Before He Was Famous by Becky Wicks

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“Love isn't all sparks and firecrackers. Sometimes it’s more subtle than that.” - Becky Wicks, Before He Was Famous

WARNING: This book contains sexual content and is not for younger readers.

Best Friends falling in love. *sigh* There's always so much history and it seems somewhat easy to slip into the roll of lovers and significant others. Well in Before He Was Famous, that's not true. There's lots of things that both characters have to overcome and both are dating other people so there's that as well. I do feel bad for the people they were dating but really, anyone can see that these two belong together. They call each other Peter and Pan! It's meant to be and obvious as well. I loved the fact that Noah and Chloe had a history together and that Noah and Chloe had these little things that were left over from their childhood and remained even as they were adults. It just seemed really sweet.

Then there was the look we got into Noah and his rising fame. I never really thought about how it must feel to go from normal guy to famous pretty much overnight. And having to deal with a manager and company that won't let you do things that you want to. It's very restrictive. And I was able to view it throughout this book.  It was refreshing and opened my eyes to things a bit.

At times I really felt that Chloe was annoying. She was forcibly putting up things to keep herself away from Noah in anything more than a best friend. It was annoying because I was rooting for the couple but also because everyone else realized they were meant to be together before Chloe accepted it really. But it just wasn't Chloe. Occasionally, Noah made me very frustrated with his very annoying habit of being thick. But that's just me.

Before He Was Famous was a good read, one that gave me a new look at the rising stars of today. It also made me sigh and growl occasionally(not at the same time, thankfully). But if you're looking for a celebrity/best friend romance, than you should give Before He Was Famous a chance.

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Idolism by Marcus Herzig

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"So, although Julian always claimed not to be religious himself, I didn't believe a single word of it." -Marcus Herzig, Idolism

Julian and his friends rise to fame is bumpy. Mostly because Julian just can't help but stir up controversy. But when the time comes to choose, will they give up who they are? or will the bonds of friendship hold true? Find the official description on  Goodreads.

Idolism deals with a topic almost guaranteed to stir up controversy; Religion. But Marcus Herzig handles the topic carefully and I didn't really find anything that could annoy people who are religious. It seemed to present the different believes of the characters as their own believes and didn't put down other religions in order to put one religion before the other. He handled the religious aspect carefully and with respect. Throughout the book, he presents character's opinions as just that, opinions, not fact. It kept things from becoming too harsh or frustrating to the readers.

The chapters were short and narrated by different characters. There were four or five who narrated the book and each chapter saw a different character from the previous chapter speaking. Strangely we never get a chapter from Julian. This made him much more mysterious and his actions much more unexplained and difficult to anticipate. It lent an air of surprise to the book and more specifically his actions. However because of the shortness of many of the chapters and the amount of characters I didn't feel as deep a connection with the characters as I usually would. I did enjoy hearing their different voices and things like that but I didn't feel as if I was in the book, more like I was reading it. If you get what I mean. One thing I didn't really like was that the chapters tended to start with a short reiteration of what had happened before but from a different point of view. While it gave readers a different outlook on things, it could also be annoying and redundant.

Julian was extremely intelligent and many times explained what he meant if he made a comment that people might be questioning. However as we get deeper into the book, it seemed as if his explanations were becoming more like lectures. Some of them were interesting but others I found myself wanting to skim over after a while because they seemed to be going too long or weren't keeping my attention.

Idolism seemed to draw connections between religion and fame, some more obvious, while others were less so. But reading the book, I could understand the reasoning behind these connections and in some ways they seem familiar at least when viewed within the context of this book.

Idolism is a solid book meant to make readers think. At times you'll find yourself wishing things were a bit more interesting but then it picks up a bit and you'll be reading on easily.

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