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A review by elenajohansen
More Than Music by Elizabeth Briggs
1.0
Maddie Taylor is the bland narrator who displays most of the qualities I'd expect from a typical YA heroine, despite this clearly being a New Adult work with college-age protagonists. She's a self-proclaimed "geek" who's clumsy, insecure, and down on herself about her looks. Yet she manages to capture the attention of a bad-boy up-and-coming rock star who's obviously out of her league, because she only dates nice boys even though they don't actually seem to interest her much.
I'm bored already. But wait, it gets worse!
The plot, once past the initial set-up, is predictable beyond belief. Maddie and Jared (the rock god) have an improbable moment of "connection" when she sneaks off at his party and ends up playing his guitar and singing one of his band's songs. Then the band's bassist quits, so Jared takes over her role so they can ask Maddie to take his place on guitar. "Just for the audition," he asks. What audition? For a reality show that's clearly a whole-band take on The Voice.
But when they show up to audition, what do you know? No changes to the band are allowed post-audition. (An incredibly sensible, obvious rule that I saw coming a mile away.) So Maddie takes the plunge and joins the band. (Duh.) They make it onto the show. (Duh.) There are a number of falsely tense moments when the reader is supposed to wonder if they're going to survive elimination from week to week. (They always do.) And the whole time, absolutely everything about the band's image, popularity, and Maddie's own puny sense of self-worth are telling her not to get involved with Jared, because it's just about the worst idea in the world, since she (and everyone else) thinks he's a playboy.
So of course they hook up! There wouldn't be a story if they didn't! And what do you know, it's a terrible idea and causes all sorts of problems (like both she and the reader could see it would) until somehow magically at the end, Jared turns out to be a great guy after all and declares his love on stage for everyone to see. And that makes it all okay, right?
I kept waiting for the story to surprise me somehow, to give me something beyond plodding to the next inevitable plot point, but it never did.
I'm bored already. But wait, it gets worse!
The plot, once past the initial set-up, is predictable beyond belief. Maddie and Jared (the rock god) have an improbable moment of "connection" when she sneaks off at his party and ends up playing his guitar and singing one of his band's songs. Then the band's bassist quits, so Jared takes over her role so they can ask Maddie to take his place on guitar. "Just for the audition," he asks. What audition? For a reality show that's clearly a whole-band take on The Voice.
But when they show up to audition, what do you know? No changes to the band are allowed post-audition. (An incredibly sensible, obvious rule that I saw coming a mile away.) So Maddie takes the plunge and joins the band. (Duh.) They make it onto the show. (Duh.) There are a number of falsely tense moments when the reader is supposed to wonder if they're going to survive elimination from week to week. (They always do.) And the whole time, absolutely everything about the band's image, popularity, and Maddie's own puny sense of self-worth are telling her not to get involved with Jared, because it's just about the worst idea in the world, since she (and everyone else) thinks he's a playboy.
So of course they hook up! There wouldn't be a story if they didn't! And what do you know, it's a terrible idea and causes all sorts of problems (like both she and the reader could see it would) until somehow magically at the end, Jared turns out to be a great guy after all and declares his love on stage for everyone to see. And that makes it all okay, right?
I kept waiting for the story to surprise me somehow, to give me something beyond plodding to the next inevitable plot point, but it never did.