Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers is a wild ride through the sordid history of a Rolling Stones-esque rock band. A ghostwriter who really needs a huge success is called upon to the write the memoir of a famous “groupie” who at times reminds me of Anita Pallenberg. As she tries to find a way in, she realizes that the best way to secure a bestseller is to publish the answer to the question that everyone’s been asking for decades… how EXACTLY did the original lead singer of the band die? And what other secrets have been held close all these years?

This compelling novel will be enjoyable for anyone who is a fan of classic rock and /or the wild days of the 1960s and 70s. With the heart of Almost Famous, this page turner will keep you glued to the very end.

I just wasn’t a huge fan of this one. It didn’t capture my attention as great as I’d hoped, and it just fell a little flat for me.

A fun read, reminiscent of Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo. I loved the little whodunnit mystery thrown in among the rock and roll secrets that were held by the main characters. Thank you to NetGalley and McMillan Audio for the chance to listen to and review The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers.

I really enjoyed this unique take on the rock band theme. Mari lands the ghostwriting roll that can get her on the NY TIMES bestseller list… a memoir about legendary model and style icon, Anke. Anke’s major headlines were from the tangled relationships she had back in the 60s with the band members from The Midnight Ramblers…with secrets kept hidden and more than one person wanting to share their story Mari finds finds out it’s not about the tell all but more about the people sharing the stories.

Holy Rock and Roll! I loved the glimpse in the Ghostwriter role… a backdrop spanning from California to Vegas and spending time with the rich and the famous. The audio was perfection! Amazing storytelling about Power, fame and the hangover that can come from it.

Vibes…
Shoulder Season
Daisy Jones & The Six
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Thank you Flat Iron books for the ALC

First things first.
This is more the story of Mari Hawthorn than the Midnight Rambler.s Mari is a failing and flailing ghost writer. By chance she is given the opportunity to ghostwrite for Anke Berben, a woman interwoven into the most influential band of all time, the Midnight Ramblers. Anke was a model and style icon and has said little on her relationships with three of the four Ramblers including the mystery of Mal, the band’s founder and her once husband.

The chapters are introduced with ghostwriting tips. There is an awful lot about ghostwriting and it is fabulous and interesting. Now that I know the author is well-known ghost writer, I know it's all true! Join Mari as she tries desperately to keep a paying job and make a comeback in ghostwriting while still battling the chaos and toxic waste of growing up with an addicted father.

There is suspense and mystery as Mari tries to learn the secrets of the Ramblers. This is not Daisy Jones nor Hugo - this is a different and just as great novel. I loved the story and I hope to hear more from Tomlinson is some fashion in fiction again soon!.I loved Helen Laser's voice as well! Fantastic!
#macmillanaudio #thelastdaysofthemidnightramblers #sarahtomlinson

This was such an odd book. It's like someone asked for "Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" mashed up with "Daisy Jones & the Six" and this was the result. It's really not fair comparing one book to another (or two others) but when the ingredients are this similar it's hard not to. A writer sits down to interview someone about the past, but this time it's a groupie for a rock band instead of an actress. Unlike Evelyn Hugo, there are no flashbacks, so it's literally just unreliable narrators telling stories that may or may not be true.

And unlike Daisy Jones, the novel seems to have ZERO interest in music. Like, at all. There's some brief talk about the actual band around the 47% mark, but for the majority of the book, they might as well have been actors who all filmed a movie together. I don't have the epub to check but I don't think it named even ONE of their songs, or albums, or went to any trouble to explain why anyone gave a shit about this band 50 years later. It does have a scene where the band plays a song in tribute to the member who died, but I don't think that song is even named or given lyrics, either.

"The band was extremely popular, Beatles-level big," is a tall task for a writer to give themselves, and I feel like the author didn't even try to justify it. The audiobook ends with a song that I guess is supposed to be the Ramblers...? But my reaction to it was "Wait, THAT'S what they sounded like...?" I didn't care about any of the band members, or the modern-day people talking (and talking, and talking) about the band (entirely focused on TMZ-level gossip rather than their music) and the story, such as it was, fell completely flat by the end.

In the end, it was little more than a cover that just made you want to go listen to the original again.