Five years ago, I made the decision that I’d move toward a career in writing romance. Armed with an idea to craft a series about 1980s rock and roll groupies living and loving in my old stomping ground of Los Angeles, California, I started visualizing and creating the lives of some memorable characters. After writing for a short time, I realized that it wasn’t going to be a romance after all, so I just went where it took me, and figured out that what I really want to write is women’s fiction. The resulting book was Gunning for Groupie Gold, the second book in my Girls of Glam Rock Series. No, that isn’t a misprint. Second book in the series, first one written. Here’s the back cover story:
The Girls of Glam Rock are back, and this time they’re on a mission to help Dandelion do the last thing requested of her by her guitar god daddy before he died: give up her groupie lifestyle for good and settle down for a life of head banging and bliss with a worthy rocker. Dandelion sets her sights on hair metal front man Sammy Gunn, and with her target acquired, the girls prepare to rock ’n roll. But winning Sammy’s heart will take more than just Dandelion’s determination and her friends’ good intentions. First, she must contend with sexy singer Em’rald, the current object of Sammy’s hard-to-earn affection, and then with her own mother—grand dame groupie Tulip—a Mrs. Robinson in the flesh who drags Dandelion into a confusing competition for Sammy’s attention. Between competing with Em’rald and Tulip, and struggling to win Sammy’s heart, Dandelion finds herself caught in a snare of secrets and lies which, when revealed, promise to ruin her chances with Sammy forever. Not even Dandelion’s success as an MTV video vixen is enough to get her man, and she looks for advice from an unlikely source. Dandelion knows she is gunning for groupie gold with Sammy. But is she singing the wrong song? Or, in spite of all the obstacles, is Sammy the rock ’n roller destined to fill Dandelion’s heart and make her daddy proud? If she can just convince Sammy they’re meant to rock on together forever, it will be a love ballad for the ages.
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Recently, the book was reviewed by Chick Lit Cafe:
Gunning For Groupie Gold by Brenda K Stone is a wild tale of rock n roll through the eyes of the sexy and seductive glam girls and set in the eccentric and fierce era of the 1980s. The story starts out with each quirky and off-beat groupie’s side on who they believe has the prerogative, not to mention the accuracy to tell the chaotic and rash events that had occurred. Who was going to take the all-time world champion title of becoming the best damn groupie there ever was?! And that meant, even if it took beating your own daughter to it!
Unpredictable, hilarious and downright deranged, Stone’s characters each held their own uniqueness that really grabbed my attention and pulled me in. I felt like I had traveled back in time to a crazy scene of sex, drugs and rock n roll with big hair and tight neon clothing. The thrill of being on a stage in front of a crowd, the glimmer and glitz of a life of fame and fortune was felt throughout Gunning For Groupie Gold and each turn of the page. I could hear the fans cheering and screaming in my head. Stone’s perfect descriptions of a fierce mass of heavy metal worshippers, and the legendary tales that came along with it, were highly entertaining.
A fun, drama filled story packed with attitude and charisma, Gunning For Groupie Gold had me holding on to every maniacal scene with its energized and sporadic characters. They are fully developed with unique relatable personalities. This is one of the best books I have read this year. I would definitely recommend this head banging, crazed band life tale of being a groupie and not just any groupie, but the best groupie there ever was and living through it all to tell it.
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Relive the hair metal 80s in my Girls of Glam Rock Series, available in print and digital formats on my BOOKS page.
I Am Barb Lee 