I really enjoyed this book and believe that it would make a good movie or show. At first it was giving heavy Daisy Jones / Evelyn Hugo vibes but quickly turned into something different and new. I've never read a book about a ghostwriter and thought it was even cooler that the author is an actual working ghostwriter for celebrities. This story is very layered and pulls the reader into each story and character that is being told.

This book is like if Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones, and Nancy Drew had a baby.
I really enjoyed parts, and then others just felt too familiar.
Mari is a ghost writer (which was a really interesting twist I liked) and just might be writing the memoir of the lead female vocals of a famous band from the 70’s.
A suspicious death in the group has Mari trying to figure out exactly what happened.
Midway through this audio book I lost some interest, but then the story picked up steam and I actually really liked the ending.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC!

This story is a fascinating look at the occupation of being a ghost writer and what it takes to be successful while writing the memoir of a rock star. I didn't expect to feel so emotionally involved with these characters, but there was something genuinely likeable about almost all of them. I felt like I had a backstage pass to their history and I enjoyed every moment. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Helen Laser, and it's fantastic. I could see this as a movie.

As an audiobook, this was kind of hard to follow. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and a good amount of reveals that weren’t conveyed through audio. That being said, I think this would make a really incredible movie!

'The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers' is like the quirky offspring of Daisy Jones and Seven Husbands, sprinkled with a dash of mystery.

The book follows ghostwriter Mari Hawthorne as she writes about Anke, a legendary model and groupie for the band Midnight Ramblers, and Dante, the band's lead singer. Mari interviews the pair, along with a handful of side characters, in effort to produce best-selling memoirs for the stars, respectively. Mari's project takes a turn as she digs into the mystery surrounding Anke's first husband's death.

The narrative is not lacking — the book maintains a steady, medium-paced rhythm that kept me engaged without ever feeling bored. It just needs more oomph! I never felt attached to the central character; and there are some interesting themes explored, but none felt fully fleshed out.

The audiobook is an enjoyable listening experience. The accents and narration by Helen Laser are very well done.

This read is middle of the road, for me. If you like the TJR books it's being compared to, you might give it a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan Audio for the chance to listen and review.

3.5 stars

My obsession with the music of Laurel Canyon and the era of rock music and culture that came from the 60s and 70s is a product of my father who grew up a hop, skip and jump away from the area. The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers fed into that fascination easily. We follow celebrity ghostwrite Mari as she tackles two stories that revolve around mystery, love and music.

I felt that Mari was a relatable character that we could feel sympathetic toward. She's on her last chance after fumbling her last gig, and with her chance at redemption, there's a lot at stake as she tries to showcase her subjects in lights that do them justice while telling what really happened.

Where the story fell a bit flat for me was the relationship between Mari and her family. I felt that there was just a bit too much of telling and not showing how her family feeds into a constant loop of destruction. We get little snippets that don't really fit into the story anywhere. We get revelations toward the end that didn't make sense and felt under developed.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

If you loved Daisy Jones and the Six, I would absolutely recommend The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers to you! The storyline is just as juicy and intriguing and I found myself wanting to listen as fast as I could to get to the ending! Most of my hesitance to rate this book higher was related to my feelings about the characters, I didn’t love some of Mari’s actions but they did contribute to the story so I think it’s really a me thing. That aside, it did reel me in and I found myself also wanting to know the question that Mari was digging to answer.

**Initial Reaction**: 6

**Characters:** 8

**Setting:** 5

**Plot:** 8

**Pace:** 8

**Style:** 7

**Ending:** 6

**Enjoyment:** 9

57 / 16 = 3.5625

Rounded Rating = 3.5

I was a bit nervous reading this book that it would be too similar to Daisy Jones, and the six. There were similarities, but it was its own unique story. I enjoyed it, but I didn't feel myself being drawn to any of the characters. I thought that the behind the scenes Information about being a ghost writer was really interesting!
It felt somewhat drawn from real life because the author of this book is a ghost writer. The smallest detail that bothered me so much was they kept calling Mari "the ghost". I'm sure in the industry ghostwriters are called ghosts but that was never explained and I don't know, it just felt like when people use business lingo in a social conversation!

I am also still fuming about Sigrid!!! I cannot say more without giving away a spoiler but she did something criminal and unforgivable and Mari's reaction was *shrug* I guess I understand why she did what she did. Like, what? Girl? Are you okay??

I really liked the ending of the book and I felt like it grew on me. That is sometimes tricky in a novel so it did win me over eventually! Thanks to Netgalley for providing me and advanced copy of the book to read and review.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me. I DNF'ed around the 30% mark because I wasn't connecting with the characters.

I've seen this advertised as a sort of mash-up of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones, and while I haven't read either of those books, I know the general story outlines, and I can definitely see that ringing true! I may pick this one back up and continue at a later date, but for right now I've set it aside. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the writing or the plot, it just wasn't a fit for my tastes at this time. If you read and loved either of the books I mentioned above, this may be a great option for you!!

Mari is a ghostwriter tasked with writing the memoirs of both Anke, the infamous groupie for the rock band The Midnight Ramblers, whose fame spanned decades, and also for the band's legendary frontman Dante.

What worked for me: The pace was good and I did feel interested enough to see the conclusion through. This was my first audiobook narrated by Helen Laser, and I found her voice easy to listen to and easy to follow. She delivered a wonderful narration in this production.

What didn't work for me: I feel as though the book description actually did this story a disservice by comparing it to Daisy Jones and the Six. I went into the story expecting another 'sex, drugs and rock n' roll' tell-all of another fictional superstar rock band with all the messy, complicated betrayals and scandal that comes with it. This wasn't the case at all. In fact, I was occasionally perplexed as to what the focus of the story truly was-- was it a Mari ghostwriting the next best selling memoir of a celebrity? Or was it Mari attempting to undercover the secret behind the death of one of the band's earliest and most influential members, Mal? In either scenario, it felt more like a book centered on Mari than it did on the tell-all of The Midnight Ramblers. The story felt very repetitive at times-- Mari has an 'aha' moment on who may have been involved in Mal's death, she gets one of those suspicious persons alone and asks them a few hard ball questions, then backs down as the interview abruptly ends. This happened a lot, all while Mari grappled internally with her confidence and ability to write a 'best seller', while consciously trying to remain calm, cool and collected in the band's innermost circle. Sadly, I didn't feel like I got any sort of a deep dive on the band themselves, and with a large ensemble of supporting cast members, I sometimes got lost in who was who and felt little to no connection to any of the major players in the story.

The last 90 minutes or so did have some more exciting moments as the conclusion wrapped up, which led to a satisfying ending.

Overall, I'd rate the story 2/5 stars, however, I did enjoy Helen's narration of the production so I'm giving a bonus star for that. I look forward to listening to Helen again!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this advanced listening copy. I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an honest review.

I believe that this book would be the product of Daisy Jones and the Six, having a baby with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Overall I enjoyed the main storyline/premise of the book, but I was a bit distracted by the added elements of Mari’s life, I feel like that pulled me out of the story a bit and was almost a bit unnecessary. The audiobook narration was great though!

Thank you MacMillan for the review copy of The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers. I admit, I was really excited for this one but it fell flat. My review/feedback has little to do with the production of the audiobook or the voice acting from Helen Laser as the overall quality of the production, including music/sound, and the narration, strong, were not problematic.

What doesn't work is the plot, a plot that should be a winner ends up being one that goes nowhere for me as a reader. I think this suffers from a lack of focus, what story is being told, that of the band, the ghostwriter, and/or the model Anke? A lot of the plot has a build up to perhaps revealing the big secret of "that death" but the writing style never lifts me up and into the story, I felt too distant from the characters and never engaged in the plot.

This is too bad because the quality of the audiobook is good and the promise of a read for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid is there but is unmet.

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers follows Mari, a ghostwriter. Mari has been asked to write the memoir of a legendary model named Anke who dated three different members of the legendary rock band, The Midnight Ramblers. Through a few chance events Mari also stumbles into an opportunity to ghostwrite a memoir for one of the members of The Midnight Ramblers. As she interviews her subjects and unearths secrets that are much bigger than she expected Mari learns just how important her role as their ghostwriter is.

Every book I’ve ever read about fictional celebrities has been fun. Even when they have heavy content they’re still fun. Even when they’re badly written they’re still fun. Even if they have no other positive features they’re always fun. Somehow Sarah Tomlinson managed to write a book about celebrities that lacked fun. The narration always felt dry and distant from all the stories Anke recounted about herself and her past with The Midnight Ramblers, even when she was sharing something deeply personal and emotional. All of the “exciting” stories that would usually contribute the fun aspect of books about fictional celebrities felt rushed. Anke was supposed to be memorizing. She’s described as the kind of person you can’t help but feel drawn to and fall in love with. In every other book about fictional celebrities I’ve read the author has managed to make me believe that their fake celebrities have those attributes. But Anke never gave me that impression. She felt like a normal woman.

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers was also incredibly slow and not much happened in it. I spent the majority of the time I was reading this waiting for something to happen. I love tons of books where nothing happens. But I don’t go to books that are supposed to be about the history, drama, and scandals between fictional celebrities when I want to read a book where nothing happens.

Sarah Tomlinson’s writing was fine overall. This is not by any means one of my least favorite books I’ve read recently. It just didn’t give me what I want in a book like this. And I believe that most people want the same things I do in books like this, so I think a lot of people will be disappointed for the same reasons I was.

I am sorry, I didn't enjoy The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers that much. The premise was good and of course it's trying to ride on the success of Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. However, it did not work for me. It was slow moving and trying too hard. It was interesting to learn about the background of ghost-writing and how those big rock bands operate. The research was done well. But the story itself wasn't memorable. The narrator Helen Laser did a wonderful job with the accents. I just couldn't quite connect with the story and the characters.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this audiobook.

I was pretty excited for this book based on the premise but sadly it didn’t meet my expectations. I thought the writing and plot were decent but I didn’t get attached to the characters and I think that’s what this story really needed. The ending would’ve been more of a hard hitter if I really fell in love with the characters. I didn’t think the plot points were fleshed out enough. Overall just okay.

Such a exciting ride. I was on edge almost the whole book. I loved it! I highly recommend had a twist I did not see coming. Thanks NetGallery!

Kind of dull. If you’re a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reed (specifically Daisy Jones and the Six as well as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo) then I would recommend this but in my opinion the characters were flat and the story didn’t fly off the page.

This was my first ever audiobook and I loved it! A well-written, Cali cool novel with lots of music world intrigue and heartbreak, and rich details about the ghostwriting life. Great accents and reading by the narrator. A great listening experience all around!

Mari Hawthorne is a ghost writer who is chosen to write memoirs for Anke Berben, a legendary model and groupie for the band Midnight Ramblers, and Dante the lead singer of the band. She follows both celebs around interviewing them about there past, but mostly trying to figure out how Anke’s fist husband died.

I had a hard time connecting or caring for the characters in this book. I wish we got more of an insight to the band, I felt disconnected from them. I found Mari’s relationship with her sister disjointed from the story, I don’t think we needed that. I wish we heard more of Anke’s story and her life as a model and groupie, we focused more on Dante and honestly they seemed like a boring band to me. I do think the writing was good and the book flowed at a slow to medium pace. I enjoyed learning insights into ghost writing, I didn't know anything about that before this book.

It’s no secret that Daisy Jones and the Six is one of my all time favorite books. So when I saw The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers I jumped at the chance to read and ARC.

Three Rock & Roll icons. Two explosive tell-all memoirs. One ghostwriter caught in the middle.

I love a Behind The Music episode which is exactly how this one read. Add a mysterious death of a rockstar and you’ve got an intriguing read. Rock n Roll life is fascinating to me…drugs, betrayal, lust so many facets make for a juicy story. If you love secrets check out The Last Fays of the Midnight Ramblers out 2/13/24!