Description
This delightfully funny and steamy debut novel about music, fate, and love—from beloved songwriter and Bangles co-founder Susanna Hoffs—is “a total knockout” and “the smart, ferocious rock-star redemption romance you didn’t know you needed” (New York Times Book Review).
“This isn’t just a book, it’s a love song, and it should come as no surprise that Susanna Hoffs has crafted the perfect one to put on your playlist.” ―Christina Lauren
Jane Start is thirty-three, broke, and recently single. Ten years prior, she had a hit song—written by world-famous superstar Jonesy—but Jane hasn’t had a breakout since. Now she’s living out of four garbage bags at her parents’ house, reduced to performing to Karaoke tracks in Las Vegas. Rock bottom.
But when her longtime manager Pippa sends Jane to London to regroup, she’s seated next to an intriguing stranger on the flight—the other Tom Hardy, an elegantly handsome Oxford professor of literature. Jane is instantly smitten by Tom, and soon, truly inspired. But it’s not Jane’s past alone that haunts her second chance at stardom, and at love. Is Tom all that he seems? And can Jane emerge from the shadow of Jonesy’s earlier hit, and into the light of her own?
In turns deeply sexy, riotously funny, and utterly joyful, This Bird Has Flown explores love, passion, and the ghosts of our past, and offers a glimpse inside the music business that could only come from beloved songwriter Susanna Hoffs.
My Thoughts
I was curious to see this writerly side of Susanna Hoffs because I always thought her pop persona hid a clever, intelligent woman. This novel is a great start for Hoffs showing she’s way more than a cute girl in a mini dress.
She’s writing what she knows here and peeling back the tacky, sometimes gross layers of the life of a pop star. There’s a definite whiff of autobiography which will certainly appeal to fans whether it’s accurate or not. However there is also some damn good writing – appealing characterizations, witty and raw dialog and a dynamite story.
This will be in every beach bag and carry-on this summer and if it’s not, it should be! I’m looking forward to more from Susanna Hoffs, Author!
“Clever and entertaining . . . with an insider’s feel for the mixed blessings of pop fame.” —Los Angeles Times
“Part British romcom, part Jane Eyre, and one hundred percent enjoyable.” —Tom Perrotta
“In this sexy, page-turning treat, Susanna Hoffs writes as engagingly as she sings.” —Helen Fielding
Publication Date: April 4, 2023
Published By: Little, Brown & Company
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
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