February 03rd, 2024

Thanks to @sourcebookscasa for the digital galley of Xio Axelrod's Girls with Bad Reputations, which will be published on Tuesday! The second in The Lillys series (after The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes), this book follows Kayla, the Lillys' drummer, who has been hiding her privileged upbringing from the band. Her mother, an accomplished university president, is also the author of The Little Miss Yolanda series, all about a perfect little girl—the girl her mother wants her to be.

As the Lillys begin to garner positive attention, their music festival tour brings them Ty, their tour bus driver. Ty has his own secrets, a past that led him to drop out of college and that has left him worried about his grandfather—his only family—and how he'll take care of him.

​I really loved the way Kayla and Ty's relationship developed through this novel. Their shared love of reading of course touched my heart, and I enjoyed watching the continuation of the band's story. I thought the way that the characters dealt with their very different pasts was compelling, and the careful way they build a romance from friendship was so sweet.

---