SUMMARY
Don’t miss this prequel to Love on Tour from multi-million-copy-selling author, Portia MacIntosh.
Being best friends with a mega-star has its perks, and music journalist Nicole Wilde takes full advantage of them.
But it also has its responsibilities. When lead singer Dylan King disappears the night before a charity gig, it’s up to Nicole to track him down.
Half a dozen groupies, a haunted hotel, a tattoo parlour, a reality show runner-up and a crazy bed-hopping, sleepless night later – will she find him before the tour bus leaves town? And when she does, is it time to head home? Or to jump on the tour bus and go along for the ride?
Previously published as One Way or Another.
Image and summary from Goodreads.
REVIEW
I picked up Off the Record as an audiobook because I was looking for something light and easy to listen to. I also knew it was a prequel to a series, so I thought it would be a good way to get introduced to the characters and the world before deciding whether to continue with the rest of the books.
Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t for me.
The biggest issue I had was that the story seemed to jump around far too much. I constantly felt like I was trying to catch up with what was happening and instead of becoming immersed in the story, I found myself feeling confused. Just when I thought I was starting to understand where things were going, the narrative would move somewhere else and I struggled to keep track of everything.
Because I listened to this as an audiobook, I think that made it even more noticeable. With an audiobook, I can’t easily flick back a few pages if I’ve missed something, so I found myself rewinding several times to check whether I’d misunderstood something. Unfortunately, I hadn’t. The story just never seemed to flow naturally for me.
There were moments where I could see the potential. I liked the idea behind the story and there were a few funny moments scattered throughout that made me smile. Portia MacIntosh’s writing itself was easy enough to listen to and the narrator did a good job with the material they were given.
The problem was that I never really connected with the characters because I was spending so much time trying to figure out what was going on. By the time I reached the end, I didn’t feel particularly invested in anyone or curious about what happened next.
I kept hoping everything would come together as the story progressed, especially knowing it was setting up the rest of the series, but unfortunately it never quite clicked for me. Instead, I finished the audiobook feeling more relieved than excited.
Overall, this just wasn’t the right book for me. I can appreciate what it was trying to do as a prequel, but I never found myself fully engaged with the story and I struggled to follow the constant shifts throughout the book.
This was a 2 star read for me. While I’m glad I gave it a chance, it hasn’t convinced me to continue with the series. There are simply too many books on my TBR to keep going with a series that didn’t grab me from the very beginning and sadly this one just didn’t hold my attention the way I’d hoped.
-Rachelle
I’m on Instagram at @rachellesbookshelf
