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Hot Wax
**The highly anticipated new novel from M. L. Rio, bestselling author of If We Were Villains and Graveyard Shift**
A vivid and immersive tale of one woman's reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is.
Summer, 1989: ten-year-old Suzanne is drawn like a magnet to her father's forbidden world of electric guitars and tricked-out cars. When her mother remarries, she jumps at the chance to tag along on the concert tour that just might be Gil and the Kills' wild ride to glory. But fame has sharper fangs than anybody realized, and as the band blazes up the charts, internal power struggles set Gil and his group on a collision course destined for a bloody reckoning - one shrouded in mystery and lore for decades to come.
The only witness to a desperate act of violence, Suzanne spends the next twenty-nine years trying to disappear. She trades the music and mayhem of her youth for the quiet of the suburbs and the company of her mild-mannered husband Rob. But when her father's sudden death resurrects the troubled past she tried so hard to bury, she leaves it all behind and hits the road in search of answers. Hitching her fate and Gil's beloved car to two vagabonds who call an old Airstream trailer home, she finds everything she thought she'd lost forever: desire, adventure, and the woman she once wanted to be. But Rob refuses to let her go. Determined to bring her back where she belongs, he chases her across the country - and drives her to a desperation all her own.
Drenched in knock-down drag-out rock and roll, Hot Wax is a raucous, breakneck ride to hell and back - where getting lost might be the only way to find yourself and save your soul.
A vivid and immersive tale of one woman's reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is.
Summer, 1989: ten-year-old Suzanne is drawn like a magnet to her father's forbidden world of electric guitars and tricked-out cars. When her mother remarries, she jumps at the chance to tag along on the concert tour that just might be Gil and the Kills' wild ride to glory. But fame has sharper fangs than anybody realized, and as the band blazes up the charts, internal power struggles set Gil and his group on a collision course destined for a bloody reckoning - one shrouded in mystery and lore for decades to come.
The only witness to a desperate act of violence, Suzanne spends the next twenty-nine years trying to disappear. She trades the music and mayhem of her youth for the quiet of the suburbs and the company of her mild-mannered husband Rob. But when her father's sudden death resurrects the troubled past she tried so hard to bury, she leaves it all behind and hits the road in search of answers. Hitching her fate and Gil's beloved car to two vagabonds who call an old Airstream trailer home, she finds everything she thought she'd lost forever: desire, adventure, and the woman she once wanted to be. But Rob refuses to let her go. Determined to bring her back where she belongs, he chases her across the country - and drives her to a desperation all her own.
Drenched in knock-down drag-out rock and roll, Hot Wax is a raucous, breakneck ride to hell and back - where getting lost might be the only way to find yourself and save your soul.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 9, 2025
617 people are currently reading
44366 people want to read
About the author
M.L. Rio
6 books9,936 followersM. L. Rio is an author, but before she was an author she was an actor, and before she was an actor she was just a word nerd whose best friends were books. She holds a master's degree in Shakespeare Studies from King's College London and Shakespeare's Globe and a PhD in English from the University of Maryland, College Park.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 996 reviews
September 9, 2025
Yet another one of my most anticipated releases has left me feeling severely underwhelmed. 😔 There's something particularly deflating about looking forward to a book for months only to find yourself trudging through it.
For context, I finally got around to reading If We Were Villains earlier this year after letting it sit on my tbr for forever, and after finishing it, I totally understood why everyone raves about it. It became one of my favourite reads this year, so naturally, I was so excited to read this author's newest release and even more ecstatic when I received an arc.
Finding out it's been eight years since IWWV and that her novella, Graveyard Shift, which I haven't seen the best reviews for, made me even more curious about whether she could capture that magic again.
The concept had me hooked from the start. I've been missing that whole sex, drugs, and rock and roll vibe ever since I devoured Daisy Jones and the Six, and this book seemed like it would be similar to that. Dual timelines, rockstar drama, the 80s music scene—everything I love reading about rolled into one. Sure, it's completely different from the dark academia world of IWWV, but I was genuinely excited to see what the author would do with this setting.
Hot Wax follows Suzanne across two timelines: her traumatic childhood touring with her dad's rock band in the late 80s, and present-day her at 40, running away from her marriage after her estranged father dies. She ends up with this young bohemian couple while her husband chases after her across the country. It's all about how childhood trauma shapes who we become, and this whole journey of escape and self-discovery.
Unfortunately, even though I like dual timeline stories, this one didn't work for me at all. I found myself completely disengaged whenever we switched to present-day Suzanne. I could see what the author was going for with this coming-of-age story, where Suzanne is still growing and figuring herself out at 40, which is actually a really powerful concept. But the execution felt so off because I was only invested in 11-year-old Suzanne's story, which is pretty problematic because when you're only caring about one timeline of the book, the whole reading experience falls apart.
It got even worse because I felt zero connection to Suzanne as a character. She just felt so bland to me—I couldn't get a handle on who she really was or why she made certain choices. Even after finishing the book, I still don't understand some of her actions, which is pretty bad when the entire story revolves around following her journey. I genuinely don't know whether it's because I missed something, but not connecting with your main character is basically the kiss of death for any book.
My biggest frustration stems from the pacing. For a thriller mystery, this book was painfully slow and confusing—some parts had me thinking I was losing my mind. I had to reread sections, thinking I was missing something important, but it turned out the story just felt directionless. I only kept going because I thought it was one of those books where the ending finally clicks and makes you want to go back and reread everything to catch all the little details you missed the first time, like what IWWV did. But in this one, it never really happened.
The whole thing felt scattered, like the book was trying to be too many different things at once and ended up not really succeeding at any of them. After loving the writing style in IWWV, I was shocked that the writing became such an obstacle here. I kept thinking about how much I loved the 80s rock setting in other books I've read, which made this one's failure to capture that world even more disappointing, since it had all the right elements like family dysfunction, the dark side of fame, self-discovery, dealing with past trauma, etc, but the execution felt completely flat. The themes were there conceptually, but I never felt their emotional weight or saw them explored in any meaningful way.
I keep thinking about how IWWV was this incredible debut that blew everyone away, and maybe there's just this impossible pressure to live up to that. Eight years is a long time between books, and maybe trying to prove you can write something completely different while still being brilliant is just really hard to pull off.
The one thing I will say is that the 80s rock atmosphere was beautifully rendered—I could picture the music, the energy, the whole vibe of that era so clearly. But somehow all that vivid setting work felt disconnected from the actual story and themes, like the rock and roll world was just window dressing rather than integral to what the book was trying to say.
I'm probably being too generous with my rating. I really hate how it's a book where you can see the potential so clearly, which makes the disappointment even worse. I'm sad to say that I really wanted to love this but couldn't.
Thank you Hachette for the ARC.
For context, I finally got around to reading If We Were Villains earlier this year after letting it sit on my tbr for forever, and after finishing it, I totally understood why everyone raves about it. It became one of my favourite reads this year, so naturally, I was so excited to read this author's newest release and even more ecstatic when I received an arc.
Finding out it's been eight years since IWWV and that her novella, Graveyard Shift, which I haven't seen the best reviews for, made me even more curious about whether she could capture that magic again.
The concept had me hooked from the start. I've been missing that whole sex, drugs, and rock and roll vibe ever since I devoured Daisy Jones and the Six, and this book seemed like it would be similar to that. Dual timelines, rockstar drama, the 80s music scene—everything I love reading about rolled into one. Sure, it's completely different from the dark academia world of IWWV, but I was genuinely excited to see what the author would do with this setting.
Hot Wax follows Suzanne across two timelines: her traumatic childhood touring with her dad's rock band in the late 80s, and present-day her at 40, running away from her marriage after her estranged father dies. She ends up with this young bohemian couple while her husband chases after her across the country. It's all about how childhood trauma shapes who we become, and this whole journey of escape and self-discovery.
Unfortunately, even though I like dual timeline stories, this one didn't work for me at all. I found myself completely disengaged whenever we switched to present-day Suzanne. I could see what the author was going for with this coming-of-age story, where Suzanne is still growing and figuring herself out at 40, which is actually a really powerful concept. But the execution felt so off because I was only invested in 11-year-old Suzanne's story, which is pretty problematic because when you're only caring about one timeline of the book, the whole reading experience falls apart.
It got even worse because I felt zero connection to Suzanne as a character. She just felt so bland to me—I couldn't get a handle on who she really was or why she made certain choices. Even after finishing the book, I still don't understand some of her actions, which is pretty bad when the entire story revolves around following her journey. I genuinely don't know whether it's because I missed something, but not connecting with your main character is basically the kiss of death for any book.
My biggest frustration stems from the pacing. For a thriller mystery, this book was painfully slow and confusing—some parts had me thinking I was losing my mind. I had to reread sections, thinking I was missing something important, but it turned out the story just felt directionless. I only kept going because I thought it was one of those books where the ending finally clicks and makes you want to go back and reread everything to catch all the little details you missed the first time, like what IWWV did. But in this one, it never really happened.
The whole thing felt scattered, like the book was trying to be too many different things at once and ended up not really succeeding at any of them. After loving the writing style in IWWV, I was shocked that the writing became such an obstacle here. I kept thinking about how much I loved the 80s rock setting in other books I've read, which made this one's failure to capture that world even more disappointing, since it had all the right elements like family dysfunction, the dark side of fame, self-discovery, dealing with past trauma, etc, but the execution felt completely flat. The themes were there conceptually, but I never felt their emotional weight or saw them explored in any meaningful way.
I keep thinking about how IWWV was this incredible debut that blew everyone away, and maybe there's just this impossible pressure to live up to that. Eight years is a long time between books, and maybe trying to prove you can write something completely different while still being brilliant is just really hard to pull off.
The one thing I will say is that the 80s rock atmosphere was beautifully rendered—I could picture the music, the energy, the whole vibe of that era so clearly. But somehow all that vivid setting work felt disconnected from the actual story and themes, like the rock and roll world was just window dressing rather than integral to what the book was trying to say.
I'm probably being too generous with my rating. I really hate how it's a book where you can see the potential so clearly, which makes the disappointment even worse. I'm sad to say that I really wanted to love this but couldn't.
Thank you Hachette for the ARC.
January 2, 2026
oh thank god.
or so i thought.
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
in some ways i have been looking forward to this for four years and four months, since i finished IF WE WERE VILLAINS. many people do not enjoy that book and accuse it of being a pale imitation of the secret history, which it is.
in a world without new donna tartt, even a pale imitation is good enough for me.
in even more ways i have been looking forward to this for one year, since i read the long-awaited follow-up which turned out to be a deeply mediocre novella called graveyard shift. it was unmemorable down to the title (i had to look it up), but i was shouted down and told this was just to tide us over and her real sophomore novel was on its way.
here it is. it's worse than both could have ever led me to imagine.
this is a nonsense book, lazy and cumbersome and circuitous, a narrative so exhausting and irritating that even its own characters and story can't bear to rise to the level of consistency. it has two plots in two timelines that manage to contradict each other as well as themselves.
i was frustrated by this when it appeared to be about the byegone era of bands going on tour and doing drugs and beating each other up and almost dying, both because that's boring and overdone and because the author did not seem interested in doing research on anything down to a "how baseball works" google search for background dialogue. "i wish this was about anything else," i said.
when the other plotline in the other timeline in the aged-up perspective revealed itself to be about a bizarre and illogical marriage and polyamory and what amounts to essentially in-person depop, i regretted that statement.
on top of everything else, lips are in microphones, characters lose their core values and major traits and driving motivators hopping between one point and another, so little knowledge of sports and culture and other copy edit-able things is put on page that basic facts don't add up...
reading this felt like such a chore because it seems like writing it was. i can only imagine it was so arduous to complete there was no way to get through a stiff edit.
it's badly needed.
at this point i am terrified of rereading if we were villains. if it's anything like this, it's less "fun" and more so "underdone."
bottom line: one of my most anticipated books of the year, and one of the very worst ones i read.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
or so i thought.
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
in some ways i have been looking forward to this for four years and four months, since i finished IF WE WERE VILLAINS. many people do not enjoy that book and accuse it of being a pale imitation of the secret history, which it is.
in a world without new donna tartt, even a pale imitation is good enough for me.
in even more ways i have been looking forward to this for one year, since i read the long-awaited follow-up which turned out to be a deeply mediocre novella called graveyard shift. it was unmemorable down to the title (i had to look it up), but i was shouted down and told this was just to tide us over and her real sophomore novel was on its way.
here it is. it's worse than both could have ever led me to imagine.
this is a nonsense book, lazy and cumbersome and circuitous, a narrative so exhausting and irritating that even its own characters and story can't bear to rise to the level of consistency. it has two plots in two timelines that manage to contradict each other as well as themselves.
i was frustrated by this when it appeared to be about the byegone era of bands going on tour and doing drugs and beating each other up and almost dying, both because that's boring and overdone and because the author did not seem interested in doing research on anything down to a "how baseball works" google search for background dialogue. "i wish this was about anything else," i said.
when the other plotline in the other timeline in the aged-up perspective revealed itself to be about a bizarre and illogical marriage and polyamory and what amounts to essentially in-person depop, i regretted that statement.
on top of everything else, lips are in microphones, characters lose their core values and major traits and driving motivators hopping between one point and another, so little knowledge of sports and culture and other copy edit-able things is put on page that basic facts don't add up...
reading this felt like such a chore because it seems like writing it was. i can only imagine it was so arduous to complete there was no way to get through a stiff edit.
it's badly needed.
at this point i am terrified of rereading if we were villains. if it's anything like this, it's less "fun" and more so "underdone."
bottom line: one of my most anticipated books of the year, and one of the very worst ones i read.
(thanks to the publisher for the e-arc)
September 17, 2025
Hot Wax marks a compelling, if not flawless, return to the emotionally rich storytelling that first drew me to M.L. Rio’s work. While it doesn't quite capture the magnetic perfection of If We Were Villains, this novel finds its strength in its grit, atmosphere, and sheer emotional resonance. This is a slower burn—one that simmers beneath the surface with a tense undercurrent of loss, longing, and legacy until it finally erupts into something unexpected and soul-shaking.
Suzanne’s journey, both literal and internal, is equal parts haunting and healing. Her fractured relationship with her rockstar father and the unresolved trauma of her childhood provide the backbone for a narrative that sprawls across decades, road maps, and broken identities. The flashbacks from the chaotic, toxic music scene of the late '80s contrast beautifully with the quieter, yet equally unstable, present as Suzanne attempts to outrun a stale marriage and the emotional weight of everything she’s buried. At times, she’s a maddening narrator—messy, impulsive, and unpredictable—but never boring, and always heartbreakingly human.
The novel’s pacing does waver, particularly in the middle stretch, where the plot seems to drift in favor of mood and introspection. And yet, that drifting somehow fits the essence of the story—this is less a tightly plotted thriller than a lyrical, ragged search for meaning in the ruins of fame and family. Rio’s prose remains lush and immersive, painting vivid scenes of dusty highways, wild nights, and the ache of memory. The writing pulses with emotional depth, and the bond Suzanne forms with her fellow road travelers Simon and Phoebe adds heart and levity when the story dips into darker territory.
This isn’t a book that hits you all at once—it creeps in, much like a forgotten song you suddenly remember every word to. While it didn’t blow me away the way Rio’s debut did, it’s still a solid, thoughtful, and layered read that offers just enough heartbreak, nostalgia, and redemption to leave a lasting impression.
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a digital reviewer copy of this smart and beautifully written novel in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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Suzanne’s journey, both literal and internal, is equal parts haunting and healing. Her fractured relationship with her rockstar father and the unresolved trauma of her childhood provide the backbone for a narrative that sprawls across decades, road maps, and broken identities. The flashbacks from the chaotic, toxic music scene of the late '80s contrast beautifully with the quieter, yet equally unstable, present as Suzanne attempts to outrun a stale marriage and the emotional weight of everything she’s buried. At times, she’s a maddening narrator—messy, impulsive, and unpredictable—but never boring, and always heartbreakingly human.
The novel’s pacing does waver, particularly in the middle stretch, where the plot seems to drift in favor of mood and introspection. And yet, that drifting somehow fits the essence of the story—this is less a tightly plotted thriller than a lyrical, ragged search for meaning in the ruins of fame and family. Rio’s prose remains lush and immersive, painting vivid scenes of dusty highways, wild nights, and the ache of memory. The writing pulses with emotional depth, and the bond Suzanne forms with her fellow road travelers Simon and Phoebe adds heart and levity when the story dips into darker territory.
This isn’t a book that hits you all at once—it creeps in, much like a forgotten song you suddenly remember every word to. While it didn’t blow me away the way Rio’s debut did, it’s still a solid, thoughtful, and layered read that offers just enough heartbreak, nostalgia, and redemption to leave a lasting impression.
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing a digital reviewer copy of this smart and beautifully written novel in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
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July 18, 2025
Maybe I should just finally read If We Were Villains and give up on M.L. Rio's new releases, because so far I'm really not vibing with them. To be fair, Hot Wax is an ill match for my personal reading taste in the first place, because the book has multiple plot points that I don't like to read about (music, fame, road trips) and the dual timeline format is not my favorite either. I can't really blame the author for that, but just imagine my disappointment when I found out that a book titled Hot Wax was about rock stars in the 80s and not about creepy wax figures or my favorite wax-winged boy Icarus.
The story is following Suzanne at two different points in her life. One storyline is about her at eleven years old as she accompanies her rock star father on tour in the late 1980s. A second storyline is set in present day with the now 40-year-old Suzanne not having her life together, to say the least. Even though I don't care about music-centered stories, I was pretty invested in the chapters about her past. I don't have any 80s nostalgia, but it was still such a vibe. I liked to read about her falling in love with music and her very unique perspective of a child amongst sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Suzanne loves her father and this life on the road, but the whole situation is unsettling for the reader, because it's ultimately no place for a child. She's always around many people but still neglected in multiple ways, and she also has to witness intense violence more than one time. Something happened on tour that still has Suzanne traumatized in the present-day storyline, 29 years later. At first I thought that the dual timeline could be an interesting way of showing how Suzanne reflects her past and how she finally starts coping, but she barely ever did so. The present-day storyline reads like a midlife crisis while also being so very boring. Suzanne leaves her husband and goes on a road trip with two strangers where they do the most random stuff without any direction. I understand that this reflects her character and her mental state, but actually reading about it was such a chore. Then there are also chapters from her husband's POV, and they were even worse. He's looking for his wife and he's always one step behind her, making his POV repetitive and unnecessary. I really wondered what the point of his chapters was, but later his character was antagonized entirely, so I had my answer. I would never excuse his behavior in any way, but Suzanne turned his life upside down without ever answering a single question, so I at least understand his motivation. Suzanne on the other hand was completely unlikable in the present-day chapters. I felt sorry for her as a child, but her being a fully grown adult without any sense of responsibility was so annoying. The present-day side characters gave absolutely nothing either, but at least the band and crew members in the past chapters were interesting. Some of their scenes were absolute mayhem and really intense to the point where I had a hard time understanding what was actually happening. Overall, I just can't say that I enjoyed a book when I only liked one of two storylines. The plot was jumping around in time constantly, and I was always dreading the return to the present-day chapters. In addition to that there are also so-called snapshots that are set at different times once again. Some were straight up unnecessary, like the first meeting of Suzanne's parents, but some were interesting, like the flashback to Suzanne's late teens or to her wedding. I still didn't get a complete picture of Suzanne's life with the way this book was structured. There are too many holes in her story that are just not filled when we mostly get the perspective of her as an eleven-year-old and her as a forty-year-old. So yeah, at first I was turned off by the overall themes of this book and when I started to actually like something after all, it left me unsatisfied in the end. 2.5 stars.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Headline / Wildfire for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
The story is following Suzanne at two different points in her life. One storyline is about her at eleven years old as she accompanies her rock star father on tour in the late 1980s. A second storyline is set in present day with the now 40-year-old Suzanne not having her life together, to say the least. Even though I don't care about music-centered stories, I was pretty invested in the chapters about her past. I don't have any 80s nostalgia, but it was still such a vibe. I liked to read about her falling in love with music and her very unique perspective of a child amongst sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Suzanne loves her father and this life on the road, but the whole situation is unsettling for the reader, because it's ultimately no place for a child. She's always around many people but still neglected in multiple ways, and she also has to witness intense violence more than one time. Something happened on tour that still has Suzanne traumatized in the present-day storyline, 29 years later. At first I thought that the dual timeline could be an interesting way of showing how Suzanne reflects her past and how she finally starts coping, but she barely ever did so. The present-day storyline reads like a midlife crisis while also being so very boring. Suzanne leaves her husband and goes on a road trip with two strangers where they do the most random stuff without any direction. I understand that this reflects her character and her mental state, but actually reading about it was such a chore. Then there are also chapters from her husband's POV, and they were even worse. He's looking for his wife and he's always one step behind her, making his POV repetitive and unnecessary. I really wondered what the point of his chapters was, but later his character was antagonized entirely, so I had my answer. I would never excuse his behavior in any way, but Suzanne turned his life upside down without ever answering a single question, so I at least understand his motivation. Suzanne on the other hand was completely unlikable in the present-day chapters. I felt sorry for her as a child, but her being a fully grown adult without any sense of responsibility was so annoying. The present-day side characters gave absolutely nothing either, but at least the band and crew members in the past chapters were interesting. Some of their scenes were absolute mayhem and really intense to the point where I had a hard time understanding what was actually happening. Overall, I just can't say that I enjoyed a book when I only liked one of two storylines. The plot was jumping around in time constantly, and I was always dreading the return to the present-day chapters. In addition to that there are also so-called snapshots that are set at different times once again. Some were straight up unnecessary, like the first meeting of Suzanne's parents, but some were interesting, like the flashback to Suzanne's late teens or to her wedding. I still didn't get a complete picture of Suzanne's life with the way this book was structured. There are too many holes in her story that are just not filled when we mostly get the perspective of her as an eleven-year-old and her as a forty-year-old. So yeah, at first I was turned off by the overall themes of this book and when I started to actually like something after all, it left me unsatisfied in the end. 2.5 stars.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Headline / Wildfire for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
September 8, 2025
Rock and roll fans, this one is for us!
Hot Wax is raw, gritty, with of course a mix of sex, drugs, and rock n roll. The book has brilliant character development with an intricately layered plot that kept me entertained throughout. Hot Wax shows that ML Rio is a very versatile author. I previously enjoyed the author's prior work, We Were Villains but comparing it to Hot Wax would be like comparing apples to potatoes. They are both great in their own element but are entirely different works.
In Hot Wax, following Suzanne’s childhood and learning how it shaped her as an adult was my favorite part. Also without giving anything away I will say there are several depictions of childhood trauma which could be triggering for some.
I alternated between reading the book myself and listening to the audiobook format. The audiobook is read by one of my favorite narrators, Helen Laser who always does a brilliant job so of course I recommend this format.
Hot Wax by ML Rio will be available on September 9. Many thanks to Simon Books for the gifted copy and Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook!
Hot Wax is raw, gritty, with of course a mix of sex, drugs, and rock n roll. The book has brilliant character development with an intricately layered plot that kept me entertained throughout. Hot Wax shows that ML Rio is a very versatile author. I previously enjoyed the author's prior work, We Were Villains but comparing it to Hot Wax would be like comparing apples to potatoes. They are both great in their own element but are entirely different works.
In Hot Wax, following Suzanne’s childhood and learning how it shaped her as an adult was my favorite part. Also without giving anything away I will say there are several depictions of childhood trauma which could be triggering for some.
I alternated between reading the book myself and listening to the audiobook format. The audiobook is read by one of my favorite narrators, Helen Laser who always does a brilliant job so of course I recommend this format.
Hot Wax by ML Rio will be available on September 9. Many thanks to Simon Books for the gifted copy and Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook!
Want to read
February 20, 2025♡ If We Were Villains ★★★★★
♡ Graveyard Shift ★★★★
♡ Graveyard Shift ★★★★
November 12, 2025
The grime of late 80s hard-rock scene in a heavily sweat-soaked way. Brilliantly crafted but dryly executed, I first must admit that I was not the ‘most’ appropriate audience for this book although I was very drawn to the premise. M.L. Rio takes you on a road trip full of ups and downs and while there are many parts of this book that were truly enjoyable, I found majority of this book to be quite wordy for my taste.
RTF!
RTF!
September 9, 2025
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read my substack essay! ❣️💫
Eat your heart out Daisy Jones, THIS is the music book I always wanted!
I have been waiting eagerly for this book for years. Ever since I fell in love with villains in 2019, I have been an M.L. Rio groupie, and I have desperately wanted to know what she would do next…and I was terrified that we may never get to see it. It's a miracle this book even ended up getting published after it hit so many obstacles on the way, but I can tell that made this book (and Mel) stronger. It feels really lived in, and it feels like the perfect next step for Rio's discography (ha).
It’s hard with these types of books because the expectations get shot into the stratosphere and it can make for a big letdown if you aren’t careful (or if the author is, well, bad). And I won’t lie…..nothing will compare to my beloved Villains but holy shit…I love rock n roll. Mel just has a way with characters, with details, with descriptions, and even when I was unsure of where this story was going, I was IN IT. I felt like the first half was winding up, that first upward tilt of a roller coaster, and then when we hit the second half, it just SUCKERPUNCHED me when it zoomed downhill.
I have so much I could touch on about why I read the second half of this book in a fever dream on a late night flight home, gasping and tearing up in a middle seat, but it’s hard to know where to start. More than anything, I was so intrigued by how this book seems to be a sibling with Villians. They're both mysteries, a narrative haunted by flashbacks and fast forwards, filled with questions and misguided characters, and it isn't until the second half that you start to get that intense feeling of dread in your stomach that this might not have a happy ending. I could see just how much Mel's craft has evolved, but more than that I felt like I really got to see her fullest self refracted on these pages. If Villains was her theater half, this is her music half. It's sexy and grimy and show-stopping, but it feels like HER. And part of why I'm so enamored with her as a writer is because of who she is as a person, so this was like a five course feast. I related to so much of it - more than I expected in an adult book about divorce (it's not really about divorce) - and I loved Suzanne's character because she's so opposite of most adult female MCs you see in publishing. She's a photographer who shoots Polaroid (!!!), a queer woman who's in her forties and adamantly does not want kids, who feels like she doesn't have any talent other than documenting other people's stories, and all of that was so refreshing. Not to mention all the commentary on women in music.
(Also, I just have to mention, it's so cool that we get a bi poly relationship through all this. So unexpected and fun.)
Obviously I wish Mel didn't write so open-ended, but there's so much subtext here and that IS why I love her so much as an author. In some ways, the story is what you make of it, you'll never get the full truth, but in all the ways that matter, the truth is right there for you to infer. She does such an incredible job leading us to the "conclusion," and I'm still breathless from the compelling way she delivered the plot. I wanted a little more from the B Side I think (because that A side is just so cool), but all in all this story just WORKED. If anything, I wanted a longer book so I could learn more about the Kills and Vince. And lowkey, I did think the ending was a little rushed. But still!!! Was gasping for breath on my red eye flight.
M.L. Rio is a rock god, and this has cemented her greatness in my mind. I'll read anything she writes forever.
my secret vince dewitt playlist
read my substack essay! ❣️💫
Eat your heart out Daisy Jones, THIS is the music book I always wanted!
I have been waiting eagerly for this book for years. Ever since I fell in love with villains in 2019, I have been an M.L. Rio groupie, and I have desperately wanted to know what she would do next…and I was terrified that we may never get to see it. It's a miracle this book even ended up getting published after it hit so many obstacles on the way, but I can tell that made this book (and Mel) stronger. It feels really lived in, and it feels like the perfect next step for Rio's discography (ha).
It’s hard with these types of books because the expectations get shot into the stratosphere and it can make for a big letdown if you aren’t careful (or if the author is, well, bad). And I won’t lie…..nothing will compare to my beloved Villains but holy shit…I love rock n roll. Mel just has a way with characters, with details, with descriptions, and even when I was unsure of where this story was going, I was IN IT. I felt like the first half was winding up, that first upward tilt of a roller coaster, and then when we hit the second half, it just SUCKERPUNCHED me when it zoomed downhill.
I have so much I could touch on about why I read the second half of this book in a fever dream on a late night flight home, gasping and tearing up in a middle seat, but it’s hard to know where to start. More than anything, I was so intrigued by how this book seems to be a sibling with Villians. They're both mysteries, a narrative haunted by flashbacks and fast forwards, filled with questions and misguided characters, and it isn't until the second half that you start to get that intense feeling of dread in your stomach that this might not have a happy ending. I could see just how much Mel's craft has evolved, but more than that I felt like I really got to see her fullest self refracted on these pages. If Villains was her theater half, this is her music half. It's sexy and grimy and show-stopping, but it feels like HER. And part of why I'm so enamored with her as a writer is because of who she is as a person, so this was like a five course feast. I related to so much of it - more than I expected in an adult book about divorce (it's not really about divorce) - and I loved Suzanne's character because she's so opposite of most adult female MCs you see in publishing. She's a photographer who shoots Polaroid (!!!), a queer woman who's in her forties and adamantly does not want kids, who feels like she doesn't have any talent other than documenting other people's stories, and all of that was so refreshing. Not to mention all the commentary on women in music.
(Also, I just have to mention, it's so cool that we get a bi poly relationship through all this. So unexpected and fun.)
Obviously I wish Mel didn't write so open-ended, but there's so much subtext here and that IS why I love her so much as an author. In some ways, the story is what you make of it, you'll never get the full truth, but in all the ways that matter, the truth is right there for you to infer. She does such an incredible job leading us to the "conclusion," and I'm still breathless from the compelling way she delivered the plot. I wanted a little more from the B Side I think (because that A side is just so cool), but all in all this story just WORKED. If anything, I wanted a longer book so I could learn more about the Kills and Vince. And lowkey, I did think the ending was a little rushed. But still!!! Was gasping for breath on my red eye flight.
M.L. Rio is a rock god, and this has cemented her greatness in my mind. I'll read anything she writes forever.
my secret vince dewitt playlist
Want to read
July 20, 2025vampire lestat's impact - rockband books coming out in 25/26
Want to read
January 31, 2024Already signing up for the pain
September 26, 2025
The author of my favorite book of all time released a new full-length novel... with a premise that I had almost no interest in. So you could say that Hot Wax was a doomed reading experience. In fact, I actively dislike reading stories about fame, people being disasters, increasingly toxic relationships, and road trips.
Hot Wax is an odd jumble of perspectives and timelines all centered around our main character, Suzanne, the daughter of a could-have-been-famous musician in the '80s. We follow her at different times in her life. There is a lot of jumping around, even within the past and present timelines, but we mainly follow her at eleven on tour with her father's band and at forty, having just left her husband and picked up her (now late) father's car.
This book is a slow start, and it is very slow to grab your attention. To the point that up until the halfway point, I was considering not even finishing the book because I really wasn't vibing with it. And to be fair, the whole "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll" theme isn't something I typically gravitate towards. Suzanne is a boring main character. I was not interested in her midlife crisis. I will say that in the second half, the A-side chapters, those following child Suzanne on tour with the band, did start to really grab my attention. This feeling of an impending trainwreck, of the band members' relationships disintegrating while their career takes off, was engaging. The last 30% had me hooked as I waited to see how it would all come to a climax.
When I think about the parts of Hot Wax that had me most interested, I can see, in some ways, similarities to the storytelling of If We Were Villains. In the sense that we follow characters in both books who are arguably not the main characters of their stories, or at least not the most interesting characters. Suzanne and Oliver function as witnesses to the burning flames of the characters around them. Suzanne's childhood perspective of the members of her father's band, in particular the relationship between Gil and Skillman, was really interesting. I don't think it quite did enough with that, but that is what grabbed my attention in the second half. What doesn't really work with Hot Wax is that Suzanne is not an interesting enough character. Too much of this book simply is not interesting. Outside of that one arc of the story, I didn't care about anything else that was happening. There's this whole storyline centering on Suzanne's ex-husband, Rob, that frankly should have been cut. It is so predictable and unoriginal that it adds nothing to the story, instead distracting from the other themes. But, again, there's really nothing of interest going on in the present timeline. I didn't really feel what Suzanne was working towards with her road trip.
It feels a little bit like the story lacked direction or a point. The ending felt a little anticlimactic. It hits the obvious plot moments that you would expect from this kind of story, but it lacks a final moment. It almost leaves the story feeling a little aimless, to the point that I wondered if I'd missed something. What's the point? What's the big deal? What am I supposed to feel? I was expecting so much more from the ending based on the aura of guilt and mystery in Suzanne's memories of her past. I don't know if ML Rio was trying to go for an ambiguous ending again, but it didn't really land because it feels like the story just fizzles out.
I can't honestly say that I was disappointed because this is exactly how I expected to feel when I learned what Hot Wax would be about. Obviously, I wanted to be wrong. I wanted ML Rio to do something I loved with themes I don't care about.
Three stars is too high a rating based on my enjoyment of the book. But I feel like it would be a bit unfair to rate this in the two-star range because I KNEW I wasn't going to enjoy this story. I just really wanted to see what ML Rio would do next.
Thank you Simon & Schuster for the ARC
Links to my TikTok | Instagram
Hot Wax is an odd jumble of perspectives and timelines all centered around our main character, Suzanne, the daughter of a could-have-been-famous musician in the '80s. We follow her at different times in her life. There is a lot of jumping around, even within the past and present timelines, but we mainly follow her at eleven on tour with her father's band and at forty, having just left her husband and picked up her (now late) father's car.
This book is a slow start, and it is very slow to grab your attention. To the point that up until the halfway point, I was considering not even finishing the book because I really wasn't vibing with it. And to be fair, the whole "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll" theme isn't something I typically gravitate towards. Suzanne is a boring main character. I was not interested in her midlife crisis. I will say that in the second half, the A-side chapters, those following child Suzanne on tour with the band, did start to really grab my attention. This feeling of an impending trainwreck, of the band members' relationships disintegrating while their career takes off, was engaging. The last 30% had me hooked as I waited to see how it would all come to a climax.
When I think about the parts of Hot Wax that had me most interested, I can see, in some ways, similarities to the storytelling of If We Were Villains. In the sense that we follow characters in both books who are arguably not the main characters of their stories, or at least not the most interesting characters. Suzanne and Oliver function as witnesses to the burning flames of the characters around them. Suzanne's childhood perspective of the members of her father's band, in particular the relationship between Gil and Skillman, was really interesting. I don't think it quite did enough with that, but that is what grabbed my attention in the second half. What doesn't really work with Hot Wax is that Suzanne is not an interesting enough character. Too much of this book simply is not interesting. Outside of that one arc of the story, I didn't care about anything else that was happening. There's this whole storyline centering on Suzanne's ex-husband, Rob, that frankly should have been cut. It is so predictable and unoriginal that it adds nothing to the story, instead distracting from the other themes. But, again, there's really nothing of interest going on in the present timeline. I didn't really feel what Suzanne was working towards with her road trip.
It feels a little bit like the story lacked direction or a point. The ending felt a little anticlimactic. It hits the obvious plot moments that you would expect from this kind of story, but it lacks a final moment. It almost leaves the story feeling a little aimless, to the point that I wondered if I'd missed something. What's the point? What's the big deal? What am I supposed to feel? I was expecting so much more from the ending based on the aura of guilt and mystery in Suzanne's memories of her past. I don't know if ML Rio was trying to go for an ambiguous ending again, but it didn't really land because it feels like the story just fizzles out.
I can't honestly say that I was disappointed because this is exactly how I expected to feel when I learned what Hot Wax would be about. Obviously, I wanted to be wrong. I wanted ML Rio to do something I loved with themes I don't care about.
Three stars is too high a rating based on my enjoyment of the book. But I feel like it would be a bit unfair to rate this in the two-star range because I KNEW I wasn't going to enjoy this story. I just really wanted to see what ML Rio would do next.
Thank you Simon & Schuster for the ARC
Links to my TikTok | Instagram
Want to read
September 10, 2024show it to me, please. give it to me, rachel.
September 8, 2025
besties i am struggling a bit.
this book has the makings of a really great read - the setting is interesting, the characters are complex, and there's an underlying mystery that keeps you wanting to read to find out what happened.
however, the pacing, especially in the first half, is SLOW. we have so many scenes where we're doing things like look at junk at antique fairs and describe crappy roadside destinations. i was also sort of under the impression that this would be more thriller-y based on WWWV and Graveyard Shift, and this is undeniably significantly more-so a lit fic with some gritty elements.
I'll leave you with a do/dont read list:
DO read if you like: literary writing, slower-paced, highly character driven narratives, 80s-90s rock/nostalgia/the uglier sides of rock, a coming of age story
DON'T read if you are looking for: fast-paced narratives, heavy plot, thriller/suspense, a satisfying and definitive conclusion.
**thank you to Simon & Schuster for the ARC copy**
this book has the makings of a really great read - the setting is interesting, the characters are complex, and there's an underlying mystery that keeps you wanting to read to find out what happened.
however, the pacing, especially in the first half, is SLOW. we have so many scenes where we're doing things like look at junk at antique fairs and describe crappy roadside destinations. i was also sort of under the impression that this would be more thriller-y based on WWWV and Graveyard Shift, and this is undeniably significantly more-so a lit fic with some gritty elements.
I'll leave you with a do/dont read list:
DO read if you like: literary writing, slower-paced, highly character driven narratives, 80s-90s rock/nostalgia/the uglier sides of rock, a coming of age story
DON'T read if you are looking for: fast-paced narratives, heavy plot, thriller/suspense, a satisfying and definitive conclusion.
**thank you to Simon & Schuster for the ARC copy**
September 19, 2025
If we were villains really was a one hit wonder.
October 2, 2025
Hot Wax dives into the chaotic, glittering, and destructive world of rock and roll. We follow Suzanne, who we first meet as a 10-year-old living through the height of her father’s fame as a touring musician with a hard rock band. As an adult, she’s still trying to make sense of the trauma from those earlier years and the tragic events that shaped her life.
I really liked how Rio captures the creativity of songwriting and the relentless drive to be the best. The amped-up touring life—filled with drugs, alcohol, and women—also felt vividly drawn. Each chapter is even titled after a well-known song, which adds a bit of nostalgia to the reading experience. The added song lyrics throughout were also a nice touch and gave the feeling of listening to a record.
The book itself is structured like an album: The A-Side follows young Suzanne in her childhood, while the B-Side tracks her present-day road trip across the country after leaving her husband, Rob. Along the way, she meets Simon and Phoebe, a couple of hippies, and chases down answers about her past while confronting her inner demons.
It took quite a bit to settle in to the story (too much back and forth), but once I did, I really enjoyed young Suzanne’s story when she joins her dad on tour. She was bonding with her dad which was nice to see, and she had a comrade named Doug who was like a cool, but nerdy older brother. My main issue was with Rob’s storyline on the B-side. His obsession with tracking Suzanne down didn’t quite make sense for me, since we only get to know him briefly on their wedding day. And the way it all wrapped up felt over-the-top and hard to believe. Still, this was a creative novel with strong atmosphere. I appreciated the mix of rock nostalgia and emotional reckoning. Not a flawless album, but there are still some standout tracks worth spinning.
I really liked how Rio captures the creativity of songwriting and the relentless drive to be the best. The amped-up touring life—filled with drugs, alcohol, and women—also felt vividly drawn. Each chapter is even titled after a well-known song, which adds a bit of nostalgia to the reading experience. The added song lyrics throughout were also a nice touch and gave the feeling of listening to a record.
The book itself is structured like an album: The A-Side follows young Suzanne in her childhood, while the B-Side tracks her present-day road trip across the country after leaving her husband, Rob. Along the way, she meets Simon and Phoebe, a couple of hippies, and chases down answers about her past while confronting her inner demons.
It took quite a bit to settle in to the story (too much back and forth), but once I did, I really enjoyed young Suzanne’s story when she joins her dad on tour. She was bonding with her dad which was nice to see, and she had a comrade named Doug who was like a cool, but nerdy older brother. My main issue was with Rob’s storyline on the B-side. His obsession with tracking Suzanne down didn’t quite make sense for me, since we only get to know him briefly on their wedding day. And the way it all wrapped up felt over-the-top and hard to believe. Still, this was a creative novel with strong atmosphere. I appreciated the mix of rock nostalgia and emotional reckoning. Not a flawless album, but there are still some standout tracks worth spinning.
August 4, 2025
Thank you so much Headline for the arc!
„They had ruined each other, in some unspeakable way, and no matter how many years they spent apart they were still shackled together by everything they couldn't change.“
🎶 childhood trauma
🎶 80s rockstar dad
🎶 life on the road
🎶 non-linear storyline
🎶 coming of age
What I liked:
The story was so slow-paced and character-driven that you really got to know the main character Suzanne and feel bad for her by the end. I wished I could speak to her to encourage her to go to therapy. All the adults in the story let her down and she didn’t even notice. The story is a raw and honest portrait of relationships and neglect.
What I didn’t like:
It was too slow-paced, even for me. I even contemplated stopping to read a couple of times. The story finally picked up pace around the 65% mark, but while I liked getting to know the characters, that was way to late for my liking.
„They had ruined each other, in some unspeakable way, and no matter how many years they spent apart they were still shackled together by everything they couldn't change.“
🎶 childhood trauma
🎶 80s rockstar dad
🎶 life on the road
🎶 non-linear storyline
🎶 coming of age
What I liked:
The story was so slow-paced and character-driven that you really got to know the main character Suzanne and feel bad for her by the end. I wished I could speak to her to encourage her to go to therapy. All the adults in the story let her down and she didn’t even notice. The story is a raw and honest portrait of relationships and neglect.
What I didn’t like:
It was too slow-paced, even for me. I even contemplated stopping to read a couple of times. The story finally picked up pace around the 65% mark, but while I liked getting to know the characters, that was way to late for my liking.
October 7, 2025
2 ⭐️
This rating hurts. I want to keep this as simple as possible because I have no idea what to make of this book, I just know that ultimately I didn’t like it.
This quick overview of my thoughts may have very vague spoilers.
It was a book with very little plot set up like there was going to be lots of plot. 80% of the book was descriptions, scene setting, vibes and alluding to this big event that you don’t get to until you’re well past the 90% mark and once I got there I realized I had guessed at it the entire time. The only characters I cared about were the ones talked about in retrospect, all the “present” characters were dull, two dimensional and pretty aimless for the vast majority of the book. The only redeeming things about the book to me were the poignant themes of child/parent relationships and that wrapped up ending.
This was a struggle to get through. It’s definitely one of those you read for the journey and not the point. But still, to say I’m disappointed in this is an understatement. I really wanted to love it.
This rating hurts. I want to keep this as simple as possible because I have no idea what to make of this book, I just know that ultimately I didn’t like it.
This quick overview of my thoughts may have very vague spoilers.
It was a book with very little plot set up like there was going to be lots of plot. 80% of the book was descriptions, scene setting, vibes and alluding to this big event that you don’t get to until you’re well past the 90% mark and once I got there I realized I had guessed at it the entire time. The only characters I cared about were the ones talked about in retrospect, all the “present” characters were dull, two dimensional and pretty aimless for the vast majority of the book. The only redeeming things about the book to me were the poignant themes of child/parent relationships and that wrapped up ending.
This was a struggle to get through. It’s definitely one of those you read for the journey and not the point. But still, to say I’m disappointed in this is an understatement. I really wanted to love it.
August 15, 2025
4.25 ⭐️
How do you reconcile the trauma of childhood when the rock 'n' roll stops and you're left alone in silence?
Book Stats:
📖: 383 pages
Genre: Adult Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Format: Physical Arc from publisher
Series: Standalone
Themes:
💫: Reclaiming your past
💫: Reckoning with your childhood
💫: Discovering yourself
🥵: Spice: 🚫
Potential Triggers: **check authors page/socials for full list.
General Thoughts:
Based on the marketing for this novel, I went into this novel expecting a thriller/suspense novel. But really what I got was more of a literary fiction. That's not to say there wasn't some mystery surrounding the plot line, because there definitely was. but the way it was written really did not unfold like a mystery novel.
This is a dual timeline format that really worked for me with this novel. I really like the way the timelines gave information on each other as they were told. I really liked the title chapters and I wish more people would go back to that instead of just simple numbers.
This book definitely had an air of 80s rock 'n' roll. With a splash of punk to add to it. I did kind of guess Suzanne's major problem with her childhood partway through the book just based on interactions with various people in the past timeline. But it didn't ruin the book for me overall, and I felt the way everything unraveled was still well really well done.
The author did leave some parts of the ending a little ambiguous so that you may draw your own conclusion, but it still felt wrapped up to me at the end. I feel like this book will be one that stays with me for a while because it felt so emotional Throughout for all the characters. And that really got into my head.
It is hard to describe how this book made me feel because I did not feel overly emotional while reading the novel, but emotions definitely flooded me at the end when I realized the amount of emotional trauma that Suzanne went through throughout her life. And how deeply scarred she was from it. It was upon reflection that I really felt the gravity of the novel.
Honestly, if I was asked, I would say the real villain of this novel is Nora. And I stand by that.
WhileI still think If We Were Villains is my top read by this author, this book was definitely worth the pages and will be a recommended novel from me. I can't wait to see what else the author comes up with.
Disclaimer: I read this book as a physical ARC from the publisher. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.
How do you reconcile the trauma of childhood when the rock 'n' roll stops and you're left alone in silence?
Book Stats:
📖: 383 pages
Genre: Adult Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Format: Physical Arc from publisher
Series: Standalone
Themes:
💫: Reclaiming your past
💫: Reckoning with your childhood
💫: Discovering yourself
🥵: Spice: 🚫
Potential Triggers: **check authors page/socials for full list.
General Thoughts:
Based on the marketing for this novel, I went into this novel expecting a thriller/suspense novel. But really what I got was more of a literary fiction. That's not to say there wasn't some mystery surrounding the plot line, because there definitely was. but the way it was written really did not unfold like a mystery novel.
This is a dual timeline format that really worked for me with this novel. I really like the way the timelines gave information on each other as they were told. I really liked the title chapters and I wish more people would go back to that instead of just simple numbers.
This book definitely had an air of 80s rock 'n' roll. With a splash of punk to add to it. I did kind of guess Suzanne's major problem with her childhood partway through the book just based on interactions with various people in the past timeline. But it didn't ruin the book for me overall, and I felt the way everything unraveled was still well really well done.
The author did leave some parts of the ending a little ambiguous so that you may draw your own conclusion, but it still felt wrapped up to me at the end. I feel like this book will be one that stays with me for a while because it felt so emotional Throughout for all the characters. And that really got into my head.
It is hard to describe how this book made me feel because I did not feel overly emotional while reading the novel, but emotions definitely flooded me at the end when I realized the amount of emotional trauma that Suzanne went through throughout her life. And how deeply scarred she was from it. It was upon reflection that I really felt the gravity of the novel.
Honestly, if I was asked, I would say the real villain of this novel is Nora. And I stand by that.
WhileI still think If We Were Villains is my top read by this author, this book was definitely worth the pages and will be a recommended novel from me. I can't wait to see what else the author comes up with.
Disclaimer: I read this book as a physical ARC from the publisher. All opinions are my own. This is my honest and voluntary review.
November 11, 2025
Not what I'd hoped, but not objectively bad.
July 30, 2025
I love stories about rock bands, complicated relationships, coming of age, and looking back on horrific events from the past. So basically this book was made exactly for me. I loved the portions of the book that followed Suzanne as a ten year old in the 80s as she’s on tour with her dad’s band just as much as I loved seeing her as a woman in her 40s in the present day dealing with the aftermath of his death. I was so eager to find out what this catastrophic thing was that happened with the band in the past, but I was also entirely compelled by her leaving her husband and meeting up with Simon and Phoebe and seeing their different adventures.
M.L. Rio’s writing is so captivating. I loved all of the descriptions of Gil and the Kills, the band and the different members felt so real. It was so interesting seeing the life of a touring band in the 80s through the eyes of a child. Suzanne was such a strong character, both in the past sections and in the present. I loved seeing her connection to music and photography and learning how to stand up for what she wants.
This book is thrilling and has some shocking reveals and events that occur. But I think it’s best to go into it looking more for a character study than a fast-paced thriller. The book really takes its time, exploring Suzanne’s experiences both in the past and present day. Which I really appreciated. So I’d definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in the rock band thriller element just as much as exploring the life of the main character.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
M.L. Rio’s writing is so captivating. I loved all of the descriptions of Gil and the Kills, the band and the different members felt so real. It was so interesting seeing the life of a touring band in the 80s through the eyes of a child. Suzanne was such a strong character, both in the past sections and in the present. I loved seeing her connection to music and photography and learning how to stand up for what she wants.
This book is thrilling and has some shocking reveals and events that occur. But I think it’s best to go into it looking more for a character study than a fast-paced thriller. The book really takes its time, exploring Suzanne’s experiences both in the past and present day. Which I really appreciated. So I’d definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in the rock band thriller element just as much as exploring the life of the main character.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
October 18, 2025
“There is no ‘somebody’ until somebody tells their story. The world needs witnesses.” She shook her head, sensing something still unsaid. “And you don’t need the dead’s permission. It’s your story, too.”
I think I can speak in general when I say that all of us who loved If We Were Villains were eager for M.L. Rio to publish a new full-length novel. A mystery about a 1980s rock band? I didn’t need to know anything else; Hot Wax went straight to my most anticipated books of 2025 list. And it now goes to my most disappointing reads of the year.
Somewhere between a coming-of-age novel and a mystery, Hot Wax is a novel that I don’t think quite fits into any specific genre. It alternates between past and present, following Suzanne, a woman in her forties who decides to leave her husband and begin a relationship with a much younger couple. But the death of her father brings to light a childhood trauma that she’s been trying to forget.
There are several aspects that made this story not work for me, but after racking my brains over the couple of days since I finished it, I’ve come to the conclusion that my main disappointment lies in the characters. If more than a week ago someone had told me I wouldn’t be invested in M.L. Rio’s characters, I wouldn’t have believed it. Not only because their complexity was one of the strong points of If We Were Villains, but also because even in the mere 100 pages of Graveyard Shift, she managed to get me interested in them. But in this book, I didn’t care about them.
I feel like the author didn’t know where to take the story. Much of it is narrated by a 10-year-old Suzanne, whose internal monologues don’t match those of a girl that age. Suddenly, we jumped to the present, her on the run and her husband chasing her, and then to her teenage years, a period I still don’t understand what contributed to the story. The pacing was completely off and jarring, and the supposed mystery—and I say supposed because it’s obvious from the beginning what happened—is never resolved.
I was completely underwhelmed by Hot Wax. I would have preferred the story to focus more on the present, to explore Suzanne dealing with her trauma as an adult, rather than going back and forth without rhyme or reason. At least I’m left with the good for her feeling about something that happens toward the end.
August 19, 2025
sigh. unfortunately this wasn’t for me. it had all of the makings of a good book (interesting structure, technically well written, strong settings) but i could not for the life of me care about any one of these characters. sorry to be mean but it was predictable and boring. i’m sure it is for someone out there but i am not that person.
thank you to the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for honest review.
thank you to the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for honest review.
October 3, 2025
i was underwhelmed by this book as a whole. i even stopped annotating at part 2 bc i just didn’t care enough to put the effort in. i was really into the premise of this, a father daughter story about grief and a traumatic past. but for some reason this was super boring!! i wasn’t all that interested in the characters, this was just not for me :(
November 20, 2025
Wow! What a road trip! This love letter to rock ‘n roll and all-American road trips is also an impossible-to-put-down tension-filled nightmare.
Here’s the thing: reading this book is like watching an approaching train wreck. Everyone is making bad decisions, things are getting worse and worse, and you just know it’s all going to go wrong… but you can’t stop watching because you have to know what happens. Yes, my anxiety was dialed way up (as was, I’m sure, my blood pressure). Yes, I wanted to grab the characters and shake them and tell them to make any choice other than the one they’re about to make. No, I could not stop reading.
This book features a dual timeline (A-side and B-side, a nod to the records of our childhood). Rio’s signature highly descriptive and visceral writing style works incredibly well here, especially in the past timeline. Childhood memories are so fragmented. Rio captures what it’s like to have hyper-specific snapshots of your childhood surrounded by vague memories you can’t quite bring into focus.
The present timeline is written in such a way that it amplifies the tension of the past timeline. The MC is traumatized by what happened in her childhood - so much so that she can’t look at it head-on. Which means as readers we have to wait for the story to unfold while knowing just how much it’s going to mess up her life. Like I said, good luck putting this book down!
Rio’s writing has refined and matured since IF WE WERE VILLAINS (which I loved). This may not be dark academia, but HOT WAX still features complicated characters, toxic obsession, and the creeping sense of approaching doom that made me fall in love her with previous work.
I received this eARC from the Simon & Schuster. Opinions are my own.
Here’s the thing: reading this book is like watching an approaching train wreck. Everyone is making bad decisions, things are getting worse and worse, and you just know it’s all going to go wrong… but you can’t stop watching because you have to know what happens. Yes, my anxiety was dialed way up (as was, I’m sure, my blood pressure). Yes, I wanted to grab the characters and shake them and tell them to make any choice other than the one they’re about to make. No, I could not stop reading.
This book features a dual timeline (A-side and B-side, a nod to the records of our childhood). Rio’s signature highly descriptive and visceral writing style works incredibly well here, especially in the past timeline. Childhood memories are so fragmented. Rio captures what it’s like to have hyper-specific snapshots of your childhood surrounded by vague memories you can’t quite bring into focus.
The present timeline is written in such a way that it amplifies the tension of the past timeline. The MC is traumatized by what happened in her childhood - so much so that she can’t look at it head-on. Which means as readers we have to wait for the story to unfold while knowing just how much it’s going to mess up her life. Like I said, good luck putting this book down!
Rio’s writing has refined and matured since IF WE WERE VILLAINS (which I loved). This may not be dark academia, but HOT WAX still features complicated characters, toxic obsession, and the creeping sense of approaching doom that made me fall in love her with previous work.
I received this eARC from the Simon & Schuster. Opinions are my own.
September 14, 2025
Is horror in the room with us?
September 9, 2025
3.5⭐️
Thank you @simonbooks & @simon.audio for the ARC & ALC. ♡
⋆⭒˚｡⋆. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 ⋆⭒˚｡⋆.
🎸 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚗 𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕 + 𝚅𝚒𝚗𝚢𝚕
🚗 𝚁𝚘𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚜 + 𝚅𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚜
🛞 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 + 𝙰𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎
🏜️ 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍
This book was gritty and unflinching, with some very messy characters. Chasing dreams, making music, becoming someone.
.
Throw in a lonely kid in a broken household who idolizes her dad and wants to grow up to be just like him. I raged at all the so-called parental figures 😠
.
Set in dual timelines - the hard rock scene of the late 80s, early foreshadowing reveals some serious badness and trauma. This story is fundamentally a coming-of-age journey of self-acceptance.
.
🌵 I did jive hard during the last 1/3: a road trip through small desert towns of New Mexico. I could vividly picture some of these abandoned mining towns with their one-stop diners, serving up chile rellenos side-by-side with grilled cheese and burgers, only frequented by truckers and townies and the occasional passer-through.
‧₊˚🎧⊹ I do think Helen Laser’s narration saved this book. I found the pacing uneven, but the audio propelled me forward through some of the more wandering chapters in the present timeline. The pacing in the last 20% is breakneck though and I tore through it looking for answers!
The vibes are here if you love haunting lyrics, rock and roll (not just the epic highs but the tragedies and the low lows), although I admit this left me feeling somber.
Thank you @simonbooks & @simon.audio for the ARC & ALC. ♡
⋆⭒˚｡⋆. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 ⋆⭒˚｡⋆.
🎸 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚗 𝚁𝚘𝚕𝚕 + 𝚅𝚒𝚗𝚢𝚕
🚗 𝚁𝚘𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚜 + 𝚅𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚜
🛞 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 + 𝙰𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎
🏜️ 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍
This book was gritty and unflinching, with some very messy characters. Chasing dreams, making music, becoming someone.
.
Throw in a lonely kid in a broken household who idolizes her dad and wants to grow up to be just like him. I raged at all the so-called parental figures 😠
.
Set in dual timelines - the hard rock scene of the late 80s, early foreshadowing reveals some serious badness and trauma. This story is fundamentally a coming-of-age journey of self-acceptance.
.
🌵 I did jive hard during the last 1/3: a road trip through small desert towns of New Mexico. I could vividly picture some of these abandoned mining towns with their one-stop diners, serving up chile rellenos side-by-side with grilled cheese and burgers, only frequented by truckers and townies and the occasional passer-through.
‧₊˚🎧⊹ I do think Helen Laser’s narration saved this book. I found the pacing uneven, but the audio propelled me forward through some of the more wandering chapters in the present timeline. The pacing in the last 20% is breakneck though and I tore through it looking for answers!
The vibes are here if you love haunting lyrics, rock and roll (not just the epic highs but the tragedies and the low lows), although I admit this left me feeling somber.
March 28, 2025
"You don’t owe anyone your misery."
Everyone pop a record on the turntable, hit a little grass, and relax in your beanbag chair. It's time to go on a wild ride.
With Rio, you can expect her to set the perfect mood, making you feel her words deep in your bones and weaving a story that won’t fade with time. After finishing this tale, many of these impressions still hold true. While the story was captivating, it doesn't have the lasting impact of 'If We Were Villains.'
Initially, the story didn't impact me immediately, but it grew on me. I enjoyed reading about Suzanne's past and present—how she became who she is today and her experiences traveling with her rockstar father. It was intriguing, but there was one part that made me want to scream and throw the book across the room. Oh, trust me, you'll know it when you get there. It genuinely broke my heart. Sadly, such occurrences do happen in our world, and I wish we could change things.
Suzanne was a wild character and a tad bit confusing. Who I felt more for was her dad and her husband, Rob. Poor fellas. Although this was Suzanne's story to tell, I wish there had been more focus on her aging father and the consequences of her band’s rising popularity.
"Hot Wax" was a great read. If you love Rio, then you'll enjoy this book as well. It's definitely different from her other works, but it’s still one you'll love.
Everyone pop a record on the turntable, hit a little grass, and relax in your beanbag chair. It's time to go on a wild ride.
With Rio, you can expect her to set the perfect mood, making you feel her words deep in your bones and weaving a story that won’t fade with time. After finishing this tale, many of these impressions still hold true. While the story was captivating, it doesn't have the lasting impact of 'If We Were Villains.'
Initially, the story didn't impact me immediately, but it grew on me. I enjoyed reading about Suzanne's past and present—how she became who she is today and her experiences traveling with her rockstar father. It was intriguing, but there was one part that made me want to scream and throw the book across the room. Oh, trust me, you'll know it when you get there. It genuinely broke my heart. Sadly, such occurrences do happen in our world, and I wish we could change things.
Suzanne was a wild character and a tad bit confusing. Who I felt more for was her dad and her husband, Rob. Poor fellas. Although this was Suzanne's story to tell, I wish there had been more focus on her aging father and the consequences of her band’s rising popularity.
"Hot Wax" was a great read. If you love Rio, then you'll enjoy this book as well. It's definitely different from her other works, but it’s still one you'll love.
July 7, 2025
This book is the epitome of sex, drugs and rock and roll. It’s a gritty, raw story following Suzanne’s life, her relationship with her dad, music and herself. Reading this novel during a heatwave felt even more perfect for the sticky summer atmosphere. M. L. Rio shines at writing books with immaculate vibes and perfect atmospheres, both of which where the highlight of this book for me. We’re following an unreliable narrator who doesn’t have all the answers to her own story which makes this a very intriguing plot to follow. There isn’t a singular big climactic moment in this book, rather several along the way. Suzanne had an incredibly traumatic childhood which she is still looking for clarity in, as we see her present day time line we’re met with more and more questions, of which we turn to the past timeline for answers. Because of the chopping and changing time of the plot, this book feels erratic and scattered, but in a brilliant way that holds the tension and suspense and kept me coming back for more. I felt totally hooked by every timeline and each journey. I adore books with passions I also share, this one having both music and photography, which made me feel even more invested.
Whilst I didn’t love this book as much as Villains, I still adored it and felt totally hooked. The atmosphere, the range of characters, the music, it felt brilliantly epic and gritty, a great read!
Whilst I didn’t love this book as much as Villains, I still adored it and felt totally hooked. The atmosphere, the range of characters, the music, it felt brilliantly epic and gritty, a great read!
September 24, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!
I'm going back and editing my review because I think I may have been too generous? This may actually be a 2.5 stars read, rounded up.
Hot Wax felt like a daring novel and I'm not sure it super worked for me. Even though our protagonist is in her early 40s, I would describe this as a slow burn coming of age novel. I loved the prose, appreciated the multiple timelines, the themes (feeling disconnected from womanhood, breaking cycles of abuse, learning self-compassion), the relationships, and the complexities of each of the characters. Like Suzanne, I have a soft spot for Gil but was oh so disappointed in him.
This is definitely not a fast paced novel and it takes its time to build the character dynamics. I did struggle a bit with the pacing at times (so much so that I did consider DNFing at one point), but it's also not my typical style of book. It didn't affect me in the same way that If We Were Villains did, but I think these characters will stay with me for a long time.*
*I lied, several months after finishing, I can confirm that the characters did not stay with me.
I'm going back and editing my review because I think I may have been too generous? This may actually be a 2.5 stars read, rounded up.
Hot Wax felt like a daring novel and I'm not sure it super worked for me. Even though our protagonist is in her early 40s, I would describe this as a slow burn coming of age novel. I loved the prose, appreciated the multiple timelines, the themes (feeling disconnected from womanhood, breaking cycles of abuse, learning self-compassion), the relationships, and the complexities of each of the characters. Like Suzanne, I have a soft spot for Gil but was oh so disappointed in him.
This is definitely not a fast paced novel and it takes its time to build the character dynamics. I did struggle a bit with the pacing at times (so much so that I did consider DNFing at one point), but it's also not my typical style of book. It didn't affect me in the same way that If We Were Villains did, but I think these characters will stay with me for a long time.*
*I lied, several months after finishing, I can confirm that the characters did not stay with me.
October 3, 2025
This was my first book by M.L. Rio and I rather enjoyed it but I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone. It was dense, like a bat out of hell, and not horror at all, not really even a crime thriller. It seemed very different from her earlier works. I think maybe the marketing for this book may set people up with the wrong expectations, but the author's letter included at the beginning of the ARC gave me a good idea of what to expect.
This book is the author's passion project, inspired by her own vagabond travels in her past and her love for metal and rock 'n roll. Her passion shines through these blood-soaked pages. It just takes a journey of meandering self-discovery to get to the blood. Authors call these kinds of stories their "weird books" and readers always say they want weird but they often don't.
Suzanne, at age 11, never got to have a normal childhood. Her mother emotionally abused and neglected her, resentful of her marriage to an itinerant rocker. She took solace in a local record store, where she became obsessed with music. She worked there catching shoplifters. But she really idolized her dad, Gil, always one shot away at being somebody, a metal god with a flamboyant, reckless stage presence.
Gil takes her on tour with his new band, where she gets to know his ill-fated rivalry with their guitarist, Skellman. Despite her age Suzanne is a music nerd prodigy and amateur photographer with a good eye, but she has no talent at playing music herself. The kid gets exposed to the drug-fuelled, violent world of her rocker dad until the inevitable spirals out of control.
The novel switches between scenes from the past to the present, when Suzanne's on the run after hearing her father died and left all his things to her. She's running from a husband who refuses to let her go when she thought she'd try play-acting at a normal life, and the ghosts of her own past, meeting two fellow travelers on the way.
2025 does seem to be the year for novels about music nerds and this basically is another one of those. It reminded me of Deep Cuts, but the rock version, and much more violent. I do feel I was a little confused in parts if this band was a rock band or a metal band.
It's also an excellent road trip story and a complicated, character-driven, at times very slow paced look into what happens when a child who never got to be a child grows up and is honest to everyone she meets about who she really is, honest to everyone except herself. I also loved that she's bisexual. Excellent bi rep here.
It was not without its flaws but overall I thought this book was very metal.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This book is the author's passion project, inspired by her own vagabond travels in her past and her love for metal and rock 'n roll. Her passion shines through these blood-soaked pages. It just takes a journey of meandering self-discovery to get to the blood. Authors call these kinds of stories their "weird books" and readers always say they want weird but they often don't.
Suzanne, at age 11, never got to have a normal childhood. Her mother emotionally abused and neglected her, resentful of her marriage to an itinerant rocker. She took solace in a local record store, where she became obsessed with music. She worked there catching shoplifters. But she really idolized her dad, Gil, always one shot away at being somebody, a metal god with a flamboyant, reckless stage presence.
Gil takes her on tour with his new band, where she gets to know his ill-fated rivalry with their guitarist, Skellman. Despite her age Suzanne is a music nerd prodigy and amateur photographer with a good eye, but she has no talent at playing music herself. The kid gets exposed to the drug-fuelled, violent world of her rocker dad until the inevitable spirals out of control.
The novel switches between scenes from the past to the present, when Suzanne's on the run after hearing her father died and left all his things to her. She's running from a husband who refuses to let her go when she thought she'd try play-acting at a normal life, and the ghosts of her own past, meeting two fellow travelers on the way.
2025 does seem to be the year for novels about music nerds and this basically is another one of those. It reminded me of Deep Cuts, but the rock version, and much more violent. I do feel I was a little confused in parts if this band was a rock band or a metal band.
It's also an excellent road trip story and a complicated, character-driven, at times very slow paced look into what happens when a child who never got to be a child grows up and is honest to everyone she meets about who she really is, honest to everyone except herself. I also loved that she's bisexual. Excellent bi rep here.
It was not without its flaws but overall I thought this book was very metal.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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