Review + Author Interview: Rock & A Hard Place by Angie Stanton - Farah

Title: Rock and a Hard Place

Author: Angie Stanton

Publisher: Vanguard Management 

Publication Date: May 3rd, 2011

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Challenges: SARC, Contemporary Challange, A-Z

Source: Author
Format: E-book

Pages: 288

Goodreads

One day while watching the Interstate exit for her dad’s long awaited return, Libby’s life is rocked when Peter Jamieson steps off his tour bus and into her life. After a couple chance meetings with Peter, Libby breaks away from her rule abiding behavior and her life changes course.

Peter longs for normalcy away from the screaming fans who know nothing about the real him. He is amazed to discover Libby has never heard of him or his band. Soon their friendship turns to love. While Peter battles his family's growing interference so he can spend time with Libby, she struggles with her eccentric aunt who turns more bizarre each day. 

    What inspired you to write Rock & A Hard Place?

This is a little long, I'll try to give you the short version. :)

My ideas always start with "what if?" Here's the back story. My daughter was really worried about a boy she went to high school with. The parents were divorced and he lived with his mother in Colorado. When he was 14, she died of cancer. He was sent here, to Wisconsin, to live with his dad. I don't know any of the circumstances, but from what I heard, the dad was abusive and alcoholic. He clearly didn't want his son and didn't know what to do with him. He even threw the kid out of the house a few times. This friendly, polite, good looking kid was 16. I couldn't stop thinking about him.

His story got me to thinking about all the kids who get a raw deal in life. Kids who do absolutely nothing to deserve the bad situation they're in. So I wondered, what if? What if a young girl was torn from her family and put with some eccentric relative? What if she were so grief stricken she couldn't pull herself out of it. What would happen? AND, what if the most unlikely of things happened and someone famous stepped into her life? That's how Libby and Peter came to life. :)

Do any of the characters resemble a person you know? 

The characters in this book aren't based off anyone specific. I didn't have a famous person in mind when I wrote them. However, I did for Dream Chaser, my next book, but that's another story.

How did you come up with the title? 

The title picked itself. I labored for a long time about it, but having Rock in the title seemed necessary, because Peter is in a rock band. And Libby is in a very hard place in her life. So Rock and a Hard Place felt right. It describes both characters lives. 

How would you compare Libby's personality to yours?

How would I compare Libby's personality to my own? Interesting question. I believe that most people go through difficult times when their kids. Some skate through unscathed, but many have some kind of issues or trauma they survived. I'm no different. There was a time in my life when I was shy and didn't speak up, so I guess you could say that part of Libby's personality was like mine. Now, as an adult, I'm pretty honest with my opinions. If I think something is wrong, I'll say so, and if I think a rule is stupid, I won't follow it.  Libby finally had to break rules to save herself. 

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My Review:

Rock and a Hard Place was definitely the contemporary novel I was looking for! It was fun, chill, and very interesting! The flow of the book was wonderful, and the story events were all great! Angie definitely wrote a book that many young adults would enjoy!

In this book, I loved how the main protagonist Libby, never felt sorry for herself. She didn't have a family, and had to live with her awful aunt who's always drinking. If it was me, i'd go crazy! Libby held through and went to school, got good grades, and just went on with her life!

When Libby meets Peter, it was magical. They instantly enjoy their time together, and not in an insta love way, but in a "wow your great to hang out with" way. Peter is in a band, and Libby doesn't have any electronics at home, so she has never heard of him. Peter feels normal around Libby, which seems totally realistic and believable. With all those fans after him, seeking normalcy is one thing he does. While no one showed kindness to Libby, she does feel safe and happy with him, which again just makes the whole concept real and cute.

The most thing I loved, is Angie's style of writing. She writes in all the character's points of views, and not in a way that mixes the readers up. I understood all the character's feelings and thoughts, which made me get to know them much better.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. If you haven't read it yet, you should totally go ahead and READ it! It will not disappoint, and will leave you closing the book with a smile!

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