Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Bootleg Stardust was extremely disappointing.
When I saw this book on NetGalley, I was instantly intrigued. I honestly didn’t expect to receive an ARC, but I requested it anyway. I was beyond thrilled when I was accepted. But it only went downhill from there.

I was most excited for this book for the promising backdrop of the rock and roll music scene in the 1970’s. As a big fan of ‘70s music, and also because this book was compared to Daisy Jones and the Six which I adored, I was so looking forward to this story. I did not at all get what I had been anticipating in terms of setting (or anything really).
Sure, I was TOLD that we were in 1974, but I didn’t FEEL it. It was very much lacking in atmosphere.

The writing style was extremely immature.
I am still struggling to decipher what the target age group for this book is supposed to be. Based on the synopsis, I had assumed that it was an adult novel, and that is how it is advertised on both NetGalley and Godreads. It sure doesn’t feel that way. The protagonist was 20 years old, so perhaps it was supposed to be YA? But at the same time, the writing style is often so juvenile that it almost reads like a middle grade novel. Here are a few examples:
I took my guitar and Rudy had his bass. Katrina had her sticks but we left the rest of the gear, and peeled out of there, out through the back door, out into the cold, our breaths huffing out in cloudy blasts.
The writing style in passages like this reminded me of the way that I wrote in elementary school (I'm sorry that sounds harsh). It's very choppy and full of straight across descriptions.
Rudy’s dad, but he died a few years ago. It was cancer, one of the really bad ones.
Lines like this made me question if this was really intended to be for adults. This is a weird statement to find in an adult novel, in my opinion.
I always liked their band name. I liked the letter X in it. I always thought X was the coolest letter in the alphabet.
You’ve got to be kidding me.

The writing was also extremely bland.
The author seemed dependent on the frequent use of statements like “if you didn’t know”, and “if you ask me”, which I found to be repetitive, irritating, and, again, juvenile. Here are a couple of examples:
Evelyn was amazing on the piano. She’d gone to Julliard – which if you don’t know, is about the most important music school in the world.
It was that pirate thing again which was pretty cool if you ask me.
I wrote a great big L for Levi then squiggled out my last name. My handwriting was pretty messy if you really want to know the truth.
It seriously never ended!

All of the characters are lifeless. From main characters, to background characters, to everyone in between, they were underdeveloped and uninteresting. I did not feel an ounce of attachment to a single character in the story.
Levi was honestly a very unlikeable protagonist. Outside of his narration being painfully immature and boring, I did not like his arrogance and the manner in which he treated others. I thought that he was unnecessarily mean to his friend, Rudy.
”Rudy,” I said. “Please. Don’t wreck this for me.” [...] It’s not that I didn’t want to help Rudy. It’s just that he didn’t really belong here. This wasn’t his world at all.
“I need to go,” I said. “There’s nothing for me here.” “No,” he said. “You can’t go yet.” “Please,” I managed. “I have to be a musician. I’m going to be famous.” “You can live in my mom’s basement. She said so.” “Evelyn said that?” He considered me. His lower lip was trembling just a bit. “I’m going to be famous,” I said again, like that counted for anything.

The romance was painfully underdeveloped. There was very little connection before Levi was all of a sudden professing his love to a full audience at a concert, might I add. If I were Adriane, I think that I would have been running in the other direction from this guy after that.

I disliked the plot. I found that it was filled with many ridiculous plot twists that honestly just made for a whole lot of unnecessary drama that did not seem to serve any actual purpose to the plot, setting, or character development. The overarching story got lost in the muddle of superfluous drama.

If you’re looking for a fun, atmospheric read that set in the 1970’s Rock’n’Roll scene, this ain’t it.

Bootleg Stardust was ultimately a supreme disappointment. I came into it with high hopes because of it’s similarities to Daisy Jones & the Six which is my most favourite book of all time. Ultimately there was very little comparison between the two besides the 70’s setting.

The novel is about 20 year Levi who’s whole life has been one big screw up after another. He was abandoned as a baby by his birth parents and has spent his whole life being shuffled from foster home to foster home. When he was in middle school he discovered the piano and to his surprise was actually good at it. He soon went from the piano to the guitar and started playing rock music with his best friend Rudy. The book starts off with Levi being a high school dropout living in Rudy’s Mom’s basement with no prospects to think of. It is his dream to be a musician but he has no idea how to make that happen. Rudy’s Mom Evelyn is pushing the both of them to find real jobs so in one last ditch effort Levi sends out demos to a bunch of different record labels and shockingly one actually bites. In a matter of days he’s whisked off to London to audition for the band Downtown Exit. Which begins to this wild series of crazy events.

I really wanted to like this novel, stories about bands and musicians are alway endlessly entertaining but I just feel like it completely failed in the execution. Levi was such a bland protagonist with almost no agency. He just felt so passive and nondescript, there was nothing at all intriguing about him. The novel seems to spend very little time actually developing him as character just to make room for all the crazy plot turns that arose in every chapter. I also was not a big fan of the writing style, Levi’s voice was very grating and I hated how the author would describe certain things.

None of the other characters fared much better with almost every one of them being very one note acting as either plot devices or caricatures. There was just far too much going on to spend any decent amount of time on character work. Frankie was the worst of them all. He was just a bunch of cliches melded together and seemed to be an antagonist simply because the plot called for it not for any particular reason. You couldn’t even enjoy his antagonistic ways at all. He was just plain insufferable. And honestly just seemed plain stupid.

The only person I actually liked in this story was Ariadne. She was caring and sweet and I loved her passion for poetry and how badly she wanted to make her mark on the world. I could understand so fully why Levi was drawn to her so quickly but once again the author didn’t seem to want to do anything interesting with her and relegated her to the background.

Overall there was nothing about this novel that entertained me or hooked me and I was just waiting for this story to be over.

Thank you to netgalley and simon & schuster for sending me this for review.

Great rock n roll story about an upcoming band's struggle with all the things of the 70's- drinking, drugs, touring, greedy record labels and misadventure! Fun read, great characters and story. Great for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It was a well written book. It is my first book read by this author., I hope to read more books by this author.

This was a lot of fun. Music lovers will appreciate the insight into the craft. The entire journey depicted in these pages showcase just how powerful music truly is.

I loved the fact that this book is set in the 70’s but other than that it fell flat for me. I found a lot of things were repetitive.

I was super excited for Bootleg Stardust. After hearing comparisons to Daisy Jones & the Six and reading the synopsis, it sounded like it would be right up my alley. Set in the 70s, it follows Levi Jaxon, a young musician from Calgary, Alberta (whose favourite letter is X?) as he is thrust into stardom after going to Europe and joining a rock band.

Music lovers will appreciate the intricate details and references to instruments, song writing, recording and what goes into a live show. I did enjoy the nods to famous bands and fashion from the era. Unfortunately, the book didn't live up to my expectations. I found the plot to be a bit far fetched and was frustrated with a lot of the characters for most of the book. There were a lot of random conflicts and dramatic moments that didn't feel natural to the story. I went into the book expecting it to be about a rockstar who becomes disillusioned with the lifestyle. The book was something else completely.

There were a lot of ominous and cryptic warnings from the characters for Levi to "watch out" and "be careful". Anytime a character tried to tell Levi something, he cut them off which was a bit infuriating. I think the phrase "if you want to know the truth" was used at least 30 times. I would have liked a bit more resolution (and purpose) to all the dramatic details and reveals. Overall, an easy read with a bit of an implausible plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an advance copy of this e-book in exchanged for a review

I had a lot of difficulty reading this book and it took me several tries to complete it. There were a lot of repetitive phrases that I noticed, which then became distracting. I also found it predictable. I'm not sure if I would reference it as comparable to Daisy Jones and the Six but once I did get into it, I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC for my honest review.

Fun novel which explores the journey of a young musician from Calgary, Alberta, as he follows his rock and roll dream to Europe and joins a popular band looking to finish recording its newest album and stay afloat. The plot is, at times, a bit ridiculous and some questionable actions and incidents are glossed over but it’s an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the ARC.

I had trouble getting into this book but in the end it was worth the read. A well told tale of the 70's and the power music held, onto people. A whirlwind of emotions!

Thank you netgalley for the arc

What a fun story! Levi, from Calgary, AB is a musician and his entire life he has known that it is what he wants to do - he simply can't do anything as as the music swirls in his head. Living in his friend's family's basement he plays with his band, doing a mix of covers and original songs hoping to make it into the big leagues. Just as the drummer quit, Levi and bff Rudy send tapes off to different labels. A label from London calls Levi and tells him to come for an audition. Selling his best guitar to cover his airfare, he packs all of his belongings in a duffle, and along with his acoustic guitar starts on a journey that isn't what he expected, but then again, he didn't know what to expect.

Playing 'backstage' guitar for a band to stand in for the lead guitarist who sometimes takes such a trip that he can't play coherently, Levi goes along for the ride, just happy to play.
Then, when the frontman dies, Levi is catapulted from backstage to on stage and struggles to find his place where there is much he doesn't know or understand, just that he gets to play. Following the band on a disastrous tour designed to buy them time to finish recording their second album, you get an insider's look at the music scene in the 70s, the manipulation of record labels, and how Levi will do anything just to keep making music.

The story is told from Levi's perspective, as if he is recounting his adventures, this first person narrative is not just a story about following dreams, but about identity, family, and the connections that unite us.

Rounded up to 4 stars because it was an interesting story but I felt annoyed during it a lot at how constantly dumb and obviously set up the sort was. You could see miles away what was coming and Levi was so angry about things that made no sense for him to be angry about all the time, he wouldn't listen. The action of the story was good, I do like imagining about bands from the 70s and all the shit that went on then. Some of this story just felt a little formulaic and unnecessary.

This book was about Levi, a singer and guitarist in the 70s who ends up joining an already established band and goes on tour with them thru Europe. As expected, many shenanigans ensue (the requisite parties/drugs/affairs/scandals). I requested to read an advance copy as the description compared it to Daisy Jones and the Six (which I absolutely loved), and the premise sounded interesting. Unfortunately the book didn't really capture my attention. It was very simply written, which was a bit distracting. I also found it aggravating that the author used the phrase "if you want to know the truth" or similar so many times. A better editor would have cut down the 27 uses of this considerably. All in all it was a reasonably entertaining read that music fans (especially fans of music in the 70s) may enjoy, but it was nothing new or groundbreaking. A mindless way to spend a few hours.