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Sound Bites (2013)

by Rachel K. Burke(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

HarperCollins Publishers

review 1: 2.5 stars.Not what i expected.For some reason i thought this was a YA/NA book going in. When i read the book, it had the cover with the pair of pink converse tip-toeing on a pair of dark blue ones which just screams YA. When i looked the book up on Goodreads, the alternative cover has two people making out like the cover of an adult romance that revolves mainly around how omg-hot the male protagonsit is. So i was unsure.Turns out this book is neither.It's very short, basically novella, and takes a couple hours, tops, to read - a bit longer if, like me, you decide to plug in your ear phones and put the MC's music tastes to the test in the background. The plot revolves around Renee, a 25 year old college graduate who has just moved back home from where she studied, worked an... mored lived in LA. And caught her BFF sleeping with her boy-friend. There's quite a lot of flash backs to start off, but nothing too long or uninteresting, even though i usually hate flash backs in books when all i want to know is what is going to happen next, not what's already passed. Renee meets Dylan in her apartment and they become friends after she hears him playing Jeff Buckley through the floorboards. I now know who Jeff Buckley is. Read this book and you will too. I think you can guess what happens from there, but keep in mind this is a "love-story" rather than a romance. Like a young-teen-appropriate novel with adult characters. Actually, i think teenagers would expect more than a couple of mentioned kisses. Dylan is not romantic, but Renee finds it hilarious so whatever. I think all that usual gushing over looks and all that faff wouldn't work in this story, though - everything that is and isn't included fits with the feel of it. And there are some laugh out loud moments. Renee had a really solid personality that i didn't necessarily always relate to, but could still enjoy.I would've liked to hear more about her ex-career as a music journalist, and maybe some more definition to her relationship with Dylan but it is a REALLy short read so it's understandable the pace it had to move at. Not bad.
review 2: 2.75 Stars.I have to be honest and say that Sound Bites is probably the first HarperImpulse title I haven't totally enjoyed. Don't get me wrong, it is OK and if you have a few hours to fill you could do alot worse. But I feel that the story has so much potential that is still screaming for release. I have to say that it does contain the best "break the ice" line I have ever read, in the fact that it is also the worst "break the ice" line I have ever read as well...."Nice child-molester van you got there".......LOL The above had me laughing for a good couple of minutes, basically because it is so un-pc, blunt and wholly inappropriate that I absolutely loved it. There is alot of dialogue in the book that is pretty blunt (not so un-pc) and it is refreshingly funny in parts because of it, but on the whole the book just didn't gel together well for me.Sound Bites is set around Renee and Dylan, the first 40% of the book was quite enjoyable, I liked their quirky similarities with music and Renee's determination to get Dylan's talent out in the mainstream also the fact that they both had feelings for each other but didn't realise it, made it cute and enjoyable. But then for some reason as soon as they actually "got together" they reverted from a couple of mid-twenty somethings back to teenagers. This transformation was pretty conclusive as well, dialogue, actions, reactions and their general behaviour towards each other just struck me as pretty juvenile, which is a shame as I was really enjoying the book up to that point.In summary, I would definitely read another book by Rachel K. Burke, as I think she has extreme potential. Sound Bites was enjoyable, I just feel that the second half of the book was a little rushed and could have done with a little further editing/re-writes to keep up with the quality of the first half. ARC provided through Netgalley, in exchange for the above honest review. less

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