~Queue Welcome to My Life by Simple Plan~ 

Were you a rules-follower but also into pop punk in the 2000s? Did you have an edgy friend who was way more emo/scene than you and you were kind of jealous but also not willing to take the risk to start dressing that way? Did you listen to Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and, yes, Green Day? Then you have to read this novella. 

It dragged me back to my own teenagerhood, when I first heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams sitting in the high school hallway on my friend’s mom’s iPod classic that she had brought from home. When my BFF and I listened to Infinity on High on repeat for days straight. When Marianas Trench toured through Trail, BC and were the first pop punk show I saw, as openers for Lillix, and I listened to Fix Me in my walkman, iPods, and CD Players for YEARS.

But this review could literally just be all the feelings and memories this book brought out for me. Taking place in the middle-aughts, it is the LiveJournal entries of a 12-year-old named Amy in 2007, as she discovered pop punk through Green Day, with a new identity and friend group to go with it, along with all the social challenges, peer pressure, and challenging family dynamics that go with figuring out who you are. Its such a cute and fun read, especially if you also were into that music in the 2000s (and the throwback is a total riot. I literally SCREAMED when Atreyu got name-dropped. I probably had not thought of Bleeding Mascara since 2009 XD).

So, if you answered yes to any of the questions off the start, and ESPECIALLY if you said yes to all of them, pick up this book, and be prepared for a throwback with a great story.