Review: far too saccharine, suffers from an excess of cliches, a surfeit of terrible dialogue, excessive fairy-tale elements and tedious
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 09 3, 2013
This was far too saccharine, suffers from an excess of cliches, a surfeit of terrible dialogue, excessive fairy-tale elements and tedious. I TRIED TO ENJOY IT!There were ridiculous plot holes, cringe-worthy dialogue and the male lead resembled a Pop Star (like Justin Bieber) rather than a Rock Star.The front cover gave away that it'd be a fluffy chick lit type read but I read "famous rocker" and thought I'd give it a try.When I started skipping pages (the story really dragged) I gave up reading it and went to the end to see how it pans out. Jeez what a fair-tale.================The CharactersHero - Brady Gates: he reminded me a of a silly pop star. Its not due to his lifestyle (there are indie/rock stars who are "clean" e.g. The Killers) but it's more due to his persona, appearance, attitude and language.He didn't have that edge - books starring rock stars ought to have (at least) some grit.Another thing that didn't make sense were Brady's problem with the pap. It seems authors fall into this trap thinking that if you're rich (billionaires suffer a similar fate) or famous than the paps constantly hound you. That's not actually true - there are many BIG artists and rich people who manage to avoid this.They generally live in areas where the paps aren't likely to be (the paps won't just "attack" one star unless it's Lady Di - they attack whomever they consider tabloid fodder hence the big cities LA, NY, London etc or areas with a concentrated celeb quota will be targeted).I think the author really exaggerated the paps hunting determination (like going all the way to a remote cabin to take a few pics??). Rock music isn't even mainstream like pop so generally rock stars are less of a target than pop stars such as Bieber.other than that the hero comes across like Justin Bieber, particularly during the first few chapters (self absorbed, unintelligent, unnecessarily arrogant (and not in a hot way) regarding his fame). He's a tall, dark handsome rich cliche with the whole "do you know I am" tedious and unoriginal routine **yawn** - everything about him was unoriginal.Heroine - Ella Lewis: she tries too hard to come across as "indifferent" to Brady's fame but instead is the classic cliche of an impertinent heroine pretending to be unfazed by the hero. I've read these scenarios so many times - the Royal Prince snubbed by the pauper who turns her nose at him, etcIt's tedious and an awful plot ploy. If you've read "The Sexist Man Alive" by Julie James than you'd witness a brilliant romance between an Oscar winning actor and a sassy Lawyer.This book just tries to hard meh! The author strives valiantly to manifest the heroine feeling nonchalance - but instead conveyed a "lady doth protest too much" scenario.Overall her personality reminded me of a middle aged woman (not only because she listens to country music). But just her personality and dialogue was so Small Town Middle Aged Dull Person. What's worse is that she's an indie (but not best-selling) historical romance author. OMG - writing romances is such a girly career anyway - like Wedding Planner, Interior Decorator, Beautician etc but historical romance! I don't mean to be condescending but that's more like a hobby for middle aged women than career for a sassy heroine.The ending of the book is even worse with regards to her "career" - what a fairytale.===============If you like fairy-tales, don't mind anything poorly written and plot holes than this is ok.