Having read and adored When the Stars Go Blue by the same author, I thought I'd check out her award-winning first novel. I have to say, while I enjoyed Adios to My Old LIfe, I didn't love it the way I loved Stars, The story has a more simple trajectory than Stars, and the character development was not nearly as multi-layered, and it feels definitely more solidly geared toward the YA audience, whereas Stars definitely had universal appeal. However, I still recommend this one for folks who love music and have enjoyed Ferrer's other novels.