Vanishing Fame by Selina Rosen

Vanishing Fame
by Selina Rosen
Pages: 328
Date: June 20 2014
Publisher: Yard Dog Press

Review
Rating: 5.5 out of 5 stars
Read: June 11 2015
This story was something of a roller-coaster. And quite frankly I was a little scared of it. In an odd little way. I just felt that there was no way it could have a happy ending. I mean, there's this happy moment at something like 16% into the book (16, 9, 11, whatever it was). And I knew, that was too bloody early for such a moment. Unless bad things were about to happen. And I was right. The little roller coaster car the reader was in was at a high point. Then whee . . . falling quickly downwards. Then up again. And down.

I'm being somewhat purposely vague. For the most part I loved the side characters. And, for the most part, I loved the main characters of Jessy and Joan.

I don't normally particularly like the "love at first sight" type of story, but here it had to work that way. Because of the people involved. Jessy is a hermit, because of events in her past she had to get away. She's spent, basically, six years up on a mountain by herself building a massive lovely home. Joan's a self-proclaimed rude bitch who must try everything, at least once. Including every kind of man out there. Striving to get that itch scratched that never seems to actually get scratched.

That, above, is a false impression on one level. Jessy had been a hermit. But had been dragged out on tour for several months by the time she bumps into Joan. Naked. In her . . . hmm, I suddenly can't recall if it was called a hot tub or not.

But I was mentioning why it had to work this way, love at first sight. Jessy had been burned way too often to allow herself to try to get close again. Hell, one of the reasons, not sure how high or low this falls, but one of the reasons she agreed to go out on the road again was, to put it crudely, is for pussy. Out on the road for months. People screaming in joy that she's back again. Out there. Throwing underwear at her. And . . . even though she keeps saying that she's just about to go have fun with groupies, or something like that, she never actually does so. Because she doesn't want to be burnt again.

So, basically what I'm saying is that the only real way that a relationship could suddenly develop would be through love at first sight. Lust at first sight certainly wasn't going to do it.

Course, that's one of the reasons I was somewhat scared about the book, after I started. Two reasons. One, I came to like Jessy and knew that if something bad happened, Jessy would become unglued. Two, Joan's one of those women who didn't realize that they might actually be a lesbian, and once realize such, didn't want to admit it publicly because of fear for their career. And Jessy has been burnt many times, well two times, by getting into relationships with women who don't want to admit, publicly, to be in a relationship with Jessy.

Right, so, Jessy James was born in a rat infested building. Was found at the age of three hiding in her closet, nearby was her dead decaying mother who had been killed, probably, by one of her "tricks". Mother having been a junkie prostitute. Tossed around in the system, Jessy eventually made it, too late to a certain extent, to a good couple. Who bought her a real drum set. One thing lead to another and Jessy and her band, Tidal Wave, became massively popular. Rode the wave for about five years then imploded. Mostly because every other band member got hooked on drugs. And Jessy's lover of the time died in a exploding car. A car driven by this lover into a pole. Around this time, Jessy gets hit by a drunk driver. Gets put into a walking cast. Gets dumped by a different girlfriend who couldn't admit to being a lesbian and returned to her husband. After all of this, Jessy had to get away. Story opens six or seven years later with Jessy living on a mountain in a home-built home. Watching television. VH1 to be specific. And randomly stumbles across the story of her own band. And life.

Hmm. That's a wall of text if I ever saw one. Was going to mention Jessy, then Joan, but bah. It'd just be another wall of text. So.

Jessy - fabulously talented singer/songwriter/hermit in hiding last 6 years.

Joan - fabulously talented singer/actress/songwriter with a reputation of being flightly in romance, hooking up with everyone.

Jessy + Joan = ?

Loved the book. Though, as I've mentioned, I was on edge and scared everything would be ruined.