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The Ballad of Stevie Pearl by SW Hammond begins in Los Angeles, where everything that glitters is not gold. Even the life of pop star Stevie Pearl is not without complications. Since she cannot really go anywhere without chaos quickly following, her life has become similar to living as a caged bird.
Her best friend, Celeste, introduces her to Alex Nopah, a Native American illustrator. His star is on the rise in the comic book world. His graphic novel is being made into a movie. Alex is definitely not ready for a spotlight on his life that is quite so bright and terrible.
A video of Alex dancing at Stevie’s party goes viral which turns his world upside down. People commented all kinds of crazy and also racist things about Alex.
However, he really likes Stevie for all of the right reasons. So they take a chance on getting to know each other under the almost constant supervision of her bodyguard, Franklin. Stevie and her bodyguards also dress up in cosplay to attend a comic book convention. It was a really sweet and funny moment.
Stevie’s team of entertainment lawyers and other associates go too far to protect their client after the viral video. The team doesn’t think Alex is right for Stevie’s image – meaning that they don’t approve of his ethnicity.
They try to intimidate Alex into not seeing Stevie by sabotaging his movie deal for the comic book. They also attempt to blackmail Stevie so she will do what they want. Stevie doesn’t sit around waiting for them to ruin the career of Alex or her own career. In the end, she puts a stop to the mistreatment in the most magnificent way.
At the beginning of the book, the reader knows that Stevie has been on hiatus and is now preparing for a televised interview. I wouldn’t say that the ending was satisfying because it was unbelievably heartbreaking. I was not prepared for all of the emotions.
If you like stories about love, music and comic books, then you might enjoy The Ballad of Stevie Pearl. Racists will not like this book but we don’t care about them, do we? So go get a copy and enjoy it in spite of those other people.
*I received this ebook from NetGalley. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own. Obviously.
