Been too long since I read the first one to continue on with this sequel, also don't think I enjoyed the first one enough to do so - fine but felt a bit juvenile.

All pretty daft & stuff of pure fantasy/wish fulfilment but pop group angst/first romance woes will hook teen readers. Fine for fans of first vol & set for concluding vol

Songs About A Girl was pretty average for me, but I wanted to see where it would go, but it still didn't work for me.

Songs About Us is the sequel to Chris Russell’s 2016 YA debut (a book I really meant to review but time got away from me on) Songs About Us has an unsurprising focus on music, specifically Fire&Lights one of the hottest boy bands around and Charlie, a school friend of one of the band with a talent for photography. After the dramatic events of book one, the last thing Charlie expects is to get pulled back into the world of Fire&Lights.

I liked that this instalment showed more of the unglamorous side of fame and boybands. Charlie returns to the band as they are clearly in crisis and breaking point. I thought the character development was much stronger than in the first book and all of the characters felt distinctive. The mystery around the connection between Charlie and Gabe’s parental connection is interesting but at times in the book it felt the main link between Charlie and Gabe. However, I think that was intentional. I really liked how Oliver and Charlie interacted and their friendship. There were some really sweet scenes there and Oliver’s own conflicts around wanting to be seen as a songwriter were very interesting.

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I was really excited to read this book, as it had been selected as part of the Zoella and Friends book club. However, I stupidly didn't realise it was the sequel to 'Songs About A Girl', which I haven't read. This made it difficult to get into the book. Whilst some sequels allow you to slip seamlessly into the story, this was not the case with Russell's novel and eventually I put the book down. I will however, be reading the first book in the series so that I can then read 'Songs About Us' and fully appreciate it.

I have been waiting for quite a while to read the sequel to Songs About A Girl, so when I get my hands on a eProof/NetGalley edition, I had to wait a few weeks to clear my reading out (BOOKS EVERYWHERE!).

It's two months after the events of Songs About A Girl and Charlie is trying to get normal back into her life. She's rebuilding a relationship with her father, try and hang out with her best friend and worry about GCSEs.

But soon, she is taken back into the world of Fire&Lights, the hottest boyband on the planet. But things are different between the four now. Aiden is in a relationship, but is uncomfortable with it. Yuki is drinking and no one can understand why. And tension between Gabriel and Olly are running at an all-time high and they are close to coming to blows with each other.

When you're as successful as Fire&Lights, there is two ways you can go: up or down. And either way, they're going to take Charlie and everyone around them with them. Whether they want to or not...

Am going to say it: out of the two, I think I prefer Songs About A Girl over Songs About Us. But Songs About Us is still a really good read.

It's a sugary, fun summer read. You can whizz through it and not come up for air for a while. You get sucked in. Plus, with some of the elements Chris tackled (LGBT+, mental health, etc), it was good to see it and go "YES!" over it. It's nice to have these characters and have them and their problems fleshed out.

But, at the same time, I didn't fly through this book as quickly as I did with Songs About A Girl. Some of the darker elements added to this annoyed me and slowed my reading down. Like I said, some elements I was for and most/all, I completely got why the book was taking us in that direction. But there were one or two elements/chapters/moments, where I would have to put my kindle down and leave it for a while, but I was getting frustrated over the characters and their reaction.

An example is one character. In the previous book, he was one of my faves because he was fun. I liked reading him. But, in this book, he changed. Of course, I got why at the end of the book, but there were several strong moments while reading, I was getting hugely annoyed over this character and the way their behaved.

While there were moments I got frustrated with the book, I did enjoy it. Maybe not as much as Songs About A Girl, but I am very much going to continue with this series when Songs About A Boy come out next year. Plus, with Songs About Us ending on that cliffhanger, I will be very intrigued how Chris is going to explain everything...

In Songs About a Girl, Chris Russell introduced us to the smash hit boyband, Fire & Lights. Theirs is an X-Factor generation inspired story, and the first book explored the world of the four members through the eyes of their new photographer, Charlie Bloom.

In Songs About Us, the author ups the stakes for all involved and introduces plenty of new characters to this fast-paced world. This is a fictional world, but it leans heavily on all manner of celebrity scandal storylines that have existed in some way or another in modern pop culture and it makes it brilliantly entertaining.

Charlie Bloom remains compelling as our guide into this world, as she finds herself in demand yet again as a talented photographer and potential girlfriend for more than one member!

The settings are as glitzy and atmospheric as the first book too. There’s first class lounges in airports, first class flights, stretch limos, awards shows, green rooms and hotel rooms. Despite all these distractions, Chris Russell sticks close to the development of the character dynamics. Yuki and Aiden have bigger parts this time, as does Charlie’s friend Melissa, and the introduction of a Fire & Lights fan club makes a big impact on the latter part of the narrative.

It’s nice to read the relationships that Charlie has with each of the four members with all their various struggles. Olly is as sweet as ever, Gabriel more mysterious, and Yuki and Aiden turn to Charlie as their confidante.

There’s high drama throughout, as tension begins to rise within the band as each of them wrestle with their own demons. There’s far less Gabriel in Songs About Us, his presence more felt than seen over the course of the story. He spends a lot of the book seemingly brooding over the mystery surrounding his dead father. It leaves room for the character of Olly to shine and there are some nice scenes involving pizza and photography between Olly and Charlie.

The narrative clips along with no spare plots left in there and it encourages the reader to devour it in one blast. I found it a lot of fun to read and there’s plenty yet to be told in the story of Fire & Lights, as their reckless decisions lead to some serious consequences for the band by the end.

Ollie is in his band Fire&Light on tour whilst Charlie is back home and worrying as well as studying for her exams.

She hangs out with her best friend Melissa who she talks to and trusts with her worries as well as Gabe and Ollie issues too. From finding out about her mum and Gabe's parents, to repairing her relationship with her dad whilst getting close to Ollie, sparks fly from all sorts of drama's sparking reactions amongst the teens.

A story with passion and life on stage in main focus of a lens or witnessing it from behind the lens like Charlie, a book which will keep you engrossed to the end.

Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!