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Each week Stephanie, Lillian and I will be featuring a SUMMER OF LOVE review on our blogs. Or rather, we’re trying to. Summer has gotten away from us, and we may have bitten off more than we can chew. Regardless, don’t forget to check out Stephanie’s blog, Once Upon a Chapter, and Lillian’s blog, Mom With a Reading Problem, for their Summer of Love reviews.
Welcome to my ninth review for the SUMMER OF LOVE (9th on week 10 because I missed week 8)! As I mentioned in week one, I actually already read a lot of contemporary romance, but there’s just something about summer reading that screams contemp for me. And I’m using these 12 weeks to showcase books in different categories. The ninth category is:
Rockstars
Is it just me? I feel like summer means concerts and festivals and tours, and so many of my rockstar books have a summer tour component…maybe that’s why I think of them? Regardless, this week’s boxed set deals with exactly that.
Recommendations:
- Preload series by Scarlett Cole
- Love Unplugged series by Jamie Howard
- Hush Note series by Sarina Bowen, Devney Perry and Rebecca Yarros
- The Jamieson Collection by Angie Stanton (the first 2 anyways)
- Cake by J. Bengtsson
- Superfan by Sarina Bowen
My Review:Title: Aimee and the Heartthrob
Author: Ophelia London
Series: Backstage Pass #1
Published by: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: April 14, 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 274
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:He never noticed her before, but now she's all he can see...
Miles Carlisle is every teen girl's fantasy. His rugged good looks and exotic British accent have helped catapult his boy band, Seconds to Juliet, to super-stardom. But after two disastrous and very public breakups, Miles isn't interested in dating just any girl; he wants The One. And the only girl he's interested in is not only his best friend's little sister - and off-limits - but won't even give him the time of day...
As a kid, Aimee Bingham had a huge thing for Miles...until he made fun of her for always tagging along. Now that she's outgrown both him and her pigtails, the prospect of spending two weeks on tour with the childhood crush who broke her heart isn't exactly enticing. Except now Miles seems interested. Very interested. And no matter how hard Aimee tries to resist him, her crush is definitely making a comeback. But everyone knows that falling for a heartthrob is a backstage pass to heartbreak...
This is the one book I had read previously in this series, but it had been so long that I reread it.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
3 stars — And the slump continues. Overall I just couldn’t get into this one. I didn’t always like Aimee or Miles (though I think I liked Miles more), and I wasn’t always cool with the things they were doing. I’m such a non-rule-breaker, so sneaking around just isn’t exciting for me, even vicariously. And I was largely displeased with Nick’s various roles. As someone older, and a professed best friend, I guess I expected to a) see him more b) have him behave less irrationally and c) actually see and understand who his best friend was. If that makes any sense. Which it probably doesn’t, but oh well.
So while it had some great kissing scenes, and I enjoyed some of the hanging out that Miles and Aimee got to do (especially the writing session), in the end I guess I just wasn’t in the mood for realistic 16/17 year olds, I was looking for the more mature variety (which is on me).
ON REREAD:
3 stars — Yeah, did not improve with time. I mean, at least it didn’t get worse. The thing is, the cute parts were SERIOUSLY adorable! I could see all this potential for an even better story, but there just wasn’t enough of those moments to outshine the grrr and meh.
I think the sneaking around wasn’t quite as displeasing for me, but I still wasn’t happy with Nick…like AT ALL. I think my biggest problem is that some of the various conflict felt sort of contrived and not well executed — particularly everything surrounding Aimee’s blog. Joke was not the right word. And the reactions were just not as authentic as I would have liked.
So yeah. Not a great start. Bummer.
My Review:Title: Mia and the Bad Boy
Author: Lisa Burstein
Series: Backstage Pass #2
Published by: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: May 19, 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 181
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:This good girl’s about to meet her match…
Ryder Brooks is living the dream—he’s famous, loved by millions of girls, and miserable. All he really wants is to write his own music, not Seconds to Juliet’s sugary sweet pop. In order to do that, though, the “bad boy” of the band will have to play by the rules. And that includes behaving with his new—and super cute—über-good-girl tutor.
Mia Reyes is in fangirl heaven. Tutoring her favorite member of her favorite band? It’s a dream come true…until it turns into a complete nightmare. Ryder is nothing like she thought. He’s crude, arrogant, and pretty much a total jerk. And the worst part? She’s roped into pretending to be his girlfriend so that no one finds out he’s being tutored. Fake kisses, plenty of PDA, and even sharing his hotel room…
But sometimes even the baddest of bad boys needs a little redemption.
3.5 stars — This one started out much stronger than the first one, and I think a lot of that had to do with Ryder’s depth. I mean, he was still a dick, but I could at least see lots of different pieces of him behind all that…reasons, you know?
And in general I liked Ryder. I mean, from how he is with his band mates, I expected him to be a pretty hard sell, but he really did have a lot of hangups from his childhood…and I felt like I did see little bits of growth in him — and fairly believable growth. His part in the conflict/climax didn’t surprise me, and I wasn’t too mad at him. It was predictable, but I was worried he was going to say something he couldn’t come back from, and in general I don’t think he did.
Mia had her ups and downs for me. I didn’t quite get her relationship with her parents, and their expectations of her. I feel like in some ways her being Mexican American was used as a plot device for those pressures from immigrant parents. If that was the case, I kind of wish it’d been explored more. It affected so much of who Mia was, how she buried her dreams in favour of her parents dreams, how she didn’t know who she was. And I think that could have been really interesting, but I don’t feel like her story got nearly the same time and care that Ryder’s did. I liked her, she was sweet and sassy, bold and innocent. I just wanted MORE from her. And I totally wasn’t on board with her reaction after *that* night. I didn’t quite follow it, and I didn’t appreciate the way she would test Ryder.
They were pretty cute together, I especially loved the times when they were alone and Ryder could let his guard down. Between studying, singing, and just “being normal”, it was fun to watch.
The ending was entirely unbelievable and completely unexplained from Mia’s parents perspective, which is a bummer.
I was expecting not to like this one as much, just because I’m not really a bad boy girl, and Ryder was numero uno dick in the first book. So maybe my low expectations helped me enjoy it more — I love when a book surprises me in a good way. Still not wow, but definitely a step up from the first book.
My Review:Title: Daisy and the Front Man
Author: Rebekah L. Purdy
Series: Backstage Pass #3
Published by: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: June 16, 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 292
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:Hell hath no fury like a fangirl scorned...
When Daisy Morris finds out she's spending the summer with her dad, bodyguard for Seconds to Juliet - the hottest boy band around - she knows it couldn't be more perfect. But not because she's a fan. Oh, no. Because ever since front man Trevin Jacobs completely humiliated her by standing her up for homecoming, Daisy is out for a little revenge. Yup, Trevin Jacobs is goin' down...
When one of his bandmates bets Trevin he can't make Daisy - the gorgeous but surprisingly ice-cold daughter of their bodyguard - fall in love with him, it's a bet he can't resist. Sure, Daisy won't give him the time of day for reasons he can't understand, and her dad's hell-bent against his little girl spending time with a superstar. But the terms are set, and Trevin is determined to make Daisy fall...hard.
But every front man should know never to trust a girl with a pretty face...
This Entangled Teen Crush book contains adult language, sexual situations, and seriously hot boys. It may cause swoony daydreams involving a certain super-cute front man.
3.5 stars — There were parts of this book I really loved, and then there were parts that made me want to beat my head against the wall.
I know this publishing line often has predictability to it, and sometimes I actually like that. But the outcome of this book was predictable almost from the very beginning, and that was a bit of a bummer. It’s like you know a train wreck is going to happen, you know exactly what the train wreck is going to look like, and I think it makes it a teensy bit harder to just let go and get lost and captivated with our characters.
I guess my main bummer with all that is that Daisy hung onto the revenge thing longer than I wanted and kept coming back to it. It didn’t always feel realistic, and more like just a plot device. Similarly, Trevin hung on to the bet thing longer than I wanted. They both waffled back and forth, but then they’d jump back on the train because without those things, the conflict wouldn’t have worked. And hence predictability. I think I was more bummed with Trevin, because the way he would banter back with Ryder about the bet made him seem like a dick, and he just didn’t feel bad enough about it.
Initially I thought this one might be my fave so far, but I think the above might have affected me more than I thought. So the endless debate about rounding up or down.
When they weren’t holding on to those plot devices, I actually liked both of them. Daisy was very jaded, but I got it. And I appreciated that we got to see some growth with her relationship with her Dad and stuff. And Trevin had some very sweet moments. It was fun to watch them date, even as they had these conflicting emotions in the background. I kind of wish that we’d seen some closure between Trevin and his Dad, otherwise why was it there?
So yeah. Writing all that out, I think I’ll be rounding down. It had great potential, but I wanted it to be more.
My Review:Title: Anya and the Shy Guy
Author: Suze Winegardner
Series: Backstage Pass #4
Published by: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: July 14, 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 230
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:It's always the quiet ones...
Anya Anderson doesn't just need a big break, she needs any break. Living on the streets doesn't leave a girl many options, so when she scores a gig reporting on the Seconds to Juliet tour, she jumps at the chance to earn enough money to sleep somewhere safe. And the paycheck will get bigger - and keep her off the streets for good - if she can dig up dirt on Will Fray, the irritatingly hot "shy guy" of the band.
Problem is, Will Fray isn't who everyone thinks he is. In fact, he's not Will at all. Matt, Will's identical twin, is actually the guy onstage, reluctantly covering for his brother while he's in rehab. To make matters worse, Matt's being shadowed by a cute reporter with troubled eyes determined to get the scoop. On him. And he's having trouble finding the willpower to keep his distance...
But if the secret gets out, it won't just be his head on a platter - it'll be the whole band's.
This Entangled Teen Crush book contains steamy make out scenes, graphic language, and a love story so hot your copy may spontaneously burst into flames. You've been warned.
3.5 stars — Am I the only one that is bummed that we’ll never get Will’s story? Plus, then we’re missing out on a shy guy, and I actually really like a shy guy. But maybe I’m the only one. I was a Jonathan (NKOTB) fan if that tells you anything.
I kind of love the little bits of surrounding story that were with this one — homelessness for Anya, and drug addiction for *actual* Will. We didn’t get much on either, which is a bit too bad, b/c they’re kind of prescient topics, but what can you do.
So even though we didn’t get actual Will, Matt was pretty cute himself. I appreciated how hard it must have been to play this role, with so much riding on it. And while he was not at all shy, he was still pretty sweet and actually felt closer to his age.
And Anya had a rough time of it, but it was heartwarming to see her develop that friendship with Natasha, and learn that some people are worth trust.
And their romance was pretty cute in general.
I found this one felt quicker than the others. I’m going to be pretty bummed if LJ doesn’t get his comeuppance by the end of Nathan’s book.
My Review:Title: Abby and the Cute One
Author: Erin Butler
Series: Backstage Pass #5
Published by: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: November 16, 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 197
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Finishing the Series Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
Blurb:He's cute. He's famous. And he could ruin everything...
Every member of Seconds to Juliet has a girlfriend-except for Nathan Strong. Now the band's manager is leaning hard on "The Cute One" to play the role of the band's heartthrob. With the band's sales in decline, it's up to Nathan to keep the fans' fantasy alive.
The plan is to stage a fake relationship and a fake breakup, and then let the fans fight to be the one to mend Nathan's broken heart. Just one problem. There's another girl in the picture-one Nathan can't stay away from. In private, Nathan's stealing kisses with the band's new opening act, Abby Curtis.
If they're caught, no one wins. Abby will be fired, and the band might not recover the success they need to survive. But even with the pressure mounting, Nathan and Abby can't stop themselves from stealing one more touch, one more kiss. And it's only a matter of time before it all falls apart.
4 stars — Yay! This one was my favourite! I think it’s just really hard not to love poor naïve Nathan…and Abby was pretty great too.
The thing is, I love sweet good characters. Sure, they mess up and make mistakes, but deep down they have good intentions. The thing is that Nathan was pretty young, and kind of on his own at such a young age. So I guess I could believe that he was taken advantage of by LJ. I truly bought in that he believed that the fate of the whole band was in his hands. He’s lucky that he had a certain great security chief and some awesome (if oblivious) bandmates to eventually figure things out and help him.
I loved how sweet he was, how innocent in some ways. I loved how grateful he was for the opportunity, and how, of all of them, he didn’t take it for granted.
And Abby was super sweet too! It’s not that she didn’t have fire, she did…but she was just someone easy to love. It was exciting to see her have this opportunity, even if it was tainted by other stuff happening at times.
And they were so cute together. I loved them from their first meeting to the end. I rooted for them.
I was a bit bummed that LJ’s comeuppance wasn’t dramatic and on page, but ah well…can’t have everything.
OVERALL SERIES:
3.5 stars — I had both high and then low expectations for this series, and I came out with solid, but had so much potential to be better.
The biggest problem for me was that in binging the series, there were waaaayyyyyy too many tiny little discontinuity details that I picked up on. Unfortunately, my brain snags on shit like that, and while these authors tried to get some main facts straight, there were other parts that were different from book to book and it drove me crazy. Not just that, but in some books some of it was completely unrealistic to the point I had a bit of trouble suspending my disbelief.
They really needed a series editor to go through and make sure that the characters felt true in each book (it was pretty good, but Ryder in particular wasn’t always what I expected after his own story). And then to make sure that the basic logistics of the tour stayed consistent throughout. For example, in Ryder’s book the author had them sleeping in the *dressing rooms*…which is a) not done (hello, they’re usually locker rooms); and b) not consistent to the hotels/bus sleeping arrangements in the other books. It was done to help the plot, but surely the author could have figured something else out.
I know most readers probably won’t even notice that stuff, but for me it was aggravating because I can’t help it. Ah well.
[…] On Tuesday, Lenore featured rockstar romances and shared her reviews for the Backstage Pass series. […]