Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The only thing better than getting to read one of your most anticipated books of the year, is when your most anticipated book exceeds your expectations by miles.

Hot Wax bleeds cigarette smoke, hums like a crackling vinyl, purrs like a vintage car, and crashes through diners and dives with a rowdy rock band—all while dropping you straight into the wreckage of a stolen childhood.

It’s difficult to articulate exactly how incredible the prose, character work, and plot progression are—but just know, it’s so clear how much Rio trusts her readers with this story. She doesn’t give you a guided tour with obvious tropes and neon signs pointing to hidden meanings, but rather treats the reader as the copilot, not the passenger.

Sitting in the unexpected with these characters truly immersed me. I was not expecting quite literally any of the turns that the story took (compliment), and there were a handful of pearl-clutching moments as well. Like I have no more pearls to clutch.

I don’t smoke, but I (respectfully) need a cigarette after reading this masterpiece. If people can have a drunk smoke, I should be able to have a reflective “just finished Hot Wax do not disturb” cig. Just saying.

I highly recommend preordering this, if that wasn’t already clear. Nuanced art is so back!

(Booktok Review coming as well)

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.

Hot Wax is a raw, haunting, and beautifully written novel that proves M.L. Rio’s range and growth as a storyteller. If you’re expecting another If We Were Villains, think again. This is slower, more character driven, and somehow even more emotionally intense.

I was captivated by the unique structure (A-Side, B-Side, and Snapshots), and Suzanne is one of the most complex protagonists I’ve read in a long time. Flawed, real, and unforgettable. The prose is lyrical, the themes heavy (grief, trauma, identity).

It’s weird, visceral, and a little bit unhinged in the best way.

⚠️ Content warning: Includes a scene involving child abuse. Please read with care.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and M.L. Rio for the ARC. This one is going to linger!

In Hot Wax, M. L. Rio spins a gritty, immersive tale of memory, music, and metastasized trauma. We toggle between two timelines:
1989: Suzanne, ten years old, escapes her suburban life when her father’s band, Gil and the Kills, hits the road—and everything spirals from there.
Present Day (41): Suzanne is trapped in a dull suburban marriage. Her father’s sudden death pulls her back into his world—and onto the highway—for a quest to reclaim her past. Driven by dual timelines, rock music’s gritty allure, and simmering violence, the narrative crescendos into a bloody double-climax.

Hot Wax is a seductive, edgy road-trip thriller that pulses with rock-and-roll energy and emotional volatility. Rio channels If We Were Villains–level prose into a new, carnal terrain. This one’s for you if you crave:
Moral ambiguity, complex characters, and slow-burn reveals,
Descriptions that overwhelm your senses with grit and sound
Stories where trauma, obsession, and desire crash into one another

But keep your patience ready: this is a mood piece first, and a plot-driven thriller second. If you want speed, skip it—if you want to feel every note, Hot Wax will sear into you.

Wow! What a road trip! This love letter to rock ‘n roll and all-American road trips is also an impossible-to-put-down tension-filled nightmare.

Here’s the thing: reading this book is like watching an approaching train wreck. Everyone is making bad decisions, things are getting worse and worse, and you just know it’s all going to go wrong… but you can’t stop watching because you have to know what happens. Yes, my anxiety was dialed way up (as was, I’m sure, my blood pressure). Yes, I wanted to grab the characters and shake them and tell them to make any choice other than the one they’re about to make. No, I could not stop reading.

This book features a dual timeline (A-side and B-side, a nod to the records of our childhood). Rio’s signature highly descriptive and visceral writing style works incredibly well here, especially in the past timeline. Childhood memories are so fragmented. Rio captures what it’s like to have hyper-specific snapshots of your childhood surrounded by vague memories you can’t quite bring into focus.

The present timeline is written in such a way that it amplifies the tension of the past timeline. The MC is traumatized but what happened in her childhood - so much so that she can’t look at it head-on. Which means as readers we have to wait for the story to unfold while knowing just how much it’s going to mess up her life. Like I said, good luck putting this book down!

Rio’s writing has refined and matured since IF WE WERE VILLAINS (which I loved). This may not be dark academia, but HOT WAX still features complicated characters, toxic obsession, and the creeping sense of approaching doom that made me fall in love her with previous work.