Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Review of The Sweetest Star by Raleigh Ruebins



3.5 stars


Eric Ronson used to be a superstar… now he’s only cooking up trouble. He needs a fake boyfriend, and fast.

As a former member of the boy band 5*Star, Eric never imagined he’d be starting a new gig as a host on a live cooking show—much less that he’d need a co-host to really help his star shine.

Dash Thompson loved his quiet life as a food writer… until a horrible breakup really stirred things up.

The offer to be on a TV show with Eric might give his life the spice it so desperately needs to get him out of his funk, but there’s only one problem (ok, maybe two)…. He has to pretend to be Eric’s boyfriend and he kind of hates Eric.

The idea of being Eric’s fake boyfriend really puts a hair in Dash’s biscuit, because Eric is everything that Dash isn’t: loud and unpredictable, wild and fun loving… so why does he want sleep with him so bad?

As the cameras roll, the line between what’s fake and what’s real quickly blurs when Eric and Dash realize they have better chemistry than sugar and spice. Can Eric give up his playboy ways and rise to the occasion? Will Dash’s heart crumble like a cookie?

Book 2 in the Under the Star series by Raleigh Ruebins, and we were so excited to the follow up for a good first book, but although we really enjoyed the story it didn’t have that spark that we loved in the first of the series.

The good:
-          - Dual POV: This dual POV really works for The Sweetest Star.  Both characters have very clear voices and we didn’t have to flip backward to remind ourselves who was speaking.  Such a plus!
-         -  Story flow: This is an easy story to read, it flows and it really well written.  It is wonderfully edited with none of those niggly continuity issues that distract us for books.
-       -   The chemistry:  There is real chemistry between Dash and Eric and really that is what pulled this story through for us.  You can feel the pull between these guys, but then they get too far in their heads and it falls apart for us.

The bad:
-       -   Unlikable main characters:  It is hard when you don’t really *like* the main characters.  Eric is self-centered and frustrating and Dash is a meek character that never really stands up for himself.  They go in this circle of “I care for him but don’t want to tell him” and “I’m not good enough” and round and round and round.  Frustrating.
-      -    Boy Band: ??  Other than a small mention that Eric was in the Boy Band that is it.  I thought there would be more mention of this, but rather we move quickly to the food/blog/tv  show recording and miss this important piece all together.

Don’t get us wrong, we enjoyed this book, and maybe if it was the first in the Under the Stars series we would have been more in love with Eric and Dash’s story.  But after reading the first in this series The Sweetest Star fell kinda flat for us.  We aren’t ready to give up on the series and looking forward to the 3rd book in the Series.

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