Kara hasn’t been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park. . . .
There are so many ballads. Achy breaky country songs. Mournful pop songs. Then there’s the rare punk ballad, the ballad of suburbia: louder, faster, angrier . . . till it drowns out the silence.
Amidst the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.
Published July 21, 2009 by MTV Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Available now in paperback or ebook from your favorite indie bookstore, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble as well as on Audible.
Visit the publisher’s page for a reading guide and more. See the book trailer on YouTube.
Here’s what people are saying about BALLADS OF SUBURBIA:
“….an intensely real and painfully honest novel of high-school anxiety.” and “….Kuehnert nails the raw vulnerability of teendom and delivers a hard-hitting and mesmerizing read.” – Booklist
“Like an American Beauty for the teen set.” – NewCity
“With her first two novels, Kuehnert has created vivid pictures of teenage lives that lie in that borderland that abuts adulthood. It is a fertile, confusing and intense place, and Kuehnert never holds back. But like a good ballad, she keeps the stories taut and precise, with a touch of heart thrown in for good measure.” – Chicago Sun-Times
“This book is powerful. It’s been haunting me for days. Yes, haunting me.” – The Story Siren, 5 star review, Recipient of the Luminous Pearl Award
“BALLADS OF SUBURBIA is a remarkable achievement that hits you right where it counts (your heart) and lingers where it matters (the brain). I’m truly looking forward to seeing what Stephanie Kuehnert will do next.” – Steph Su Reads, 5 out of 5 rating
“10/10. The characters, the plot, the prose, EVERYTHING about Ballads is perfect. There’s not a single thing I would change about it and I think that EVERYONE should read it. It will open your eyes in a way no other book can.” – Harmony Book Reviews
