Somehow, I’ve managed to read and absolutely love all three books in the Songs About A Girl trilogy without publishing a review of any of them, so after finishing the final instalment this morning I thought I’d do things a little differently and review the whole trilogy at once.
Songs About A Girl Summary
(This is the Goodreads summary for the first book in the trilogy. The others would come with spoilers and we don’t want those here!)
Charlie Bloom never wanted to be ‘with the band’. She’s happiest out of the spotlight, behind her camera, unseen and unnoticed. But when she’s asked to take backstage photos for hot new boy band Fire&Lights, she can’t pass up the chance.
Catapulted into a world of paparazzi and backstage bickering, Charlie soon becomes caught between gorgeous but damaged frontman, Gabriel West, and his boy-next-door bandmate Olly Samson. Then, as the boys’ rivalry threatens to tear the band apart, Charlie stumbles upon a mind-blowing secret, hidden in the lyrics of their songs…
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Songs About A Girl Trilogy Review
I’ve read a fair few books about girls like you and me finding themselves falling in love with celebrities, and so many of them are among my favourites (I plan to write a round-up of the best soon). You can’t beat that crazy idea that one of the most famous men on the planet could choose you over everyone else, right? So I knew the Songs About A Girl trilogy would be right up my street when I first heard about it a few years back.
I read the first book in St Lucia and it was the absolute perfect holiday read. The best kind of guilty pleasure about a girl that finds herself hanging out with the hottest boyband around. But there was more to it than that, which is one of the things that captivated me most and made these books stand out from the crowd. There’s a mystery running through Charlie’s story that adds depth, and it quickly becomes clear that all four of the boys in the band have lives that are far from perfect.
Plus, it’s not all smiles and money and jetsetting for Fire&Lights. There are some serious ups and downs, which paints a realistic picture of what it’s really like to be famous and what needs to be sacrificed as a result.
Chris Russell’s storytelling is so captivating and full of drama and suspense that I am not exaggerating one bit when I say I struggled to put all three of them down once I’d started reading them. By the third book I felt so sad knowing that it was coming to an end and that I wasn’t going to be spending any more time with these awesome characters.
I love every one of them. All of the boyband members are fantastic in their own ways, as is Charlie, Charlie’s dad and especially Melissa. In fact, I think the friendship between Charlie and Melissa is one of my favourite fictional friendships ever.
The conclusion in Songs About A Boy was bitter sweet. I didn’t want this trilogy to be over but it felt like a satisfying ending to an epic adventure. There were moments that seemed a little too easy or convenient, and there were probably a little less swoon-worthy moments in book three than I’d have liked, but there’s no doubt this is one of my favourite contemporary YA trilogies around and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
I can’t wait to see what Chris Russell comes up with next!
Be sure to read my interview with Chris Russell from the Songs About A Boy book tour too 🙂
My rating
***** 5/5 stars
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