A review by crofteereader
The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan

emotional medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I loved the audiobook but I feel like I wanted (and expected) so much more from this. The focus was so scattered between flashbacks to Cassidy in pop foursome Gloss's heyday and the other three members in the present that it felt like we never really got to know them. Mary, Yumi, and Rose all felt like stereotypes and, just like the press, we rely on their image and reputation (even in the aftermath) to get anything out of the story.

Plus the end felt super unresolved. No one has grown or changed (I was extra disappointed in Rose's last impression, especially when I think about how her character had the most potential). When the tension mounted in the last 1/4 of the book, it flew by and suddenly the book was over. I couldn't reconcile it with the slow surface details we'd gotten up until that point.

Also, and this is a point against me, I was never into the really big pop groups from the 90s and early 00s, so a lot of the plot points were pretty foreign to me, though the media objectifying women and being exceedingly racist is definitely something I could definitely understand.
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