You'd Be Mine

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
DNF @ 19%

Country music is the one genre I never thought I'd find myself liking, but here I am with a fiance from Kentucky and a new appreciation for the genre. It's a newer enjoyment of mine, so when I saw this book go up about country music stars, I thought I'd give it a try.

The unfortunate thing, is that while reading this book I was just plain bored. Clay is not a good introduction to the book for me. 9 times out of 10 I need to like the character in order to become invested with the book. I get that this book is going to be a hard look at the dark side of the music industry, but the synopsis really doesn't hint at it too much so I wasn't totally expecting it. I also expected some resistance to Annie signing the contract, but she pretty much just says yes to Clay.

The pacing also felt weird to me... I'm not sure how to explain it except it wasn't smooth. I would have liked to know what was going on and how the tour would happen, but all of a sudden we are on tour, even though Annie doesn't even have an album (right???). I'm actually not even 100% the tour officially started... there was a sound check for something, but then they went off to do a photo shoot that they were late for even though Annie got to sound check early.... Yeah, so I'm also confused on what exactly was going on.

I just couldn't get into it.

Yet, it does have a summery vibe and it may appeal to those who can connect to the characters or are interested in the dangers of the music industry.

TW: underage drinking/alcoholism – I'm pretty sure Clay has a huge problem with alcohol, & mentions of suicide (Annie's parents?)