Spotlight: The Way It Hurts

Guess who teamed up with Sourcebooks Fire to do another giveaway! They have also graciously provided this exclusive excerpt of The Way It Hurts by Patty Blount! Read through it and the giveaway details will be listed below. :)

1. Ride Out was hard rock, not pop. So yeah, we didn't attract mainstream fans, but the fans we did have were vocal and loyal. I grinned when I saw the latest comment from some chick calling herself BroadwayBaby17. She hated our stuff. Said our sound was just noise and what words she could make out in our lyrics were misogynistic and disrespectful. Like we gave a fuck. I didn't know why she bothered to click any of it, but she did and then tried to give us shit about it that she claimed was feedback. I had to admit, she knew technique, but if her scene was Broadway, there was no way she'd ever get what Nick, Sam, and I were trying to do with Ride Out. I mean, anyone who went to a Metallica show expecting Michael Buble is bound to be disappointed, right?

And vice versa.

Sure enough, BroadwayBaby17 wiped the floor with our latest cover.

BroadwayBaby17: Someone explain to me why growling into a microphone is considered talent 'cause I'm just not seeing it. (Can't hear anything right now either. LOL.)

BroadwayBaby17: OMG, these lyrics are so incredibly sexist! Someone tell these guys girls aren't really impressed by your "pogo sticks" *barfs*

BroadwayBaby17: Boom, boom, boom. That's all this band does is play percussion like it's sex. *sighs* Sex and drums, drums and sex. BORING.

Another user named Ride_On747 crawled up BroadwayBaby17's ass: Beotch, go back to drama club and leave metal to the boyz! These guys rock!

Thank you, Ride_On747! He was a huge fan of ours. Neither user had a photograph in their profile, so I don't know if they were male or female. It was kind of obvious that BroadwayBaby17 was a girl because of the way she always harped on us. Our lyrics were sexist, our beat too primal, and our sound was too noisy.

Whatever.

But Ride_On747 was always there to take BroadwayBaby17 down a peg. I grinned and sent the brother a mental high five. Don't like us; don't listen. Easy.

I logged in using my personal account FretGuy99. This was mine; I didn't post band stuff from that account. The band's account was Ride_Out. I liked keeping them separate. We all had the password, but it was usually Sam or me doing most of the band's postings.

Looked like he'd just posted.

Ride_Out: Hey, BB! You ever shredded a guitar? You ever cut loose with a metal scream? You ever play any original stuff at all? Until you can say yes to any of those questions, you got no right telling us we suck so _|_.

Oh, crap! He'd given her the Internet version of the middle finger.

BroadwayBaby17: OMG, so mature. If you can't take criticism, get off the forums. This is a place for serious artists.

Okay, time for me to make an appearance.

FretGuy99: BroadwayBaby17, you only think people like you are artists. You're elitist. You can't respect anyone who takes a different view.

BroadwayBaby17: Not elitist. Just telling it like it is. Dude, don't suck up to Ride_Out. take my advice and study classical guitar before you ruin your chances of being original.

My phone buzzed. Dude, I am going to rip this chick a new one for the trash she's talking about us.

I texted back. Relax. Let her dig her own grave.

FretGuy99: I have studied classical guitar. I can play lead or rhythm. I can strum chords, and I'm hella good at fingerpicking. I can play it all, baby. Just because I want to play metal doesn't mean I have no talent. So shut up about shit you don't know anything about and go shopping or something.

BroadwayBaby17: And there's the sexism! I didn't say anything about you having no talent. I just don't like Ride Out.

FretGuy99: Then why the hell are you on a heavy metal forum? Go back to the show tunes forum!

My phone buzzed. The shopping bit was clutch dude. LMAO!

I shrugged. She had it coming.

Sam changed the subject. Nick wants us 2C North's play tonight. Said we'd B there. 7 PM.

Hell. I raked my hair off my face. Sitting through some boring school play for a school I didn't even attend was just about the worst way to spend a Friday night. But it was for Nick, so yeah - I'd go. Nick and Sam were more than just guys in the band. They were my brothers. Not a lot I wouldn't do for either of them.

OKAY GIVEAWAY TIME!

I have one copy to giveaway to one lucky reader!
To enter:

-Follow my instagram page: a_readers_diary

-Like the graphic and tag at least one friend who might be interested

-For a second entry, screenshot and share the photo of The Way It Hurts on your instagram page with a shout out to A Reader's Diary!

For those of you who don't have an IG, email me at jessicalynn1784@gmail.com saying that you would like to enter!

Giveaway is now closed!
Winner is Katherine (ig: bookish_kat)!!