Beatles and Beacons

Beatles to Beacons by Fran Raya

I loved this novel and devoured it in 2 days! This is the story of Becca Beacon a Beatles crazed 12 year old beginning in 1963. Becca’s story is weaved through a detailed chronology of the Beatles rise to fame and throughout their career. By sharing this chronology of the songs and albums that were playing apart in Becca’s life, I had a Beatles song track in my head throughout the time I was reading this novel. I loved it, it took me back to my childhood growing up with my dad playing the Beatles. I rooted for Becca as she bucked conventional norms and expectations for her while she followed her heart! What will become of Becca?
Fran Raya is a very talented writer and poet. I look forward to reading some of her other books.
Thank you Net Galley, Fran Raya and Book Guild for the opportunity to preview this book as an ARC.
#BeatlestoBeacons #NetGalley #FranRaya #BookGuild

I loved reading Fran Raya's supernatural thrillers. This new book is completely different and exceptionally good. It's a bildungsroman of sorts, but it is also a love letter to the Beatles, the author's icons, and her source of inspiration for songwriting and performing.
Written with passionate energy, the book charts the Beatlemania of the 1960s. Today, celebrity status is granted instantly on TV shows like The X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent and The Voice, but Fran Raya evocatively recreates a world of live concert tours, singles and LPs, posters and magazines, with boundless exuberance. There's a darker layer too of an abusive 'uncle' and a wife driven to the despair of attempted suicide. She captures magnificently the urban landscape of Manchester shrouded in smog, and the excitement of the Fab Four on stage at the ABC Ardwick, now enveloped in nostalgic glory.
This book is a panacea for a bad day. It is uplifting, with beautifully written prose and spiritually rewarding poetry.

This book will transform into the luxurious 60s era a decade when The Beatles hit it's stardom. In this era you will meet Rebecca who is 12 year old young girl, out of nowhere she'll hear a melody from The Beatles blasting from the radio it was the love from the first sight.
It almost felt like reading a fanfiction where Y/N explores a new band being relentlessly captivated by their looks, their personalities & how they speak then one day they'll do everything to get for their first time, getting an opportunity to see them face to face
Becca has been struck with a Beatlemania. The adults around her including her parents didn't quite understand her addiction to the band. Due to the childhood abuse Becca found comfort from The Beatles, their music dragged her into another universe they made her forget the reality, The Beatles felt like home that kept Rebecca safe and sound.
As for an ordinary fangirl, she had posters on the wall, she talked to her 'boyfriends' on her wall, she listened to her records continuously without ever growing tired of it on max volume driving her mother mad. She hung out with boys who reminded her The Beatles boys. Her adoration for the band members was beyond other-worldly.
Becca wasn't just a simple fangirl, she thought she owned The Beatles, she was one of the first fangirls who discovered their music she was envious of other fans. She was always being rebellious and quite rude towards others.
The Beatles has been one of her enormous source of inspiration, the band ignited a dream within her to write her own songs, since she loved writing poems and singing since she was a little girl.
I enjoyed reading this book from start to finish the writing was enchanting and ethereally touching, I could resonate with Becca's feeling as a fangirl because let's be honest we've all been in this situation. It was genuinely a cosy & entertaining read. I loved travelling in my favorite time of a decade, it was purely adventurous.

As a music lover, I was excited for this book when I received the ARC. Although the story is interesting and I enjoyed the connection to music history, it all felt a little too easy and never quite drew me in. For a coming of age novel, I would’ve appreciated a deeper look into Becca’s struggles and how they shaped her into an artist.

Beatles and Beacons by Fran Raya is full of period detail, and readers old enough to remember a time before the internet put discographies, videos of live performances, and fan forums at our fingertips will be familiar with the anticipation and intensity Becca feels. Raya gives us a 1960s story that is colorful and textured, and very easy to relate to.
In the beginning chapters I found the writing a bit stilted: the dialog is sometimes awkwardly expository, and it gets burdened by unnecessary verbs and adverbs when it could have stood on its own. What kept me reading was Becca: she is so much fun and so fully-realized that I wanted to know what she’d say and do next. I loved her family, as well, all were relatable and vivid. Even the minor characters were never one-dimensional and felt necessary to the story. Raya does a magic bringing the 1960s to life with small details and turns of phrase.
One of the challenges of telling a story about music as enmeshed in popular culture as the Beatles’ is that a younger reader’s associations with particular songs are likely to be with commercials and films. The songs are unmoored from the people who made them, at least for those readers who didn’t grow up listening to them. Beatles and Beacons makes an effort to give the reader The Beatles that she experienced, and in many ways it’s effective. The story had me hearing lines from songs and googling unfamiliar lyrics; I also looked at a lot of concert footage to see if I could imagine anything making me feel the level of screaming intensity early Beatles fans exhibited.
I recommend this novel to anyone with an interest in coming of age stories: it’s funny, wistful, and feels true. Becca is a fierce, fun narrator, and her wit and passion carry the story along swiftly.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A great book if you are a Beatles fan as you will read it singing the songs quoted. There's happyness but also darkness.
An excellent and well plotted story
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

At 12 years old in 1962, Becca Beacon hears The Beatles on the radio for the very first time, and her life is changed forever. This book takes you through Becca’s teenage years, as well as through every era of The Beatles career, right until their break up in 1970.

Becca is rebellious, and struggling to find herself but she is a funny, smart and quick-witted, always making everyone around her laugh.

Shirley, Becca’s mum is frustrated with Becca’s dwindling grades, everyday detention, and especially her obsession with the four “mopheads” but she loves her daughter nonetheless. Her and her husband, Eric, were two characters I really enjoyed in this book.

The author has captured the decade of the 60s so well I almost feel like I lived Beatlemania with Becca, which is as close as I’ll ever get to ever actually experiencing it!

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

I found this story rather addictive, I enjoy how Fran Raya seamlessly changes perspectives between Beatle girl and her mom. The story is less about a love of the Beatles (but still a huge part), than about a girl who found them when she needed an escape. They shut out the noise in life and I can respect that

Being a Beatles fan from the moment they arrived on the scene it took me back to my teenage and adolescent days.
I have lived everything that Becca did and followed the Fab Four through the trials and tribulations of their career. I was in love with Paul and like Becca bought all their records and watched their films. They were and still are an integral part of my life even though I am in my seventies.
A brilliant book with such happy memories