(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

When is a secret not a secret? When your whole life is public. Frankie is used to being a politician's daughter, but with her mum now running for Premier, life's a whole lot crazier than usual. All Frankie wants is to lose herself in her music. So when her best friend, Kessie, invites a student journo to interview the band, Frankie is less than thrilled. But Jake's easy to talk to, and he seems to really like Frankie. That doesn't stop her from wondering if he's just after the ultimate scoop, especially when photos surface of Frankie's mum having a secret rendezvous with a younger man. With her family falling apart around her, Frankie is determined to find out the truth - even if it means losing Jake.

If there are two things that I really appreciate in a solid YA book (aside from a plot!) are relatable social themes, and engaging dialogue that feels genuine and authentic. And I did get that here - and hence the 3 stars for nailing that.

Another highlight of this book is its "Australian-ness" - throughout the story I was finding myself smiling at the situations or dialogue that are uniquely Australian. That brought home another level of authenticity for me. The whole political scene, as well, kept me "in-country" and added depth to the peripheral characters.

Sadly, what I didn't get was a likeable MC - her Pearl Jam obsession was really annoying at times and the way she treated her band was pretty controlling. Also, I have no idea why her band members revered her so much - she had only recently started playing guitar. Found it hard to connect to that.
Also, the other thing that didn't work for me is that I think there was just too much going on in this story: politics and scandal, family, music, romance, friendships. It was distracting every time the story built something in one of those areas, it was cut down to go and focus on something else for a while. Never really got any depth to any of the stories, especially Frankie and Jake's story...

I will still recommend this for lovers of YA romance/drama stories. I think this will definitely float their boat. It just wasn't quite as good as I had hoped.


Paul
ARH