L I S A  C Z A R I N A   M I C H A U D

In 2001 when boybands and thongs have assaulted pop culture, two college dropouts form a garage band. When Carla runs into Pete, the aloof French kid in town, the two form a secret connection that goes deeper than the music. Before heading out on their greasy dive bar cross-country tour, tragedy turns the world upside down forcing them to face adulthood and decide if the band is just a teenage dream or a gateway to freedom....and to each other?

The first book in Lisa Czarina Michaud's The Disenchanted series, Slanted and Disenchanted is a punk coming-of-age novel. Told in dual he said/she said POV with '90s and early-2000s pop culture references and rock snob winks, it's High Fidelity meets Normal People that explores sexual tension and frustration in friendships, the confusion of adulting, questioning the dysfunction of family...and the soundtracks that get us through it all.