BEATLES AND BEACONS - Fran Raya

I recognize that I am a sucker for any book either about the Beatles or about someone's connection or relationship to (or love of) the Beatles. This doesn't always serve me well.

Beatles and Beacons is a coming of age story for Becca Beacon - a British girl going into her teens just as the Liverpudlian Fab Four are beginning to make waves at home and will soon be off to take the United States by storm. While she listens to their music constantly and hangs their photos on her bedroom wall, Becca is convinced that she's different from all the other girls.

Becca's parents don't understand the attraction and encourage Becca to 'let go' of her interest in the mop-headed, noise-making boys. But of course she won't.  She'll even skip school in order to try to meet the young musicians.

As she gets older, her interests broaden (though she's still firmly a Beatles fan) and now she plays music herself, forming her own group - The Beacons.

Though she'll never marry a Beatle, they've had an influence on her life and even her parents begin to see that.

The idea here is fine but the whole story is just ... lacking. This feels like a thinly-veiled memoir - which fine, though I've read memoirs of women who came of age in the era of the Beatles before. It doesn't really say anything new and it has little-to-no impact. A girl and her mother don't see eye to eye - especially about the music the daughter listens to.  Wow!  Who would've guessed?!

Which leads to ... who is this book for?  It reads like a YA book as we follow Becca's growth and as the pre-teen/teen struggles to find herself.  But are the Beatles a draw to today's YA readers?

The writing itself isn't as strong as I had hoped.  I had a problem with the whole "Beatles/Beacons" associations.  We're were told, multiple times, how "Beacons" sounded like "Beatles"...

"I'm Becca Beacon, from Manchester."
"Beacon? Sounds like Beatle."
"I know. My brother Mikey's in a group called The Beacons. I thought of the name. They're so fab."

I'm sorry, but other than the similar "bee" sound, the two words sound nothing alike. And clearly no one else really thinks so either which is why the author has to tell us that they sound the same.

Overall, a disappointing read. But if you're between the ages of 60 and 100 and you want to read a YA coming of age story, you might enjoy this.

Looking for a good book? Beatles and Beacons by Fran Raya reads like part memoir and part YA coming of age story in which the Fab Four Beatles influenced the life of a young Manchester girl.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Beatles and Beacons

author: Fran Raya

publisher: The Book Guild

ISBN: 9781916668058

paperback, 208 pages

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