She sort of hates her family. He’s hiding behind his teenage sex life. They form a band as an escape. On tour, can they start over....or will all secrets come out on the open road?

Carla Bucchio never cared about things like boyfriends and SATs. If she did, maybe life at 20 would be more exciting than developing photos on Long Island. When she chooses the guitar over a social life, it only makes sense because no one talks to her anyway.

Music may be Pete Albrecht’s life but what good is his talent if he has no one to share it with? When he’s not getting bitched about coffee at work, he’s getting nagged about college by his girlfriend. What would they say if they really knew about him? At the outset of the new millennium where boy bands and backup dancers have saturated pop culture, the two college dropouts start a rock band.

Despite his girlfriend’s manipulations and her mother’s drunken disapproval, they form a secret connection through the music. Before heading out on their cross-country tour, tragedy turns the world upside down forcing them to decide if the band is just a teenage dream or their gateway to freedom…and to each other?

Slanted and Disenchanted is the provocative first book in Lisa Czarina Michaud’s coming-of-age Disenchanted series.

Told with wry humor and nostalgic 90’s undertones, it’s High Fidelity with a YA bent that explores sexual tension in friendships, the confusion of adulting, the love and chaos of family….and the soundtracks that get us through it all.