Hi Munchworms!
I received this eARC through NetGalley a couple of months back after requesting it because of the – pretty awesome – cover and intriguing blurb.
Scarlett Stiles is desperate for a change of scenery after her older brother, Liam, dies of a drug overdose. But spending the summer with her grandfather wasn’t exactly what she had in mind. Luckily, Scarlett finds something to keep her busy–a local rock band looking for a guitarist. Even though playing guitar has been hard since Liam died, Scarlett can’t pass on an opportunity like this, and she can’t take her eyes off the band’s hot lead singer either. Is real happiness just around the corner? Or will she always be haunted by her brother’s death?
Since I love myself some rock music and, well, add a good-looking musician to it. Yup, sold! I was completely ready to dive into this story.
And I ended up being… disappointed, honestly. This story had the potential of being so much more. Really, it hurts.
Let’s start with the obvious. I really had a giant problem with the insta-love going on in this story. Actual over-the-top insta-love. “Oh, that lead singer is hot. I’m in love.” That’s how it went, literally. Then we go to “Okay, nope. Not in love. Just drooling.” before “Maybe I am in love with him after all.” Does it end there? No! “Oh. Of course! I’m in love with that guy!”
Honestly, Scarlett, could you be even more all over the place? Probably not.
“I kinda fell in love tonight, and oh, great news, so did the guy. But he fell in love with you.”
Apart from that, our MC, Scarlett, is a self-absorbed girl who keeps switching from feeling pretty fine to depressive because she lost her brother. Okay, I lost people in my life. I know it’s a struggle and you can go from feeling one thing to the other and back again. But in All The Wrong Chords it just felt wrong, dishonest and fake.
Maybe I’m being too harsh here, but it’s how I felt while reading and I can’t seem to shake it.
She also doesn’t see what’s happening right in front of her. I was about 20% along – I think it was even sooner than that – and I already knew exactly what was going to happen, what “big twists” were going to be revealed during the story. Save to say it was very predictable.
Losing him wasn’t a single loss: It was a million losses, all at the same time.
If the author had just dug a little deeper, gave more depth to her characters and incorporated the hints in a more subtle way, we could’ve had a winner here.
I loved the idea of the book, I did. But when it came to the execution.. I really am disappointed.
For this, I’m only giving this book 2 / 5 because in some weird-ass way I still kind of enjoyed it. At least I was when I was able of ignoring all the negatives.
As for the munches, going with the taco’s that are mentioned during this story! Courtesy of the boyfriend – and, just so you know, he made those way too spicy!
Kathy
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the book as much as you hoped you would. On the other hand, yummm…tacos are delicious.
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Haha. The tacos were definitely better than the book.
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Bwahahah Kathy I get what you mean. Insta love does not bither me usually either but this one seemed indeed over the top! I hope your next read will be a 5 stars!
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It definitely was! Thank you!
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great review girl! i love when you are honest and point out all the things you didn’t like. they can’t be all 5 star books right?
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Thank you!
It’s hard, but in a way I like writing bad reviews as well. [Especially since I tend to be way too straight-forward and blunt in real life so finding ways to be a bit more.. not-blunt.. are welcome, haha.]
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hahaha 😀
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Thank you for writing an honest review! I know how disappointing it is when a book has so much potential but the author fucks up a bit somewhere on the way. It’s the sad reality that our jobs, as book bloggers and reviewers, is to deliver honest reviews- for me personally, it hurts whenever I have to rate a book two stars or less on Goodreads or having to write a disadvantageous review :<
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It is! Although I do find it a pity to read books that aren’t as good as I thought they’d be, in a way I’m happy about those as well? It’s those books that challenge us to really be honest in the end – and I do think it’s a good opportunity to practice writing down our opinions in an honest and not rude way, haha.
I don’t like it either, but who does? We all want to read amazing books all the time; too bad that’s just not always happening. :p
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That’s really true! It’s really important to show that you’re willing to go through writing a bad review in order to be honest. Aish, but it still feels like I’m ripping my heart out:))
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It is! And I totally understand that, haha.
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Great Review kathy, Scarlett was really annoying 😐
Happy Reading 🙂
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Thanks!
Yup, she was..
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Sorry you didn’t like the book but I value your honesty here. We cannot shake our niggling feelings, it’s our nature. Although I personally don’t mind insta-love in general, but this one seems way over the top and she waffles back and forth – flips flops her mind WAY TOO MUCH for my liking.
Thanks for the review, I probably wouldn’t pick up this one. Yay, one off the TBR!
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That’s true! Usually I don’t really mind insta-love that much either but if it’s over the top.. And then her constant back and forth waffling [I NEVER HEARD THAT EXPRESSION. It sounds too funny not to use it.] just sealed the deal for me.
Getting one off the TBR is always an accomplishment, haha. One off, adding five? Something like that? 😀
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My gosh, Kathy, how did you KNOW? I just got one off my TBR but then the next minute I added another 1 to my TBR… lol
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Because that’s exactly what I do every single time? Haha! :p
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