Review: With The Band

Title: With The Band
Author: L.A. Witt
Publisher: Loose Id
Publication Date: 22 March 2011
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 250 pages

Rating: 3 out of 5

Review: Aaron is back home after his last band self-destructed, along with his relationship with Jason, its guitarist. Joining Schadenfreude, the band his brother and sister started with their friends, brothers Andre and Bastian, seems like the perfect opportunity--especially when the temperature between him and Bastian skyrockets. The only problem? The others will never approve of a relationship between band members. Add to the mix a psycho ex-girlfriend and a battle of the bands, and it's not so much a question of if things will fall apart as it is when.

Aaron is an appealing character, young and fresh. He's a fairly mild personality, with hints of mischievousness but never really stand-out in any direction. He's likable enough, just a bit underwhelming.

Bastian is even more mild, defined more by those that surround him than by himself. He's also likable enough, but still underwhelming.

Most of the cast, actually, is pretty middle-of-the-road. Even Denise (the psycho ex-girlfriend) is fairly vanilla, without any real development or surprises. They behave as you would expect them to behave and never really grow. This isn't to say that they're bad characters--I certainly enjoyed my time with them. There's just lots of things left to explore with them.

The chemistry between Aaron and Bastian is great, fraught with tension and heavy with anticipation. The build-up to their first kiss was awesome, and there's always the sense of heat between them, whatever the situation. I also particularly enjoy that they converse; the entire scene in the hospital made me smile, as too often the couple is too busy screwing around to actually, y'know, get to know each other. It's because of things like that that I could actually see them working as a couple, rather than fuckbuddies.

The story itself is fairly predictable for a band story, with a happy ending that I rather enjoyed. I can't shake the sense that nothing ever really happened, though. What drama there was was quickly resolved, and the conflict, despite the secrecy and issues, was minimal, mostly explored in exposition rather than events. This isn't to say that I didn't like the story as a whole--I did--but I still can't shake the feeling that there could have been a bit more in the way of plot.

I feel I'm doing a bit of a disservice, really, as I read this in fits and starts over the course of a week, but it never quite grabbed me enough for me to read it in a sitting. This may have lessened some of the impact, but I did still enjoy the time I spent with it. The characters were likable, the sex was hot--there are certainly worse ways to pass time.