Only the Good Die Young (Review)

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Title: Only the Good Die Young
Author:  Douglas Trueman
Publisher:  Chaos Theory Press  
Published Date:  22^nd July 2014

Rating: 2.5 Stars

*Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours for the review copy*

Synopsis: A sharp drama that never loses sight of the humor in life, Only the Good Die Young tells of a teenaged girl's first romance that goes horribly wrong. Set to the music and lyrics of rock and roll, the love triangle in this dark comedy has kept readers turning pages well past their bed time.

Rebecca Lockhart moved to Vancouver to start a new life. What she found felt more like the end.

Raised with Victorian values and classically trained as a pianist, seventeen-year-old Rebecca takes solace in the prose of Jane Austen and the music of Debussy. But when a virtuoso guitar player exposes her to the free spirit of rock and roll, Rebecca's outlook on the world begins to change. She dares to take risks her old self couldn't imagine.

Hallway rumors of her new behavior reach the high school office, and Rebecca comes face-to-face with the vice-principal - Catherine Lockhart, her mother. Desperate to remain in mom's good graces, she lies. Before she can blink, Rebecca is caught in a web of deceit that envelopes her entire life. If she reveals the truth, she and her mother will have to face an unspeakable secret from their past. If she doesn't, a fellow student could be sentenced to prison.

Only the Good Die Young is a coming-of-age story for the teenager in all of us, laced with the dry, deadpan humor of a shy girl struggling to find her way. 

Review: Hm. This is another one of those books which are hard to review. It had its good moments and its bad ones as well, and reading this felt like a rollercoaster ride. I would love it, I would hate it, I would just think meh.

I didn’t read the synopsis until now, so reading it now makes me notice that there is a promise of a love triangle. Well, if you’re one of those people who try to avoid love triangles like the plague, then you can still read this book. I wouldn’t even consider there being much of a love triangle, but if there is one then the outlines of it are very faint. It was never the main focus and it’s not like the main character spends her time running between two guys. That doesn’t really happen at all.

The main character, Rebecca, was someone I would like and then hate. I would sympathise with her situation sometimes and understand why she acted the way she did. But then at times I thought she was being pretty cruel to people who cared about her, or made some pretty frustrating decisions that would only land her in trouble. And she didn’t realise what she was doing, even though she had her reasons. Sometimes I would love to be a best friend to her, and sometimes I wanted to knock some sense into her head.

That being said, her best friend, Kyle, was my favourite character in the novel. He was blunt at times, honest, and always concerned about Rebecca. He solely had her best interests at heart even though he didn’t look the part to lead onto a romantic interest, in Rebecca’s eyes. He’s also someone who knows his music, and we really get that impression as we read through the novel.

There is a lot of mention to music – which you probably gathered from the cover. I liked how that theme ran through it, and especially what the author writes about the difference between being able to play music and making music. It made me think about it, and I suppose there is a difference. At one point in the novel there is a mention to Christina Augelira’s song Oh, Mother. Being a fan of hers, I loved the mention and how well it tied into the novel.

That being said, there are a lot of serious themes in here. There is mention of rape, divorce and drinking. Because of this the book is for mature readers. And I think the topic of rape was the most focused on in the novel.

The plot twist was… predictable. Sadly, there is no other reason for it. The moment Rebecca met a certain character and around 30% I kind of predicted the whole novel. Which made reading it a bit more boring and that kind of fell flat for me :/ In fact, the beginning of this novel was good, the middle dragged, and then it ended on a nice note that I enjoyed reading.

To conclude it was a reasonable book. It was simply predictable and nothing new to me. Almost like a lesser version of the book What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell.

Olivia’s Question: What’s your favourite song?

Olivia-Savannah x