Review: Aimee and the Heartthrob (Backstage Pass #1) by Ophelia London

Aimee and the Heartthrob (Backstage Pass #1)
by Ophelia London
Publisher: Entangled: Crush
Release Date: April 14th, 2015

Rate: OK (2 stars)

Synopsis:

He never noticed her before, but now she’s all he can see…

Miles Carlisle is every teen girl’s fantasy. His rugged good looks and exotic British accent have helped catapult his boy band, Seconds to Juliet, to super-stardom. But after two disastrous and very public breakups, Miles isn’t interested in dating just any girl; he wants The One. And the only girl he’s interested in is not only his best friend’s little sister―and off-limits―but won’t even give him the time of day…

As a kid, Aimee Bingham had a huge thing for Miles…until he made fun of her for always tagging along. Now that she’s outgrown both him and her pigtails. the prospect of spending two weeks on tour with the childhood crush who broke her heart isn’t exactly enticing. Except now Miles seems interested. Very interested. And no matter how hard Aimee tries to resist him, her crush is definitely making a comeback.

But everyone knows that falling for a heartthrob is a backstage pass to heartbreak…

What I liked about this book is the main idea the author had: two friends encountering each other again in a rock band tour, one now famous and one of them had a terribly crush on the other. Sounds a pretty great story, right?

I also liked that we have the chance to read the story from Aimee and Miles point of view so this gives you a more insight into the story. 

My favorite character from the story was Aimee. She was what you would call a true teenager: insecure, trying to fight a crush on Miles and complaining about having to change her summer plans. She felt real and I just love it when characters make sense.

What I didn't like about the story, though, was that at some point I felt like some characters contradicted themselves. Specially Miles. I had a hard time believing they were teenagers from time to time and at other parts of the story it was pretty clear that you were dealing with teenagers. That was a bit confusing for me. Moreover, Miles was a tough character for me. At the beginning of the story is presented as the typical bad boy who's famous and into music, but then turns out to be a total sweetheart who didn't even recognize Aimee at all and who have never had a crush on her, but all of a sudden he cannot live without her? I didn't find their interactions "inspirational" enough to make Miles write good music.

Another thing was the drama. You know there's has to be some drama at some point, but what happened felt a bit forced to me and kind of ridiculous. I think that the author had a great idea for this story, but when it all came up to the climax where everything goes wrong didn't exactly find the right topic or the right situation. Since they were professing a strong feeling, not sure I'm able to say love here, between the two main characters, it felt kind of immature what happened between them and torn them apart.

I'm not sure if I'm used to rockers who have enough age to drink alcohol or what, but I found it way too sweet. Don't get me wrong, I started this book expecting something like that a good, sweet story between teenagers, but since I didn't develop a special attachment to the characters and wasn't truly invested in the story I found all way too sweet for my taste.

This was definitely not a story for me, but if you think the synopsis attracts you I always encourage you to read it and create your own opinion.

USA Today bestselling author Ophelia London was born and raised among the redwood trees in beautiful northern California. Once she was fully educated, she decided to settle in Florida, but her car broke down in Texas and she’s lived in Dallas ever since. A cupcake and treadmill aficionado (obviously those things are connected), she spends her time watching arthouse movies and impossibly trashy TV, while living vicariously through the characters in the books she writes. Ophelia is the author of SOMEDAY MAYBE; DEFINITELY, MAYBE IN LOVE; ABBY ROAD and CROSSING ABBY ROAD; the Perfect Kisses series including: FALLING FOR HER SOLDIER, PLAYING AT LOVE, SPEAKING OF LOVE, and MAKING WAVES; the upcoming AIMEE AND THE HEARTTHROB for Entangled’s Teen Crush line, and the upcoming Sugar City series for Entangled’s Bliss line. Visit her at ophelialondon.com. But don’t call when The Vampire Diaries (or Dawson’s Creek) is on.