Book Review: Deep (Stage Dive, #4) by: Kylie Scott
I was happy to see this book made the New York Times Best Seller list. Even though this is not my favorite book from the Stage Dive series, the series as a whole deserves to be there. I gave this book three out of five stars for some laugh out loud humor and a plot centered around a topic that would place any couple into some genuine conflict. After reading the other three books in this series, I was eagerly awaiting this book. Maybe my opinion of the book is just a reflection of my expectations, but I give it three out five stars since I feel this was not the strongest of the stage dive novels.
What did I like:
1) Seeing the characters I know and love from the other three stage dive novels. It was fun to watch their lives progress.
2) The humor, I love how often I laugh out loud reading these books.
3) The narrative voice, Scott does a great job-writing first person. She keeps a nice balance of internal dialog, external dialog, and the action of the story.
What disappointed me:
1) I was looking forward to Scott showing me how the quiet Bass Guitarist Ben was going to shine as a romantic hero. It didn’t happen for me; I was turned off by Ben. The guy is a big scardy cat weakling, and I don’t like my men weak. I left the book liking Ben less than when I started it. Scott only proves how lame Ben is by contrasting his behavior against Jimmy’s, take that all you Jimmy haters. Ben is too scared to tell his friends he has feelings for someone they’ve declared off limits. That’s weak. He hides his budding relationship and when he is with Lizzy ends up treating her like another one of the hundred or so groupies he’s been with. That’s not romantic, that’s sad. Then when they are forced together you don’t see their initial pull reignite with sweet conversation or moments where they see each other because they need to, there’s just dead air. Ben’s afraid to talk to the woman he claims later to love. That’s weak. Poor Lizzy is strapped to a man who would rather fly somewhere cross country to hang out and play music with strangers than spend time talking to her, and he basically tells her this on two occasions. That’s not romantic to me in the least, those are break up words in my world.
2) Insta-love. Ben and Lizzy persevere through what I would see as arguably the largest conflict of the four stage dive novels, how? Because of insta-love. That just depresses me and undercuts the strength of Ben as a hero. He was going to be infallible no mater how stupid he acted toward Lizzy. Yes many can relate to being stupid in love, but this story gives a happily ever after based on a relationship that’s just not really there for three quarters of the book.
