Life Is Strange: Steph's Story

By: Rosiee Thor

Narrated by: Katy Bentz

The official origin story of LiS fan-favourite Steph Gingrich featuring LGBTQ+ romance, inevitable heartbreak, and the punk-rock beginnings of Drugstore Makeup.

Setting the stage for her appearance in Life Is Strange: True Colors, this official Steph Gingrich novel sheds light on the Drugstore Makeup years and the story of how Steph crash-landed in Haven Springs, Colorado.

Steph Gingrich has finally run out of couches to surf. Now she’s back at her dad’s place in Seattle to figure out what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

When running an RPG session for her local gamer café, Steph meets Izzie. Izzie is electric: a punk, a girl who likes girls, and a hella good guitarist. Steph finds the punk life is exactly what she needs, she loves the music, the art and the fashion, but most of all she likes the girl. Entranced, she offers to drum for Izzie, forming the band Drugstore Makeup.

A hit in more ways than one, Drugstore Makeup compete in a battle of the bands before deciding to tour the offbeat punk venues of America. But Steph and Izzie soon find themselves on different wavelengths, unable to communicate, and wanting different things.

©2015 - 2023 Square Enix Ltd. (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Into the mind of Steph

I really loved being able to see what lead Steph to land in Haven Springs. Getting to know her struggles in the aftermath of the Storm from LIS and being able to see she needed healing and how the town was that for was some beautiful to be apart of.

A Awesome Addition to the Life is Strange Universe

The story explores Steph's life after leaving Arcadia Bay, gives her own struggles as an adult now out of college. It feels like a better Coming of Age story than the first game with it being very grounded in Steph being a queer millennial in Seattle. There was an aimless feeling that comes with being in a transitional stage of life that endeared me to Steph. All the characters have a messiness that made me connect with them, and Steph's story changed and added more context to True Color's story for me, it made it feel like Steph had her own struggles with life that she was working through alongside Alex. It makes me feel more connected to Alex now retrospectively.

Lastly Katy Bentz did an amazing job narrating the book. Her tones sell the personal memoir-like story that Rosie Thorr has written.

A perfect character expansion

Steph's Story is a must for any fan of the Life is Strange series! A lovingly crafted deep dive into one of the best characters of the entire series. Beautifully expanding Steph's life and feelings, while giving deep and meaningful insight to her experiences and struggles. The story is expertly narrated by Katy Bentz, who pours so much love and emotion into every single chapter.

A great addition to the Life is Strange world!

Katy Bentz does an amazing job bringing this story to life. This book is a must for anyone who is a superfan of the series and wants to know more about her story between Before the Storm and True Colors. Although this story does choose a certain ending from the first game as canon, there is enough wiggle room in the story to imagine how things could've gone had the other ending been chosen. All in all, it's a great story that does its job and fleshes out one of the series' best characters 💚

A love for the franchise

As you listen to this title, all you feel is an overall appreciation for what makes Life Is Strange what it is as a franchise.
Katy Bentz gives an intentional performance in reading each character so that you are fully immersed into Rosiee's storytelling skills for the origin story of one of the most treasured characters in the Life Is Strange franchise.
I fully recommend listening to this story if you're a fan of Life Is Strange and especially if you're a fan of Katy Bentz voice acting!

I love that character but

I've played all of Life Is Strange, and since Before the Storm I found Steph's character to be very interesting and charismatic. When I finished True Colors and the DLC, I was a little disappointed that Steph was treated as poorly as she deserved to be. She's a very good character and when I found out about the book I ran to read it because I thought I would finally be able to know more about her, and unfortunately it wasn't quite what I expected. The story is not so captivating, I loved the moments of memory of Arcadia bay and especially of Haven Spings, but the main thing was Steph's story, I found it a little weak. But if you like the character, it's worth it.

A very strong story following the start to the end of a relationship.

A very strong story following the start to the end of a relationship. This prequel novel to Life is Strange True Colors does an excellent job showing Steph’s story through the trauma she deals with after the storm hits Arcadia Bay and her inability to deal with it while also engaging in a complicated but loving relationship all leading to her arriving in Haven Springs. Some of the book felt a bit repetitive in hindsight with how she and Izzie deal with their issues together but in the moment it always feels natural. Also Katy Bentz did a great job as the narrator.

Solid Life is Strange story

I really like this as a prequel to Life is Strange: True Colors, and especially because it can be read before or after that without either spoiling anything.

Katy Bentz does a great job with character emotions, and while I think she started out with a few unnecessary pauses (which sounded like the sort of pauses I would expect an editor to remove, so the voice actor can breath!), things smoothed out after the beginning. Hearing the voice actor from the game read the story was a real treat!

Loved it

It's perfect for any Life is Strange fan curious about Steph's past, and how she came to be who she is when we meet her in Wavelengths & True Colours. I didn't play the previous games, so there's a backstory there too that gets touched on in the book and is explained very succinctly. Googling the synopses of the previous games if you're curious also helps but not necessary. Overall I love the angst, the confusion, the uncertainty of it all. It's kind of fun to listen to a book that you know the ending to, and it's perfect.

Awesome story

I love this story and life is strange just in general, but I especially love Steph finding happiness in haven springs, I’m struggling with that myself but this story made me cry tears of happiness for Steph!