Heartless Lyn @ Great Imaginations

Reading this book:I picked it up from the backseat of my car because I left my Kindle at home. Grrr. I was blown away by the ease of slipping into Mia's life and her pain. I played in high school band in my younger years. Saxophone. I sucked. But I loved marching band, and I love music. I think my main issue in band is that I wanted to listen to the music more than I wanted to play it. I wanted to feel it, not create it. And reading music when you are dyslexic is a pain in the ass. Even though I am not an avid musician playing-wise, I understood the main character's passion. In fact, I have not felt this strongly related to a fictional character since Lisbeth in "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Yes, this hellion was once a simpering, painfully shy girl. I loved music. I never could remember falling for celebs in high school (Matt LeBlanc was awesome, but I wasn't dreaming about him all the time), and I was a goody-girl. Mia's story was one that seemed to click in with my own former personality.And Mia's parents - awesome. I even adored her younger brother. Usually, the obligatory hyper-younger-brother thing gets on my nerves, but it just seemed to fit into the story. During Mia's flashbacks, I really began to fall in love with her life, and coupled with the knowledge on what she lost, it really tore my heart right out. Mia's old-rocker parents were realistic, not the stereotypical "We're punk parents with straight-edge kids, ggrrr!!!" No, it was much more beautiful than that. There energy simply was placed into other aspects of their lives. The story of the grandfather talking about his son's talents really drove out the old "punk" labels, giving the audience a touching story of a person, not a character.I can't really even think of anything I hated about the book. I really wish I had the second book in my hands now.