Another Miserable Love Song

by Brooke Carter

Overview

When a punk band asks Kallie to sing for them, she must decide if she's got the heart.

Kallie Echo is starting to think dreams are dangerous. Her dad had one—to be a rock star—and then he died. Now Kallie is practically homeless and her life is falling apart. When she's asked to front a band of rocker chicks (and one trans guy), she wonders if she can find a new purpose in punk? Or if the drummer with the amazing smile will break her heart? Everything hinges on Kallie. It's a lot of pressure—especially when you throw in substance abuse and Kallie's deadbeat mom showing up at the worst time. Kallie must learn to trust her friends, and herself if she's going to get over the past and make a new future.

The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459833098
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Series:	Orca Soundings Series
Edition description:	High readability edition
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	657,945
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.38(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Brooke Carter is a Canadian novelist and the author of several contemporary books for teens, including Double or Nothing (Junior Library Guild Gold Selection), Learning Seventeen (CCBC Best Book for Teens) and Sulfur Heart from the Orca Soundings line. She earned her MFA in creative writing at UBC.

Editorial Reviews

"A thoroughly modern and realistic love story unencumbered by moralizing or politics…There is depth to this truncated story and the author's edgy delivery saves it from shallow breathiness. The title is a characteristic touch of the book's unadorned view of life balanced by a faith in abiding goodness, regardless of context. The story of the transitioning Jamie and [his] involvement with Kallie has a ring of genuine truth about it."

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"Carter's novel is a quick paced read that packs a lot of action into its 127-pages...The novel is able to knit together weighty themes including transgender issues, dealing with death, finding love and substance abuse. Specifically, Carter's presentation of transgender issues and how someone might experience them in a real life are believable and may help readers understand these realities more deeply...Recommended."

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

"Carter's novel is a quick paced read that packs a lot of action into its 127-pages...The novel is able to knit together weighty themes including transgender issues, dealing with death, finding love and substance abuse. Specifically, Carter's presentation of transgender issues and how someone might experience them in a real life are believable and may help readers understand these realities more deeply...Recommended."

CM Magazine

06/27/2016
Kallie Echo, 18, still reeling from the recent death of her father, now has to figure out how to keep her Vancouver home in Carter’s debut novel, part of the Orca Soundings series, written at a fourth-grade reading level. Then Kallie is asked to join her friend Jamie’s all-girl punk band; before long, she is romantically entangled with Jamie, who is transitioning to life as a man. Despite some hiccups, the band starts to take off, but while readers will be drawn in by Carter’s electric descriptions of performing (“I opened my mouth... and pressed my lips to the mic, kissing the crosshatched metal.... A surge of power rose in my gut”), those excited by the tender trans love story that develops will likely be disappointed by the melodramatic and violent ending. Ages 12–up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly