JILL MENIKETTI – Welcome To Groove House

As manager and wife of Dave Meniketti, founder member, lead guitarist and singer with California’s Y&T, Jill Meniketti has seen it, done it and lived the Rock Star life. With an insider’s knowledge she has drawn on all of her experience to produce her first novel.

Welcome To Groove House tells the story of a washed up ’80s Rocker down on his luck, a faded shell of his former glory and after a comeback gig turns into a disaster it seems as all is lost. With no money, no friends and no support he is forced to crash down on his estranged daughters floor, much to her disgust and disapproval, even more so when it looks as though he’s having a disrupting influence on her son.

Meniketti’s ability to vividly portray each character brings the story to life. It’s as if you’re sitting right in the middle of the action. Main character Mike Mays comes across as a thoroughly obnoxious and hugely dislikeable and much of that is down to Meniketti’s fluid writing. You can almost touch the seething frustration of his daughter and cry out in sympathetic anguish as he abuses her hospitality.

Things get a little racy as Mays attempts to live up to his Rock star persona but a chronic illness restricts his best intentions. The language is at times coarse but that’s to be expected, after all Mays is no primary school teacher.

Salvation is at hand however as Mays is packed off to The Groove House, an Italian villa housing a bunch of former Rock stars who have seen better days and slowly and surely Mays turns his life around but not before egos, personalities and other shenanigans come to play as the characters battle to rekindle former glories while refusing to let go of the past.

Meniketti has succeeded in creating a pulsating story, full of vibrant characters. It’s an easy read with plenty of twists and turns in a story line to keep you gripped until the end. There will undoubtedly be one or two Rockers out there that may see a touch of themselves here and there and that adds to the realism of the story.  For a first novel, this is a resounding success and shows great promise for the future.