Jamey Popilowski dreams of becoming a rock star and Lilah Cellini dreams of Jamey. Together the young couple leave their childhood home of Terrabain Street and hit the open asphalt, kicking up a musical storm along the way. Entering their raw mix of carelessness and longing is Zeke, destiny in black leather. Zeke is the soundman, producer, preacher, but is he angel or devil? Lilah can’t make up her mind; however, one thing is certain, he changes all their lives forever. While Jamey embraces the musician’s lifestyle, along with its excesses, Lilah is confronted by choices that will ultimately lead her to her own goals.
A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing follows the intertwined lives of friends and idols and articulates the fine balance between the love of making and performing music and the temptations that hide in the shadows.
A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing hits its best notes in capturing the feelings of manic teen angst, and the solipsistic act of artistic creation-operating on faith, trying to survive on deficit. —AlbertaViews
Frey’s novel is a beautifully told coming of age story set against the grimy backdrop of the Western Canadian music scene. A hypnotic, memorable book.$#8212;January Magazine
A new sense of the dramatic to the Canadian novel . . . Listen in! —Robert Kroetsch
Frey’s depiction of the music industry feels authentic, and her prose occasionally reproduces the lucid, ethereal quality of good lyrics. —Quill & Quire
As intense, lovely and electrifying as the music coursing through the characters’ veins. —FFWD