Book Review- Sorta Like a Rock Star

Last night I finished reading Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick.

From Goodreads:

Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom's boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self-proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber's optimism--and her way of life, can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope? With an oddball cast of characters, and a heartwarming, inspiring story, this novel unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope.

So, I was struggling with my feelings of this book and the rating for this book.  It was between what I felt like is SHOULD be versus how I REALLY felt about the book.  I finally went with my real feelings.  It's not going to be popular, but so be it.

Yes, this book has so many important themes: homelessness, death, alcoholism, autism, diseases, poverty, bullying, outcasts, veterans, senior citizen, religion...  So I felt like I should have liked it.  But I just couldn't get over the writing.  Every other line had "word" after it or "sucka" or "true? true."  Kinda gangster-like.  Which the character wasn't at all.  And it just bugged me so much. 

Yes, the book was about hope.  And parts of it were heartbreaking towards the end.  But it was all just too much, too over the top.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 A to Z Challenge: Q
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 119
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 97
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 97
2011 YA Contemporary Challenge: 21

*FTC Disclosure: This book was given to me for free by the publisher for a honest review.