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ellelainey's review
3.0
Book – The Timpanist and the Stagehand
Author – Ava Hayden
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 82
Cover – Stunning and sexy!
POV – 3rd person, 1 POV
Would I read it again – Not unless it was a novel.
Genre – LGBT, Musical, Romance
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine
*There may be spoilers ahead.*
I found this one really difficult to review. On one hand, there was a lot going for it. On the other, there was a lot missing or that didn't work for me.
Pros:
The bones are good.
The writing style is great.
3rd person really worked for this kind of story.
Ren and Christoph could have been really likeable, relatable characters, with some more depth added
With extra length, it could have been a fantastic novel
Cons:
Not long enough
Too many characters, all the same.
Relationship is a back story to Ren's life
Lack of chemistry
First off, there isn't a lot of character development. I figure this might be because of the length – 82 pages isn't a lot – but I've seen authors manage it. For me, this one didn't. I got who Ren was, but all the background characters just began to bleed into one and I had trouble dividing them in my mind. I often got Gil and Jos mixed up, as well as the girls. Christoph and Ren are really one-dimensional and not inspiring as main characters. There's not a lot going on with them that's attention-grabbing.
As for the relationship, I'd say it really only took up about 20% of the story. The first 10% had them together and solid, then the last 10% had the big mix-up that nearly had them splitting up, but somehow talking it through. Everything in between was more about Ren's family and friends (sorting out Trista's problems, dealing with his father and Caleb's house).
I think, if it had been a novel, even just 50 more pages longer, then it would have had a much better chance of being cohesive and fully formed. The story just didn't have impact or and real romance. That's what I was looking for – a couple to fumble their way through a romance, not be practically strangers at the beginning, only to get together within the first 10% and keep a solid, unfluttered, relationship until the last 10%. There was no real intimacy, no challenge and no threat to their relationship. There wasn't much flirting or chemistry. It just happened. And that's disappointing.
Honestly, from the blurb, I expected much more drama, much more heat and a bit of seduction. I didn't get any of that. The drama was minor and not really dramatic or surprising. The pain of their pasts sounded seriously heavy in the blurb, but actually failed to gain my sympathy. To be brutal, the way it was put across in the story made it feel like they'd both blown their “pain” out of proportion and, in some cases, brought it upon themselves.
Christoph jumped very quickly from suspicious and uninterested to asking Ren out and spilling his life story. The only explicit sex scenes were rushed and bereft of real intimacy. In one, it was far too quick for them to jump into bed together, never mind the lack of discussion about who did what and when, but the second focused more on Ren's need to stop thinking. In both cases, Ren's thoughts took over the entire event and made it feel really disconnected from what they were supposed to be doing.
It's like their entire relationship is fabricated out of nowhere. Christoph and Ren have never really spoken or spent time together, then two short meetings and they're in a solid relationship, that lacks intimacy, any attempt at getting to know each other in private (a grilling by friends doesn't count) and any hint of a friendship developing before the relationship even has time to begin.
~
I know it all sounds negative, but I feel it needs said. This story just isn't long enough to do the author or the plot justice. It needs to either remove the daddy issues and replace that with more relationship drama or add more pages. Right now, it's way too short and leaves a lot out of the story that is actually important. We never get to “know” these main characters. We're thrown into their world, without knowing them, and they both have boring, regular, routine lives. The relationship is too perfect, the drama not dramatic enough to warrant being worried about and the background “pain” isn't sympathetic enough.
For me, the best part of this story was the first 10%. It may sound really harsh, but that's when the whole will-they-won't-they happened. Until they suddenly ended up a couple, I was all for reading about more misunderstandings, more snogging in back rooms, more sneaking around and some really juice flirting, as they got to know each other. None of that happened. It was all a little too perfect after that. Perfect and smooth sailing.
I'm sorry to say that I was left disappointed.
~
Favourite Quote
“I'm a shallow, judgy asshole, and I am going straight to hell.”
Author – Ava Hayden
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 82
Cover – Stunning and sexy!
POV – 3rd person, 1 POV
Would I read it again – Not unless it was a novel.
Genre – LGBT, Musical, Romance
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine
*There may be spoilers ahead.*
I found this one really difficult to review. On one hand, there was a lot going for it. On the other, there was a lot missing or that didn't work for me.
Pros:
The bones are good.
The writing style is great.
3rd person really worked for this kind of story.
Ren and Christoph could have been really likeable, relatable characters, with some more depth added
With extra length, it could have been a fantastic novel
Cons:
Not long enough
Too many characters, all the same.
Relationship is a back story to Ren's life
Lack of chemistry
First off, there isn't a lot of character development. I figure this might be because of the length – 82 pages isn't a lot – but I've seen authors manage it. For me, this one didn't. I got who Ren was, but all the background characters just began to bleed into one and I had trouble dividing them in my mind. I often got Gil and Jos mixed up, as well as the girls. Christoph and Ren are really one-dimensional and not inspiring as main characters. There's not a lot going on with them that's attention-grabbing.
As for the relationship, I'd say it really only took up about 20% of the story. The first 10% had them together and solid, then the last 10% had the big mix-up that nearly had them splitting up, but somehow talking it through. Everything in between was more about Ren's family and friends (sorting out Trista's problems, dealing with his father and Caleb's house).
I think, if it had been a novel, even just 50 more pages longer, then it would have had a much better chance of being cohesive and fully formed. The story just didn't have impact or and real romance. That's what I was looking for – a couple to fumble their way through a romance, not be practically strangers at the beginning, only to get together within the first 10% and keep a solid, unfluttered, relationship until the last 10%. There was no real intimacy, no challenge and no threat to their relationship. There wasn't much flirting or chemistry. It just happened. And that's disappointing.
Honestly, from the blurb, I expected much more drama, much more heat and a bit of seduction. I didn't get any of that. The drama was minor and not really dramatic or surprising. The pain of their pasts sounded seriously heavy in the blurb, but actually failed to gain my sympathy. To be brutal, the way it was put across in the story made it feel like they'd both blown their “pain” out of proportion and, in some cases, brought it upon themselves.
Christoph jumped very quickly from suspicious and uninterested to asking Ren out and spilling his life story. The only explicit sex scenes were rushed and bereft of real intimacy. In one, it was far too quick for them to jump into bed together, never mind the lack of discussion about who did what and when, but the second focused more on Ren's need to stop thinking. In both cases, Ren's thoughts took over the entire event and made it feel really disconnected from what they were supposed to be doing.
It's like their entire relationship is fabricated out of nowhere. Christoph and Ren have never really spoken or spent time together, then two short meetings and they're in a solid relationship, that lacks intimacy, any attempt at getting to know each other in private (a grilling by friends doesn't count) and any hint of a friendship developing before the relationship even has time to begin.
~
I know it all sounds negative, but I feel it needs said. This story just isn't long enough to do the author or the plot justice. It needs to either remove the daddy issues and replace that with more relationship drama or add more pages. Right now, it's way too short and leaves a lot out of the story that is actually important. We never get to “know” these main characters. We're thrown into their world, without knowing them, and they both have boring, regular, routine lives. The relationship is too perfect, the drama not dramatic enough to warrant being worried about and the background “pain” isn't sympathetic enough.
For me, the best part of this story was the first 10%. It may sound really harsh, but that's when the whole will-they-won't-they happened. Until they suddenly ended up a couple, I was all for reading about more misunderstandings, more snogging in back rooms, more sneaking around and some really juice flirting, as they got to know each other. None of that happened. It was all a little too perfect after that. Perfect and smooth sailing.
I'm sorry to say that I was left disappointed.
~
Favourite Quote
“I'm a shallow, judgy asshole, and I am going straight to hell.”
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