P.A.'s Reviews > GAGA

What if we could step back in time to our teenage years? What if we could slip into our slim teenage bodies, with their high-powered energy and passion? And what if, at the same time, we had the wisdom of our older selves? The novel Gaga explores this fantasy when 45-year-old Monty receives a plum assignment from her editor: go undercover for a month as a groupie for the rock band, Grope on its comeback tour. Monty, who could pass for a 30-year-old, leaves behind her teenage daughter and soon-to-be ex-husband, and goes undercover as a groupie with a secret assignment to find out about the “real” Donnie Digits, the lead guitarist and singer in the band. Soon, Monty’s teenage passion for Donnie is re-ignited and she is drawn to him all over again. As Monty spends more time with Donnie, she finds it harder and harder to play the groupie and penetrate the layers of artifice to find Donnie’s true persona. Along the way, Monty finds out important things about herself and love. Gaga is a great adventure with unexpected plot twists that had me racing to the finish. At the same time, Leslie Tall Manning teaches us valuable lessons about love and being our authentic self…no matter how old we are.