very authoritative look at life on the road lighter on romance than expected and heavier on logistics and the touring experience which I think will pleasantly surprise readers looking for something different from celeb YA Particularly uniue is that Chelsea isn't the cool frontwoman everyone adores they basically all treat her like crap and the newbie she is even as they recognize she's talented Definitely a different take than others of its subgenre HAPPY RELEASE DAY TO THIS BOOK Also posted at Her Book ThoughtsFor the Record is a fangirls dream come true This book is a story about a girl whos suddenly thrust into the spotlight when one phone call changed her life and made her the lead singer of a famous rock band Getting away from her small town Yeah thats a good thing since they never seemed to care about her anyway But how is living in close uarters with three guys who could barely tolerate her any different I flew through this book from the very first page and if it weren't for school taking up my priorities I'm sure I would've devoured this in one sitting Through Chelseas eyes we see behind the scenes of what life is for a rock band the dynamics of it and how life is on tour True I was a bit wary at first that the author wouldnt pull off giving us authentic rock star feels but then thank God I always
read the acknowledgments first and found out that she knows someone who has experience in the music industry so I knew right then that this book and I are in safe hands What I loved most about this is that this book is just brimming with personality Each and every one of the characters have their own characteristics that sets them apart from the others I appreciated how the author made them so uniue that I couldnt help but want to know them Theres Pem who is the bands resident grouch completely anal about everything and all about the artistic merit the yin to Becketts yang Beckett is the one who you would just want to hang out with for hours talk about life and music and never get bored And then theres Malcolm the fun loving charming laid back drummer of the band whos all about the good time All of them served their purpose in the story and in no way were they resorted to the background but instead they helped us in getting to know all the layers of Chelseas character Chelsea is a flawed person and yet I found it easy in me to understand her Yes I got frustrated with her and the decisions she made but I get where she was coming from I love flawed characters who eventually grow up and learn from their mistakes There were times especially near the end that I felt like theres in her that still needs some growing up to do I dont know why but even though that is the case Im much forgiving with Chelsea as opposed to other YA characters that Ive encountered before Shes complicated but I kept telling myself to give the girl a break Not only is she still adjusting to being famous shes also juggling the task of making her band mates love her Who says the life of a rock star is ever easy I guess the only major uibble I have is the lack of solid friendship I get why Chelseas band mates may be aloof towards her at first and I didnt expect them to suddenly be BFFs with her But Mandy who's supposedly her best friend didn't really seem capable to that task She was shallow insensitive and ungrateful I know she was the only one who stuck with Chelsea when everyone in their school seemed to hate her but a true friend wouldn't hold it in your head just to guilt you in doing something you have no control over She made bad decisions and she just expected Chelsea to fix the conseuences for her And when Chelsea couldnt deliver she betrayed her If it were me in Chelseas place I would certainly not find it easy in me to be that forgiving For the Record's ending is open ended and Im still hoping against hope that a seuel or even just a novella about what happens next to the characters is a possibility All in all this is a great book filled with great characters who feel incredibly real you wont want to let go Time flies so fast when youre reading a good book thats for surestarsOh man this book was so painful for me As most of you probably know my husband is a drummer and therefore I am always drawn to books involving music especially rock bands The idea of a story based around a rock band on tour struck me as something I would definitely like And honestly there was a lot about this story that I did enjoy But the characters just had me pulling my hair out Chelsea the new lead singer of Melbourne is loving the type of life others only dream about After losing a singing competition on TV Melbourne's manger contacts her after the loss of their female lead singer They offer Chelsea the job giving her the tour period to prove herself as part of the band Touring across the country in a bus with the band members and her best friend who is offered an assistant position to help with the behind the scenes on tour sounds pretty incredible Amirite This story had so much potential to me SO MUCH It's basically the book description of my dreams The one problem I had and guys it's a HUGE one was the characters All of them There was zero personality All of the band members had very similar voices and very little to separate them as far as dialog personality and even actions at times But my biggest issue was their voice they literally ALL sounded the same We'd read a sentence along the lines of He was always so funny but where was the humor Where was the guy saying the funny things that we're being told he says Each and every band member all said and did and acted exactly the same I often was completely confused on who was talking and which guy was which Though we were TOLD they were different they didn't ACT differently It was such a big turnoff for me that I struggled through the entire story I couldn't get over the lack of personality to these characters They were all extremely monotone redundant and way too similar for my liking The girls however had personality I did like Chelsea and thought a lot of her actions etc were a lot of fun She took a bit to grow on me but by the second half of the book I was really routing for her to find herself and become the person she really wanted to beAlso the romance fell completely flat for me A puddle on the floor It's hard for me to even call it a romance honestly It just didn't work for me AT ALLIt pains me to write this review I despise reviewing books that I wasn't a fan of Firstly I feel terrible about hurting the author's feelings I mean authors put their lives into writing these books and to see someone pick it apart must be very difficult So I'm sorry if I have hurt any feelings with this review This is in no way a criticism regarding the author herself I do plan to read her next book Going Greek But I have to be honest since that's what I always promise to do on this blog That's what we're here for right Maybe the story hit a little too close to home for me as well being in the band scene for so many years with my husband and maybe that's why I was tougher on this one I'm not sure what exactly went wrong honestly I've seen uite a few glowing reviews for this book so there are definitely a lot of fans Don't take my review as gospel Check out the other reviews and give this book a chance if you're interested in it I think there is definitely a group of people that will thoroughly enjoy it Sadly it just wasn't my cup of tea Thanks to Delacorte Press for the review copyFind this review and others like it at Lost in Literature DNFThis book is just not working for me I really don't care what happens to any of the characters and the story doesn't seem to be going anywhere I have absolutely no desire to read any further I received an advanced reader edition of this book from Random House Children's Delacorte for the purpose of providing an honest review I'd have enjoyed it way without the Lucas Rivers plot My review can also be found on my Blog Bettgeschichten I recieved an eARC of For the Record from Random House in exchance for a honest review I have so much love for this book and I am beyond happy I got the chance to read it five months prior to its publication This book just truly has it all a rock band composed on fun and different characters a cute Hollywood movie star the love for music and an outstandingly fun main character Chelsea who spreads her wings as lead singer of Melbourne Charlotte Huang did an amazing job at capturing the different emotions that go through Chelsea as she experiences her first concerts and everything that belongs to being the new kid in town or rather the new girl in the band And I love the fact that she didn't just do that in the first twenty pages and then forgot about it but rather that it took her the entirety of the book to develop confidence in what she does and finding her place in this entirely new world she finds herself in Chelsea is a great main character and story narrator Her thoughts and descriptions of her emotions are very clear and seem real like they would belong to someone who went through all that she went through She is fun and she has a personality She isn't just a bleak character who just seems to exist and do whatever the author wants her to do but rather like a layered character with flaws and traits which make her the person she is All her decisions fit her personality and way of thinking The other guys in the band Pam Malcom and Beckett are a lot of fun and they are all uniue and different Pam is of a grumpy cat Malcom like one who likes groupies and Beckett the guy you'd like to hang out with and talk about music for hours I enjoyed them as characters a lot and it was really hard to say goodbye to them once the book was over Another thing that makes this book great and stands out is the degree of insight we get to see into the life of a rock band of the life on tour and how it feels to be the one on stage and not in the crowd It perfectly captured the dynamics of the band and how crazy life can get when you are in the spotlight when you are the one with thousands of fans who watch every step you take and gossip knows your secrets before you know them All in all I think this book was amazing fun and felt incredibly real which is always a big plus For the Record is exciting fun and filled with endearing characters which will make saying goodbye to the book surprisingly hard I think this book is definitely something for those who always dreamed of being a rock star themselves or wondered how life on tour must feel like I recommend it to basically everybody because it's great and something like a fan girls dream come true.