Book Review: The Secret Life of Rockstars by Suzanne Lazear

Saving the world, one tour stop at a time.

Eighteen-year-old Bitsy Butler has never quite fit in, not with the dragons who raised her, the druid who took her in, or even with the non-human members of the cirque noir punk band she thinks of as family. Her chance to prove she can make it on her own comes with her band's first big solo tour. It’s all going according to plan when an angel walks into a bar and demands help with his demon problem.

If she doesn't step up, a magical war will break out, threatening Arizona and all those who call it home. With the help of a human, a sexy dragon, and the members of her band, Bitsy must stop an angry mob of chaos demons before the band leaves for their next tour stop. It’s nice to be needed, but Bitsy has no idea how to defeat the demons and she just might get herself killed trying. But then, at least one problem would be solved...

Fitting in doesn’t matter if you’re dead.

My Review: 
Bitsy joins her friends onstage for a new tour of their cirque noir punk band who are in Reno when a half ogre tries to kill Jules after the gig, forcing Bitsy to risk punishment to save her friend, as she has a compulsion to help people who ask for help. Jake is an angel who knows about the compulsion and forces her to help him but he wants her to destroy the chaos demons that are destroying the city that is next on her tour stop. The trouble is, Bitsy has no idea how to do what he asks and manages to get herself into trouble by trying... 

I liked Bitsy as a character and her compulsion to help people was interesting along with her non human attributes that come to the fore as the plot moves along. She is easy to like and root for and I shared her frustration over her not knowing how to do what Jake asks her to do. I felt sympathy for her with Jake landing a task like this on her instead of dealing with it himself, and the fact that he was a nightmare to deal with. She is told that she is a Guardian, who must help others but it doesn't explain to her how she is meant to find and stop the chaos demons when the band rolls into town, or what being a Guardian means. Jake is pretty annoying in that he is very little help to her when she admits she doesn't know what to do. I'm never a fan of angel characters in urban fantasy as most seem to be total asshats!

Bitsy is able to seek help from Phil of the Brotherhood, a secret society that try to keep the supernatural community hidden from prying human eyes. She also has to accept help from Eric, who is part of a magical race that once kept Bitsy in a compound and subjected her to terrible abuses. Trying to trust him is going to prove nearly impossible for her and could threaten the mission. We are also introduced to members of her band Aidan, Matt and Jules, who are not exactly human either, and the slimy band manager Danvers, who was a fun character. My big disappointment is that we don't meet the party animal Irish band that are continually talked about-The Orphan Paddies, as they sound like a lot of fun! Maybe they turn up in a later book? I'd love to see them! 

I felt that the story was interesting enough to keep me reading it to see what happened. I liked the characters and the various skills that they all had. The story itself was interesting and who doesn't love a bit of chaos demon action? I liked the band and the scenes with them as well at Bitsy's attempts to save the city. Where it fell a little flat for me was the actual ending which seemed a bit too easy and lacklustre. Bitsy seemed to accidently do the right things rather be part of a cunning plan or be something she was meaning to do, which renders her a bit useless at times.

The mission is left incomplete at the end of the book and I assume it continues in book two, something that might annoy readers who want each story completed within each book. The one character I really disliked was Jake but he didn't affect my opinion of the book one way or the other. It was a bit all over the place at times as Bitsy seemed to have no clue what she was doing so it lacked a little plot cohesion at times but it was still overall a decent read. I'm not sure if I'll read on with the series though-that will be a decision for a later day.

Read March 2019.
3 stars.