I’m a fan of 90s grunge music, I love explorations into the double standards of how men and women are treated in the music industry, and I love stories about fictional bands and how fame impacts them. So basically this book was created just for me. The Lightning Bottles follows Jane Pyre, a woman who becomes wildly famous in a band with her husband in the early 90s. While he is absolutely loved and held up as the voice of a generation, fans and the media seem to hate her. They pick apart her every move while granting all sorts of concessions to Elijah. After Elijah disappeared, seemingly dying by suicide, everyone blamed Jane. Years later one fan, Hen, thinks she’s found evidence that Elijah is still alive. Together Jane and Hen set out to follow the clues and see where it all leads.

The book moves back and forth between the 1999 storyline with Jane and Hen going on their adventure together and the past chapters showing how Jane and Elijah met, started making music, their rise to fame, and all their struggles along the way. I thought this book did such a good job at showing the double standards of how fans react to men and women in the spotlight. Jane was the main songwriter in the band, but she was seen by the public as just a hanger-on. Even when Elijah would try to explain how integral she was to the band, she still wasn’t taken seriously. She was constantly blamed while he was constantly praised.

Occasionally I was taken out of the story a bit by the very on the nose references to actual 90s musicians and celebrities. Like, there being a fictional Irish singer who gets destroyed by fans and the media after she burns a picture of a saint on a live TV broadcast. Or the singer of a different band who overdoses in Italy and then comes home, goes to rehab, and then escapes over the fence. Or someone ODing on the sidewalk outside a bar called Python’s Apartment. It was a bit confusing to have these real stories about Sinéad O'Connor, Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix, and the Viper Room given to fictional people. But then there are actual bands from the time period talked about as well. Like Hole existed as a band within the story but Nirvana didn’t? It was just throwing me out of the narrative to think about the real people vs the fictional people.

But overall I did really enjoy this book. I think that people who enjoy stories about rock bands, the price of fame, complicated romances, and stories about how fans relate to the musicians they love should give The Lightning Bottles a shot. It’s a compelling character study that also has an interesting mystery running throughout it.

Nostalgic, angsty, gritty, and bingeable. Marissa Stapley's rock-n-roll fable takes you into the 90s grunge rock scene with a mystery, a love letter to the healing power of music, and a sharply observed commentary on misogyny in the music industry.

Stapley's storytelling is mesmerizing as she covers the rapid rise to fame of Jane and Elijah, two musicians who fell in love as teens and became The Lightning Bottles, the hottest 90s grunge rock duo on the planet. As the two spiral into addiction amid the pressures of fame, Jane is blamed, then Elijah disappears. Five years later, Jane moves to a remote part of Germany and encounters teenage superfan Hen, who claims to have a theory about Elijah's disappearance. The unlikely pair embarks on a European road trip chasing down mysteriously coded clues.

The characters are well-developed and memorable. Jane, Elijah, and Hen all come of age and are saved in one way or another by their deep love of music. Their stories play out and intertwine in surprising and poignant ways. Jane was the most complex of the characters and my favorite. It is her story and strength that is the heart of this book. Despite being a talented musician and songwriter and the driving force behind the duo, she is misunderstood and vilified by music industry executives, the press, fans, and even Elijah's friends. Through Jane, Stapley offers thought-provoking commentary about the ways women are often negatively portrayed, serving to diminish their talents and contributions.

There are lots of fun pop culture references and song lyrics in this, too. Highly recommended!

3.5
This was a captivating read about a rising 90's alt/grunge band who also happen to be soulmates. Both have tormented pasts for different reasons and struggle with addiction of more kinds than one on their rise to fame.
The plot structure was a perfect arc to draw you in and keep you hooked. Good thing it's still warm here because this actually felt like a perfect summer read!

I was hooked on the story from the first pages. The love story and mystery made me so invested in this book. The characters were complex and despite all their life struggles, I found them very sympathetic. I enjoyed the setting in the ’90s and it enhanced this story: AOL chats, music hit charts, and hard-to-find sold-out albums.

I think if you were a fan of Daisy Jones and the Six you should give a try to this book! Or if you like the stories about music bands, love, fame, and all the struggles that come with it.

This book is thrilling, thought-provoking, has tones of love to music, mystery, and a romance story.

Thank you so much SS for the gifted ARC.

This was an interesting and unique novel that was largely a 1990s rock and roll love story but also a mystery. I enjoyed both aspects and timelines, and they intertwined so well that even though I felt more immersed in the love-story timeline, I was still so interested to see where the mystery timeline led.
I won't rehash the synopsis in this review, so feel free to check out the synopsis for more context surrounding my review.

One of the things that grabbed me right from the start was the chat room format and the discussion of 1990's alternative music. I came of age in the 1990s and spent plenty of time in chat rooms, often discussing music. I loved seeing the Pixies mentioned in this book, as they are one of my all-time favorites. While as a tween/teen, I largely preferred male singers and didn't pay much attention to female singers, but that didn't prevent me from recognizing the names of plenty of the female-led bands that were mentioned. This book was very nostalgic for me and I loved that.

I found it interesting that in some cases, the author would list real bands that existed and in other cases, totally made up bands. Unless you are really familiar with alternative and grunge music from the 90s, you may not even realize that. The Lightning Bottles were a made-up band for the purpose of this story. I have seen some people say it's supposed to represent Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain, but other than them being a couple that were both musicians and had addiction problems, as well as some legal battles between Courtney and the remaining members of Nirvana after Kurt's death, I don't see a ton of similarities. I couldn't think of any 90's duo that this book could have represented, so I think it's totally made up band - though I could be wrong about that.

There was one situation where it was very evident that a musician in the book was meant to represent Sinead O'Connor (but was given a different name). That may have been true of some other characters as well, though none were as obvious as that one to me. I'd personally love to know who the character of Kim Beard may have been based off of.

Anyway, I appreciated this love story that showed two young people who fell deeply in love, became very dependent on each other, suffered some trauma, lived a rock 'n roll lifestyle, and became addicts as a result. It can sometimes be hard for me to read about addiction, as I have a close family member that has been a lifelong addict, but I never found that this book got detailed or gritty enough to trigger me in any way.

The mystery storyline was interesting because I was invested in the couple as a result of the love story timeline. I loved the idea of hidden messages in artwork and the trail they had to follow. I appreciate that the mystery had a distinct end and that as the reader, I wasn't left with any questions.

That said, the mystery storyline requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. Things are pretty far-fetched right from the start, when Jane (from The Lightning Bottles) connects with a rabid fan (Hen) that has the first clue that kicks of the mystery. Jane moves to Germany and somehow randomly ends up living RIGHT NEXT DOOR to this fan. But if you can suspend disbelief and just take the story for what it is, you can still enjoy it.

Speaking of Hen, however, I did find her character to be lacking in depth and she felt like an afterthought. She was barely necessary to the story, so I suppose that's why she wasn't fully fleshed out as a character.

All of that being said, this was an easy and fun book to read. I found that when I would pick it up to start reading, I always had a hard time putting it back down. I enjoyed it overall and think it will resonate best with others who grew up in the 90s. I've seen a lot of comparison to Daisy Jones & The Six. I can see where the comparisons come from, but to me, it's an altogether different story.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Huge thank you to Simon & Schuster for the ARC!

As someone who loved Lucky by the same author, I was eager to get my hands on this one and am so lucky I got to read it early!

As with Lucky, this story is very easy to read and follow! I had no problem wanting to pick this one up.

Even though I did overall enjoy this one, I do feel like it was rather light on plot and action especially compared to Lucky.

Read this if you love rock'n roll and don't mind a slower plotline.

This will be available on September 24th.

If you long for a 90’s era music-themed book, this is for you. The story centers on Jane and Elijah who were a popular duo called The Lightning Bottles. A lot of the story involves a lawsuit by Elijah’s former band member named Kim over a hit song. Jane and Kim can’t stand each other and this is part of the trouble.

When Elijah disappears, Jane sinks into a depression and eventually rents a house in Germany next door to a teenager named Hen who was a huge fan of hers. Despite Jane being nasty to Hen, the two set out on a journey together, which ultimately leads Jane to a place she thought she’d never return to.

This book goes back and forth in time, and more about Elijah and Kim is revealed as the story progresses.

I’m not a big fan of romance and I didn’t find Jane or Elijah particularly endearing. It was good enough to hold my interest, but I wasn’t loving this book as much as other readers. If I had to recommend this or the author’s previous novel, Lucky, I would tell you to read Lucky which I loved.

Jane Pyre was once half of the famous rock ’n’ roll duo, the Lightning Bottles. Years later, she’s perhaps the most hated — and least understood — woman in music. She was never as popular with fans as her bandmate (and soulmate), Elijah Hart — even if Jane was the one who wrote the songs that catapulted the Lightning Bottles to instant, dizzying fame, first in the Seattle grunge scene, then around the world.

But ever since Elijah disappeared five years earlier and the band’s meteoric rise to fame came crashing down, the public hatred of Jane has taken on new levels, and all she wants to do is retreat. What she doesn’t anticipate is the bombshell that awaits her at her new home in the German countryside: the sullen teenaged girl next door — a Lightning Bottles superfan — who claims to have proof that not only is Elijah still alive, he’s also been leaving secret messages for Jane. And they need to find them right away.

A cross-continent road trip about two misunderstood outsiders brought together by their shared love of music, The Lightning Bottles is both a love letter to the 90s and a searing portrait of the cost of fame.

Jane and Elijah were a famous music couple of the 90’s until he disappeared, assumed dead. Now years later, a fan teams up with Shane to find out the truth.

Call to music fans! We’ve had our share of pop music fiction books lately, and now we have a new style of music fiction. While taking place in the 90’s, coming from Seattle, The Lightning Bottles aren’t quite grunge but their lyrics and music is stylistic of the time. This story is dual timeline. I loved the past timelines the most but enjoyed the mystery of the present as well. The lyrics and love of music really made this one!

“What good is lighting if all you do is keep it in a bottle.”

The Lightning Bottles comes out 9/24.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the eARC.

I enjoyed the premise of The Lighting Bottles, and my favorite character was by far Hen. I struggled a bit with the setting, but that's my own issue and no fault of the book. I liked the mystery of this story and found it to be enjoyable.

This book was SO GOOD and held such a brilliant balance of mystery, raw emotion, and that adrenaline rush of that comes with the grunge music scene. I'm always a sucker for duel-timelines too, you already know, so that's an extra plus! And while there may have been a few parts I felt more development was needed and also where I found myself subconsciously comparing it to DJ&tS, I can ultimately say that I found both this book's plot and characters to all be very compelling and unique in their own right. Definitely recommend if you have a love for the 90s' grunge music scene (I know I do!), angst on angst and angst (say less!), and the electrifying but unforgiving path of what it truly means to reach stardom.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is outside of my typical genre, and I can confidently say I was not disappointed! This book had me feeling so many emotions from heartbreak, to grief, to hope, and I was crying real tears by the end.

Jane Pyre is a member of The Lightning Bottles with her husband, Elijah Hart. There are so many sides to Jane throughout this book. We watch her aspire to be a musician, fall in love, rise to fame, and battle addiction. She’s so misunderstood to the outside world, but those who truly know her see that she is ambitious and incredibly caring.

This story is told in such a beautiful way with the timeline jumps. As Jane relives her past on this journey, we see her rise to stardom with Elijah and then their inevitable fall. The way these flashbacks were placed throughout this book was so perfectly done and left so much emotional impact.

I really wish I could talk more about the journey she goes on and the outcome of this book, but let me just say: please read this! Just an absolutely beautiful novel!

I LOVED THIS!

What a refreshing book!! This was very much reminiscent of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six, but it worked so well. The Lightning Bottles seems to be inspired by Kurt Cobain & Courtney Love in the 90s. It really sent me down a spiral through the lore of the 90s grunge scene in Seattle and even Sinéad O’Conner on SNL.

This is an addicting and immersive story — very heartbreaking at times, but I could not put it down. The writing was great and Stapley heavily dove in to themes of addiction, sexism, & love. I only wish it was a bit longer, so I could see a bit more of the present timeline!

Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster for the advanced copy! The Lightning Bottles releases Sept 24!

This story takes off like a rocket on the 4th of July. I started reading it about an hour ago and I’m hooked. The characters are so alive and vivid, I can close my eyes and hear them. Elijah the missing and presumed dead rockstar, Jane his wife, and Hen the young girl trying to solve the mystery. It’s a love story about Elijah and Jane, she was only seventeen when they met in a chat room. The story goes from that time period to present where Elijah has been missing at sea and presumed dead for five years. So the story is weaved in a way that we get to know and love these characters. Jane wasn’t my favorite at first because she seemed cold, but you’d have to know why. Hen leads Jane to where Elijah might have painted a clue that only June would understand. The two set off on a journey to find more clues as they form a friendship. I read this book in twenty-four hours because I simply couldn’t put it down. This couple was madly in love and they just couldn’t help each other, so the step they took was insane. I loved this story, I’m giving it five stars and highly recommend it.

The Lightning Bottles is the star cross lover grunge story of my teenage dreams.

Jane Pyre treks across Europe to try to figure out what exactly happened to her husband and bandmate Elijah, who vanished in the middle of the night five years ago. Finally sober, she believes she is emotionally ready to discover the truth about his disappearance and move on from her chaotic LA life. Her new homebase outside Berlin is where Jane is sure she can let go of the past that haunts her, but she doesn’t expect her teenage neighbor Hen to be the one with all the answers. Together they go on a pictorial hunt through Elijah and Jane’s past to find the truth, forcing Jane to reconcile with the choices she has made and to try to understand how they have brought her to this juncture.

Alternating between flashbacks of The Lightning Bottles’ past and the present we watch the evolution of both the band and the couple as the rock and roll lifestyle filled with drugs and fame slowly takes Jane and Elijah down. Jane’s journey with Hen is not only a physical one but an emotional one as well, where finally another soul see’s what it is like to be her, the misunderstood bandmate that seems to carry all the blame for anything that ever went wrong in their life and their music.

If you liked Daisy Jones and the Six or are simply a fan of alternative music from the early ‘90s this book will hit the spot. With plenty of references to some of my favorite bands, this book had me wishing I could actually listen to the fictious band’s music. Overall it has a whole lot of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain vibes, and makes one wonder if the fans really understood them at all?

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and of course the author Marissa Stapley for the advanced copy of the book. The Lightning Bottles is out on September 24th! All opinions are my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. I loved her last book, Lucky, but this read more like a first draft to me. I found the writing to be so inconsistent that at times I wondered if there were two writers.

The characters were flat with little development, especially with Hen who came out of nowhere and left just as quickly. I was really emotionally detached with all of them making it hard to care what happened in the story. Finally, the “coincidence” at the beginning was impossible to buy into, which made me question everything that follows.

Cool concept, but the execution didn’t work for me.

As a grunge/alternative music lover i was really excited to read this. It did not disappoint! Such a great story and characters. It was like Daisy Jones and the Six meets grunge and I loved it.

Seattle grunge music scene makes for a good story. Along with the graffiti trend of the 90's, this made for a good read. A good example of how someone (Elijah Hart & Jane Pyre) who rises to fame in a quick time span can easily go downhill just as quickly as so many of the bands/music artists of this era found out. Reminiscent of Kurt Cobain and his story. A good read, but sad as it is so close to the truths of the 90's band scene. Spoiler alert: not all stories have to have a tragic ending!
Thank you #NetGalley and #Simon&Schuster for the opportunity to read this ARC. I enjoyed the writing style of Marissa Stapley as well as the story.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the greatest thing since Daisy Jones and Six…. Marissa Stapley’s The Lightning Bottles 🎸🤘🎧

The Lightning Bottles is the story of Jane Pyre and Elijah, bandmates and soulmates. They meet in Jane's (then Janet's) chat room late at night. Jane is Canadian, lives with her mother who is deeply religious, and plays in the church band but secretly loves other music. Elijah lives in Seattle with his parents and is in a band. When Jane turns 18, she leaves home to find Elijah and they eventually form The Lightning Bottles. As the group gains popularity, Elijah is the fan favorite while Jane is hated. When Elijah disappears, the hatred for her does not. Jane rents what she expects to be a secluded house in Germany to get away from everything and is greeted by Hen, a superfan. But Hen isn't just a fan, she has something that she thinks is Elijah leaving messages for Jane. This leads them to travel to several countries following the clues. In between their travels, flashbacks tell the story of Jane and Elijah and what led to his disappearance.

I liked Lucky, another book by this author, but was more interested in this book's story. This book has the same vibe as Daisy Jones and the Six, but didn't feel like a retelling of the same story. This band is in a different era and genre and has more of a love story. It is mainly told from Jane's POV with a few deviations that made sense. Rather than being in chronological order, it is told in two different timelines - from their meeting to when Elijah goes missing and from when Jane meets Hen and starts following the clues. They basically come together near the end so you don't know why Elijah went missing until right around the time Jane gets to the end of the clues. I really loved this book and was rooting for The Lightning Bottles. If you liked Daisy Jones and the Six, I highly recommend it. I hope this also gets the chance to be turned into a TV show or movie!

For fans of Daisy Jones and the Six comes The Lightning Bottles by Marissa Stapley. When Jane’s husband and music partner dies under mysterious circumstances she becomes reclusive. Now 5 years later she has moved to Germany and just might discover her husbands death is now what she thinks it is.