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I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
MY REVIEW:
Genre | Tropes: Contemporary Romance, Comedy, Ska, Second Chance
Rating: 4 out of 5 ⭐
If you love an author who creates unique, authentic characters, then you should check out anything by Becca Spence Dobias. I first discovered her work in 2021 when she sent me a copy of her debut novel, On Home.
Her latest release, Pick It Up, is a refreshingly original read. The book centers on two former high school bandmates, Sailor and Jake, who were once in a ska band together. Their lives took separate paths after a massive breakup, and the band disbanded. Now older, they find themselves drawn back to each other as they pursue an elusive ska Christmas album that held deep significance for them but seems to have disappeared.
As I read this book, I had so many flashbacks to my high school days of listening to ska music. I didn’t even realize it was ska at the time—I’ve never been great at labeling things, especially music. But the summer of 2003 was filled with concerts and festivals where I enjoyed exactly this kind of sound.
But I digress. Sailor and Jake are such fun characters to follow. Sailor, who lives with her eccentric mother, is a self-conscious woman just trying to get by. She plays drums and spends most of her time teaching drumming lessons or picking up odd jobs. Jake, on the other hand, tried to follow the expected path: attending law school, landing a prestigious job, and getting engaged to a “normal” woman. However, as he begins to re-evaluate his life, he realizes this path isn’t what he truly wants. In the process of finding himself again, he reconnects with Sailor, and together, they rekindle what they once had.
What follows is an outrageous and entertaining adventure to track down that missing ska Christmas album. Their search leads them to an old band member who might have a copy, but there’s a catch: he’ll only hand it over if they help him land a gig so he can perform again.
Pick It Up is a fantastic story about embracing who you are and charting your own course in life. The blend of humor, nostalgia, and heartfelt moments makes it a truly enjoyable read. For me, it was also a delightful trip down memory lane. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves music, quirky characters, and second-chance stories.
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Sailor Grimspoon’s life is stagnant-her commitment to music feels more like a rut, and everyone around her is moving on. Her drum students are dropping like flies, her best friend is moving across the country, and every “Drummer Wanted” ad on Craigslist is at least slightly sexist. But Sailor can’t leave Southern California because she’s constantly on call for her eccentric hippie mother, who is too flaky to clean out the lint trap or pay her bills on time.
Jake Rosenblatt, Sailor’s high school bandmate and ex-boyfriend, is unhappy with his office job, and his pushy girlfriend is pressing for a commitment he’s not ready to make. But when he’s ambushed at Thanksgiving dinner about her biological clock, Jake realizes it’s time to find his identity apart from his relationship.
Their holidays not going to plan, and desperate for the comfort of their favorite band’s holiday ska album, Sailor and Jake are devastated to discover it has disappeared from the Internet. After a chance encounter at the venue where they played their only show, they agree two brains are better than one and go on a hunt for the band.
Jake, determined to convince Sailor the magic of their ska past can live again, plans a reunion show. But to pull it off he’ll have to wrestle an aging ska star, avoid his angry ex, and prove to Sailor growing up doesn’t have to mean selling out. Scared to let herself fall for Jake again, Sailor must decide if chasing her dreams, musical and romantic, is worth the possibility of losing everything, again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Becca Spence Dobias
Becca Spence Dobias is a 2022 KissPitch mentee, working under the guidance of Jen Deluca, author of the Well Met series. She grew up in West Virginia and now lives in Southern California with her husband and two children.
She is the author of On Home (Inkshares, 2021) and has a book under contract with WVU Press about the North Central WV punk scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Her work also appears in Inlandia: A Literary Journey, two Writing Bloc anthologies, https://lgbtqreads.com/, and https://diymfa.com/ among other places. She reviews books for Southern Literary Review and co-hosts Writing Bloc’s Indie Writer Podcast.
Looking for book recs…
Adventures in Literature 
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