This is my second book by Marissa Stapley and has quickly made her an auto-buy author for me.

I too came of age in the 90's so this story of Elijah & Jane was everything! They met online in the early days of the internet chat rooms. Her a young music lover from a religious family in Canada, him in the literal birthplace of 90's grunge music era, Seattle, Washington.

The world they find themselves is anything but what they dreamed of. They become mega stars very fast. And fame is not easy. Jane, the creative voice behind the band is treated like a second-class member of the two-some - The Lighting Bottles.

Everyone loves Elijah. Everyone HATES Jane. At the height of their fame Elijah goes missing and is declared dead. Jane has to find a way to carry on.

This is a dual timeframe and dual POV. We move between the early 90's when Jane meets Elijah and 1999 when Jane is moving on with her life, but can she? We also meet Hen, Jane's new neighbour in Germany who happens to be one of the biggest Lighting Bottles fans and a budding musician herself. Hen was there at Elijah and Jane's last concert. Hen has discovered something that might just change the future.

I adored this book! It was gritty, deep, filled with love, loss, pain, addiction and heartache. It's a love letter to the music of my youth and inspired by many of my favourite bands and musicians. I adore how Stapley consulted with the ultimate expert on 90's alternative music, the one and only Alan Cross (if you don't know who he is, you are not really a fan... see Alan Cross' Ongoing History of New Rock podcast etc).

This book was everything. Mysterious and captivating, I couldn't put it down. My only issue is with the publisher for listing this as romance. That is a misleading genre for this book. Contemporary fiction would be fine. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for an early review copy in exchange for my honest review. Please keep bringing us incredible stories like this.

I both can’t shut up about this book and can’t find the words to describe it. I’ve staff picked every copy in our store. I feel like Marissa Stapley scoured the depths of my brain, took everything I’ve ever wanted in a book, and made the Lightning Bottles. She had me locked in from the dedication and epigraph.

Absolutely LOVED the “me and you against the world” dynamic of Jane and Elijah’s relationship. The Adam and The Rib drawings idea is my favourite thing ever. It was a great narrative way to keep the emotions, nostalgia, yearning, etc., of their relationship alive in parts of the novel that only had half the duo.

The ‘90s alt rock/grunge scene and vibes was just the cherry on top. It gave the perfect setting for their dynamic and troubled backgrounds to coexist and intertwine intensely. I loved, in contrast, the innocence of Hen’s storyline. She’s for everyone’s who’s laid awake staring at a poster with their music on, wanting to escape their life. I think everyone’s got a little Hen in them.

The occasional name-dropping and “veiled” references to real celebrities took me out of the story a bit. I do get their purpose, and thankfully those parts were never long enough for it to really ruin anything. Definitely rereading soon, as I read it too excitedly to NOT have missed stuff.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of The Lightning Bottles!

This book caught me by surprise in the best possible way! I was not expecting to love it as much as I did. It gripped me from the beginning and I had to keep reading to see how it would end.

I thought this story was so well written and well thought out. Each character had so many layers to them that made them feel so real.

I highly highly recommend this book!

This book has a nostalgic feel to it with the music scene in the 90s that brought me back in time to when I was a preteen. This is slightly different from my usual reads, but I loved it. I enjoyed how the story reflected on the power of and a love for music. I also loved the storyline surrounding Jane and Elijah, superfan Hen, and the mystery of whether or not Elijah died when he disappeared years earlier. I think fans of music, mysteries, and thrillers will really enjoy this book. All the stars for this one!

A heartbreakingly honest love letter to rock n' roll, falling in love and the high costs of fame and addiction. I absolutely loved this latest from Canadian author, Marissa Stapley. This is a must read for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six and anyone who mourned the untimely loss of 90s music legends like Kurt Cobain and the extra toll exacted on women musicians like Sinead O'Connor. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

I am a music lover. I’ve worked in radio and now I work at a PRO (performance rights organization). A book about a rock band is right up my alley!

If you read Daisy Jones & The Six and enjoyed it this book will probably appeal to you. Throw a little Thelma & Lousie into the mix and you’ve got Marissa Stapley’s Lightning Bottles. The main difference is that this story goes back and forth between the past and present with a bit of mystery thrown in for good measure.

I enjoyed this book and I hope you will too.