romance fans, and/or people who came of age in the late 1990s), I still enjoyed it.

Mayluna is the name of an English alt-rock band in 1998, and Carter Wills is its 26-year-old enigmatic lead singer and songwriter. Evie Waters, aka Cameron Leigh, is a 25-year-old music journalist and aspiring filmmaker interviewing the band at the beginning of their first USA tour.  Carter and Evie hit it off and ultimately fall in love.  Their romance is told mostly in flashbacks (mostly from Evie) from twenty-plus years later.

Author Kelley McNeil says on her web page for Mayluna that "...when a song popped on the radio and in the span of those four minutes, words and characters and a complete story began to flow into my mind...."  I'd love to know the name of her inspiring song, but in reading this book, it immediately reminded me of the Moody Blues' song "Your Wildest Dreams" (which also runs about four minutes) and its follow-up, "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" (also about four minutes in its single/video version).

There are scenes in the videos for both songs that are reflected in McNeil's book.  However, I'd be surprised if they were her inspiration, given that "Your Wildest Dreams" came out in 1986, and "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" in 1988, and both songs look back to the mid-1960s  Songwriter and lead singer Justin Hayward has said in a couple of interviews that he was inspired to write the songs when reminiscing about his first love.… (mais)

I don't know exactly what I was expecting. Maybe something like Dark Matter? It kind of reminded me of The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin, which I gave one star (but I didn't leave a review so I don't remember why I hated it). I guess I just wanted something more? It just felt too obvious and too safe and predictable. It got pretty boring by the end and although it was a quick read, it was pretty monotonous. I never got the "aha" moment I wanted. That said, it wasn't terrible and it wasn't confusing at all, which would have been easy for a story like this. I also was intrigued by the premise.… (mais)