Review: Disappointing and slow
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2013
Sydney is an in-demand photographer who takes photos of concerts, bands and musicians. Ben is the lead singer of a famous rock group. When Sydney takes a job to photo-document Ben's US tour, they meet and sparks fly.This book started out well. The characters seemed intelligent and even Ben, a late 30's veteran of the rock world, was believable as a guy who had had enough of the fast lane and was holding out for the real thing. But Sydney was a hellacious bitch to everyone. I found it hard to believe that ANYONE wanted to hire her, no matter HOW good her pictures were. She was THAT rude.I understood, from the beginning of the book, that some guy (presumably a musician) had done a number on Sydney (we aren't told what happened until later, but I guessed, easily).  But the way she was automatically in attack mode with every guy she met, was just nuts. Especially when The Incident happened like seven years before this. I am sure it was traumatic but after seven years I would assume she would have developed better coping methods, at least at work. If she had been reserved and avoided flirtations but was clever and could hold her own, she would have been FAR more likable. As it was, I couldn't fathom what Ben, who really was a nice guy, ever saw in her other than her looks (which she dressed to hide.) They had barely spoken one civil word to each other before he seemed to be totally into her. It made zero sense and was completely unrealistic.Then he proceeded to chase her for the rest of the book even though her actions and emotions gave out crazy mixed signals. He even forgave her after barely a minute's anger when she did something I thought was SO reprehensible, I have no idea why he didn't go ballistic on her. But no, he was still hanging in there beyond what anyone (normal? real?) would ever do.A lot of this back and forth (him chasing her as she puts up Huge GO AWAY signs and runs away) happens repeatedly and after a while I was forcing myself to keep reading, hoping it would get better. It didn't.In addition, the story has a number of plot inconsistencies:Why, when there were a number of violent altercations, including the death of someone famous, is there is no mention at all of consequences or paparazzi?In fact, except for controlled interviews, there are almost no paparazzi seen anywhere, ever. And when two guys have a brawl inside a room filled with journalists, nobody mentions a word of it online or in the news.Why would Ben buy a house in Maryland when he knows no one there and his family lives in Northern California? Are there NO beach houses for sale on the Pacific Coast?Why would Sydney's agent tell so many BIG lies for her? At one point I thought her agent (Carole? Can't remember as no character was all that interesting) was going to get rid of Ben with her lies and then declare her own feelings for Sydney and start a bisexual love triangle. Would have added SOME interest to the story, at least.Also, it pissed me off when Ben's ex-girlfriend saw Sydney and told Ben, "I can see why you love her, she's very beautiful." Really? That's why you love someone? But it actually seemed that way, because he was so infatuated with her so quickly and for no discernible reason.In any case, I wasn't going to write a review, I just wanted to move on and forget this one. But I decided to spare others from the boredom I endured while reading this book. There is a happy ending, but by the time it rolled around, I didn't care.Save your money and buy something else. You'll thank me.I would NOT recommend this book.