eBook Review - Songs About Us

I have been waiting for quite a while to read the sequel to Songs About A Girl (review for when I read it last year is here!), so when I get my hands on a eProof/NetGalley edition, I had to wait a few weeks to clear my reading out (BOOKS EVERYWHERE!).

It's two months after the events of Songs About A Girl and Charlie is trying to get normal back into her life. She's rebuilding a relationship with her father, try and hang out with her best friend and worry about GCSEs.

But soon, she is taken back into the world of Fire&Lights, the hottest boyband on the planet. But things are different between the four now. Aiden is in a relationship, but is uncomfortable with it. Yuki is drinking and no one can understand why. And tension between Gabriel and Olly are running at an all-time high and they are close to coming to blows with each other.

When you're as successful as Fire&Lights, there is two ways you can go: up or down. And either way, they're going to take Charlie and everyone around them with them. Whether they want to or not...

Am going to say it: out of the two, I think I prefer Songs About A Girl over Songs About Us. But Songs About Us is still a really good read.

It's a sugary, fun summer read. You can whizz through it and not come up for air for a while. You get sucked in. Plus, with some of the elements Chris tackled (LGBT+, mental health, etc), it was good to see it and go "YES!" over it. It's nice to have these characters and have them and their problems fleshed out.

But, at the same time, I didn't fly through this book as quickly as I did with Songs About A Girl. Some of the darker elements added to this annoyed me and slowed my reading down. Like I said, some elements I was for and most/all, I completely got why the book was taking us in that direction. But there were one or two elements/chapters/moments, where I would have to put my kindle down and leave it for a while, but I was getting frustrated over the characters and their reaction.

An example is one character. In the previous book, he was one of my faves because he was fun. I liked reading him. But, in this book, he changed. Of course, I got why at the end of the book, but there were several strong moments while reading, I was getting hugely annoyed over this character and the way their behaved.

While there were moments I got frustrated with the book, I did enjoy it. Maybe not as much as Songs About A Girl, but I am very much going to continue with this series when Songs About A Boy come out next year. Plus, with Songs About Us ending on that cliffhanger, I will be very intrigued how Chris is going to explain everything...

YA Shot - Chris Russell

Welcome to my stop on the YA Shot tour! Today, I wanna welcome Chris Russell, author of Songs About A Girl and one fourth of the band, The Lightyears (one of their songs is at the bottom of this post, FYI). When Team YAShot paired us up together, I got excited. Books and music are kinda my thing so having a musician on my blog is a HUGE deal for me. HUGE! So, after grilling Chris and going "Ok, but writing a book must be different from writing a song, right?", Chris went away and came back with this post.

I loved it, and am very excited to share with you guys. Plus to do this with YA Shot is awesome. So, before I hand you over to Chris, I just want to thank Chris for writing this post (I know he's very SUPER busy the past 2 months so having me emailing/tweeting him about this & Songs About A Girl) and to Team YAShot for pairing us up and dealing with my last minute emails.

So, over to you now, Chris!

Book Review - Songs About A Girl

After taking nearly two months (TWO MONTHS!) to read To The Bright Edge of the World (review for that is here) and trying to find my groove with The Muse on audiobook, I needed something light. Something fun! I needed a fun read! So, I grabbed this and blitz through.

I would have read it quickly, but my work has changed times of when I work due to the heat (Oh, the messed-up British summer!)

When Charlie Bloom gets an email from Olly to take photos of his band, she's surprised. She spoke to  Olly once (to her knowledge) and he left school two years ago. But she has to take the job - it's the once in a lifetime offer. And Olly isn't just Olly - he's Olly Samson, lead singer in the internationally famous boy band, Fire&Lights!

Overnight, Charlie is thrown into the world of music, backstage bickering, paparazzi and somehow caught in the middle between Olly and his fellow bandmate, Gabriel.

But soon, things turn sour. At home and within her life within the band, but not before Charlie discovers that Gabriel has written songs for Fire&Lights - and those lyrics are in her late mother's notepads...

This book was so much fun. I whizzed through this (yes, it took me two weeks, but if it wasn't for work and the weather, I would have read this within a week!) as it's quite addictive. A fun, sugary read that's perfect for this time of year. I mean, who doesn't want to hang out with the band?

Yes, it's not perfect - a bit cliche in places (a shy, insecure girl hooks up with the most popular boy band and oh my, she finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with a boy-next-door type and the mysterious, dark brooding loner) and at times, a bit too simple a resolution is used, but with this book, you have to go with it. It's a fun, read by the pool book.

I keep thinking this would be good for readers who like "clean teen" reads (though there is swearing - but this happens once in a blue moon) so I compare this to Geek Girl by Holly Smale (which I shouldn't as I haven't read Geek Girl yet, but both seem to have that playfulness to them).

There is a sequel coming next year (which I hope is just as addictive, maybe with a hint of grit) and I am intrigued to see where Chris Russell takes this series. But yes, fun summery read that One Direction fans will devour.

If I Made The Movie Soundtrack Of... SONGS ABOUT A GIRL

What is more of a challenge is to make a soundtrack for a book which, if it's ever turned into a TV show or a movie, is heavily music driven. But while reading Songs About A Girl, I kept thinking "What if..."

Now, I have done this before (Night School by CJ Daughtery, Broken by AE Rought, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Life And Death by Stephenie Meyer) so WHY NOT!!! While I will want original songs sung by Fire&Lights (written, of course, with the aid of Chris Russell), I wanted a nice mix of songs and music genres. Now, I kinda suck of exploring new genres of music (help me. you guys) and I made no notes while reading Songs About A Girl so while I have a good mic of songs, I can not tell you why I choose them fully without spoilers.

So, should we get this party started?


ENCORE by Delta Goodrem
This was the first song that popped into my head while reading this. Yes, I had bought the album on impulse but there was something about it that made me instantly linked the story with this song. while this won't fit at the first half of the story, it fits more in the second half, as I feel this song is more suited later. While Fire&Lights songs feel more romantic and love driven, this is more heart broken and more self-confidence, a song about growth which fits perfectly later...


STATE OF DREAMING by Marina And The Diamonds
This song just clicked with me due to several lines within the song. It's feels very Charlie who gets catch up in the world of Fire&Lights, the glitz and glamour, the celebrity. But after a while, Charlie begins to see that there's a dark undercurrent with this world and this undercurrent is turning very quickly on her when her name and other information about her is outed on the internet...


TOO MUCH IS NEVER ENOUGH by Bob Moses
Ok, this is a special mention. In this six minute song, there are long moments when it's just instrumental and I love the feel of these moments and I think the placing of these moments would create an interesting tone. The main places for this song is two moments that happen in the same chapter - they involve a beach and then a lift/elevator.


I'M A RUIN by Marina And The Diamonds
There's a scene quite late in the book when a character (who will stay nameless) reveals himself to be a messed-up person (in their eyes, anyway) and while this is happening, fans are singing one of the band songs. When I read this scene, this song kept creeping into my head, so I wondered what it would be like for the fans to be singing this song instead... would Fire&Lights cover this song or would this be playing out to the fans to keep their entertained...?


BRICK BY BORING BRICK by Paramore
Quite soon after the previous song/chapter, this song fits the mood of the following chapter. The band is beginning to fracture and Charlie really sees the dark side of fame not only within the band but within her life.


RUNNING ON SUNSHINE by Jesus Jackson
I came across this song by sure fluke quite close to the end of my reading of Songs About A Girl, and this felt a perfect fit. With everything that happens within this book, I wanted a happy, upbeat, fun song that could be slipped in every now and then to reflect Charlie's happy mood. I had this mental image of Charlie looking through her photos or editing her photos and her listening to this song while this happens...

And that's it. All done. And these were some of the songs I had while reading and thinking (but if Songs About A Girl got turned into a TV show/movie, I don;t think I would trust myself over song choices!). But what do you guys think? Agree? Disagree?