She blew off college and started a band with that stoner kid. He ditched his girlfriend to go on tour with that girl with the bangs. On the open road, can they start over, or will their secrets eventually catch up with them?

It's 2001 when boybands and thongs have assaulted pop culture, two college dropouts wander aimlessly through their suburban existence. When Carla runs into Pete, the aloof French kid in town, they decide to form a garage band. In the basement. Bored by the backup dancers of the new millennium, the two form a secret connection that goes deeper than the music. Before heading out on their greasy dive bar cross-country tour, tragedy turns the world upside down forcing them to face adulthood and decide if the band is just a teenage dream or a gateway to freedom....and to each other?

Slanted and Disenchanted is the debut novel by Lisa Czarina Michaud. Told with he said/she said conversational wit with quirky '90s and early-aughts pop culture references and rock snob winks, it's High Fidelity meets Normal People that explores sexual tension in friendships, the confusion of adulting, questioning family...and the soundtracks that get us through it all.