I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read an ARC of Daisy Jones and the Six, and was intrigued by the format. The book is written in the form of what feels like a tv documentary where multiple people are interviewed about the events surrounding the band - a real rock-doco!

I thought it was very cleverly written, the dialogue felt very real, I felt I was really watching people talk. I enjoyed this for the first half of the book, but then I started to miss things like descriptions of body language, internal dialogue, etc, and I felt this led to the story lacking tension, so I didn’t feel very invested in the story or characters. It was just a bit lacking for me.

That said, based on the popularity of this author (whose contemporary novels I have enjoyed), and the unique style of this novel, I’m sure it will get loads of attention.

Let me tell you what the real brilliance of this book is – the authenticity of it all. After a few pages I found myself questioning whether it was fictional. Halfway through the story I was avidly googling The Six, Daisy Jones and both of the Dunne brothers. No result. Double-check. Nope, definitely says it is a fictional story. Kudos to the author for creating not only an authentic story, but also such convincing dialogue and characters.

The reader can feel the passion, the self-destruction and flighty confusion of the era, which in turn is reflected in the characters. The era of free love, lots of drugs and plenty of rock n’ roll. Nobody embodies the life quite like the lead singer of The Six, Billy Dunne.

When he reaches breaking point the relationship between Billy and his future wife Camila is what keeps him from running straight off a cliff. He gets his act together and then Daisy Jones steps into his life.

Daisy is a free spirit who wants to make her mark in the world of music, but on her terms and not on those of some man in charge of her. She is very much the feminine version of Billy. They have the same need to control their environment, to create their own music and to be adored by an army of fans.

This is the story of how Daisy Jones and The Six came to be and at the same time how it all ended abruptly in the midst of a successful tour. The story is told via a series of interviews with the responses to each event or question answered in mixed sequence by the band members, Daisy, family and managers.

It’s as if the reader is thrust into rooms where the entire cast of characters participate in front of each other, but are often simultaneously unaware of what the other is saying. Which means you get different accounts of the same situation as each individual remembers it. In essence it’s a kind of 4D holographic experience – of memories, opinions and emotional responses. It is absolutely fascinating.

This book is incredible! It's a bit like reading a documentary and the characters and their story feels so real that it's very difficult to believe that this is a work of fiction. I have to admit I Googled Daisy Jones, The Six and Daisy Jones & The Six just to make sure this was not a real band. I was very surprised by who the narrator is, but it makes sense because there are some very challenging topics covered in a delicate almost loving (but not limiting) way throughout the story.

I absolutely adored this, and devoured it in one go. The style is unusual but easy to follow, and adds a touch of humour in the differing and contradictory narratives. You fall in love with two or three of the main characters and their competing happy endings - I was especially drawn to Daisy and Karen, as well as Billy. I absolutely can’t wait for the tv adaptation of this, especially the soundtrack, which I think will really bring the story to life and amplify the heartache and passion of the story. An amazing read!

I didnt like this book so I was unable to finish and would prefer not to rate so I will leave a generic 3 stars I would also rather not publish any reviews for books I couldnt finish as I dont feel this is fair

Five stars! If I could give it six, I would. This book is FANTASTIC from beginning to end.

Told through the voices of the band themselves, like an oral history, "Daisy Jones and the Six" explores the formation, rise (and fall? maybe - no spoilers here; I haven't read the final chapter yet) of a rock band in the 1970s. With romantic tension, drugs, love, sex, and music throughout, this novel is so finely-wrought that I found it difficult to believe that it was fiction; I want to hear those songs and see those album covers and watch the concerts!

It's like Reid has combined all the drama of real-life Fleetwood Mac, with the style and ambiance of 2001's 'Almost Famous'. And then she's added a strong female protagonist who doesn't apologise for who she is, even when she screws up.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is a phenomenal writer, and after reading this and 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo', I'm going out immediately to source every single other book she's ever published. I can't recommend this highly enough, and I'm impatient to wait until March so I can buy a copy for every single one of my friends.

I read a lot of books but rarely do you find a book that leaves you will feelings both of being privileged to have read it and with a incredible warmth of nostalgic appreciation. This book has to rank as one of the best I have ever read (I'm 71) now) or am ever likely to read.
It starts off as if it will be an amalgam of biographies of bands where the songwriter/leader has sadly joined the 'group of 27' (the age at their death). Well into the book I was still feeling this way and was assuming someone would not reach the end of the book alive. However as you get to know and understand the band members better and better you start to feel a part of the story and, for me, the book attains the 'could not put down' rare status..
I did feel, however, that this was a sixties story line with a seventies backdrop as LA, drugs etc. seem to me to be more associated with the mid to late sixties than ten years on. When I reached 20% completion I was still trying to work the book out so I did an internet search on the title. Two things I found out - one reviewer said she did a search for the band in case it had existed and had been missed! Secondly was that the book would be a 13 part Amazon series and had Reese Witherspoon as an executive producer.. By the time I had completed the book I full understood why. To be 13 episodes I presume a lot of music will be added and I
reckon the hardest job will be for someone to pen the music for the song lyrics given in detail at the end of the book.
The book is written as short interview comments to explain the rise and fall of the band and it is only at the very end do you understand (at least for me) why - a very clever twist. The book finishes with a where are they now section - my only minor criticism is I expected some life failures and premature ends.
This is probably the longest review I have ever given so .... please don't miss reading the book in 2019 well before the Amazon series is available (2020?)

Daisy Jones and the Six is different from almost all the books I've ever read. Set in the present day, it follows a fictional rock band discussing their journey as they made it big in the 1970s. The story is in an interview format and covers the points of view of the band members, their partners and other people integral to their success.

The character development was incredible. I found each character to be distinctive and they had such believable relationships with each other. This definitely had the most heartbreaking and believable 'love/hate' relationship I have ever read about. You also experience the realities of cheating, unreciprocated love, unplanned pregnancy and drug addiction - it's one hell of a ride!

One of the most interesting elements is how different characters are interviewed about the same event but have different memories of how the event unfolded. I'm a big fan of the unreliable narrator and it leaves you wondering if that is the case, or if certain characters have simply misremembered. Regardless, this makes the story even more intriguing.

This was the first full-length Taylor Jenkins Reid book I have read (I've since finished 'The Seven Husbands...') and I thought it was a solid read. I gave the book 3* as although I enjoyed the book, it felt more like a stream of consciousness at times and had little to no twists or surprises, which is something that I enjoy. Overall though this is a solid read especially if you're a big fan of rock and roll music.

I absolutely adored this book, in the same way that I rated Laura Barnett's 'Greatest Hits'. A fictional band, (that made me think of Fleetwood Mac), retells the story of their formation and seminal (and only) album in a series of very loose interviews 40 years later.
There's the typical rock and roll excess; sex, drugs, alcohol and fraught relationships between band members, but written with such honesty and emotion that it never felt like a trope. Taylor Jenkins Reid has a real knack for creating a thread and then weaving it into a story to create a complex, multi-layered story that packs a real emotional punch. She really brings to life the music scene in the 60's and 70's as well, and I found it really interesting to pick up the subtle references to the role of women in bands at a time when the feminism movement was really gaining momentum.
I was really feeling quite bereft as I finished reading the last page, only to read that Reese Witherspoon has optioned the book for a tv dramatisation. Yes!!! *fist punches the air*

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I totally forgot it was fiction and got caught up in everybody's lives from the start. The way it is written makes it seem more personal and real. I am looking forward to seeing the TV series. This is a really well written story that I think will work well on screen.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This novel is set around a group of musicians who are trying to be famous. Two brothers start the group, other join in, but their career really takes off when Daisy Jones, a singer/songwriter joins them. (I reminded me a little of the hiatus around Fleetwood Mac, and their continual changes of personnel)
Daisy is out of control on drugs, drink and sexual conquests. The original lead singer, whose songs are mainly done by The SIx, is a reformed alcoholic, who is trying to stay true to his marriage, his principles, his children, and his lifestyle. However, he is very unsettled by Daisy, and the effect she has upon him. His wife realizes this, but has to trust that he will not stray, drink or take drugs any more.
The record company management spend a lot of time sorting out petty arguments, flash fights, and trying to capitalize on the electric effect that Daisy's songs have on the group.
This book was by turns, happy/sad; powerful/unsettling; disturbing/joyful; and although I did not approve of some of the things the characters all did, it was a book that kept drawing you in, to be able to see what happens in the end.

This book is original. It’s done as an interview format with a band and Daisy Jones looking back at how they started out, met up and became huge pop stars.
Got to say I didn’t like Daisy Jones much. But I loved this book!

I really enjoyed this book. The narrative style took a bit of getting into, at first, seemingly distancing the reader from the character, however, it build the characters up later by layer in such a subtle way I was really impressed. I felt the writing was subtle and clever, packed with emotion and it came across that the author really loved all of her characters. The tension between band mates was perfect, making everyone human and no one the bad guy. I have to say, I didn’t really like Daisy but even her story arch brought me to feel some sympathy towards her. There was certainly an ‘Almost Famous’ vibe to the whole novel and at one point I questioned whether I was reading about a real band. I am looking forward to seeing what the television series does with this.

Have you ever wondered what life was like in a band in seventies? Then this is the novel for you.

I am something of a sucker for books, films and TV series set in the music industry. From Almost Famous (which perhaps is closest in vibe to this novel), to Vinyl and the little seen Roadies, I’m fascinated by a life that I’ve never especially wanted to be part of. This novel ticks all those boxes.

Daisy Jones & The Six tells the stories of Daisy Jones, an aspiring songwriter, and Billy Dunne, the lead singer of The Six. Told in a first-person style, we learn how the singer songwriter and rock band came together, produced one of the best-selling albums of the period, and then broke up (This is not a spoiler incidentally, as it’s revealed right at the start).

The novel reads like one of those oral histories that you might read in music magazines like Rolling Stone, cutting back and forth between the relevant protagonists as we follow their lives and experiences.

Daisy is the daughter of distantly wealthy parents who never seem too worried that their teenage daughter is hanging out on Sunset Strip, becoming the coolest person around, drinking, taking drugs and having sex with whoever she likes.

Meanwhile, across the country, Billy Dunne is forming a band with his brother Graham amongst others, and trying to make it in the music industry – starting with smaller clubs before eventually getting signed to Runner Records and having some demons to face.

The novel tells how these two paths collide, and the impact it has on both their lives personal and professional lives.

These might not be real lives, but they feel real, and that’s what’s important. All the way through this novel you feel that Taylor Jenkins Reid knows about the scene at the time. At the very least, she has spoken to people who understand it. I don’t know who Daisy might be based on, but you can certainly believe that there was a wild child like her, living in a cottage at the Chateau Marmont, and hanging out with all the names of the day.

You also know that LA was the epicentre of a certain type of music of the time, and that bands did indeed feel the need to move there to develop their careers.

The structure of the novel means that initially it can be little hard to differentiate the characters – they are all giving interviews to an unseen narrator. But everyone here is their own person, and you begin to wish that you could listen to the songs and hear that music that’s being talked about (In fact, you can read the lyrics from many of their songs in the novel’s appendix).

One slight complaint I have about the book’s structure is that it requires that all the characters have fantastic recollection of the period. Yes, there are some entertaining “unreliable narrator” moments, when two characters remember a key conversation very differently, but considering the sheer quantities of drink and drugs that were being consumed, word perfect recall of some of these conversations is a little bit of a stretch at times. But it’s hard to work around that given the structure’s constraints. If this were a documentary feature, then those gaps might be filled in with clips from the era, but a novel doesn’t have that luxury.

It’s very entertaining how the novel has to carefully weave between real people from the period and people who might have been around at the time. A venue in LA is real, a presenter of Saturday Night Live isn’t.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fictional representation of the rise and fall of a band plying their trade in the late seventies. The book is more about relationships of the protagonists than the minutiae of how the industry actually works. But you kind of wish you could have been there.

I think a tv series will be the best vehicle for Daisy Jones & The Six because of its' episodic nature.
I found the style of the book, written in little anecdotes, to be quite distracting. On the other hand, the story is vividly realised. You can easily picture Daisy getting wasted at the Chateau Marmont or Billy struggling with his addictions in a hotel room.
The book spends so long getting to the band being successful , which is often the most exciting time. It then falls off a cliff and ends pretty abruptly. I would have liked to spend more time with band, exploring the tensions between Daisy and Billy. Three stars.

This was a fun faux-biography of a band from the 1970s (which I totally imagined as Fleetwood Mac throughout!) and a book which managed to make me care quite passionately about most of the characters, which is one of the most important jobs a novel should achieve, in my opinion. I enjoyed the build up to the success of the band and found that the multiple narrators actually added a lot of impact to the tale, though I often find this technique to be repetitive and distracting.
I picked this title after Reese Witherspoon recommended it (though I'm not sure why, as I don't have a clue as to her literary tastes!) and was not disappointed. High energy, emotional and entertaining.

Taylor Jenkins Reed is back with another story from L.A., featuring a singer Daisy Jones and a rock band The Six.

Set in the late 60s and 70s, the story follows the beginnings, unprecedented fame and in the end the break up of the rock band. As you would expect of the time period, the story is packed with sex, drugs and rock & roll!

The book reads like a memoir with snippets from interviews with Daisy, the band and people close to them. There's not much one can do with the format in which books are written, and so I really appreciate when authors try something new and different. The mini interview format really worked for me. It feels very realistic, almost like watching a tv documentary about a rock legend. I sometimes caught myself forgetting they were just a fictional band and wanted to play their songs on YouTube.

I kind of feel sad these characters do not exist in real life as I'm pretty sure I would love their music. Luckily, this is going to be made into a mini tv series which I'm very excited about. Some books work well when made into movies and some don't. I can tell, that with the right cast, this one will work perfectly. Cannot wait!

Many thanks to Penguin Random House UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This review will contain spoilers at the very end. You will be warned before you reach this section. The rest of this review is spoiler free.

Told retrospectively in interview format, Daisy Jones and The Six follows young pop starlet Daisy Jones and east coast rock band The Six as they slam into each other’s lives and change the course of everything. Following their heyday in the 70’s, each band member and supporting family, friends, and colleagues recount the wild nights of after show parties, the intense behind the scenes of tour rehearsals, and the intimate ins and outs of what happens to the most talked about band of the decade.

There is something so very special about this book. The hook is in format, told from various different perspectives, going right back to the beginning of Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne – their childhood, their parents, their introduction to music. Told as an interview, the story quickly speeds up until they’re both making it – sort of. The sparks don’t really start to fly until they team up for one song, and one song turns into an album, and the album turns them upside down.

This is 100% a character driven book. Because of the way it’s told, you get to hear from the characters directly – there’s no introductory paragraph setting the scene, nothing describing their clothes or the location – but it totally worked. You didn’t miss out on any action or necessary detail, but you only got things relevant to each character and their perspective. You also have one character saying something and then straight after another character completely contradicts it, in their head, something completely different happened, and you see the way in which memory is unreliable and everyone is biased to their own way of thinking. As you read on, you start questioning everyone’s side of the story, and how true what they’re actually saying is.

But this story isn’t about rock and roll, or the drugs, or the ’70s. It’s about these seven people, their vices, their fears, ambitions, mistakes, regrets, and it works so well to keep you hooked, but also to be told through interviews. In my head when reading it, I just kept thinking how well it would work as a film – sort of documentary style (yes, I am imagining it a bit like the Kardashians where they each talk about what’s happening in that episode) but with clips from gigs and press releases and behind the scenes filming. I think with the focus on the music interspersed between each interview session, I think it would make a really interesting film.

This book has fully captured my heart, and being my first by Taylor Jenkins Reid, I am 100% about to dive into her back catalogue. I miss these people – these fake, fictional, messed up people with their self centered lives and bad decisions – I miss them. They came that alive for me. I rated it 4/5 stars, and also posted this review on Goodreads, where you can also follow me/add me as a friend.

The next section will contain spoilers. I recommend only proceeding if you have read the book.

When you find out the author of the book, the interviewer, it becomes even more poignant, and it becomes even more sentimental and all about the characters. Because they’re not telling their story for more fame, or to the press, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they’re talking about one of their own, their friend, someone they love. It’s for family, someone is wanting to know about her mother, her history, and it’s beautiful.

This was also sort of reminiscent of Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning for me, which as a young teenager I absolutely adored. You have the rush of fame, the intense closeness of always being with someone, the drama, the too real feelings that are too overwhelming for things to continue. Obviously also very different, but there are some links, if you are wanting to check out a different yet similar book.

I absolutely loved Daisy Jones and The Six. It took me a little while to get into the interview style but then I was hooked. I loved reading all the different takes on each situation and reading it from each character's point of view. My only issue with the entire book is that they're not a real band so i can't go and pore over old photos and listen to the music. I loved it.

I honestly forgot while reading that this was a work of fiction - I was utterly absorbed in the story