Heart Shaped Rock {Review}

Heart Shaped Rock by Laura Roppe 

Visit the Author's website HERE

Publisher: Self-Published

Publishing Date: May 13, 2014

Goodreads Summary:

Sometimes a shattered heart needs to sing to love again . . . Sixteen year old singer-songwriter Shaynee Sullivan hasn't so much as touched her guitar since her mom died six months ago. But when she meets a gorgeous and surprising rocker named Dean, her shattered heart begins to mend . . . and then burst at the seams. Heart-wrenching, heart-warming, and sometimes even heart-racing, Heart Shaped Rock will leave you laughing through tears and rooting for love in all its forms.

2014 Readers Favorite Award Finalist in three categories: Young Adult, Young Adult-Coming of Age and Young Adult-Romance!

Check out the full music soundtrack for Heart Shaped Rock atwww.LauraRoppe.com at the "Music to HSR" tab!

 I received a copy of this book for review from the author via YA Bound . All opinions are my own. Check out the Kindle edition for $3.99 today! (8/19/14)

My Thoughts:
I am not a HUGE music nerd. I like me some music, I like different varieties of music. But I can love a song and not the artist. I can love an album from a band and never listen to their second album. Music isn't life for me, although I do LOVE it and appreciate it. Still, when I saw this book was up for review and it had a fun music component I was instantly intrigued. You have to check out the author's website and listen to the songs mentioned in the book! It adds such a cute element to the story.

Holy wowza. I would call this book the epitome of current, hip, and YA. According to my recent look at classics, I don't think this one will be standing the test of time. However, it will be making a splash right now! This book was cute, adorable, funny, and had an intense romance. All wrapped up in the great musical element.

First, the positives. The cast of characters are great! Well rounded, good depth and lots of feels. Shaynee is our MC and she just recently suffered the loss of her mother. We are seeing the angry, lost, lonely side of Shaynee. Her best friend Tiffany is her anchor. Their relationship is the CUTEST. Tiffany is really just a fantastic best friend. I was pretty happy to see such a cute, close girl-girl friendship. Shaynee's brother Lennox is dorky but oh so lovable. And you can't help but love Shaynee's dad as well. He does his best and it is so loving, yet so sad.

Of course then there is the love interest, Dean. What a hunk! He is cute and popular with just about everyone, but completely down to earth. Dean is where I have to begin my negatives. He is just too soul-searching rock star for me. His connection to Shaynee is a bit weird and their relationship is too insta-love to find truly fun and enjoyable. I like me some insta-attraction, but this was beyond that.

My other big negative is Shaynee herself. I love the feels and the depth of her emotion over the loss of her mother. But oh man: she is nuts. Shaynee is completely and utterly self focused. I understand being self focused after a loss, but this is crazy. Her big blow up (not really a spoiler) and the main conflicts of the story are crazy and over the top. They also could have been avoided with a lot less crazy. Instead I felt like I was reading scenes from a reality show on MTV.

These last two negatives were pretty significant to me, but overall the book was a fun read that I had trouble putting down. I am still rating it with 4 stars. Any reader who enjoys intense, contemporary summer reads would thoroughly enjoy this one! It is hip, fresh, and touching; a must read end of the summer hit!