My rating: 4 of 5 stars
***Copy provided by author is exchange for honest review.***
I’m excited for this series, each book from the POV of a different member of a metal band formed in high school. Behind the Lights is lead singer Joey’s story.
First off, this story is not heavy on the romance at all. It’s basically Joey’s life from a small child to the band’s headlining tour. And as we all know, life isn’t just roses and kisses and hot sexy times. (One can find two of those things in this book, and roses isn’t one of them.) The reader learns of Joey’s home life and his growth as a sensitive, rambunctious child with a rough home life to a teen discovering his sexuality to a rockstar.
I loved reading about Social Sinner’s beginnings and rise to a big touring band. The reader gets a look at the music industry through the eyes of Joey as he recounts Social Sinners’ start as a small town band playing local gigs and evolution to a nationally known band with a manager and recording contract.
I really enjoyed getting to know Joey and his friends through Joey’s eyes. His feelings and reactions (especially to bigger bands and rockstars on their first tour) feel genuine and are endearing. I felt like I got to know him really well. He is very much a likable character.
As I mentioned, there isn’t much romance in this story as it is more of a tale of growing up and life. It’s refreshing to read a story that isn’t only focused on building romantic relationships, and instead is about friendship and life’s highs and lows.
What I am calling the prologue (titled “June 9, 2018” in my copy) and epilogue were a bit repetitive. They do take place at the same time, so I guess that’s inevitable, but I did find at least one line repeated word for word in both.
I look forward to reading the next releases in this series.