{"id":57,"date":"2012-10-26T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2015-08-13T17:38:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T22:38:41","slug":"being-friends-with-boys-by-terra-elan-mcvoy-fiction-one-of-the-guys-in-the-band-or-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Being Friends With Boys, by Terra Elan McVoy (book review) – “one of the guys” in the band or more?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bookBeing “one of the guys” is better than being ignored by former-best-friends…
\nBeing unadorned is better than her stepsisters<\/a>‘ cloud of perfume and makeup…
\nBeing shut out by her best friend of all time is pain unbearable…<\/p>\n

Charlotte has long been content to be the behind-the-scenes arranger-of-everything for the band, but when lead singer Oliver takes credit for all her lyrics<\/a>, she starts to question the status quo.<\/p>\n

Is it time for Char to break away from Sad Jackal like her best pal Trip did or should she stay and grab the spotlight for her own talents?<\/p>\n

Dealing with insiders and outsiders<\/a>,with people who’ve moved away and those who refuse to move on, with seeing past the surface to discover the truth, Charlotte’s golden summer moves into cooler weather and changes in the band, its members, and her outlook.<\/p>\n

While not a novel in verse as her earlier After the Kiss<\/i>\u00a0 (my no-spoiler review here<\/a>), McVoy’s newest book features true, realistic spoken and unsaid dialogue along with Charlotte’s soul-baring lyrics. Find\u00a0 both books at your local library<\/a> or independent bookstore<\/a>.<\/b>
\n**kmm<\/p>\n

Book info<\/b>: Being Friends With Boys \/ Terra Elan McVoy. Simon Pulse, 2012. [author’s website<\/a>] [publisher site<\/a>] [book trailer<\/a>] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.<\/p>\n

My Book Talk<\/b>: Being considered \u201cone of the guys\u201d by Oliver, Trip, and Abe is fine with Charlotte, as she gives them the girl-perspective on life and keeping their band together behind the scenes. When a new guy joins the band and encourages her to grab the mike, their whole dynamic changes and Char isn\u2019t sure if the guys can handle it.<\/p>\n

She and Trip have been friends forever, but after he and lead singer Oliver have \u201ccreative differences\u201d Trip leaves the band, and Sad Jackal must audition a new lead guitar player. Now who\u2019s going to create all the melodies for Char\u2019s lyrics?<\/p>\n

Char has to deal with Trip\u2019s sudden distance at school, her stepsisters\u2019 giggle-pop taste in music at home, and weird vibrations at band practice, as new guitarist Fabian starts treating her like a girl. New lyrics just stream from her pen as her stepsister has a messy break-up, as other friendships ebb and flow\u2026 and Sad Jackal is hired to play at the school\u2019s Halloween dance.<\/p>\n

Trying to balance her commitment to the band with tough school classes, she agrees to be brilliant slacker Benji\u2019s study buddy despite Trip\u2019s dire warnings. As Halloween nears, Charlotte allows her stepsisters to give her beauty treatments and lets Fabian coax her into singing harmonies that turn into full-blown solos.<\/p>\n

Does Fabian really see her as a girl instead of just another member of the band?
\nCan Oliver deal with Charlotte taking the microphone or does he want her to stay out of his spotlight?
\nWhat if her need to sing the stories she writes as lyrics is stronger than the band\u2019s need for her to smooth out all the details for them?
\nAnd why is Trip avoiding all her calls now, when she needs his viewpoints most of all?<\/p>\n

Rooted in Atlanta\u2019s alternative music scene, Charlotte struggles to decide if it\u2019s time to stop just Being Friends With Boys<\/i> and get going with her life in music and beyond. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being “one of the guys” is better than being ignored by former-best-friends… Being unadorned is better than her stepsisters‘ cloud of perfume and makeup… Being shut out by her best friend of all time is pain unbearable… Charlotte has long been content to be the behind-the-scenes arranger-of-everything for the band, but when lead singer Oliver […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[90,22,4,11,45,16,18,44,252,43,39,49,86,15,9,21,57,35,3,8,61],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-abandonment","tag-behavior","tag-belonging","tag-communication","tag-competition","tag-determination","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-georgia","tag-growing-up","tag-love","tag-memories","tag-music","tag-relationships","tag-school","tag-self-image","tag-sisters","tag-surprises","tag-teens","tag-us-author","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6464,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/6464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}