Joanie by Lucy Heart is an age gap, celebrity romance about meeting your ultimate crush and getting the (much older) girl.
Kristen Perry is finally going to a Joanie concert. Not only does she love the rock goddess’s music, but she’s been in love with Joanie for all of her life. The experience goes far beyond what Kristin could have imagined when one of Joanie’s dudes (I’m guessing he’s a bouncer) invites her backstage, asks her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and drops her in a room with a bunch of other women.
Turns out, the rumours about Joanie picking up a woman or three after concerts are totally true and everyone in the holding tank is there to see if Joanie will choose them. Everyone is excited at the prospect of sleeping with a legend, but Kristen knows she’s the one who truly loves Joanie. Can Kristen accept the prospect of a single night? Or is there a chance they could truly connect and build more?
The Characters
The whole story is told from Kristen’s perspective. She’s 21, completely starstruck, and so sweet that I just wanted to protect her, especially when she learns the real deal about how Joanie is looking for her bed partner of the night. That said, I also can understand why she was swept up in the moment, especially once she was around Joanie. I’m glad that Kristen also demonstrates she’s very capable and has strong ethics (I won’t get into why, but just know that I loved this part so hard), because it shows there’s more to her than her identity as a Joanie fan. We also learn fairly late in the story that Kristen is autistic, and while I can’t speak to the authenticity of the autism rep, I’m mentinoing it since I know many readers are looking for that.
Everything we learn about Joanie comes through her interactions with Kristen. I was turned off by her at first because of her method of picking up women. There’s a nice payoff for sticking with her, though, because we learn more about Joanie’s personal baggage and how it causes her to keep everyone at arm’s length. Because the book takes place within a two-day period (with the exception of the quick snapshot we get of Joanie and Kristen in the epilogue), we don’t get to see the full transformation Joanie goes through as a result of her relationship with Kristen, but I am hopeful it will be a big one.
The Writing Style
I was so turned off by the whole “holding tank with women Joanie might want to bang” thing that I almost bailed on this book. But the writing is SO damn readable that I kept going and I’m glad I did, because the writing really is that compelling.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
I love that this book surprised me. I spent quite a bit of time shouting in my mind “Kristen, WTF are you doing?! You don’t actually know her!!!”, so I was shocked to see Kristen have a conversation with herself about her long-held perception of Joanie and how she never knew who Joanie actually was. It adds depth to her character that I didn’t expect and made me respect her all the more.
Cons And Heads Up
I already mentioned my biggest con: how Joanie and Kristen meet. It strikes me as kind of gross (yes, I find it gross when bad boy rock artists do it too). Some of the women literally fistfight over Joanie, she takes a bunch of them out dancing, and it’s like they’re all auditioning to be in her bed. That doesn’t do it for me.
Also, the book has an epilogue that takes place several months after the main story, which is trying to sell the idea of them living happily ever after, and I’m not sure I buy it. Like I said, Kristen is 21. I’m not sure how much older Joanie is, but I’m guessing it’s in the 30+ year range, given the emphasis on how she’s been a legend for decades. I couldn’t get a sense of what they have in common except that they’ve both had difficult times in the past. So, because the main story takes place over two days, we don’t get to see them do the work of building a relationship, and instead have to choose whether to accept that what they have is love at first sight. Maybe it is! I don’t know. But I see them having a nice 5-10 years together before going their separate ways and hopefully maintaining a fond friendship after that.
The Conclusion
I suspect that Joanie is a book that readers will either love or hate. If you weren’t bothered by anything I said about how they get together, definitely pick it up, because it has some good stuff going for it. If, on the other hand, you read that and were put off, you might want to check out a different celebrity romance instead.
TLDR (too long didn’t read)
Die hard celebrity romance fans will like Joanie if they can get past the idea of a rock star who likes to handpick her bedmates from a pre-selected group of women.
Excerpt from Joanie by Lucy Heart
The song ended.
There was cheering. Loud, all-consuming cheering that filled the arena with a roar of sound.
But that was elsewhere.
Far away.
Far outside of where Kristen was.
Kristen stood in a self-contained bubble. She stared up at Joanie, and she felt her heart ascend.
She felt it.
And, as Joanie remained down on one knee on the stage, as the moment–the perfect moment–extended itself, becoming a little more than one moment, and then possibly two…Joanie didn’t move. She stayed down on one knee, her elbow propped on her leather-clad thigh. Joanie, looking out at Kristen, fully acknowledging Kristen’s existence…
She leaned forward a little, and, staring intensely into Kristen’s eyes…
Joanie winked.
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Bits and Bobs
- ISBN number: 9798563883116
- Publisher: Indie author
- Lucy Heart Online
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