Review by Booklist Review
Against seemingly insurmountable odds, Dylan Read built a glittering career for herself, the rare Nashville songwriter who found success as a performer. As a shy teenager with a gift for storytelling, she rocketed to fame on her preternatural talent and work ethic. But Dylan didn't start out as a solo performer. Her best friend, Kelsey Copestenke, was her collaborator, cheerleader, and muse before she disappeared, decades ago now. Dylan has worried ever since that Kelsey would resurface and mar the sterling reputation she's so carefully preserved. Putting grief, intrigue, and success under the high-powered microscope of celebrity culture, Layden (All Girls, 2021) uses dual time lines to unravel the circumstances behind Kelsey's long-ago disappearance and Dylan's present-day efforts to uncover the truth. Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones & the Six and Matthew Norman's Charm City Rocks will appreciate the detail and ripped-from-the-headlines feel of this music-world story. Proving that success doesn't guarantee security, Once More from the Top dives into the formative experiences that shape who we are and echo long into adulthood.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A Taylor Swift--esque pop star is blindsided by the discovery of her high school best friend's corpse in this powerhouse sophomore effort from Layden (All Girls). Dylan Read is a chart-topping, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter famous for her diaristic lyrics. The only major life event she hasn't written about is the disappearance of her friend Kelsey Copestenke, who taught Dylan songwriting and seemed destined for greatness. Kelsey was known to be somewhat reckless, so when she vanished during the girls' junior year of high school in Upstate New York, the search was perfunctory; many people assumed she'd simply decamped to Nashville. Fifteen years later, tourists discover Kelsey's remains in a lake near her hometown. When she hears the news, Dylan thinks she knows when and why Kelsey died, and blames herself--but after she attends the memorial service, she starts to suspect there's more to the story. Leyden skillfully intercuts Dylan's search for answers with sections chronicling her friendship with Kelsey and the evolution of her career. Authentic characters and Dylan's lyrical first-person narration bestow the proceedings with dimension, drama, and drive. Megan Abbott fans will devour this. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Co. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
While a singer-songwriter is striving to produce an authentic-sounding album, her best friend from high school is found at the bottom of a lake--dredging up the tragedy behind the music. Dylan Read is a mega-selling, Grammy Award--winning singer-songwriter whose country roots have evolved into a sort of "bedroom pop" that fans love for its personal and--although she doesn't like the word--confessional nature. But despite her best efforts, the media accuse her of being fake. In a news article about the cold case of a girl who went missing 15 years ago, the headline gives the detail that Kelsey Copestenke was a classmate of Dylan's, seemingly milking the flimsy connection between the two for the sake of getting more page views. But what Dylan hasn't told the press--or even her publicist--is that she owes her career to Kelsey. Beneath the veneer of her success are the people who know Dylan's secrets: the high school classmates; Kelsey's brother, Matt; and the boyfriend she hides from the world for fear it'll wreck their relationship and her career. But one secret is a mystery: what happened to Kelsey. As Dylan goes through each album of her catalog, she flashes back to her high school years in upstate New York with her lost friend, who was forming a musical duo with Dylan when she went missing. "Country music is about relatability," Dylan says. "Just three chords and the truth, as the saying goes. Pop, on the other hand, traffics in fantasy." In the story, there's a balance of both. The flashbacks are entertaining and filled with cringey high school drama. On the less relatable end, Dylan still frets about what the press says about her. But what makes her most interesting is Layden's respect for the craft of making music, from Dylan's "fear that tortilla chips might scratch my vocal cords" to Kelsey's early guitar lessons: "We're gonna learn four chords and six strumming patterns and you're gonna have to trust me when I tell you that's all you need to know." A juicy mystery filled with gossip--and music you can almost hear. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
