Songs About A Boy (Songs About A Girl #3)
by Chris Russell
Publisher – Hodder Children’s Books
Release Date – August 9th 2018
Buy – Amazon | Book DepositoryMusic, boy bands, first love and heartbreak in the explosive finale to the Songs About A Girl trilogy – a modern love story for anyone who has ever dreamed of being ‘with the band’. From a Zoella Book Club friend.
Just as Charlie allows herself to succumb to Gabe’s charms, the explosive revelation about her mother’s death threatens to pull them apart.
Meanwhile, a media circus has exploded around the future of Fire&Lights – when they announce a US tour to show the world that they are stronger than ever, Charlie gets the opportunity to accompany them. New York City, here she comes! But it’s not all fun and games. Charlie is still feeling all kinds of awkward around Gabe and knowing that her mother’s last days were in America touring with her band, Charlie uses the opportunity to uncover some more truths about her mother’s death.
As Fire&Lights try to win over the world again, and as Charlie and Gabriel uncover the true story that links their pasts, will Charlie finally be able to follow her heart?
So we are reunited with the boys and Charlie for the third and final time and I’m in mourning. I couldn’t bring myself to let go of the final page, I knew then it would be officially over. But hey it doesn’t stop me from re-reading does it.
This book is hard not to spoil with some of the story-line as it’s the final book, so if you don’t want to know, then skip ahead to the next paragraph. There’s something special about Fire&Lights, I know it and so does Charlie. With the break up of Olly from the band, the backlash of the press, and the hate towards Gabe, they didn’t know where their future lies. Charlie didn’t know where she stood with Gabe, and she didn’t know how to take the fact that Gabe’s father had something to do with her mothers death. Everything is up in the air and she just doesn’t know what to do. So with Charlie focusing on her exams, the last she needed was more distraction. Until F&L announces that they are doing a month long tour in America and Charlie and Melissa is coming with them. Not just for the band and it’s success but also for finding out what is really between her and Gabe and truth behind their parents past.
Ah shucks this book made me cry! I’m going to miss this guys so much. Aiden, Yuki, Gabe, Olly and of course the legend of photography Charlie Bloom. Charlie is just the bomb, her strength is her creativity but also her kindness. You don’t really realise this until the band have broken up just how much Charlie is a vital part of the band. Seeing them through her lens, is just the beginning but what you witness is that her photos become a story of the band, how they changed and how they have changed her. They have opened her eyes to the world and she’s the luckiest girl in the world to be able to call Aiden Yuki, Gabe and Olly her friends, they will be friends for life that’s for sure. Charlie really grows as an individual being part of this band as well, but she can also see the band for who they are as individuals as well. She sees them as human beings rather than celebrities hassled by the press, and many stage performances. That’s the beauty of Charlie is lights up Fire & Lights from within. She is the core that brings them together and she makes them something unique, something special.
I did the “What member of Fire & Lights am I? quiz” – and I got Aiden who I knew I would, he’s the quite, soulful member of the band, he appears very vulnerable at times but that’s what makes my heart just lifts about him that he is there for his friends and for the music not for the fame. His partner in crime in the group is Yuki that honestly lights up the band in a comical way. Gabe, is well Gabriel, he’s broody, distant and clouded with darkness at times until Charlie brings something else out him, life. He comes alive with her and that what I loved about their relationship. There isn’t much I can say about Olly apart from the fact they he is part of the band, the band are nothing without him and that’s what you realise during the whole book. One person that really surprised me in this book was Barry, H.the group’s manager, I felt like he was a parent figure throughout the whole book. He may want to the success of the band, but he looks after them as if they are his sons and daughters and Barry is the parent when they are on tour, the person they turn too.
Chris Russell is a sensational writer, you can’t stop turning the pages, he brings a fictional boy band to life in the hearts of his readers, like me. He touches up on the ugliness of the press and the media can be. How friendships are essential to everyone individuals and as a band. But most all that makes my heart swell with pride and love is the importance of family. Fire and Lights are a family, how each branch of the group becomes a blooming tree, how family shouldn’t be taken for granted, you should be honest with them as they are there to support you in life. But sometimes being reckless can be the best decision in life, otherwise Charlie Bloom wouldn’t be able to call Fire and Lights her extended family. As someone who is part of a band himself, he really opens up through his writing how and I found myself glazed eyed in the final moments of this book.
This series is so addictive, fun and most of all it really does give you fuzzy feelings too. I honestly can’t believe it’s over…but can I say that this is one of my favourite series to date now and the ending although sad was spectacular.
Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you to Team BKMRK and Hodder Children’s for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
