Review of The Rock Star's Daughter by Caitlyn Duffy

Published: July 5, 2011
ASIN: B005BYPLPE
Length: 319 pages

Taylor's father is a famous rock star, and she has no clue who he is. Sure, she has seen him all over magazine covers and just about everyone she knows and has met loves his music, but as his daughter, she can count how many times they have met on one hand. All Taylor has is her mother, who suffers from addiction and isn't going to win any mother of the year awards anytime soon. Making the best of a bad situation, Taylor attends private school and focuses on her music, only coming home for the summer to reconnect with the life she really doesn't mind leaving behind. Then one day, all of that changes when her mom dies.

Suddenly, Taylor finds herself in the custody of the father she has never known with a mother who seems to resent her and a little sister who commands all the attention. With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, Taylor shrinks in on herself as she joins her new family on a summer-long tour across the country. Forced to deal with her father's fame and being tossed into the spotlight, Taylor hardly has time to grieve let alone get used to her new life. Along the way, she meets Jake, whose mother is a groupie, and learns love and heartache for the first time.

I liked this story. It wasn't great and it wasn't bad. It just was. Using the roller coaster example, the drama here was slow moving with small twists and turns and shallow peeks. It was pretty steady from start to finish.

I had high hopes when she met Jake. I was prepared for this whirlwind love affair that would inevitably crash and burn by tour end, but like the rest of the story, it never really went anywhere. I found it a little unbelievable that Taylor had fallen in love with the boy when they only had sporadic and sparse encounters over the weeks. As a teenager, I will say her love was probably more along the lines of infatuation and a love of the IDEA of him, which is pretty normal, but still. Where was the gut wrenching impact of first love?

I also found myself questioning Taylor's life goals often. She goes into this claiming how her love in life is playing the violin. By summer's end she is looking forward to a very difficult performance, but if she knocks it out of the park, she could get into very prestigious colleges. Naturally, her mother's death puts a wrench in her plans, but she practically forgot about music altogether. Plus, I didn't really see her crying herself to sleep each night and suffering from bouts of severe depression along the way, so I don't but that she wasn't able to focus on her studies like she should have been had it been that important to her. To me, it seemed like a side story that was forgotten about and severely underdeveloped.

By the end, I felt like everything had fallen a little flat. Granted, I did like how the author wrapped up some of the details, making them come full circle. The love I was looking for, and I think everyone was secretly hoping for, was hinted at, but that's about it. I really think a little more could have been said to make the ending a little happier and a lot more satisfying, but all in all it was okay. I would recommend this read for a lazy day as something to pass the time, but don't expect any teen angst or anything beyond a G rating.