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A review by lenoreo
Mia and the Bad Boy by Lisa Burstein
4.0
https://celebrityreaders.com/2021/08/24/summer-of-love-week-10-backstage-pass-series/
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.
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.