The Book Beehive: Book Review for Midnight Blue by LJ Shen

MIDNIGHT BLUE
by LJ SHEN

It should have been easy.
I needed the money. He needed a babysitter to keep him from snorting himself to death.
I was cherry-picked especially for him. Responsible. Optimistic. Warm. Innocent.
The worst part is that I should have known better.
Alex Winslow. British rock star. Serial heartbreaker. Casanova with whiskey eyes.
“Don’t get near the devil in a leather jacket. He’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
Guess what? I didn’t listen.
I signed the contract.
World tour. Three months. Four Continents. One hundred shows.
My name is Indigo Bellamy, and I sold my soul to a tattooed god.
Problem was, my soul wasn’t enough for Alex Winslow. He ended up taking my body, too.
Then he took my heart.
Then he took my all.

ADD TO GOODREADS

REVIEW: DNF AT 31%
I did it. I tried. I even gave it a SECOND chance after trying to quit at 12%, albeit kicking and screaming the entire time. Coming off a high from some amazing books I recently read, I know the power of words and what they can really do for me. So maybe I was in a book hangover from some recent amazing reads I had? I am not sure, but this one just didn't flow well for me at all and didn't draw me in.

There is NOTHING I hate more than not liking/connecting/being able to finish a HIGHLY rated book. One that EVERYone is talking about and raving about. I hate it because it starts to make me question what was wrong with me!! Why didn't I like it? I mean, all the reviews and the gifs and the teasers looked so damn sexy. So inviting. So worthy of my melting.

Welp....nope. It didn't happen for me. First and foremost, the believability and the suspension of belief is more than I could handle when there was an element of truth that needed to be accepted for her to be in the position she was even in. I don't understand how this heroine got this job in the first place, so when we start out with that 'WHY' and then all the responsibility and the power they lay upon her in this newfound position that should be the PA or the manager's responsibility, well....I honestly couldn't stop rolling my eyes. I mean, they were asking her to do things and follow up on things. I just couldn't with this one. I did find out the massive spoiler and the reason why she got that job, but leaving me hanging throughout the entire book until it was 'discovered' left me angry eye-rolling and not excitedly turning the pages. Because I couldn't get past some of the things that were said, or 'felt', or implied, or handled. I just couldn't.

Some of it was just completely unbelievable. She knew this rockstar and some of his songs, buuuut she didn't know who his ex was? She isn't on social media anywhere but talks about IG? Looks at her brother's public profile? Ummm, really? She has a smashed phone screen so she can't look anything up on Google/websites, but they gave her a locked phone with only two numbers in it so she could get ahold of his PA or manager, and that's it? She is desperate for money, because add in the cliché of someone doing something strictly for the money, but it plays out otherwise. She was seemingly plucked from obscurity to be this guys "hanny" (you know, hot nanny) and yet she has ZERO experience being a PA, or handling a rockstar on a WORLD TOUR, but she is going to go for 3 months for $100k per month? Sure. Her and her crazy claustrophobia are going to rein in this bigger than life, cocky sonofabitch, recovering druggie/alcoholic because she has that skill. Yeah, makes perrrrrfect sense. Or not. It was just a little too much for me to be able to suspend belief enough to make it through all that. Now, having said that, I did make it to some parts that really did give me pause and made me raise my eyebrows in anticipation, because I could easily see why she is loved. I could totally see why people flock to her writing, and that is impressive. It is just a matter of personal preference at this point, for me. I wanted believability in some aspect. I love rockstar books. I love the possibility of some girl falling in love with some guy; one which they would normally not have any probability of actually meeting. That is the fairytale I love. But for some reason, this one just had my head shaking more than normal. The underlying story was great and had the potential to pull me in, had I been able to connect with the original reasoning for her to even be there in the first place.

The writing wasn't terrible; it wasn't anything like that. She was theatrical in some parts, so I know there was going to be some parts that were embellished more than necessary, but there was a definite flair there. I felt that her 'voice' was brash and unrefined, which worked extremely well for the the male POV in this book, especially with how many demons he fought and how much of an arsehole he was to Indie. There were parts that I actually smiled at and was hoping we were getting into some good parts because I needed something to hold onto, but those were far and few between. I will say, the way the title played into the story was brilliant and that is definitely worthy of mention. I loved that part of it! The midnight rendezvous with the blue haired gal? Those super special moments between them really had me anticipating more, and that was the promise I was going to hold onto. I really did enjoy that part. It was truly super sweet.....but the rest drove me nuts. It just didn't work for me and for that, I knew I had to quit while I was ahead. Oh, and he hates everyone, including his bandmates and I definitely didn't like the way they treated him.

My heart rolled in my chest helplessly like a wounded soldier, because Waitrose didn’t deserve anything, much less the only girl on the tour.

The. Only. Girl. On. The. Tour.

If anyone was going to fuck this girl, it’d be me, not my backstabbing drummer and frenemy

I pretty much knew that I needed to walk away, and I am ridiculously sad about it for a number of reasons:

1.) My first read by her. I was super excited to finally hear her voice. I *will* read her again.

2.) That cover. Holy hell, that deserved every single star. That is a beautiful cover. And very fitting.

3.) That synopsis really pulled me in. I wanted the turmoil and the pain this promised me.

"Know what the difference is between you and me, Stardust? You watch me, but I see you."

~BEE