Exile by Kevin Emerson: Review

Title: Exile
Author: Kevin Emerson
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Buy This Book: Book Depository / Amazon


Catherine Summer Carlson knows how to manage bands like a professional—she’s a student at the PopArts Academy at Mount Hope High, where rock legends Allegiance to North got their start. Summer knows that falling for the lead singer of her latest band is the least professional thing a manager can do. But Caleb Daniels isn’t an ordinary band boy—he’s a hot, dreamy, sweet-singing, exiled-from-his-old-band, possibly-with-a-deep-dark-side band boy. And he can do that thing. That thing when someone sings a song and it inhabits you, possesses you, and moves you like a marionette to its will.
Summer also finds herself at the center of a mystery she never saw coming. When Caleb reveals a secret about his long-lost father, one band’s past becomes another’s present, and Summer finds it harder and harder to be both band manager and girlfriend. She knows what the well-mannered Catherine side of her would do, but she also knows what her heart is telling her. Maybe it’s time to accept who she really is, even if it means becoming an exile herself. . . .

The blurb is one of those vague ones that doesn't really tell you what the book is about. From that alone, I had assumed this would be a contemporary that was about Summer falling for Caleb. Not an amazingly unique or exciting storyline, but an easy, enjoyable read. But, it was actually about a lot more than that and is part one of a series apparently. I can't give too much away when it comes to the book because I don't want to spoil anything. It's probably why the blurb is so vague, because they don't want to ruin any of the surprises that are coming your way. It did deliver on being an easy enough read, and it was quite enjoyable but it wasn't much else. I wasn't excited by it or moved by it. I just read it, finished it and that was it.

Summer is one of those characters who is just not very likeable. She's not a horrible person, but she's just very irritating. She took being a band manager too far, she couldn't separate herself from that role even when trying to be a girlfriend to Caleb. She was pretty much always a manager first and a girlfriend second. Even when he was opening up to her about important stuff in his life, she would solely focus in on how it could benefit the band. It was frustrating and I did wonder why Caleb wanted to be with her. She also gets very jealous about other girls, even though he has given her no reason not to trust him.

Caleb was quite a nice character; he plays guitar and writes his own music. He was the typical brooding lead singer of a rock band, which I actually liked about him. This did make me miss Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover though. This song contains a lot of lyrics and I can never imagine the songs, I would have loved a soundtrack to go along with it so I could listen to them.

The romance in this book develops ridiculously quickly, it's one of the quickest I have seen in a while. Within the first day of meeting each other he asks her out, they go on a date, tells her a huge secret about himself and then they kiss. It was all too fast for me and not very realistic. I feel like you would at least want to get to know someone a little better before you tell them this life changing secret about yourself the way Caleb does.

I liked the scavenger hunt that you find in this book, but there wasn't enough of it. I had no idea this was a series and I can't understand why it is. It feels like it should be one standalone contemporary and nothing else. The hunts were stretched out a bit too much so that we could have another book, but I don't see why we need it. The end was unbelievably frustrating because it wasn't an end, it felt like your copy cuts off halfway through the book. It was only then that I realised I had started another series that is unnecessarily a series. This could have been wrapped up within one book.

2.5/5 Butterflies

It's not that I didn't enjoy the book, it was just that it didn't excite me all that much. It started out quite well and was probably a solid three star read, but then the end ruined it. It was far too abrupt and feels like your copy cuts off, not like you have come to the end of the first book in a series. The storyline doesn't justify the need for more than one book. I believe this whole story could be told within one book. It hasn't made me want to continue the series, but it was an enjoyable enough read.

*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.