Oliver Cunning - Backstage Pass

Whenever I read a non-fiction book, I have the urge to alternate between it and a fiction book for some reason, maybe I need to have some form of escapism, go into a fictional world all of the time.  So while reading A Moveable Feast, I started to read Backstage Pass to provide a contrast between reality and fiction.

Backstage Pass is the first in Olivia Cunning's Sinners on Tour series which focusses on the metal band Sinners; like Michelle A. Valentine's Black Falcon series, each book in the series focusses on a separate band member.  Many of Olivia Cunning's books focus on musicians and their love lives due to her love of music that she's had since she was a kid, seeing Styx for the first time, and that is combined with her love of romance fiction; it's a wonderful concept and many have done it but each have their own twists on the concept and I can't wait to read Cunning's variations.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Adult audience

Favourite Characters: Brian - very sweet and loveable

Favourite Part: "Just love me, Myrna," he whispered against her lips.  "Please."
She turned her head to break his kiss.  "What did you say?"
He stared over her head, swallowing several times.  "Make love to me,  Myrna.  Please." - Page 268

Good Points: The characters and their personalities; the story; the relationships explored were interesting; great combination of different elements; better than Black Falcon series

Bad Points: Not a lot of story in comparison to the amount of time the couple spend together

Backstage Pass follows Myrna Evans, a psychology professor who begins to study the groupies of the Sinners, a five-piece metal band.  Through her work, she becomes to get along with the band, especially Brian Sinclair, the lead guitarist and songwriter with fingers that could melt a woman's heart; while all of the band try to seduce her, Brian is the only one that succeeds.  As their love affair escalates, Brian finally gets over his writer's block and Sinners becomes even better and they reach new levels of admiration with their fans.  However, it's not all sex and music, providing something different to their story.

The characters of Backstage Pass and the series, Sinners on Tour, and their personalities were well thought out which is wonderful to see because sometimes contemporary romances focus on the sex and forget about building characters' personalities.  We were given their backgrounds over the course of the book as Myrna got to know the men in the band, even the secondary characters, and we were able to find out about their families even if it was only briefly mentioned.  This has laid great ground work for the rest of the series as they will already be established in our heads which is a great use of the first book in a series because then it won't be too long to get into the next story.

Behind the sex that Myrna and Brian have, the story was great in my opinion because I got to know more about each character as we went along and they became more interesting as the story went along.  Myrna and Brian's individual stories were heartbreaking in a way which made them interesting as they struggle with their own personal issues and if this is the same vein that Cunning is going with the rest of the series, I can't wait to read the other books and get to know the characters better.

The relationships that were explored in Backstage Pass, not just Myrna and Brian's but the band's relationship and dynamic as well as Brian's relationship with his parents were interesting and clearly thought out.  While Myrna and Brian's relationship drives the story, the other relationships shape the characters especially Brian as we get his history and learn about his character - his vulnerabilities and his strengths such as his inherited natural talent and his feelings of inadequacy, all things that make him interesting.  As long as Cunning does at least something similar in the other books in this series, they will be enjoyable.

Backstage Pass has a fantastic combination of sweet romance, steamy sex, and a wicked sense of humour that comes out through Cunning's writing style.  On this fact alone I would definitely read more of the Sinners of Tour series because it made me laugh, go "aww", as well as other emotions - quite a range really.  Not many books I've read have done this and for this, I am glad I chose to read this book.

Last year, I started to read a similar series, Black Falcon, which enjoyed and it has extremely similar characteristics as this series; a book dedicated to an individual band member and their respective lover(s) while the series revolves around the band over the course of time.  However, I think Backstage Pass was better than Rock the Heart as I found the story more enjoyable because I connected with Myrna and Brian's story more and I found Brian endearing.

Brian was an incredibly sweet character and very loveable which makes him a great main character.  It was interesting to see his character develop so much because we see through Myrna's eyes and he goes from the idolised, assumed version - AKA Master Sinclair, rock god - to Brian, a vulnerable musical genius with trust issues but a heart of gold.  For me, when Myrna starts to see the real Brian and begins to fall him (though she denies it), I fell for him because I just wanted to hug him and love him like he wants Myrna to.

In comparison to the amount of sex that the main characters have and how much focus there was on it, there isn't a lot of story even though I thoroughly enjoyed Backstage Pass.  I understand the primal need to be with someone but sometimes I think there needs to be some conversation, even if it means other characters being there because it would have brought something else to the story, fleshing out the characters a bit more for the rest of the series.

"Just love me, Myrna," he whispered against her lips. "Please."

She turned her head to break his kiss. "What did you say?"

He stared over her head, swallowing several times. "Make love to me, Myrna.  Please." - Page 268

I adored this part as it summed up the entire book for me; a man longing to love someone and for them to love him back while Myrna is stunned and shocked that anyone could love her or want to love her so Brian tries to hide this from her as best he can.  Brian's a romantic and just wants to commit to Myrna and that's what makes him a wonderful character for a contemporary romance in a world that has 50 Shades of Grey being turned into a film; he's sweet, tender, yet passionate and creative, musically and sexually, and that is expressed through his actions as he tries not to put a lot of pressure on Myrna because of her commitment issues.  While I love this part because of Brian, Myrna frustrates me because she is constantly denying her feelings for Brian even though it is clear, to me anyway, that she wants more than sex with this beautiful young man despite the fact that she thinks she doesn't deserve it.

While somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of sex Myrna and Brian have, though I am not overly surprised with a contemporary romance book, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and its characters because there was a depth to them that made them more realistic to me.  Cunning's humour shone through her writing and combined with the sex and romance, I thought Backstage Pass was truly wonderful and I am now inclined to read more of the series.  As a final note, if I could go back and read this book before I read Rock the Heart, I would because Backstage Pass blew the first Black Falcon book out of the water.

Predictions

1. The tour buses become even more crowded

2. The boys start to settle down, still touring but going to their own homes more often
3. Myrna and Brian continue to make beautiful music together and while shocking, a pregnancy scare occurs - just a theory, it must happen to at least one of the band