Trigger Warnings: Drinking/Underage, Drug Use, Near Death Experience due to drugs, Bad trip due to drugs/drinking

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone follows Emily Black through childhood and into young adulthood as she finds her way in the rock and roll world. Her mother, Louisa, let Emily with her father as a four month old to "follow the music" and no one has seen her since. Now with her own band, Emily is determined to make the music that will bring her mother home.

This book was okay for me. I enjoyed it and read it all the way through because I did get invested in Emily's life but at the same time, I ended up being slightly annoyed with most characters throughout it at some point. But, I do relate to Emily's love for music and Stephanie Kuehnert did a marvelous job at getting that into words. Anytime Emily talked about her passion and itch to play her guitar, I would nod my head in understanding. Music is something you can feel in your soul.

The ending was about what I expected it to be and I wasn't upset with it at all. Emily went through a lot in this novel and it was a journey. This isn't a typical YA novel, I would push this more towards being a New YA due to the content of it and the age that Emily is through the later half of it. ( )

Torn between 2 and 3 stars. I liked it more than I thought I would, as I was leery of a YA book put out by MTV books. I am way to old for that. Quite a bit of the plot seemed totally preposterous, or crazily oversimplified. For example a character is addicted to drugs... but then they stop. But overall it kept my attention as a quick read and wasn't nearly as sappy as I thought it may be. ( )

Emily Black lives in small-town Wisconsin, brought up by her music-loving father and the legends of her rebellious mother Louisa who left when she was an infant to follow the punk music scene. This book is about Emily's own journey on the path of music, the boys that distract her from it, and her search for answers about her legendary - and absent - mother. Also told from the perspective of Louisa, this book weaves an amazing and emotional narrative of punk rock and the emotions we run from. Highly, highly recommended!

The only slight disappointment I had was how quickly it ended. There was a pretty emotional scene at the very end, and then boom, you're done. I kind of wish there had been a little bit more of the story, just a tiny bit of what happened next. It just goes to show you that I wasn't ready to let go of these characters. I wish I could hang out with Emily Black. ;) ( )

Totally nails 90s rock cliches. And the dialogue, ouch. Not unpleasant though. ( )

I loved "I wanna be your Joey Ramone" by: Stephanie Kuehnert. It was one of the best books I have read in a long time. I really felt like I was in the story and living the life of Emily Black who wanted to be a rock star hoping that it would bring her mother back to her. After her father told her that her mom left to follow the music. She grew up in the time of punk and rock and roll and bases her life off of the values her father instills in her. ( )