This review is going to be really different than normal since I picked it up and read it as soon as I got it and didn't make up the template for the post at all so we don't have a before I read, halfway through, or even a synopsis this time around. I got this book through Book of the Month club which has opened my eyes to so many adult books that I would never have found or picked up on my own and honestly is usually a really great deal. This is actually my August pick so you'll see it again in my end of the month book haul. So let's jump into it.
I loved the synopsis of this book and had so much hope for it. To be completely honest the synopsis reminded me a lot of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones books. One I absolutely loved and the other was just okay. So I picked this book with a lot of optimism that it was going to be an amazing book! After I ordered people in the groups I'm in were raving about it too and some were also linking it to Reid's work. I really wanted to love it and expected too. But that's not what happened.
First I feel like the beginning was really good, the middle was good too, but then it took a wrong turn and just failed by the ending for me. I loved how the book started. Throughout the book we go between Cassidy's experiences starting her singing career, during her career, and the downfall of it. We even get to see behind the scenes and at the beginning of the book I lived for these moments because they were so interesting. In the other part of the book, we would alternate between the three other women's points of view. This shifts by the end and we'll talk about that in a minute. This first third of the book was an amazing build-up and definitely leading towards a 5-star read for me. This part really had some curveballs too which just added to my love for this book starting out. Without giving any spoilers we were reading an event really in the beginning that should've gone one way since this was supposed to be Cassidy's prime but then it did the complete opposite and we watch her deal with the disappointments.
So as I said the beginning of the book I really loved Cassidy's point of view more than the others but towards the middle or maybe a little bit before that, I started appreciating these points of view. Their views happen current day so we see the way after their prime and how they are barely even celebrities anymore. All three of them are living completely different lives from one another and even the one they lived with Cassidy. Most of the format of the book we would see them explaining what they thought about what we just read about with Cassidy or foreshadowing what is about to happen in Cassidy's story. I really preferred the foreshadowing. The biggest foreshadowing that I was really thrilled about was about Alex who is a love interest in the book and it made a sound like he was going to die or something catastrophic was going to happen to him really soon in the book. By that point, I was ready for some drama because Cassidy's story was really slow-burning and I loved their story together. But no that didn't happen how I was hoping. There was something that happened to him that was horrible but that doesn't happen until the end of the book! Which took forever because this book is a chunker! The things that happened with Cassidy started to not make sense to me anymore and I started getting really aggravated with her because I wanted more and was hoping for it. Towards the end of the middle of the book, it took a massive 180 that just felt like made no sense whatsoever, and I'm going to have to use spoilers to explain this part so if you want to read this book without spoilers I'll see you next time! If you don't care scroll a little further down and we'll talk some.
***** Spoilers Below *****
Okay, above I mentioned that towards the end of the book something happens with Cassidy that made no sense to me and this is when she starts having feelings for Rose and her for Cassidy. Up until this point, Rose has been horrible to her and obsessed with the fourth member that Cassidy actually replaced in the band. Up until this point, I had vibes that Rose felt that way towards that other member and I loved it but never thought these two had any chemistry. The only interactions we saw was Rose being horrible to Cassidy. Also up until this point, Cassidy was questioning her feelings towards Alex and I got it. He was her best friend that connected her to her old life pre-stardom so she didn't want to let that go even though she wasn't really feeling those feelings towards him anymore, if ever. But she never acted like she was attracted to females ever in this story. If it wasn't Alex she was talking about it was Stephen which I get he was horrible and definitely not good for her. But these were both guys. I get that it is hard to express her feelings completely in a book but would it have been so hard to show her questioning her sexuality somewhere between the beginning of the book and the end of it? I mean it was like a switch flipped and boom she was all about Rose and wanting that relationship and just made 0 sense to me. This really annoyed me but I was already getting annoyed with the book at this point.
I hated how the today perspective warned me about how some horrible thing was going to happen to Alex, which it did don't get me wrong and it was Cassidy's fault sort of. But it took the whole book for this to happen, and I felt like the foreshadow should've been faster since it was all really one thing was talked about and then boom it would've happened. I just felt like this was all really problematic and now every time Alex showed up in the book I was expecting something was going to happen and kill him off and when it happened it was disappointing.
When I finished with the book I decided that it was more like Daisy Jones since it was about a band, the start of it, and the demise of it. But I feel like Daisy Jones did it better and we all know that wasn't my favorite Reid book. Since I really loved the beginning of this book I ended up giving it 3-stars. I just didn't love it like I thought I was going too and it really was more of a let down than anything.
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