Book Review / Songs About a Girl by Chris Russell

Charlie Bloom never wanted to be 'with the band'. She's happiest out of the spotlight, behind her camera, unseen and unnoticed. But when she's asked to take backstage photos for hot new boy band Fire&Lights, she can't pass up the chance.

Catapulted into a world of paparazzi and backstage bickering, Charlie soon becomes caught between gorgeous but damaged frontman, Gabriel West, and his boy-next-door bandmate Olly Samson. Then, as the boys' rivalry threatens to tear the band apart, Charlie stumbles upon a mind-blowing secret, hidden in the lyrics of their songs...







Published:     28th July 2016
Publisher:  Hodder
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, Songs About a Girl
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

 MY REVIEW

What I loved about this story...  Its summertime at the moment and the one type of book that I love to read at this time of year is easy to read romance style stories.  This is definitely one of those.  You have Charlie Bloom who is like an outsider, keeping herself to herself, with her own very sad past to deal with.  Out of the blue she is contacted by Olly, a member of Fire & Lights and a former student of the school Charlie is attending, saying that he remembers her pictures and asked if she wants to take more of the band.  With a very large nudge from her best friend, she agrees to take the pictures.  What follows is an obvious love triangle between Charlie, Olly and Gabriel but one that I really enjoyed watching play out.  Along with that part of the story, you do have other parts to the story.  

The best part of the story for me was the mystery surrounding the 'mind blowing secret hidden in the lyrics' of the Fire & Lights songs.  I don't want to spoil the story for you so I won't go into too much more detail about it but let's just say that it was a twist in the story that I had suspected but enjoyed seeing played out nonetheless.  Along with this twist, there is one further twist to the story which I had not been expecting at all and really surprised me.  I love stories with unexpected twists in it!

What I didn't like about this story...  Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this story, I did wish that it wasn't so predictable with the love triangle and, indeed, the first 'twist' in the story to do with the lyrics. 

In summary...  An enjoyable easy read, great for down at the beach, by the pool or wherever you tend to read over the summer or, indeed, at any time of year really!  If you have a tendency to fan girl over boy bands, which I have done since I was a teenager (a while ago now lol!!) you should pick up this book.  Fire & Lights could be like any band out there, whether in the past or right now!  This is also book 1 in a series, so I can't wait to see what happens next!