My Beautiful Hippie by Janet Nichols Lynch

Summary: Set in 1960s New York, aspiring photographer Alice Wiess is chasing her big-city dreams after having left her small Midwestern town behind. The surprise ending will make you want to re-read the book all over again from a new perspective. There’s mention of Hollywood’s playground the Sunset Strip, Whisky A Go-Go, Château Marmot, and more. The storyline documents the band’s humble beginnings and rise to super-stardom through different voices. Reid makes these group of characters so distinct in their own ways that it is easy to fall in love with them. If you’re worried that this uniqueness takes away from the plot, like I was at first, don’t be.

I cannot begin to describe how refreshing it was to read a story with this format and its multiple narrators and points of view. Why I Love It: The fact that the entire story is one big interview. Together, with the band, they become legends in the rising realm of rock music that leads into the seventies. With her charm and voice now gaining recognition in the industry, she eventually crosses paths with Billy Dunne of the famed rock band The Six. Despite this lifestyle being amusing, Daisy aches to become a famous singer and devote herself to rock and roll. Summary: Daisy Jones knows her way around the exhilarating streets of Los Angeles in the late 1960s, sneaking into clubs and associating with rock stars. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid The author takes us on a journey to 1970s suburbia through the lens of Mary Jane for a summer that I truly never wanted to end. It’s a coming-of-age story with a heartfelt ending that admittedly made me teary-eyed. There are plenty of references to the decade’s music, television shows, and fashion as much as there are descriptors of the evolving principles of the time. Additionally, Blau leans into the descriptions so much that you can easily conjure the image in your head.

Blau’s clever use of metaphors paints a crisp, vibrant image of the scenes that unfold as you read you’ll know exactly the familiar feeling that’s being described on the spot. Why I love it: From the first few sentences, we are immediately thrust into the world of Mary Jane and The Cones. Our narrator is stuck somewhere between her straight-laced family’s traditional values and the progressive family she nannies for - the latter of which opens her eyes to a world of freedom, possibilites, and great music. Mary Jane has just entered the summer she’ll soon never forget. Cone is expecting a live-in rock star patient. Babysitting her neighbors’ child, Izzy Cone, to earn some pocket money seems feasible on the surface, but throw in the fact that Izzy’s parents are liberals and that psychiatrist Dr. Summary: Set in 1970s Baltimore, 14-year-old Mary Jane’s summer has just begun.

My Beautiful Hippie by Janet Nichols Lynch