Review: In the Band by Jean Haus

In the Band by Jean Haus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads summary:


When family problems push Riley Middleton into giving up a percussion scholarship in another state and attending college from home, her friends push her to try out for a local rock band. Of course, Riley makes the band. She rules at the drums. 

Riley soon finds out rock bands have a different dynamic than marching bands, especially when each of her male band mates has a major ego and is a major player. Two of them relentlessly flirt with her. The other—a dark, sexy rock god she can’t help being attracted to— is a total jerk and pushes her to quit. She becomes determined to ignore his rudeness and his hotness. Even if she was interested in jerks, a hook up would probably get her booted out of the ego-ridden band, and playing keeps her sane. Behind the drums, the world and its troubles evaporate. 

If she wants to stay in the band, Riley needs to ignore the growing sparks between her and her band enemy. But as she gets to know the man behind the stage persona, ignoring him proves to be more difficult than flowing through a time sig shift.


My review:

Cute story. Not a long read or a heavily involved plot. There's a good bit of angst, a good conflict between the two main characters, It's what I'd call a perfect beach or long-car-trip read.

I think one of the things that drew me the most (apart from Romeo and Riley, but I'll get to them) is the brilliant job the author did with the cycle of depression/enabling. It never starts out as a conscious decision - just one little choice after another until those decisions are habits. You make dinner one night, then the next, and a week later you're making dinner all the time and the depressed has one less reason to climb out.

As a depression sufferer, I'm always interested to see how other authors handle the subject and I have to say it was very, very well handled here. Riley's mom has her moments of robe-and-bed, but she's mostly functional. Especially with Riley picking up her slack. She's not a caricature of the disease but a very well-written sufferer. It was hard to watch her hit bottom, but necessary for her, and for Riley, to find that bottom so they could both begin to climb back out.

Romeo. Oh Romeo (sorry. had to.) He was such a complete and utter jerk. At first. Of course. I thought it was going to head in the direction of 'love turning him around' until the first time Jamie came to band practice. it was the first glimpse he gave us that the dick persona was just that. A costume he pulled on and zipped up. The reasons for it melted my heart just as they melted Riley's and made the times he put it back on again that much harder.

Riley I loved to pieces even when I wanted to shake her. I saw why she was doing what she was doing, I even understood why she was doing it. I still wanted to slap her upside the head for it. What I really loved was her reactions to music - to when she played, the longing when she heard the drumline, the bubble she was in when she was onstage. I didn't understand a lot of the terminology, but I could hear the sounds she described perfectly.

Fabulous story, well written characters, and makes me want to read more from this author sooner rather than later.