Charm City Rocks

by Matthew Norman

June 6, 2023 · Dell

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Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance

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Crystal Anne with An E comes to us from a sunny clime, but prefers to remain a pale indoor cat. She enjoys reading, cross-stitching something nerdy, going to see live music, and playing video games. She works as an autism consultant by day, got a degree in information science for fun, and currently serves on her local library advisory board.

…

Sometimes, you find the right book at the exact right time. It’s not the most common event in life, but when you do it, it makes the sun come out, your crops suddenly bloom, and suddenly your favorite song comes on the radio.

Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman was that book for me.

Charm City Rocks introduces us to Margot Hammer, a drummer for an all-female rock band, Burnt Flowers, that had a brief, glorious run in the 90s (GenX hive, rise up…or not, we are old, and we are tired). Due to an egregious breach of friendship and band solidarity, Margot quits the band at the height of their fame, right in the middle of a MTV Video Music Awards performance (remember those?). She goes on with her life, but stops making music, and stays as far out of the public eye as she can, until Netflix (of course it was) makes a documentary about them.

Meanwhile, over in Baltimore, there’s a cute, sweet music teacher that has had a crush on her since her band days, and his son, concerned about his dad being lonely when he heads off to college, gets extremely high on weed gummies (as one does) and concocts a weed-fueled plan to get the two of them to meet. Then this bonkers plan actually pans out.

Is this plot kind of crazypants? Yup. Did I lap it up? Best believe it.

First, let’s address the whole musical aspect of it. I love live music, I love rock music, I’ve been to something like 40ish concerts over the past 24 years. The latest ones were over the last two months. In May I saw Stevie Nicks with a group of friends, and in June I got to see Garbage with my husband. Because rock music tends to be a bit of a sausage fest, this was the first time that I got to see two lady legends of rock, much less back to back.

So when I got to this book, I was exactly in the right mood for it, as I was very high on Lady Rock Legend Energy. I didn’t even know that was a thing until I was high on it, but I assure you it exists. So a whole book around one?

As Margot and Billy meet, it is very apparent that they are extraordinarily well-suited to each other. Margot is a softer and shyer person than her public image as a rock drummer would convey, and Billy is someone that is a natural caretaker. As a music teacher, he is highly adept at recognizing talent and nurturing it, which is what makes him a fantastic teacher. His philosophy is “Play What You Like” and if that means Bach, play Bach. If it means Dua Lipa, play Dua Lipa. He recognizes the talent that Margot has, and for which she has never really received due credit, even from herself.

In addition, their interactions put her more out in the world from which she has effectively hidden herself for so many years. She buys new clothes, she writes new music, and she is cajoled into an impromptu performance with a band in a bar. That performance goes viral, and she is thrust into the spotlight she has been assiduously avoiding for years.

There is also a lovely throughline in the novel about one’s worthiness. Margot spent her entire career behind a drum set and behind the charismatic, gorgeous lead singer of her band, Nikki Kixx (the band members made a point of choosing “cool” stage names). Even she was somewhat in thrall to Nikki and her charisma, despite the fact that it was Margot that wrote their biggest, most well-known hit.

Billy, meanwhile, is telling her that she was the true talent in the band, and that he found her the most beautiful and the most interesting. After years of being ignored for Nikki, for Margot to be told that she could be the most fascinating person in someone’s world, because she’s never been that, even to herself, is a healing experience.

Billy, meanwhile, as Margot’s star becomes ascendant once again, is told by everyone in his vicinity (including but not limited to Margot’s ex-husband, the mother of his son, her husband, a buttmunch of an exec at Margot’s record company, some unkind members of the press, and worst of all, his own brain), that he is unworthy of her. He is told that being with him will keep her from the stardom and success that she is overdue, and that he should step back for her own good. Except it’s not her own good, and his support of and belief in her is what has helped her come out of the shell that she had built around herself, as well as inspired her to get back into the songwriting she so missed.

In the meantime, his son and Margot’s daughter are the ones most loudly supporting their relationship, along with quite a lot of the social media ‘shipper community (they love a good love story). He has to learn who to listen to and whose opinion regarding his relationship really counts. It is again a character journey of someone that had to accept that they were lovable and cool and again, worthy.

This book also has a really good supporting cast of characters. The first thing to note is that most of these characters really love each other, even if they don’t always understand each other. There are moments in the book, particularly between Margo and her ex-husband, in which past hurts and transgressions are addressed, admitted to, and apologized for. For Margo, this is another means of being able to move on from the pain that was inflicted on her, and for Luther, her ex-husband, it means that he actually has to face up to his faults and grow up a little bit (he’s a famous Hollywood actor and has managed to stay something of an immature playboy for far longer than could be considered attractive).

Billy maintains a good relationship with the mother of his son, as well as her husband, as they had long established that any kind of animosity was pointless, and being friends was probably more beneficial for all involved. Both Margo’s daughter and Billy’s son fiercely love their parents. Most of the people in this book, with a couple of notable exceptions, are fundamentally good people.

All in all, this book is funny and warm, and leaves you with a nice feeling. Once you’ve read it, your brain feels like it is in a good place. Also, and I can’t stress this enough, LADY ROCK LEGEND ENERGY. Read it, and then listen to the Legendary Lady of your choice. Your brain deserves a treat.

Grade: SQUEEEEE, I have no objectivity here. It hit my brain at the right time in the right spot.

Note: I checked the author’s social media, sure that there had to be an accompanying playlist. In what I can only surmise is a massive social media missed opportunity, there is not one. So I put it out to you, dear book friends. What Lady Legends are on your music playlists?