https://celebrityreaders.com/2021/08/24/summer-of-love-week-10-backstage-pass-series/

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.

AIMEE AND THE HEARTTHROB:
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.

MIA AND THE BAD BOY:
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.

DAISY AND THE 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.

ANYA AND THE SHY GUY:
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.

ABBY AND THE CUTE ONE:
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.