Mia and the Bad Boy
(Backstage Pass, #2)
By: Lisa Burnstein
Publisher: Entangled: Crush
Published: May 19, 2015
Genre: YA Romance
Rating:
This good girl’s about to meet her match…
Ryder Brooks is living the dream—he’s famous, loved by millions of girls, and miserable. All he really wants is to write his own music, not Seconds to Juliet’s sugary sweet pop. In order to do that, though, the “bad boy” of the band will have to play by the rules. And that includes behaving with his new—and super cute—über-good-girl tutor.
Mia Reyes is in fangirl heaven. Tutoring her favorite member of her favorite band? It’s a dream come true…until it turns into a complete nightmare. Ryder is nothing like she thought. He’s crude, arrogant, and pretty much a total jerk. And the worst part? She’s roped into pretending to be his girlfriend so that no one finds out he’s being tutored. Fake kisses, plenty of PDA, and even sharing his hotel room…
But sometimes even the baddest of bad boys needs a little redemption.
Ryder is the “bad-boy” from a very popular boy band. He was a foster kid when he was younger and never completed high school. No one knows about this fact except for the band’s manager who set up a tutor for Ryder to prepare him to get his GED. Ryder is expecting some old lady to show up, but instead is surprised by someone his age. These two couldn’t be more opposite though. While Ryder is a bad-boy, Mia is the epitome of a good girl. Aside from walking around with a rosary in her hands, she’s as goody-goody as it gets. She wears conservative clothes, floor length nightgowns, doesn’t swear, doesn’t drink, and has never kissed a boy. Watching these two interact with each other was both entertaining and predictable.
I grew up in the Backstreet Boys era. I was definitely a fan girl who wanted to go to all their concerts, meet them, date them (even though they were twice my age. Ew!), I had all their posters on my wall, and watched all their TV appearances. So, I could imagine what was going through Mia’s head when she got this amazing opportunity to tutor one of the guys from her favorite boy bad. She got the amazing gig because her mother is their manager’s house keeper. Although, Ryder doesn’t know that. He just knows that her mother knows their manager somehow. These two butt heads right from the get-go because he is nothing like Mia thought. He’s crude, mean, doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and most of all he knows how to push her buttons.
Mia’s character had a lot of flaws. She starts off this goody-two-shoes but her character gets a bit wishy-washy as the story progresses. I mean, she went from being this girl who wore floor length nightgowns to someone who’s thinking about doing things with a guy she barely knows. The story takes place in one month. How can you be such a conservative person but throw it all in the wind a week after a week someone? I don’t know, I just think the author started her off too good. It’s a long way to fall, being as high up on her pedestal as she was.
Mia and the Bad Boy is a very enjoyable read that would have any boy-band fan, both old and new, reliving their teen years. You got to go behind the scenes of their tour, run from screaming fans, rehearse for upcoming shows, and most importantly, you got a glimpse of how lonely it can all be. I may have jumped in on this story without reading the previous book but I really enjoyed it and look forward to upcoming books. There’s one really quiet band-mate who says all of maybe six words in this book. I really want to read his story and know why he’s so darn quiet!
“From the gossip about Ryder, she knew he was always up for bodily fluid exchange, but she guessed he probably drew the line at vomit.”
I read the first book of that series and dropped it, I prefer her Sole Regret series. But if book #2 is better than the first, well, I might give it another try 😉
Ooops, my bad, it’s not Lisa Cunning but it’s the same series title ! *need more coffee*
HaHa I’m right there with you. I’m finally sitting down with my cup of coffee and I definitely need it this morning. This is the first book I’ve read from her so I would’ve totally believed you 😉
Ooo I think I need to check this one out. It’s been a while since I read anything from them and sounds fun 😀
Totally feel ya on the BSB front 🙂
HaHaHa 😉
I actually liked this book better than the first. It felt more real and the characters were more enjoyable. I loved this one too.
I actually haven’t read the first book. I just jumped in with this one. I will be keeping my eye out for the other ones though. 🙂
Sounds too predictable, the good girl and the bad boy. I like these kind of couples but sometimes it’s just the same in every book.
Yeah I agree. That may be why I get extremely excited when I see a good-guy/bad-girl combo. Don’t see those too often but in the end they also tend to be predictable. :\
Whoa — I’d never heard of this series and I liked her first set of YA books. I also grew up in the 80s era of boy bands, and this sounds really fun!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen at YA Romantics
This is the first book by her that I’ve read. I will have to check out her other series. 🙂