Review: Blues for Zoey by Robert Paul Weston

Blues for Zoey by Robert Paul Weston 

Blurb from Goodreads:

She walks in with her music, and walks out with his wallet Kaz Barrett should be saving for college. Instead, he saves his pay from the Sit'N'Spin Laundromat to send his mother to a very expensive sleep clinic in New York. His mother suffers from a rare neurological disorder, and both Kaz and his kid sister worry that one day, maybe tomorrow, their mother will fall asleep and never wake up.

But when pink-haired Zoey walks past the laundromat's window, Kaz's ordered life begins spinning out of control. Smart, mysterious, and full of music, Zoey is unlike anyone Kaz has met...but there's another side to her that he can't quite figure out. When he goes looking for answers, he finds a whirlwind of lies, half-truths, and violence.

My Review:
  I feel like this book was all over the place -- there were hints of mob violence, con artists, weird sleep disorders, broken families, PTSD, class, race and "normal" teenage boy lust.  The good parts of the book -- Kaz discovering new music and falling for Zoey -- were lights within the cluttered story but there was just too much going on that detracted from what probably should have been the main part of the book.  If the book had focuesd on Kaz and Zoey without introducing so many other stories and conflicts, I probably would have enjoyed this more.

I'm also not sure why but I have a serious pet peeve when British authors set a book in the US and then still use British spellings and phrases.  It ruins the authenticity of the book for me.  It was pretty early into reading Blues For Zoey that I realized such was the case.  The book began to seem like someone who had never been to the U.S. creating a story on what it might be like based upon watching bad television shows.  This seriously detracted from the story for me.

The idea for this book was great and attracted me to read it but the execution was poor.  There were too many things the author was trying to do -- too many stories the author tried to weave into one, that the story came out discombobulated.  Perhaps a more experienced author could have made all of these interconnecting stories work but they did not come together in this book.  I would read future books by this author.

Blues For Zoey comes out February 1, 2015, and you can purchase HERE!

"Colt's-Tooth Blues" is still my favourite song.  Every time I hear it, I notice things in the lyrics.  My brain picks out little coincidences behind the words.  I know it's impossible, but sometimes it seems like Shain Cope was trying to send me a message.  A warning.  Sometimes, I can't help thinking that he wrote his most famous song especially for me.