Rockoholic, by C.J. Skuse

C.J. Skuse's YA novel Rockoholic centers around Jody, a British teenager totally obsessed with rock star Jackson Gatlin. Jody is convinced the meaning of life can be found in Jackson's music, but when she kidnaps him from one of his concerts (accidentally!), she discovers her idol has feet of clay. Actually, he's practically made of clay—Jackson turns out to be a selfish, paranoid drug addict, but when Jody tries to return him to his old life he flatly refuses to leave. Faced with the prospect of having a spoiled rock star living in her family's garage forever, Jody and her devoted best friend Mac set out to fix Jackson's many issues... without, ideally, being arrested for anything.

There are some fun elements in Rockoholic: Jody's memories of her larger-than-life grandfather, any scene involving Mac, and several moments of laugh-out-loud slapstick humor. Unfortunately, the story is neither serious enough to be plausible, nor sufficiently crazy to carry off its premise. Skuse creates several appealing characters and an utterly adorable teen romance, but when it comes to the type of hell-raising lunacy required to make such a far-fetched story work she falls short of the quintessential rock star motto: Go big, or go home.

Review based on publisher-provided copy.