I loved this book. Well written and beautifully paced it is a travelogue through a generation of music, sexual and pharmaceutical experimentation.

A not to be missed story.

I received arc of this book and voluntarily provided a review.

The Lighting Bottles is everything I wanted it to be. Music is a big part of my life and the premise drew me in.
I adored this book, even through all the teenage angst. I’m an 80’s baby and was a teenager in the 90’s - I LIVED this era of music. The author did a fantastic job of getting this history right, even down to the excessive amount of drug use turned addiction.

The two main characters met on AOL and started chatting as complete strangers just like we did! Their love for music and eventually each other led to forming a band in the Seattle grunge scene, an era of music counterculture that can’t be matched. The descriptive writing really transported me back into time, giving that heavy dose of nostalgia every 90s’ grunge kid wants.
I related and felt for Jane(t) the most. It is slightly reminiscent of the hatred for Courtney Love after Kurt Cobain committed suicide. Just like Jane, the entire music scene blamed his downfall and death on Courtney. This was not a simple time for musicians and that shined through this story.
Throughout reading, all I wanted to do was find Elijah, get the real story of his disappearance, since sadly we will never know the truth about so many real tortured musicians that spawned from Seattle. The book is told in duel timelines; past and current being the search for Elijah. The secret messages!! I’ll tell you what, I was not expecting the ending!
The Lighting Bottles is a fantastic piece of work about the era of good music, teenage angst; a tumultuous love story, the premature rise and fall of an infamous band and its members, gritty drug use and addiction, and the misfit fans who loved it all. To the misfits who bonded through music like this and finally felt like they were a part of something!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster!

4 stars*

I really liked this book! It is the story of teenagers Elijah and Janet, who meet in an AOL chatroom in 1991 and begin sharing music, lyrics, and friendship.

Janet is from a very conservative, religious community in Canada and when her mother discovers the communication she puts up every block she can. To no avail. Ultimately, Janet runs away and shows up on Seattle-based Elijah's porch and becomes a part of his life.

Janet drops the "t" en route to Seattle and newly minted Jane & Elijah's origin story is the basis of the beginning of this Grunge Era Star-Crossed lovers tale.

90s drug scene, legan battles over lyric rights, world travel, addiction, co-dependence, and fun 90s nostalgia are the backdrop to what ends up being a mystery.

Did Elijah really die when he went out in the rowboat in Iceland when they were hiding out?

All around a winner. I'll look for more by Marissa Shipley.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review

Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster for my copy of THE LIGHTNING BOTTLES.

I’m obsessed with this book. These characters, the story, the music history it’s all perfect. If you liked DAISY JONES AND THE SIX but also love the 90s music era, go snag yourself a copy of this one. The journey this book takes you on is intense and full of love, addiction, fame, grief and hope. I already want to reread this one.

Spoilers ahead possibly!***
This was a really moving, beautiful story. I felt like I lived a life with these characters. So much heartbreak but I was not expecting such a happy ending! I actually was really happy about that even though I’m not sure how plausible it was. I do feel like it maybe dragged a little bit at parts. That would be my only critique. And I’m not really sure Hen needed to be a part of the story. I’m sure that will not be a popular opinion but I don’t know. I understand why she was there but she didn’t do much for me to be honest. Overall I enjoyed this a lot. I would recommend.

"Jane Pyre was once half of the famous rock n roll duo, the Lightning Bottles. Years later, she's perhaps the most hated— and least understood— woman in music.”
And now her husband and band mate, the heart of the music whom everyone loved as much as they despised Jane, has disappeared. Sentenced dead in a boating accident, until one day a German teenager finds evidence he might still be alive. Unable to find the courage to tell anyone, and struggling to help her mother with her agoraphobia, one day Jane moves in next door to Hen. So begins their journey to find Elijah's string of messages and whether or not he is still alive.

A split time novel about the dangers of drugs and celebrity, about loving music, about a quest for answers, about a jealous ex band mate, and about a rock star duos's rise and fall.
Could be triggering for those bothered by excessive drug use and drinking, but sobriety is lauded and becomes one way some characters save themselves.
This book is ideal for fans of 90s rock/grunge music and the rock and roll world of celebrity, drugs, alcohol, jealousies, and unfolding past drama with a modern day graffiti art scavenger hunt.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. I devoured this book. Female rock starts and females in general are held to a much higher standard than men. They must be perfect at all times and even if they are, something is wrong with them. Unfortunately, this is how the world is. This was a wonderful novel showcasing the tribulations of fame and being a woman in rock while also not glamorizing or letting Jane off the hook for who she is. It was well-paced, the flashbacks made sense, and everything came together in the end. I highly recommend this book. 4.5 stars.

Can I give this book six stars? What a fantastic story! Seamlessly moving back and forth from present to past, this story is captivating, moving, and poignant. The 90’s music scene, Seattle, the meeting of Jane and Elijah, their band, success and the ensuing drug, alcohol, and legal problems. So much is happening in the story of The Lightning Bottles that it is heart-wrenching at moments, but I was always rooting for the couple to overcome their issues and reunite. Stapley brings to life the characters in this book through their real dreams and problems. Super great story and writing from beginning to the end. I could have read this in one sitting. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

This was love story mystery.About two young people who starte Rock and roll band Called the lightning Bottles.t Jean was a young girl living up in canada with his mother who was a very strict christian. E l r j a h Was a young man living in seattle. He was in Band. JA NE started communicating with him. Dial up computer system. She started to write letters back and forth to him. He also wrapped to her as well. Her mother did not approve this. So once she was 18, she took off. To go to seattle to be with I H I m. The band members did no Like. J a n e. They felt she was an outsider. You spelled it really liked her. Things got crazy when his parents were killed. E l I j a H Lift the band. And started new 14 her. They had a song and the other bad members.We're Suing them. They became really famous but things just didn't work out. When he disappeared she F e l l apart Or five years And developed an alcohol Problem. She went To Germany. AND. I met a young girl. This was pretty interesting because it was like a clue fest This book was really good.

The Lighting Bottles is a story that takes place over the 1990’s following the rise and fall of a couple who is also a rock duo. The story is written in dual timelines, with one in the present, and one spanning the decade until it meets the present. Marissa Stapley is a master of dual timelines building on one another then coming together to meet.

The love story will have you swooning, and aching, while the female main character’s thread will have you angry. The rock era of the 90’s will be in full force, either leaving you reminiscent, and/or learning about the era in a new way.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this advanced reader copy.

4.25 stars

The Lightning Bottles by Marissa Stapley is one of the latest books that reimagines what life must be like for rock stars behind closed doors, but this time, instead of 70s rock and roll, it's 90s grunge rock. What makes this story unique, as Stapley puts it in the letter to the reader, is how it analyzes the complicated narrative of the adored male rockstar and his hated female counterpart.

The story's premise makes it addictive: two ordinary and broken kids find comfort in each other and in music, then become overnight sensations, only to have a mysterious downfall that leads to one of the duo's disappearance.

The writing is good, and has the potential to be great. There are a lot of beautiful lines. However, there are times where it feels like there is too much telling of how characters feel, and not enough showing. And sometimes, the language can be trite or a bit predictable.

But with that being said, the depth of the two main characters, as well as the story itself, keeps you invested in The Lightning Bottles, and it makes you hope things turn out well for them, even when things might not seem to head in that direction.

If you are a sucker for deep dives into the lives of fictional celebrities, and for "living for the hope of it all" (in the words of T. Swift), then pick this book up.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Lightning Bottles by Marissa Stapley is available now wherever books are sold.

This book chronicles the love affair of 2 musicians, one of whom wrote the songs and played the guitar while the other played the drums. She fell for him online, and left home and travelled to meet up with him when he was in another band. She convinced him that they could make beautiful music together.

A couple of music-obsessed teenagers meet in an online chat room in the early 1990s, fall in love and eventually become Seattle's hottest band. Sex, drugs and rock and roll inevitability follow, leading to their downfall.
This was all right. Almost nothing new to add to the genre.
Thanks to #netgalley and #simonandschuster for this #arc of #thelightningbottles in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, ‎ Simon & Schuster, and Marissa Stapley for providing this advance reader copy (ARC) of the book. I'm providing my honest review.

I'm so-so on this story. The promo blurb was enticing but for me the story didn't meet expectations. Sever angst mixed with teenage romance and a scavenger hunt. It didn't work. The character of Hen only works as the catalyst for the hunt. She sees what no one else does, and just so happens to have the perfect opportunity to act on it, too unbelievable to overlook as a plot flaw. The main characters, Jane & Elijah never resonated with me and caring about them was almost impossible. Their struggles as a Seattle grunge-type band with drug issues was interesting but what 90's band didn't. There are characters that mimic the real bands of that era with drugs, alcohol, suicide, overdosing in public, party clubs. It all rang a bell & worked by itself. The scavenger hunt worked by itself. The young artists in love & making music worked by itself. There's no other way for me to describe the ending - it was weird. I kept wondering where all the money to fund everything came from, I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to consider that. I give points for excellent writing, the author does have a gift. It's just not enough for me to like the subject matter.

#NetGalley #TheLightningBottles #MarissaStapley #‎ Simon&Schuster #grungeband #1990'sband #grungemusic #overcomingaddiction.

When everyone around you is extremely relaxed and does not care so much for order and truth, it's easy to get branded as too serious, too bitchy, too uptight. You will be marked as the mood killer, friendship destroyer, or Yoko Ono. But is it a you problem though? Environment is asking for certain type of behaviour and you are not caving in. Does that make you an unbearable person? Nope even though you feel like that thanks to other around you. Best solution? Get yourself out of there.

Jane never found a good place she felt belong. Her super uptight, religious mother limited her world to Jesus and songs about him. She wanted to make music that mattered, music that was a translator of all her hopes and dreams. She found (or she thought she did) a fellow soul who wanted to do nothing but music. Jane left her home to make a new one with Elijah. What started as a perfect combo turned into another place making Jane feel unwelcome. Maybe next stop in Germany would be the place?

I don't what to call this book: a love story, a love letter to music, a cautionary tale? I loved the way art transformed relationships of people who made it and the generation came after it. Sometimes the best thing to do is let go. Not every run is meant to go on forever.

Marissa Stapley’s The Lightning Bottles is a captivating, fast-paced novel that pulls you in from the very first page. With her signature storytelling, Stapley creates characters that feel deeply real, their emotional journeys layered and compelling. The book explores themes of love, family, and the complexities of relationships with a gripping narrative style that keeps the reader hooked.

One of the strongest aspects of The Lightning Bottles is its pacing. I found myself breezing through the book, eager to see where the story would lead. Stapley balances moments of tension and vulnerability, making it difficult to put down. Her vivid descriptions and insightful character development make the world feel alive, and the dynamics between the characters are deeply moving.

However, while I enjoyed the book immensely, I did find the ending fell a bit short of the powerful conclusion I was hoping for. The resolution felt somewhat abrupt and didn’t fully match the emotional buildup throughout the novel. That being said, it doesn’t take away from the overall experience of the book, which remains an engaging and heartfelt read.

Maybe not in the right mood for this? I love the 90s (obviously!) and books about music but the heavy epistolary element of The Lightning Bottle is not working well for me. I am not a big fan of epistolary fiction AND also often struggle with books with fake fandoms (sorry Simon Snow) as it's hard for me to grasp a fictional fandom about fictional people and things.

Glad other people are loving this!!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!

As a child of the 1980s and 1990s, I was immediately entranced by the premise of this book, which evoked a strong sense of nostalgia for a simpler era. However, upon delving into its contents, I was abruptly reminded that my perception of the past may have been idealized. The Lightning Bottles transported me back to the grittier and more tumultuous side of the 1990s, a stark contrast to the romanticized depiction prevalent in current trends.


This novel will undoubtedly appeal to mystery enthusiasts, music aficionados, and those with a fondness for the 1990s. I foresee myself revisiting its pages, a rare occurrence for me. It is a must-read for all.

This was a well-written story and an accurate portrayal of the music industry and all that comes along with it. The focus on Elijah Hart and Jane Pyre and their conflict with everything and everybody made this a super emotional read. The depth to which the author was able to relay the struggles was fantastic. IMO, character-driven stories are phenomenal. When an author is able to put the reader inside of a character's mind, having them walk in the character's shoes, it really leaves no questions as to why a certain action was taken. 

Speaking on taking certain actions, I did not agree with Elijah and the way he chose to handle certain situations. It came off as selfish, especially considering all that Jane had done for him.

Jane Pyre is one half of the duo called The Lightning Bottles, a band that electrified the world in the 1990s with their unique sound and moving lyrics. To many music fans, however, she’s by far the lesser half. Sure the band’s singer – and her husband – Elijah Hart had insisted that she was the creative force behind their music. His haunting voice and innate showmanship were merely the mouthpiece for her vision, as he would tell anyone who would listen.

But no one wants to believe that. Alan Brosnahan, the president of the record company they eventually sign with, is blunt when he addresses the subject:

QUOTE
“Elijah, I wonder if you might want to keep that to yourself–that Jane writes most of the music, the lyrics? It’s impressive, of course.” But his smile was strained. “Except in the rock world there’s a sort of…” He trailed off. “I guess ‘machismo’ is the right word. This can’t be a surprise to you two, right? Guys aren’t gonna want to be screaming lyrics while headbanging in their pickup trucks to songs that were written by a woman.”

“We don’t care about those guys,” Elijah said, dismissive. “The headbanging-in-trucks guys are not our target audience.”

“Those guys buy a lot of albums,” Alan said, his tone light but his expression stell. “We do tend to cater to them.”

Elijah frowned. “We’re more serious than that,” he said.

“Yes, well, real serious artists guard their process[.]”
END QUOTE

This is only one of the many wrongs and indignities Jane has to endure throughout the band’s stratospheric career. That career, however, ends abruptly when Elijah disappears off of the coast of Iceland. After a long and futile search, he’s officially declared dead. A devastated Jane wants to be left alone to grieve but the public won’t let her be. Rumors swirl that she murdered him, even as she’s locked in a legal battle with his former best friend for ownership to the song that first made them famous.

Five years later, Jane is looking to start afresh in a remote home in Germany. Unfortunately for Jane’s nerves, her one young neighbor is a Lightning Bottles superfan, who went to their last concert in Berlin before Elijah vanished. Teenaged Hen Vögel picked up a souvenir that night that led her to recognize a clue, in 1999, that suggests that Elijah might still be alive.

Understandably, Jane refuses to believe her at first:

QUOTE
This cannot be real, she tells herself. All she has ever wanted is proof, but the close reality of it introduces an element she has avoided. Believing in this is dangerous. If she truly allows herself to think he’s out there, and then finds out he’s not, that it’s nothing but yet another cruel twist of a knife from one of her many enemies, she knows she will be finished, finally and truly.

But what has her life been without him? Who is she, now that the life they had together is gone? She has tried and failed too many times to rise above the tragedy that has defined her life. Maybe it’s time to stop fighting so hard.
END QUOTE

And so the unlikely duo take off across Europe, chasing clues as to what really happened to Elijah. Did he successfully commit suicide, or did he somehow miraculously survive the icy waters? Is he leaving hints for Jane to follow now, or is this all a cruel trick perpetrated by someone with a hidden agenda?

The Lightning Bottles intersperses the women’s quest to find the truth with chapters from Jane and Elijah’s past, going from how they met online to how they formed their band all the way to the heyday of stardom, with the attendant costs that dragged them screaming down to the lowest points of their lives. It’s a brutal portrayal of the substance abuse and sexism of the alternative rock music scene that rose to global fame in the 1990s, with Jane’s ordeal echoing chapters from the lives of real musicians and artists such as Courtney Love (who is mentioned in the dedication) and Casey Niccoli (who is not.)

This novel also examines the cost of celebrity on two young people who are ill equipped to handle fame, and whose romance verges too close to codependency for comfort. Occasionally fairy tale-like in tone, it’s at once a heady but sobering reminder of the era through the lens of its music and celebrity culture, and is a must-read for anyone nostalgic for that time.