Kill The Boy Band
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher, Macmillan!
Okay, so just know from the start that it wasn't supposed to go like this. All we wanted was to get near The Ruperts, our favorite boy band.
We didn't mean to kidnap one of the guys. It kind of, sort of happened that way. But now he's tied up in our hotel room. And the worst part of all, it's Rupert P. All four members of The Ruperts might have the same first name, but they couldn't be more different. And Rupert P. is the biggest flop out of the whole group.
We didn't mean to hold hostage a member of The Ruperts, I swear. At least, I didn't. We are fans. Okay, superfans who spend all of our free time tweeting about the boys and updating our fan tumblrs. But so what, that's what you do when you love a group so much it hurts.
How did it get this far? Who knows. I mean midterms are coming up. I really do not have time to go to hell.
Okay so, I was so intrigued by this book because I didn't get the synopsis above, I just got the synopsis that was saying how fangirls get a bad rep and our narrator wanted to tell her side of the story and so on and so I wasn't really sure what to expect going in to it! I obviously knew something bad was going to happen, but I wasn't really sure what! This synopsis from GoodReads goes in to way more detail!
I thought this book was completely brilliant. I had such a sense of anticipation going in to this book and as you open it there's a quote about telling the truth and then another page with the whole 'I want to tell my side of the story' bit. I could feel the anticipation building and then it's straight in there with what's going on. We have four girls, Apple, Erin, Isabel and our narrator Samantha, they are huge fans of this band, and each has their own favourite member. Not only is there the whole kidnapping incident mentioned above, but there's other stuff that happens, and I liked how the friendship between the group of girls was explored. The dynamics between all of them really! You have Samantha and Erin who are best friends, but is Erin telling her everything? You have their friends Isabel and Apple, two other fans they met through the band....but how close are they really? Is Isabel taking Samantha's place? Is there something they're keeping from her? It was interesting to see if they where as good friends as they thought they where, and I liked that you had that as well as everything with the band.
This book is gold, excuse the pun? Is that a pun? eh. ANYWAY. This book is completely hilarious, the narrative is scathing at some points about other members of the band. It's dark, it's got a murdery vibe. The plot is something that would never in a million years happen, and I would love to say the characters are kind of ridiculous but I guarantee there's an Apple out there somewhere. I laughed so much while reading this book, like laugh out loud, cackling kind of laughing. Why? Because this book makes fun of boy bands, fangirls, teen girls crushing on celebrities in general, and it's funny, but at the same time, there are some insightful, although funny, thoughts on the whole thing scattered throughout the narrative, thoughts that you kind of find yourself nodding to. You could say that the girls are being defended a little bit at some points! Or their right to be fangirls is defended, their crushes, not like...kidnapping and stuff! The thing about the book is that it's consistently hilarious throughout the book, not just here or there, you find yourself laughing so much at the jokes, the observations, the silliness of it and so on. I will admit, I did feel like I probably shouldn't be laughing at some points, but I couldn't not!
This book also makes you cringe, if you've ever been a fangirl of anything. I'm in my early 20's, trust me, I've done the whole fangirling, social media thing about many many things. I've even been there with bands, back in the day. Not to this level, of course, but still! I was a really shy kid, probably because I was so chubby, so I'd never have done anything like in the book, but I did my fair share of fangirling....bands...tv shows...actors and so on. Oh and there was my football phase, can't forget that! So I cringed once or twice thinking about all the "fangirly" things I've been known to do, and some of the truths that just hit a little close to him. There was some awkward laughter like "oh glad I've never done this...or that...ha...ha...ha".
This book is a gem. It really is, and what a debut for the author! I loved her writing style, I loved her humour. I loved how she told it from Samantha's point of view, and as you read and things get darker and darker, you're right there with Samantha...but then at one point you begin to wonder about her. She seems potentially unreliable as a source, and you start to question her and what's happened and so on.
Kill The Boy Band is completely and utterly darkly hilarious, it's even silly at some points! It's relatable, well written, fully of observations that ring true. It's even a little bit feminist at points, as well as diverse as we have a range of characters. I read this in a couple of hours because I was so caught up in the drama, the girls where brilliant and funny and the band themselves where freaking hilarious when you got to see them. I seriously can't stress enough how brilliant this book is, you will laugh out loud consistently throughout the entire book, even though you feel bad about it. Truly a brilliant debut!
