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Once More from the Top

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"A deliciously insider-y peek into the music industry and fame — Layden has a gift for making the world and her characters feel wonderfully real. You won't be able to put it down." — Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo's Got Money Troubles

A propulsive, "immersive" (Washington Post) novel about the meteoric rise of a legendary pop star and the secret she's kept hidden for fifteen years, for fans of Megan Abbott and Daisy Jones & the Six.

Everyone in America knows Dylan Read, or at least has heard her music. Since releasing her debut album her senior year of high school, Dylan's spent fifteen years growing up in the public eye. She's not only perfected her skills when it comes to lyrics and melody; she's also learned how to craft a public narrative that satisfies her fans, her label, and the media. In the circles of fame and celebrity in which she now travels, the careful maintenance of Dylan Read pop star is often more important than the songs themselves.

And so lots of people think they understand everything about Dylan Read. But what no one knows is the part of her origin story she has successfully kept hidden: her childhood best friend Kelsey vanished the year before Dylan became famous. Now, as Dylan's at the height of her career, Kelsey's body is found at the bottom of their hometown lake—forcing Dylan to reckon with their shared past, her friend's influence on her music, and whether there's more to their story than meets the eye.

Layered, page-turning, and psychologically astute, Once More from the Top is a riveting and keenly observant novel about friendship, ambition, and the cost of fame.

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    • Library Journal

      April 1, 2024

      The author of All Girls follows her debut with a novel about musician Dylan Read, whose carefully constructed world gets even more attention when the body of her best friend from childhood, who disappeared one year before Dylan broke big, is found at the bottom of a lake. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 6, 2024
      A Taylor Swift–esque pop star is blindsided by the discovery of her high school best friend’s corpse in this powerhouse sophomore effort from Layden (All Girls). Dylan Read is a chart-topping, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter famous for her diaristic lyrics. The only major life event she hasn’t written about is the disappearance of her friend Kelsey Copestenke, who taught Dylan songwriting and seemed destined for greatness. Kelsey was known to be somewhat reckless, so when she vanished during the girls’ junior year of high school in Upstate New York, the search was perfunctory; many people assumed she’d simply decamped to Nashville. Fifteen years later, tourists discover Kelsey’s remains in a lake near her hometown. When she hears the news, Dylan thinks she knows when and why Kelsey died, and blames herself—but after she attends the memorial service, she starts to suspect there’s more to the story. Leyden skillfully intercuts Dylan’s search for answers with sections chronicling her friendship with Kelsey and the evolution of her career. Authentic characters and Dylan’s lyrical first-person narration bestow the proceedings with dimension, drama, and drive. Megan Abbott fans will devour this. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Co.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from May 15, 2024
      While a singer-songwriter is striving to produce an authentic-sounding album, her best friend from high school is found at the bottom of a lake--dredging up the tragedy behind the music. Dylan Read is a mega-selling, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter whose country roots have evolved into a sort of "bedroom pop" that fans love for its personal and--although she doesn't like the word--confessional nature. But despite her best efforts, the media accuse her of being fake. In a news article about the cold case of a girl who went missing 15 years ago, the headline gives the detail that Kelsey Copestenke was a classmate of Dylan's, seemingly milking the flimsy connection between the two for the sake of getting more page views. But what Dylan hasn't told the press--or even her publicist--is that she owes her career to Kelsey. Beneath the veneer of her success are the people who know Dylan's secrets: the high school classmates; Kelsey's brother, Matt; and the boyfriend she hides from the world for fear it'll wreck their relationship and her career. But one secret is a mystery: what happened to Kelsey. As Dylan goes through each album of her catalog, she flashes back to her high school years in upstate New York with her lost friend, who was forming a musical duo with Dylan when she went missing. "Country music is about relatability," Dylan says. "Just three chords and the truth, as the saying goes. Pop, on the other hand, traffics in fantasy." In the story, there's a balance of both. The flashbacks are entertaining and filled with cringey high school drama. On the less relatable end, Dylan still frets about what the press says about her. But what makes her most interesting is Layden's respect for the craft of making music, from Dylan's "fear that tortilla chips might scratch my vocal cords" to Kelsey's early guitar lessons: "We're gonna learn four chords and six strumming patterns and you're gonna have to trust me when I tell you that's all you need to know." A juicy mystery filled with gossip--and music you can almost hear.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      August 1, 2024
      Against seemingly insurmountable odds, Dylan Read built a glittering career for herself, the rare Nashville songwriter who found success as a performer. As a shy teenager with a gift for storytelling, she rocketed to fame on her preternatural talent and work ethic. But Dylan didn't start out as a solo performer. Her best friend, Kelsey Copestenke, was her collaborator, cheerleader, and muse before she disappeared, decades ago now. Dylan has worried ever since that Kelsey would resurface and mar the sterling reputation she's so carefully preserved. Putting grief, intrigue, and success under the high-powered microscope of celebrity culture, Layden (All Girls, 2021) uses dual time lines to unravel the circumstances behind Kelsey's long-ago disappearance and Dylan's present-day efforts to uncover the truth. Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones & the Six and Matthew Norman's Charm City Rocks will appreciate the detail and ripped-from-the-headlines feel of this music-world story. Proving that success doesn't guarantee security, Once More from the Top dives into the formative experiences that shape who we are and echo long into adulthood.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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