The Way It Hurts by Patty Blount Published by Sourcebooks Fire on August 1st 2017
Pages: 352
Goodreads
There may be two sides to every story, but sometimes there's only one way to set things right...
Music is Elijah's life. His band plays loud and hard, and he'll do anything to get them a big break. He needs that success to help take care of his sister, who has special needs. So he'd rather be practicing when his friends drag him to a musical in the next town...until the lead starts to sing.
Kristen dreams of a career on stage like her grandmother's. She knows she needs an edge to get into a competitive theater program―and being the star in her high school musical isn't going to cut it. The applause and the attention only encourage her to work harder.
Elijah can't take his eyes off of Kristen's performance, and his swooning face is captured on camera and posted with an out-of-context comment. It goes viral. Suddenly, Elijah and Kristen are in a new spotlight as the online backlash spins out of control. And the consequences are bigger than they both could have ever imagined because these threats don't stay online...they follow them into real life.
I have to begin by saying I have always heard amazing things about Patty Blount’s and I have to admit that I have never read any despite the fact I have Send, TMI and Some Boys sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. So when I heard she had a new book coming out called The Way it Hurts I figured now would be the time that I should finally review one, so thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to be a part of the tour for this book.
Going into The Way it Hurts I had no expectations and having to worry did this book compare to her previous ones because this is a brand new author for me and I have to say after reading this I will definitely be picking up those books from my TBR to read in the next month or so.
The Way it Hurts has two main characters Kristen and Eli. They are both high school students but attend different high schools. Kristen is a theatre girl who sings, dances and acts. She is hoping to get accepted into a theatre program but she gets rejected and isn’t happy about that. Eli (Elijah) is the lead singer and bass player for the band Ride Out. They play heavy metal music.
Being that this is 2017 Eli, has the band online and their group page drives heavy criticism about their music and one of their critiques is Kristen and she is a no holds barred girl but no one really knows its her and she has no idea who is replying back to her.
Kristen is performing in her high school’s muscial version of Cats and Eli hears her sings and he wants her for the band amongst strong criticism from his band. Eli things that this is the thing they need to bring them to the next level to get them where they need to finally be after years of hard work. For Kristen she things this would be the perfect thing to add to her resume and give her the edge that she needs to stand out.
The one thing that Kristen doesn’t realize is that being a part of this will come at a price, can she handle it? Finally the band is getting recognized but with the raise of popularity Kristen is being singled out and getting creepy and threatening messages on social media. It was one thing being online but now its starting to creep into her real life.
I have mixed feelings about Eli he is that bad boy rocker who has the reputation of being a player. I didn’t really like that side of him because thats just not my thing but the thing that I loved of Eli was his love for his sister who has autism. You can truly see he cares about her and wants to look after her. This is the reason he wants the band to become big so that he can have her at home with all the special help she needs.
As for Kristen I have to say that I was on the fence with her as well. I liked that she was a tell it like it is but I found her to be a little judgemental about things. I for one don’t think she should have gotten all the hate on social media but I think in this day and age its so easy for someone to be hateful to a person when they don’t have to be face to face with them. Its easy to be a meany or a bully behind the screen. No one realizes how words can truly affect a person.
I have to say I applaud Patty for touching on this topic and writing about it. Social media can be such a double standard for both men and women and its a shame.
This was a great read and I highly recommend it.