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Adeline’s Aria by Laynie Bynum

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This was a highly enjoyable read: a real “wish fulfilment” romance fantasy of a US high school student falling in love with a famous British rock star/Hollywood actor.

I did enjoy the first half most. There was a sense of realism – almost like a teenage girl’s diary – about the emotions that Addy went through. Jude Blair was perhaps rather more what a teenage girl would like her heartthrob to be, rather than the actual sex/drugs/rock’n’roll reality of most people in showbiz. Compared to the antics of the average shot-to-fame boybander, he was very clean, sober and patient!

I adored the way each chapter started with some kind of news update/media commentary – from showbiz sites, blogs, fan comments etc – reacting to the latest gossip about Jude and Lana. That worked really well and was realistic.

As a Brit some of the UK elements amused me, particularly the Thatcher/Blair combo. There’s no way the UK tabloids would have missed that one!

The Lana storyline didn’t quite work for me: her character seemed to oscillate between villain and ally, and I wasn’t convinced by the “fake relationship” thing (Jude was famous enough by then to break it off publicly, and it’s easy for celebrity agents to arrange new, fake relationships if need be). I did think Lana had a lot more potential as a character.

All in all it’s a rollercoaster ride of emotion with a very happy ending.