Wow. This was a wild ride (in the Ranchero) from start to finish and had such a satisfying ending.

The character development was UNREAL and I really got a sense for everyone in this story, even the smaller ones like Vince and Elko. Rio really has a way with writing that lets the reader capture every scene, every character, and every little detail perfectly in their mind. Hot Wax is no exception to that. I felt like I was there with Suzanne, through all the pieces of her life. My heart broke with her and for her.

It really felt like I was on the road with Gil and the Kills too, living vicariously through Suzanne like a groupie for a rock and roll band in the 80s. It wasn't all pretty, and Rio doesn't hold any punches getting to the nitty gritty of life on the road. Also, I SERIOUSLY hated Rob. And Skelly, because I felt betrayed by him at the end. He wasn't likeable to begin with, but something about his relationship with Suzanne really broke my heart after the big reveal.

TLDR: I LOVED this and I'll read anything M. L. Rio writes because she's incredibly talented.

Eat your heart out Daisy Jones, THIS is the music book I always wanted!

I have been waiting eagerly for this book for years. Ever since I fell in love with villains in 2019, I have been an M.L. Rio groupie, and I have desperately wanted to know what she would do next…and I was terrified that we may never get to see it. It's a miracle this book even ended up getting published after it hit so many obstacles on the way, but I can tell that made this book (and Mel) stronger. It feels really lived in, and it feels like the perfect next step for Rio's discography (ha).

It’s hard with these types of books because the expectations get shot into the stratosphere and it can make for a big letdown if you aren’t careful (or if the author is, well, bad). And I won’t lie…..nothing will compare to my beloved Villains but holy shit…I love rock n roll. Mel just has a way with characters, with details, with descriptions, and even when I was unsure of where this story was going, I was IN IT. I felt like the first half was winding up, that first upward tilt of a roller coaster, and then when we hit the second half, it just SUCKERPUNCHED me when it zoomed downhill.

I have so much I could touch on about why I read the second half of this book in a fever dream on a late night flight home, gasping and tearing up in a middle seat, but it’s hard to know where to start. More than anything, I was so intrigued by how this book seems to be a sibling with Villians. They're both mysteries, a narrative haunted by flashbacks and fast forwards, filled with questions and misguided characters, and it isn't until the second half that you start to get that intense feeling of dread in your stomach that this might not have a happy ending. I could see just how much Mel's craft has evolved, but more than that I felt like I really got to see her fullest self refracted on these pages. If Villains was her theater half, this is her music half. It's sexy and grimy and show-stopping, but it feels like HER. And part of why I'm so enamored with her as a writer is because of who she is as a person, so this was like a five course feast. I related to so much of it - more than I expected in an adult book about divorce (it's not really about divorce) - and I loved Suzanne's character because she's so opposite of most adult female MCs you see in publishing. She's a photographer who shoots Polaroid (!!!), a queer woman who's in her forties and adamantly does not want kids, who feels like she doesn't have any talent other than documenting other people's stories, and all of that was so refreshing. Not to mention all the commentary on women in music.

(Also, I just have to mention, it's so cool that we get a bi poly relationship through all this. So unexpected and fun.)

Obviously I wish Mel didn't write so open-ended, but there's so much subtext here and that IS why I love her so much as an author. In some ways, the story is what you make of it, you'll never get the full truth, but in all the ways that matter, the truth is right there for you to infer. She does such an incredible job leading us to the "conclusion," and I'm still breathless from the compelling way she delivered the plot. I wanted a little more from the B Side I think (because that A side is just so cool), but all in all this story just WORKED. If anything, I wanted a longer book so I could learn more about the Kills and Vince. And lowkey, I did think the ending was a little rushed. But still!!! Was gasping for breath on my red eye flight.

M.L. Rio is a rock god, and this has cemented her greatness in my mind. I'll read anything she writes forever.

I'm a huge fan of M.L. Rio's past work, but I didn't connect with Hot Wax. While I thought there was strong character development, and Rio's voice shone, the pacing made it difficult to get through. However, if you want an emotional, introspective book, and even if it takes a while to get through, it's worth the read.

M.L. Rio’s book Hot Wax goes back and forth in time to show protagonist Suzanne’s troubled life, first as an eleven year old when she tours with her father’s up and coming hard rock band, and then as an adult coming to terms with her father’s death. The book includes an interesting portrayal of rock tours gone bad, but in a way that is somewhat distasteful enough that it becomes even unpleasant to read. It may be because one becomes indifferent to the characters and the sensationalism. With that being said, all the characters were extraordinarily colorful which allowed the storyline to remain interesting, but at some point in the book, it just became a bit too much. A subplot of the story follows Suzanne’s failed relationship with her husband Rob, who is at first portrayed as a loving husband left behind, but then, near the end of the book, the plot abruptly switches to portray him in a completely different and incongruous light. This didn’t flow as well as it could have, making it a bit unbelievable. It then moves to totally out of whack. Overall, though, this is an unforgettable book with unforgettable characters. I would be interested in Rio’s next book to see what other colorful tales are out there.
Thank you NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy.

Great concept, but I think M.L. Rio needs to go back to the drawing board with the depth of her characters. Unfortunately the mastery she had with If We Were Villains is lacking here.

If you’re going into this one expecting it to be anything like If We Were Villains you will be disappointed. This is a very different type of novel. I would describe this as a slow burn, self discovery type of book. Suzanne is in her 40’s and still figuring out who she is. I loved the multiple timelines. The characters are flawed and yet you still can’t help but root for them. It is a slower read but M.L. Rio’s writing is so immersive that I didn’t mind one bit. Definitely recommend.

Loved this. My second work from Rio and far superior to her novella from Tor. While I haven’t read her debut and most famous work, this was a smoke-filled room brightened by neon in a book. Gorgeous, fun, an ode to music and to complicated relationships of all forms. Rio excels at telling a single-POV story that manages to keep the intrigue going as the story switches from past to present.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Present Day: Suzanne was never expecting to get her dad’s car and some junk when he dies. But she has, and now she is on a journey to remember what happened that summer of 1989 and come to terms with what it all means. 1989: 11 year old Suzanne is getting to spend the summer on tour with her dad and his band Gil and the Kills. What does it mean to work to be famous, and what will it cost?

This book was such an interesting look at rock and roll, fame, and family. Told through present day, 1989, and some other years of Suzanne at different ages, was fascinating. I thought the book was well written and while I don’t know much about life on tour it felt like that is what happens. The author, @ did a good job of creating a tense but fun and interesting dynamic between the band members, especially as it is told from the view of a child. What Suzanne does as an adult is an interesting dynamic. I wasn’t sure if I would like it but I did! Suzanne is a complex character who as an adult is finally starting to feel like herself again. And I think that is beautiful. I also loved that the way the chapters were done was either A Side or B Side which was a fun choice. Since this is an ARC I am just assuming that at the start of each part (there are 5) there is a photo and the photos on mine didn’t have anything so I am wondering if on the final print they will have something there. I think that was a fun choice because Suzanne is a photographer and got her love for it by doing Polaroids. Overall I think this book was gritty, intense, fascinating, and a fun read! Definitely put this book on your TBR for September.

Hot Wax is a blistering, beautifully chaotic novel that pulses with the heat of summer, the roar of guitar amps, and the ache of a past that refuses to stay buried. With razor-sharp prose and a heart full of bruises, this story of rock ‘n’ roll, reckoning, and reinvention is impossible to put down.

Told through the eyes of Suzanne—once a ten-year-old witness to a world too raw and wild for her age, now a woman unraveling the life she’s carefully constructed—Hot Wax spans decades without missing a beat. From the smoky backstage corners of the late ’80s rock scene to the stillness of suburbia and the open road of present-day America, the novel is a masterclass in atmosphere and emotional depth.

What makes this story soar is Suzanne herself. Her voice is magnetic—funny, wounded, sharp, and searching—and her journey from traumatized child to reluctant housewife to a woman reclaiming her voice is both harrowing and empowering.

Gritty and tender in equal measure, Hot Wax doesn’t flinch from the darkness—addiction, violence, betrayal—but it also pulses with desire, reinvention, and the wild, almost mythic lure of freedom. It’s a road novel, a rock saga, a psychological thriller, and a fierce reclamation of self, all rolled into one.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book incredibly apprehensive. While gearing up to read “If We Were Villains” last year, I was clouded by the hype. I loved the concept and was so stoked to read it, but “IWWV” ended up being a huge disappointment for me. But… M.L. Rio is really good a selling you on a concept and when I read the blurb for “Hot Wax,” I knew I was going to have to give it a try. I’m so happy I did.

Get ready for some jumping, because “Hot Wax” teeters back and forth with timelines. The “Side A” chapters follow Suzanne’s unconventional youth with an up-and-coming rockstar father and a struggling-to-make-ends-meet abusive mother. “Side B” chapters focus on Suzanne’s life as an adult, grappling with her father’s death and running away from her life where she has attempted to be “normal” for a shitty husband. She finds a new family with a young, traveling couple. Reading this felt like the constant turning of a vinyl record, flipping from Side A to Side B.

Heavy trigger warnings for this book. It gives a close-up look to the rocker scene going from the late-80s into the early-90s. It’s dark and gritty. Lots of drugs, violence, and assault, made all the more jarring as told from the perspective of 10-year-old Suzanne.

There were a LOT of concert scenes in the book, which were great for creating a distinct tone and vibe for the reader, however so many of them felt very similar and eventually redundant. My biggest snag with this book was the tricky feat that comes from writing any book so heavily focused on the music: we can’t listen to any of it! There are lyrics and descriptions of original songs, but it felt like we were missing out on a key part of the world. I don’t blame Rio for this hiccup, it is incredibly difficult to capture that essence and most of the time it wasn’t a 100% hit for me.

Music aside, I’m in awe of the distinct worlds Rio created. From the spanning desert landscapes and melancholic depression of Suzanne’s adulthood to the grimy and deafening chaos of her youth, I felt just as sticky and dirty as the characters in the book while reading this.

“Hot Wax” is for all you rock ‘n’ rollers and fans of “found-family” stories. It is a nonstop, wild-ride that has just as much heart as it does thrills. Though that “heart” may not be “conventional” or easy to grasp to everyone.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me a free ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Full review has been posted to Goodreads. A mini-review will be posted to my Instagram at the end of June. The full review will be posted to my Instagram in August, a month before publication. Thanks!

The most anticipated release of the year did not disappoint! Like her popular novel If We Were Villains, this is a magnetic story that is emotionally rich. It deals with loss, longing, the search for purpose, and living up to a legacy.
The mc of the story, Suzanne, is unapologetically human and impulsive. We see this through her broken relationship with her rockstar father and the flash backs of her childhood in the 80s music scene. She is running away from a broken marriage and contemplating if this is really everything she wanted. Through this journey she is forced to face her traumatic childhood.
This is a slow burn type of book. Unlike the fast paced drama of If We Were Villains, Hot Wax lets you process all of trauma and allows you to truly understand the mc.
Personally I did find the pacing ok, there were times when I think it could have went faster. It was a solid novel and extremely layered. Although I am not going through a mid life crisis like the mc it was written in a way that made me FEEL like I was. The only draw back of this book would be the pacing.

M.L.Rio has done it again with this one. Having grown up with a father that loved classic rock, I immediately loved this book and dove in headfirst. I loved our characters and the gritty storytelling that accompanied each timeline we encountered while reading. While I can’t say I love each character and their decisions, I sped through this book and will definitely be rereading it as soon as it hits shelves.

This book opens like a long-lost mixtape: you’re not quite sure what you’re listening to at first, but something about it sticks. To be honest, it took me a bit to really get into it and embrace the story.

Suzanne is the daughter of Gil, a rock star who burned too bright and left his family behind in the glow. (of Gil and The Thrills). The story flips between her childhood on tour and her adult unraveling after his death. The contrast is strong: the past is loud, fast, full of strange hotels and events while the present is quiet but weighed down by everything she hasn’t said or figured out about her life.

At times, the dual timeline was hard to reconcile. Suzanne as a narrator is rough and somewhat unreliable. She seems to be maturing and coming to age at the ripe age of 40!

This is not a mystery. It’s not a thriller. But it is sooo atmospheric. If you’re into stories about complicated families, music, and memory, Hot Wax is for you!
#simon&shuster #MLRio #hotwax #hotsummerreads

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
5⭐️

Lyrical, haunting, and emotionally rich—Hot Wax is a slow-burning exploration of grief, legacy, and the ache of becoming.

In Hot Wax, M.L. Rio delivers a raw, atmospheric novel that trades the tightly wound tension of If We Were Villains for something looser and more introspective. Following Suzanne, a deeply flawed and deeply human narrator, the story drifts across decades—from the toxic chaos of the ’80s rock scene to a present marked by emotional stagnation and unresolved pain.

Rio’s prose is lush and immersive, painting vivid scenes of dusty highways, broken identities, and the ghosts of fame and family. Though the pacing wavers in the middle, the drifting structure mirrors the emotional journey at the heart of the novel. The relationships Suzanne builds—particularly with fellow travelers Simon and Phoebe—bring warmth and levity to an otherwise soul-heavy tale.

Hot Wax doesn’t hit all at once. It lingers. Creeps in. Haunts. Perfect for readers drawn to character-driven stories about art, healing, and the messiness of memory, this one will stay with you long after the final page.

This just didn’t have the magic I was hoping for. I don’t think any of the characters actually liked each other and it’s hard to believe there was ever a time when they did. There’s something missing here and I’m not sure what it is but I couldn’t feel connected to this story, and it wasn’t for lack of trying.
I loved IWWV, and the things that made it so engaging weren’t in this story, unfortunately.

Beyond this nebulous thing, it had a serious pacing issue. It goes on for way too long. The dual timeline is usually a draw for me but I found myself struggling to get through it.

'Hot Wax' was a 2.5 stars for me.

Reading 'Hot Wax' was a unique experience. I had never read anything like it. Its rocker gritty element was fun and raw. This story was incredibly atmospheric, much like all of Rio's works prior. However, the pacing of this story dragged on for me and caused me a lot of disinterest in the story as a whole. I found it incredibly challenging to get through. It took me over a month and a half to finish which is quite unlike me as a reader. The characters weren't nearly as likable as characters in Rio's previous works as well. I found myself extremely detached from nearly everyone.
My gripe could also be from personal attachment with 'If We Were Villains'. I have noticed that it the only book by Rio that I have truly fallen in love with. I found that 'Hot Wax' fell flat for me, the same way 'Graveyard Shift' did too.
Thank you so much to NetGalley for the digital early reader copy. I am very thankful to have received it prior to the release date!

My most anticipated release of the year, and it’s now my top read of the year! M.L. Rio did it again, writing a book that I’ll think about daily for the next 3-5 business years. This book is completely different from If We Were Villains, but also still keeps the same incredible writing and well-crafted characters that stress me out. I love how Hot Wax is organized by the A Side, with 10-year old Suzanne on tour with her father, and the B Side, her reflecting on that tour after his death. The story is gritty, intense, and also hits home that love of music that gets under your skin. I wish I could give this more than 5 stars, and I NEED my physical copy so I can go through and highlight everything.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc of Hot Wax!

My expectations for this book were quite high given the blurb and my enjoyment of ML Rio’s previous works. I was predisposed to enjoy this and definitely excited to pick it up!

That being said, some aspects of Hot Wax fell flat for me. The dual timeline felt disjointed rather than culminating in the broader story - every time I started to get invested in one timeline it would shift to the other. The character development felt a bit half baked to the point where I wasn’t rooting for or really caring about anyone other than the protagonist.
Even so, the narrator and main character Suzanne was a great character. I really felt for her in both timelines, especially the flashbacks. A few times I had to just set my kindle down and take a deep breath because all I could think was “get all these men away from her!!!!!”

Another strength is Rio’s prose. The writing sparkles with vivid descriptions and builds an atmosphere that feels like a character in and of itself. I’d recommend this for a sweltering day of reading, but if you can’t conjure up a hot summer day then the book will do it for you!

"Because life is not a never-ending concert tour. You don't get to go to every show you want to."

M.L. Rio's debut novel If We Were Villains holds a special place in the penthouse of my heart. I adored that book unlike any other book that I've read before, so embarking on the beginning pages of Hot Wax felt daunting with the mountainous expectations. BUT! I can confidently say that Rio delivered & left my expectations in the dust with the atmospheric world of rock 'n' roll that allowed the reader to examine the band Gil and the Kills with the intense microscope that can only be told through the lens of a ten-year-old. The grit of a band's life on the road told through the red lens of rose-colored glasses &, later, bloodshed.

"Skelly broke his usual sinister silence to expound the golden rule of rock and roll: 'If you don't piss people off, you're not doing it right.'"

Hot Wax follows ten-year-old Suzanne, the daughter of Gil, the frontman of the infamous Gil and the Kills, in 1989 as they rise to greatness in the rock 'n' roll world. Gil is obsessed with becoming a somebody. Nora wants Gil home with her and their daughter. Suzanne wants nothing more than to be a part of Gil's world -- to be a part of the rock 'n' roll scene. For the next twenty-nine years, Suzanne is left to navigate the aftermath of Gil's "legacy."

Each page will have you clinging to every word for dear life, searching every facet of humanity in the band & within yourself.

There isn't much that I can say about this book without spoilers. Mainly because this is a book that one must experience for themselves. By now, many readers are familiar with the rock world through Taylor Jenkins Reid's book Daisy Jones & the Six, but this novel brings the reader nose-to-nose with the world we are told about in Daisy Jones' story.

In "the A side" timeline, we, the readers, are taken by the hand of ten-year-old Suzanne & shown the world through a Crayola 64 palette & a Polaroid lens. The whole world was accurately proportionate to the POV of a child: we met & understood the characters in relation to Suzanne, the world was as big as the lines on the map & the rooms she walked through, & every detail was perfectly placed with Suzanne's understanding of the world she lived in.

This contrasted nicely with the POV of 41-year-old Suzanne of "the B side" timeline. It's been nearly 30 years since Suzanne spoke to her father, but she's made a simple life for herself with her well-mannered husband, Rob. After Gil's death, Suzanne returns to running from the ghosts of her past & family history, but this time it includes running from her new suburban life & her husband. Here is where we finally get to look eye-to-eye with the characters we meet in this "B side."

As the story progresses, more secrets are unfolded & the narrative is not always reliable. Rio begs the audience for introspection, as many of the conflicts within the novel are interior hurdles. This is a book that will keep you thinking about the raw, unfiltered emotions that come with a passion: the push & pull of those violent things that keep you coming back, even when it seems hopeless. The Sisyphean journey to fame.

I am looking forward to M.L. Rio's HOT WAX book tour (US dates are coming tomorrow, June 12th!!) & getting to hype this book out until the day it comes out (& let's be honest here, I will continue shouting about this book long after it's released too). I'm endlessly thankful for the opportunity to read one of my most anticipated releases of the year a couple of months early!

M. L. Rio delivers a haunting, sultry novel that reads like a whispered secret at midnight. Hot Wax is equal parts grief, obsession, and memory- its language is decadent and deliberate, every sentence steeped in longing. Rio’s signature lyrical prose (so beloved in If We Were Villains) is sharpened here into something even more intimate and raw. It’s a story that clings to you, sticky and warm, long after the final page.

This is a perfect read for anyone who loves emotionally complex, gorgeously written fiction that explores the ache of human connection - and the burn that comes after.