Review: More Than Comics by Elizabeth Briggs

More Than Comics
(Chasing the Dream, #2)
By: Elizabeth Briggs
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Feb. 23, 2015
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:

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They’re friends online – but can they be more in real life?

Writer Tara McFadden has been friends with artist and drummer Hector Fernandez for years, long before his band became famous on reality TV – yet they’ve never met in person. They finally have a chance to connect offline when they’re both sent to Comic-Con to promote the graphic novel they collaborated on.

Hector’s secretly been in love with Tara for as long as he can remember, and once they meet, she sees him in a new light. All the years of longing lead to an incredible night of passion after one of his concerts, but neither is sure if their online relationship can translate into a real life romance – or if this will ruin their friendship forever.

Over four crazy days at Comic-Con, Hector and Tara must decide if they want a future together. But when their story seems to be over, it’s up to Hector’s entire band to make sure he and Tara get their happy ending.

Tara has been working on a graphic novel for the past three years. When she started her book, she shopped around online for an illustrator who could bring her characters to life and found Hector to be just the man for the job. They live across the country from each other but between emails and video chats they’ve become friends. So when their graphic novel comes out and it’s time to promote it at comic-con, they finally get to meet in person and boy do the sparks fly.

A graphic novel author and the illustrator of her book who also happens to be the drummer from a semi-famous band finally meet at Comic-Con? Yes, please! I read this baby within a handful of hours. I must admit that I haven’t read the previous books in the series. I stumbled across this book while cruising NetGalley and was hooked the second I saw comic-con. I was a little worried that I should have read the previous books before jumping in but I’m glad that the author wrote this book in a way that it’s perfectly fine as a stand-alone. I didn’t feel left out at any point. However, I think this would have been that much better had I read the previous books since I have a feeling Hector is not only in them a lot but his connection with Tara is incorporated in them as well. Since when he finally meets her, his band mates are right there welcoming her into their group.

Hector was amazing. I’ve been wanting to read a celebrity romance and I got it without even realizing it. You see Hector’s band was on a reality show similar to American Idol (this is all done in the previous book). Due to their time on the show, they not only got a lot of publicity but they are also on tour with the show and the other top contestants. So, you see, he’s not just an illustrator for a graphic novel, but he’s in a band that’s about to make it big. He’s not your typical bad-boy though. Hell, he isn’t even the lead singer! He’s the drummer! He hates the spotlight, doesn’t like to talk to people, and has no desire to go out and sleep with groupies. Nope, he is more than content sitting alone on his computer chatting with Tara or drawing in his book. The fact that he was a big teddy bear was a breath of fresh air and I loved him for it.

I absolutely hands down love the fact that this takes place at comic-con. Not only that but the author doesn’t let you forget it either. The characters are on a panel (interview with a huge crowd), they go to panels, they walk the shops, they even camp out over night to get into Hall H which is one of the biggest panels that take place because it deals with the big name movies coming out. Plus, not only do they wander comic-con but the author mentions the volunteers who are assisting in keeping the lines in order and what have you. This may not seem like a big deal but this year I am FINALLY going to comic-con and my “ticket” is a volunteer badge. Yup, this girl is finally going to geek out with the best of them. So I was over the moon when the author added snippets where the volunteers were involved because that’s going to be me this year! I’m not gonna lie, I pictured myself in those scenes.

Okay, back to the book. This was a great story. It had everything I needed to get me out of the book funk I was in. It has characters that weren’t lame and over dramatic. They didn’t jump to conclusions or blow up for no apparent reason. They were adults about everything. The author didn’t add any unnecessary drama to make the story interesting because the story is already awesome on its own. We go back and forth between Tara and Hector so we are never left wondering what the other one was thinking. Which was also nice since I got to see how close Hector is with his band mates. Something I really enjoyed since I know I would have felt that connection had I read the previous books, but I didn’t and the yet the author was still able to cram their loyalty and friendship into this story. The only thing I can say is that I think I would have loved the story even more if I had read those books. So maybe, one day, I will go back and read Kyle and Jared’s stories.

Tara and Hector are walking around outside of Comic-Con when a couple of girls dressed as Princess Leia in her slave costume come up, gush over Hector and his band, and invite him back to their hotel room.

“That was unusual. They always go for Jared, or sometimes Kyle. Never me.” He removed his Villain Complex hat and shoved it into his jeans, shaking his hair out. “Not sure I like the attention.”
“No? I thought every guy dreamed of scantily clad women inviting him for a threesome.”
He pinned me with his smoldering dark eyes. “Not this guy.”