Nerd Girl Rocks Paradise City: A True Story of Faking It in Hair Metal L.A. [Hardcover]

After college, Anne Thomas Soffee journeyed to Los Angeles to start a career as a rock journalist and small-time heavy metal flack. This hilarious peek into the early years of the hair-band era reveals the hierarchy of fishnets, bustiers, and chicks with the Holy Graila backstage pass. A taste for other peoples prescriptions and too much beer edges her freelance journalism work right off her schedule. She struggles with not being thin enough, pretty enough, or cool enough when, in the midst of the L.A. riots, Soffee is offered a coveted slot in Virginia Commonwealth University's MFA writing program. Determined to pull herself out of current habits, Soffee starts turning her life around, making a stop at rehab before she heads off to graduate school. Her quarter-life crisis is packed with offbeat characters that prove that fact is often funnier than fiction.

Funny, trashy and smart.   —The New York Times  

A truly well-written rock 'n' roll memoir. —Punk Planet

A laugh-out-loud charmer. —Bust

Totally enjoyable. —Maximum Rock n Roll

Funny as hell! —Score! Music Magazine

A compelling read. —Metal Maniacs

Incredibly sharp . . . Easy to read and clever, making it hard to put down. —Venuszine.com 

Wickedly funny.   —Seattle Weekly

Anne Thomas Soffeeis the author ofSnake Hips: Belly Dancing and How I Found True Love. She has an MFA in fiction, and she lives and writes in Richmond, Virginia.