Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar

by Jessamyn Violet

Overview

Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books: Young Adult Literature —LAMBDA Literary
Must-Have 2023 Queer Book Releases —The Nerd Daily
Most Anticipated Young Adult Books —LGBTQ Reads
Recommended LGBTQ+ YA —Reads Rainbow

Acclaimed musician Jessamyn Violet’s debut LGBTQA+ novel sizzles with a coming-of-age story set in an industry of ambition, secrets, lies, and utter joy.

Eighteen-year-old Kyla Bell dreams of one day being a professional musician... but gets little to no support from her parents. Still, she practices every day and performs locally, harboring her own secret hopes. One night, her dreams are answered in the form of sultry rocker Ruby Sky, the magnetic frontwoman of her favorite band, Glitter Tears. Ruby hears Kyla perform and asks her to join the band on keys for their upcoming tour.

In order to accept, Kyla must drop out of her Western Massachusetts high school and move to Los Angeles immediately to live with a renowned yet highly volatile producer who has agreed to put her through "rock star boot camp" in a matter of weeks. Blindsided by her emerging feelings for Ruby Sky, Kyla tumbles through the lights and shadows of the 90s music scene in Los Angeles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781953103291
Publisher:	Three Rooms Press
Publication date:	04/18/2023
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Lexile:	HL730L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Jessamyn Violet is a writer and musician, born and raised in Massachusetts. She received her BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College, and her MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco's California College of the Arts. In Los Angeles, she has written for entertainment magazines, interviewing celebrities including John Green and Matt Groening, and worked in film production. Her poetry collection, Organ Thieves (Gauss PDF), was published in 2017. Her full-length screenplay “Exit Strategies” was a quarterfinalist in Scriptapalooza in 2018. Her short stories have been published in Ploughshares (forthcoming, Spring 2023), 805 Art + Lit Magazine, Adelaide, Little Break, and 3 Elements. Jessamyn plays drums for the band Movie Club. Secret Rules to being a Rockstar is her debut novel. She currently lives in Venice Beach, California.

Read an Excerpt

The Ground Rule

I fell in love with music like it was a person. From a very early age, I ate up anything a stereo speaker had to say and found something to appreciate in everything from pop hits to the most obscure genres and songs. The first thing I wanted to know about anyone I met was what kind of music they listened to, and the last thing I became hungry for before my life exploded was validation that the feeling was mutual—that music and I were in love with each other. Because I didn’t just listen to music. While other kids my age flirted and fooled around with each other, I found my own version of making love: Fingering the chipped ivory keys of our ancient piano in the basement while my voice entwined with the notes. I covered every song I loved and fantasized about being a professional musician. I cranked out original material like I might just die otherwise. Then I turned 18 and decided to play before an audience to see if it was really meant to be. And while western Massachusetts wasn’t exactly brimming with opportunities that matched my imagination’s version of my onstage debut, it was my best and only option. 

It was time to start the grind from the ground-up.

Editorial Reviews

Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books: Young Adult Literature —LAMBDA Literary
Must-Have 2023 Queer Book Releases —The Nerd Daily
Most Anticipated Young Adult Books —LGBTQ Reads
Recommended LGBTQ+ YA —Reads Rainbow

“Violet persuasively develops a vivid setting that epitomizes Kyla’s dreams and aspirations . . . complexly rendered relationships ground this wish-fulfilling love letter to rock music and the whirlwind of fame.” —Publishers Weekly

“Jack Kerouac collides with Lester Bangs, cynicism with hope, and the result is a book that is as sweetly pop as it's starkly punk. Violet's work will seem familiar, for better or worse, to most that have sought to make music their life. It's that authenticity that makes it such a valuable read.” —Brett Callwood, LA Weekly

"As hot as North Hollywood in July, Secret Rules to Being A Rockstar sears with a youthful sincerity and heat. Jessamyn Violet effortlessly captures the seedy world of music in 90s Los Angeles and the scary, sensitive, sticky feeling of being a teenager in an adult world." —Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara

“Violet spotlights art, music and queer identity through the eyes of Kyla Bell, a quirky teenage keyboardist immersed in the 90’s Los Angeles rock scene in her debut book.” —Los Angeles Daily News

"This striking debut about an up-and-coming young musician feels reminiscent of the captivating fictional celebrity of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestselling Daisy Jones And The Six with its own lighthearted, YA sense of fun and wonder . . . A sparkling debut that will become a favourite and comfort read . . . Violet’s stellar wit and pacing never allow for a dull moment, sweeping the reader up into a world of glamour, uncertain romance and rock stardom.” —The National Scotland

“An evocative ’90s vignette.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar crackles with the incandescent, electric thrill of being young and letting the pure act of creating art fill your soul. Your heart will beat like you’re falling in love for the first time on a Los Angeles summer night when you read this book.” —Jeff Zentner, award-winning author, The Serpent King and In the Wild Light

"This is a sparkling, exhilarating, and moving debut about a young woman on the cusp of everything—but it's an even greater meditation on the ways in which, to paraphrase Kyla, we rough ourselves up in the name of art. I loved it!" —Jessie Ann Foley, author, The Carnival at Bray and You Know I'm No Good

“A rockstar tale of a young queer woman navigating coming out while also diving pink hair first into a caffeine-fueled Boogie Nights-esque Los Angeles night life. I definitely would have dog-eared so many pages if I'd gotten to read this kind of book when I was a teen.” —Maya Miller, drummer, The Pack A.D.

“Jessamyn Violet presents readers with the sights, sounds, smells, and, above all, the tumultuous thoughts and feelings of a young life in music. This story rings true from its overture to its coda.“ —Susan Rogers, Director of Berklee Music Perception & Cognition Lab; Author, This Is What It Sounds Like: What The Music You Love Says About You

“Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar breaks open the experience of being a new-to-the-scene musician to reveal the glittery tangle of excitement, inspiration, and danger that comes with sudden success. Jessamyn Violet’s queer protagonist, Kyla Bell, might be green, but she is the only person we can trust to teach us the rules to surviving—and maybe even thriving—in the 1990s Hollywood music industry. An impressive, introspective debut!” —Kelly Ann Jacobson, author, Tink and Wendy and Robin and Her Misfits

“Jessamyn Violet is a real rocker and a real writer. You will love her as much as I do.” —Alice Hoffman, NYT bestselling author of Practical Magic

"Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar is a magical story that reminds me of when we were first getting started with Skating Polly. I could not put this book down and definitely cried at parts. I'm proud to support such a cool, fun and feminist tale. It’s the book I dreamed of reading as a teenager!!" —Peyton Bighorse, musician, Skating Polly

“Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar is a colorful story full of hope and wonder, immersing the reader in the near-dystopian dreamscape of the music industry in 1990s Los Angeles—and I know because I lived it.” —Eva Gardner, bassist for P!NK, Cher, Tegan & Sara

“Jessamyn Violet’s riveting debut novel, Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar, gives us Kyla Bell, an endearing character who strives to balance the life of a rockstar with that of the honest and loyal daughter and friend she has always been. For this, Kyla needs a complicated set of rules, and the journey that follows—vivid and wise—is both poignant and exhilarating." —Jill McCorkle, NYT Bestselling Author

From the Publisher

2023-01-25
Eighteen-year-old Kyla moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of rock stardom.

Kyla, a White girl from Western Massachusetts, is discovered when a musician hears her playing piano in a local restaurant and asks her to open for his band, which is touring the area and needs a replacement for the original act that had to cancel. Ruby Sky, a Courtney Love–esque singer Kyla loves, sees her performance and asks Kyla to move to LA to join her band. However, Kyla needs rock-star bootcamp before she’s ready. In a matter of days, she is immersed in the nonstop party life of 1990s LA. The nostalgia is on point without being heavy-handed, but the plot feels incomplete, so the magic wears off before long. Readers will spend the whole time waiting for the many Chekhov’s guns to go off, but most never do. Eating disorders, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and predatory men simply provide the set dressing. There is a little more development given to Kyla’s discovery of her sexuality; though it remains unlabeled, she does come to accept that she is attracted to women. For all the experiences Kyla goes through, from her barely believable, dream-come-true discovery to her decision to follow her love of music no matter what it brings, more is needed to take this book from a series of anecdotes to a robust story.

An evocative ’90s vignette without a strong plot to carry it. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews