NEW ADULT
The Lonely Hearts Club - Brenda Janowitz (2014)
Jo Waldman loves music and is simply biding her time aimlessly in the music world until her father fires her from her 'day job'. With no income or job prospects, Jo is shocked when Daddy tells her she needs to make her own way in the world... including paying rent on the loft she lives in. Jo has also been dumped by her long-time boyfriend and has to endure a massive birthday surprise party hosted by her parents. After one too many drinks, the blogosphere becomes a place for Jo to vent her frustrations about love and being hurt by those she thought cared and supported her. Writing on the blog for her old band, Lonely Hearts Club, Jo doesn't realise the post she publishes goes live to hundreds of followers in one very hysteric and truthful email. Her 'anti-love' message is received by many and shared amongst thousands. Thanks to social media, her personal rant is now a symbol for all things that are wrong in the world of love. In steps the webprogrammer who is determined to help Jo take her message of anti-love to the world... the only problem is, Jo is falling in love with him. Jo has two choices... follow her heart and trust in the love she has found OR return to the place of music where anti-love message and hard rock reign supreme (and pay her bills). The Lonely Hearts Club is very entertaining as the reader begins to decipher who the characters are and their place within the novel. Readers will identify with Jo's parents - the overbearing mother and a father who insists on calling his adult daughter "pumpkin". But once the crux of the plot is complete, the storyline becomes monotonous at times. It falls into the trap of giving away too much too soon with no anticipation left for the reader to eagerly turn the next page. Written well, the use of description and themes are standard chick lit but the leaves the reader still wanting more details... more intrigue into the characters... more highlights... it just doesn't deliver. (MP)
Brenda Janowitz has penned a New Adult novel about following your own heart in The Lonely Hearts Club. The summary says: "When Jo's father fires her and Jesse breaks up with her, Jo doesn't get upset - she just wants to rage. Dusting off her computer, Jo writes a blog entry, pouring her heart out about the shortcomings of love. Except that no sooner does Jo hit 'upload' than the site sends a mass e-mail to the entire Lonely Hearts mailing list, alerting everybody Jo has ever met that she's been brutally dumped. All Jo wants to do is hide under the covers, but to her surprise, supportive e-mails start flowing in - many of them from complete strangers. Apparently, her anti-love rant has struck a chord. The Lonely Hearts Club Blog develops a huge following, even capturing the eye of Jo's sworn nemesis, bubble gum pop princess Amber Fairchild. Jo soon becomes an icon for all things "anti-love," and at her fans' request, she begins to plan The Lonely Hearts Club Ball - a massive anti-love Valentine's Day party to end all parties. Jo quickly becomes the poster girl for lonely hearts, and it inspires her to start writing music again. There's only one problem: the web programmer helping Jo with her site is simply dreamy. Jo's never been very good at depriving herself of anything, but if this budding romance is exposed, she'll be revealed as an 'anti-love' fraud and risk losing all the people who have grown trust her voice. So is it time to start singing love songs, or time to pick up the guitar and return to the hard rock that almost got The Lonely Hearts signed in the first place? Either way, Jo's got some big decisions to make, and it looks like she's going to have to take one step closer to doing something she never thought she'd do - becoming a grownup."