How I Met My Book: How to Kill a Rockstar by Tiffanie DeBartolo

How I Met My Book is a series in which you introduce your readers to a book on your shelf and share all about how it came to be there. I first discovered this series on The Book Dutchesses and decided to incorporate it here on my blog.

The story of how I discovered How to Kill a Rockstar by Tiffanie DeBartolo is one of the my interesting tales.

It all began with an obsession with a band called Ours and their lead singer, Jimmy Gnecco.

My sister introduced me to Ours well over a decade ago.

You see, Ours isn’t the type of band that has fans. They have followers. Worshippers.

Jimmy lays his soul out for the plucking in every single song. The way he uses his voice to convey emotion is breathtaking.

As most of you may know, my two sisters and I are huge readers thanks to my mom’s obsession with books. We are constantly sharing music and books.

This all came together when my sister excitedly told me that she discovered that an author had written a book in which the main character was based on Jimmy.

She was reading a news site for the band and the book was mentioned in an article.

Of course, we both immediately bought the book.

Little did we know we’d soon discover our all-time favorite author.

Tiffanie DeBartolo seemed to be the only person on the entire planet that could put into words what Ours followers feel when they listen to Jimmy’s voice put to music.

Even the way she describes Paul is how I’d describe Jimmy. The description of “flashlight eyes” that she uses for Paul is Jimmy through and through.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jimmy a couple of times and I swear, when he looks at you, the world stops. His deep-set eyes seem to glow in the dark like a cat.

Jimmy’s flashlight eyes on full display even through a camera lens

I will forever be jealous of my sister for this experience, but during an Ours concert that she attended (one of the few she went to without me!) she brought a copy of How to Kill a Rockstar, and when she met Jimmy after the concert, she asked him to sign the book. He agreed and said, “Why don’t you have Tiffanie sign it, too?”

According to my sister, she began freaking out more about meeting Tiffanie than she had about meeting him. She clutched Jimmy’s arm in excitement as he led her over to Tiffanie.

Tiffanie turned out to be absolutely amazing. She and my sister became good friends and a few months later I was able to meet her as well.

We met in a small diner where the two of us interrogated her about her books, writing, and music… then we went to see her brother-in-law’s band together. It was such a surreal experience.

She and my sister still keep in touch to this day, and I talk to her occasionally.

I’ve read How to Kill a Rockstar about a million and a half times. So much so that the book is literally in pieces, has my underlines and scribbles all throughout, and Tiffanie’s signature on the front. I destroy the books I love and this book is the most destroyed out of all the books I own.