New Rock Paperback – July 23, 2015

At first, this book appears to be a fun romp about college and what young people might do when parents aren't there to breathe down their necks. You make friends, you party, and then you learn the important lesson that only some that will be there for you in the critical times. The book takes a sudden serious turn - I didn't expect it- but it was good to experience. I really, really enjoyed New Rock!

I enjoyed the story but feel it needs more development. It was quite confusing in some places as to who the chapters were focusing on and was sometimes hard to differentiate between the tone of voice of characters.There were some big blocks of speech that needed cutting up a bit, having the characters move around, showing the reaction of the person that they were speaking to. There were also formatting errors and at one point I noticed the wrong character name. Some of the character reactions just seemed so off and unrealistic to.One of the things I enjoyed about this story was the way Ryan Herrin described the characters. It was easy to imagine what they would be like as an actual person – the way they would look, behave, little attributes they may have and whether or not I would get on with them, (some definitely not.) The descriptions of scenes were good also, easily setting the scene and letting you slide into where the action was taking place – and in some places making me wish I could get the bleach out and go and clean up!.. .Or put ear plugs in – depending on what part of the story we’re at.Although I felt like it swapped and changed to much, I did like seeing things from the teachers point of view, from Tylers and from some of the other characters, I just wish that some of these had been further developed and had been explored more.When we get to ending of the story was good, it left me with questions wondering what would happen next, what’s happened to some of the characters, wondering if the truth will come out. But we’re not spoon fed with the answers and we can get our imagination easily fill in the gaps.However, after the story ended there was one extra page and this is one of the reasons that I dropped another star – it makes it seem like the author is saying that some of things explored in the story are ok to happen.Despite all this, I did enjoy the story. It’s got a good basis to it, it just feels like it needs a good going over and some more work put into it to get it up to a better standard.

Sex, Drugs, and Rock Radio-- this book delivers! It is the 'Animal House' for my generation! But instead of the 'frat house', it's set on the airwaves and in the classroom.What I liked most is how at first you think it is just a raucous bunch of college kids and their college-aged antics. But it is so much more than that. I was surprised to see how much heart it had. It touches on issues of love and hate, right and wrong, what you think you want and finding out what you really want, dealing with disappointment and fear and insecurities of youth.The characters come to life on the pages. They are fleshed out in a way I can just picture these guys being true to life! It was a fast read-- I read it in 2 days b/c I couldn't put it down! And I laughed so much! But I definitely got teary-eyed at the end b/c of the twists and turns it takes. I don't like when a book is predictable, when you know how it is going to end after reading just the first few pages. But this one, I guarantee you will be blown away. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a 'good time'.... :) This author is definitely one to look out for...

First of all, I have to say that there was definitely a big of a generation gap for me in reading this book. My son just started University and said it was a good read to help me understand his generation, what they are up to and what they are going through in today's real world. I think HBO should pick this up and make it into a TV Series. The characters are all very interesting, out there facing their fears, learning, making mistakes and some were dealing with the consequences. The depiction of parents and generally adults was different and felt real. I learned some new phrases, some made me laugh out loud. Some I'm not quite sure what they meant - there's always Google.