Guessing at Normal

Jill Griffin was not the kind of girl one expects to date a rock star.  Trapped in a dead end job at a motel, she never expected to meet the love of her life while manning the front desk!  When singer James Sheridan asks her if she can break a five, it starts a roller-coaster relationship between the two. James’ career faces both ups and downs as Jill and James face addiction, turbulence in both their music careers as well as family troubles that threaten to tear them apart more often than not. When Jill’s poems become the lyrics to James’ bestselling album they discover that fame has a price and it will take everything they’ve got to pull through it.

A somewhat realistic take on the price of becoming famous, “Guessing at Normal” is written as a collection of letters, journal entries and first-person narration as Jill remembers her relationship with James from their first meeting throughout his career and hers to their family. Neither Jill nor James is perfect; they both struggle with bad habits and addictions at different points, they both make mistakes and sometimes have a clearly less-than-healthy relationship, yet readers will find themselves caught up in the story, at times rooting for them to stay together at others wondering if they should end it and go it alone, and yet astonished when the tale ends and readers are left wanting more.

Sarah E. Bradley