Review: Falling Stars and Stellar Evolution by Sadie Grubor

This review is my first one in a new feature of the blog that I am starting. I download many free books from Amazon and because my TBR list far too long they end up pretty much forgotten. So I decided to challenge myself and to read and review at least one book that I got for free every month. I am not very good with challenges but will do my best to keep this one up. This is my way of saying thank you to the authors who give us the chance to try their books for free.

This review covers Falling Stars (Falling Stars 1), a novel and the accompanying novella, Stellar Evolution (Falling Stars 1.5)

Title: Falling Stars (Falling Stars 1)
Author: Sadie Grubor
Date of publication: 14 August 2012
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Author's links:
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 2,5 stars

Goodreads Blurb

'A falling, or shooting, star, is the common name for the visible path of a meteoroid if it survives impact with the Earth's surface.'

Christopher Mason, the infamous lead singer of The Forgotten, has a reputation for being 'difficult'. Harboring dark memories and the burden of a painful secret, he struggles with a past he desperately wants to destroy. Amidst this star's battle with the pull of his demons, he risks losing everything he’s built as a musician. 

Enter Mia Ryder, the head strong yet laid back, lead singer of Hushed Mentality. As the opening act for The Forgotten, Mia and her all girl rock band are sure to gain the publicity needed to sky rocket to the next level in their dream career. 

Mia's laidback personality is challenged by Chris’s plotting for their demise and removal of the 'girlie band' from 'his' tour. But even Chris's best laid plans aren't prepared for Mia. 

As the demons pull this shining star down, is the one person he wants to eliminate the only person who can save him from the collision course he is on?

My Review

As a fan rock star romance just reading the blurb and I was immediately drawn to this book. I was very happy at the beginning to discover that we have not one but two rock bands - girls vs boys. Naturally, this situation quickly progressed into girls and boys being together :) 

The story started well for me. Christopher was all dark and moody and troubled, yet I liked him as a character. I also liked Mia with her determination and feisty attitude. What I did not like very much was the weird relationship which developed between them. Their attraction to one another felt almost supernatural which I did not get at all. I understand Chris's insecurities and darkness, but I was disappointed in Mia. She just accepted his almost bipolar attitude towards her without questions or objections. I was annoyed with her passiveness, she didn't even try to rationalise things.

The middle section was the weakest for me. It felt repetitive and unnecessary extended. The same situations with slight variations were described again and again. It seems that all they characters did was sleep or rest after their performances. The relationships between all the characters didn't really move forward. Some editing and cutting back of repetitive descriptions would benefit greatly the both the plot and the character development.

I rather enjoyed the final section of the book. There was more dynamics and plot development. The conclusion was not as satisfactory as I would have liked but still I think it was a good one.

Title: Stellar Evolution (Falling Stars 1.5)
Author: Sadie Grubor
Date of publication: 20 October 2012
Genre: Contemporary Romance

My rating: 3 Stars

My Review

The accompanying novella to Falling Stars, Stellar Evolution, provided a much needed epilogue for Mia and Chris's story. It also set the stage for Jackson's story which I am looking forward too. 

I liked it better than the full novel. I liked the new, happier Chris we met here. Mia also is different, more mature and confident, which I quite liked. Their interaction is more realistic and seems authentic. 

I liked the tone of the novella and the writing style was better. There were no repetitions and the dual POVs worked better than in Falling Stars where whole scenes were just replayed from Chris't and Mia's POV. 

Stellar Evolution made up for the the almost lack of sex scenes in Falling Stars. In fact, there is over-abundance of steamy scenes some of which, despite being hot, are redundant in my opinion.

I felt really bad for the heart-broken Jackson (I liked what we saw of him in Falling Stars). I hope he gets his happy ending in his own book soon.