Review: Hothead Shares the Tour Bus
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2014
After a year in rehab, Trace has whipped his addiction to alcohol into submission.  He has had months of therapy and an AA sponsor network that help him maintain his sobriety.  He still blames himself for events he lived through with his abusive, drunk father that give him a recurring nightmare (wouldn't the therapist have worked through that ?).  And he does not advocate well for himself when Kylie tells him, over and over, that he hurt her. To "throw his hat in the ring," he professes his love to Kylie in a new song he performs on stage, in front of thousands of fans, catching her completely off guard.  It's clumsy and uncool, a little desperate.  Kylie, for her part, is a major interrupter.  If she would let people finish their sentences, and count to ten before she flies off the handle, she would learn a lot more, understand the bigger picture, and the plot of this book would make some progress.  I find her borderline annoying in this book, kind of a princess.  This author could teach young people something by showing them how adults with romantic issues can have a difficult conversation, productively.  Or, she could show them meeting with a trained specialist, a relationship counselor, who can teach them how to talk to each other, how to say what they need to say in a safe way that will not send one person running for the door, never to return.  They have grown up with dysfunctional adults, only to become them, themselves.  It's not hereditary, the ability to play well with others, it's learned.  These two characters need to use their words, the way mothers encourage their toddlers to do.  The "charm" of young adult dysfunction (especially when those adults have the means and the access to help that would improve their lives) is not a great theme for an entire book.