Unexpectedly Excellent Book

The Love Song of Jonny Valentine

This is one of those books I see on a recommendation list somewhere, request from my library, wait weeks/months for it to come in, and then am like, WTF is this?

I would say that I'm not generally into novels narrated by 11-year-old boy pop stars, but...well, because this is the only book of that type I'm aware of, and I super-enjoyed this book, maybe I am.

The narrator is not annoying in the ways you'd expect -- he seems smart, funny, clued-in about many things (and decidedly clueless about others, as it should be), and though with his faults, overall, a sympathetic and likeable kid.  The whole book rests on this kid's personality and narrative style, so this is a good thing.

You can read general reviews elsewhere, but I'll say that one thing that hit a button for me was how the author used an interesting parallel/contrast effect with JV's real life and his experience in the role-playing game that is one of his primary recreational outlets while on tour.   Also, the last sentence of the book kills.