Reviewed by Amy Sheehan
Crystal is the story of Crystal, Tahlia and Belle, who together make up the band Lost Angels. They’ve almost given up on getting their lucky break when they decide to enter the television contest Band Ambition - basically The X Factor for groups. Of course they win and the girls soon find themselves catapulted into the world of fame and stardom.
Unfortunately, though, the start of this new glittering career brings with it a whole host of problems for Crystal, and soon a secret of hers threatens to cost her everything…
I quite enjoyed Crystal - it’s a easy and relaxing read. My first introduction to Price’s work, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared. In actual fact, there’s a heck of a lot going on in Crystal, and one weakness would be that some of the plotlines weren’t nearly as developed as they could have been.
As mentioned, the idea of the TV show talent contest is a shameless rip off, and one of the judges, Dallas, even resembles Simon Cowell. However, this criticism pales in comparison to my main problem with the book: the hero. I couldn’t warm to him at all, he didn’t seem worthy of Crystal, and the final nail in the coffin for me was his treatment of Crystal after they finally got together.
Specifically, I took umbrage at a remark he made, in reference to Crystal’s ex, Max, who raped her. Jake and Crystal are in the kitchen canoodling and she says: “Save it for later, honey.” Jake replies: “I bet you never said that to him, did you? No? I bet you were open for business with him 24/7.” I was outraged, but Crystal, after storming off, is happily back with him within two more pages.
Less annoyingly, Jake is ridiculously blind to the fact that one of his female friends has a huge crush on him and is trying to break up him and Crystal, and he doesn’t support Crystal at all when she calls him out about this. I don’t know. He just wasn’t hero material for me. Also, some of the plotlines were a bit amateurish - Crystal is involved in a car crash that gets about a short paragraph devoted to it, for instance.
There was some good stuff, though. The interaction between the three girls was nicely done and very believable, and the portrayal of Tahlia in particular was very good. The novel also gave a very realistic portrait of media intrusion into the lives of celebrities and gave a good idea of what it must be like to have twisted versions of your personal life splashed all over the tabloids.
Because of the issues mentioned above and the fact that I found the second half of Crystal to be a bit slow, I would rate Crystal 2/5. However, it did have some promise and as I hear that Angel, Price’s first novel, is much better, I’d be very willing to read more of her books in the future.
Rating: 2/5
Like this? Try The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride by AJ Crofts
