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Front Row
Rachel and her friends have one goal - to meet their favorite band, The Out of Towners - and with some luck and a lot of persistence, they have the opportunity to do just that. As all of Rachel’s dreams, and some of her nightmares, are coming true, she has to learn how to balance the fun of nightly concerts and a new crush with her responsibilities. After some questionable choices, Rachel’s life unravels in front of her, and she scrambles to pick up the pieces.
184 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2014
511 people want to read
About the author
Rebekah N. Bryan
10 books31 followersRebekah lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two daughters, and a dog. She enjoys going to concerts even though she's only getting older and more tired, wandering around shopping malls with latte in hand, and indulging in junk food and wine. She's a city girl at heart but also finds joy in remote waterfalls and bridges.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 6, 2021
Three words for this book: Youth, Wild, rock and roll.
Overall, I think this book is interesting. It tells the story of irresponsible college student Rachel who follows her favorite band around with her friends. The Out of Towners are a popular boyband who live the rock and roll life to the fullest extent.
This book is mostly character driven, following Rachel and her friend’s shenanigans as groupies for the Out of Towners and their opening act Face Rake. It’s interesting how the author shows how young impressionable minds are easily swayed by peer pressure and the hormones of youth. It shines a light on some of the issues of today’s young adults.
*ARC Review.
Overall, I think this book is interesting. It tells the story of irresponsible college student Rachel who follows her favorite band around with her friends. The Out of Towners are a popular boyband who live the rock and roll life to the fullest extent.
This book is mostly character driven, following Rachel and her friend’s shenanigans as groupies for the Out of Towners and their opening act Face Rake. It’s interesting how the author shows how young impressionable minds are easily swayed by peer pressure and the hormones of youth. It shines a light on some of the issues of today’s young adults.
*ARC Review.
March 24, 2015
The book started off a little slow for me and at first I really had an issue with the overly descriptive narrative (i.e., how a door was being held open) but it really picked up for me after about the third chapter, and after that I liked the descriptive nature much more. It's an interesting concept and one I've definitely not read before. I greatly appreciate the way the story wrapped up in the epilogue. I really identified with the main character and all her worries and self-conscious thoughts. In general it was good, quick read that I enjoyed.
December 27, 2015
This book is basically one of those Lifetime Cautionary Tales movies, except the characters never realize how crazy they all are. I found them unrelatable and thought their behavior was super concerning, but for some reason I just couldn't stop reading it. It was a quick, easy read and while not my usual kind of read, I am interested to see what the next book in the series is like, which focuses on a boy band cruise
January 2, 2016
I loved it!
I'm not sure if I can be impartial with this review because since the beginning I couldn't avoid to remember my personal experience with my friends in my country and abroad in my early 30s (of course, not all the experiences that the story mentions).
Since I'm a native Spanish speaker with a regular English knowledge, this book was not difficult to read with some new but easy words related to the topic.
If you're part of a music fandom you have to read it and if not, you should.
I'm not sure if I can be impartial with this review because since the beginning I couldn't avoid to remember my personal experience with my friends in my country and abroad in my early 30s (of course, not all the experiences that the story mentions).
Since I'm a native Spanish speaker with a regular English knowledge, this book was not difficult to read with some new but easy words related to the topic.
If you're part of a music fandom you have to read it and if not, you should.
February 16, 2015
Front Row is upbeat, fun, and well written. A must read for any fangirl!
May 4, 2018
Spunky N Sassy Rating: 4.0
~~~~~~~~~~Lindsey's ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review~~~~~~~~~~
When books and music come together, I know that I am going to enjoy the book for sure. This was an awesome book!
~~~~~~~~~~Lindsey's ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review~~~~~~~~~~
When books and music come together, I know that I am going to enjoy the book for sure. This was an awesome book!
January 3, 2020
Not a great read. Expected more of everything. Disappointing.
May 8, 2015
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads.
Clocking in at under 200 pages, Front Row is a short novel and thusly should have been a quick read if only it were not so frustrating to get through. Yet even with it being as short as it is, it could stand to be shorter still. Composed almost entirely in an awkward, choppy language, the plot can be found in less than half those pages with the rest playing as padding of distracting details that serve the thin storyline no purpose.
Somewhere between these pages, there was an intention to tell a story about something with characters you're supposed to learn to care for or want to get to know better. Unfortunately, Rebekah Bryan's entire cast of main and secondary characters, including but definitely not limited to our main gal Rachael, were all flat, uninteresting, and in some cases, even missing names! College girls who act like they've only recently discovered male company and simply cannot contain themselves and their ricocheting hormones, and are nothing short of shallow, immature, irresponsible, and self-entitled. As a female also in her early 20's, I find Rachael and her friends are a terrible representation of women in my age group. If anything, Front Row has successfully displayed a perfect example of the kind of young adults I wish the world would see less of.
I love music, I love attending concerts, and I share the enthusiasm of seeing a band I enjoy play live. However, there was nothing in the plot that remotely addresses how musicians and their music can truly affect and touch a fan, unless you count actually getting physically touchy with an obsessive groupie and their loins. Which I don't.
Sadly, by the time I put this book down, I feel I have been cheated out of a theme or a moral (or just a hint of something, anything substantial, please!). If you're expecting a story about young women having experiences that will help them gain some sort of lesson at the end for making terrible and poor life choices, you will surely be disappointed.
Clocking in at under 200 pages, Front Row is a short novel and thusly should have been a quick read if only it were not so frustrating to get through. Yet even with it being as short as it is, it could stand to be shorter still. Composed almost entirely in an awkward, choppy language, the plot can be found in less than half those pages with the rest playing as padding of distracting details that serve the thin storyline no purpose.
Somewhere between these pages, there was an intention to tell a story about something with characters you're supposed to learn to care for or want to get to know better. Unfortunately, Rebekah Bryan's entire cast of main and secondary characters, including but definitely not limited to our main gal Rachael, were all flat, uninteresting, and in some cases, even missing names! College girls who act like they've only recently discovered male company and simply cannot contain themselves and their ricocheting hormones, and are nothing short of shallow, immature, irresponsible, and self-entitled. As a female also in her early 20's, I find Rachael and her friends are a terrible representation of women in my age group. If anything, Front Row has successfully displayed a perfect example of the kind of young adults I wish the world would see less of.
I love music, I love attending concerts, and I share the enthusiasm of seeing a band I enjoy play live. However, there was nothing in the plot that remotely addresses how musicians and their music can truly affect and touch a fan, unless you count actually getting physically touchy with an obsessive groupie and their loins. Which I don't.
Sadly, by the time I put this book down, I feel I have been cheated out of a theme or a moral (or just a hint of something, anything substantial, please!). If you're expecting a story about young women having experiences that will help them gain some sort of lesson at the end for making terrible and poor life choices, you will surely be disappointed.
March 9, 2016
I received this book from one of the Goodreads giveaways in exchange for an honest review.
This was definitely a YA but it was still a fairly quick read and some themes that pop up and tug at all of us, whatever the age differences. It was an interesting window into the young girls who get caught up in the world of music fangirls: the drinking, the casual sex, the insecurities, the peer pressure. But these girls weren't just teenagers. They were approaching their 20's and had to wrestle with their social lives and their school lives. Only Rebekah stood out as being someone who was beginning to see that perhaps her college studies should be more important than running around the country trying to impress musicians.
As a mother of now grown-up children, the only thing that I didn't get was how much freedom they were given by their parents who were obviously still paying for their college tuitions? Their practice of leaving town to follow bands probably began in high school. Were some of them lying to their parents??? But, all of us who are parents know that teenagers and young adults do things that are never revealed, or at least not until much later in their lives.
Rebekah told us, that in the end, it was all about the music. And I think we can all remember back to when the music was important, defining and evocative. Who doesn't remember their first concert? Certain songs have the power to send you back in time to re-experience many emotions and unforgettable moments.
This was definitely a YA but it was still a fairly quick read and some themes that pop up and tug at all of us, whatever the age differences. It was an interesting window into the young girls who get caught up in the world of music fangirls: the drinking, the casual sex, the insecurities, the peer pressure. But these girls weren't just teenagers. They were approaching their 20's and had to wrestle with their social lives and their school lives. Only Rebekah stood out as being someone who was beginning to see that perhaps her college studies should be more important than running around the country trying to impress musicians.
As a mother of now grown-up children, the only thing that I didn't get was how much freedom they were given by their parents who were obviously still paying for their college tuitions? Their practice of leaving town to follow bands probably began in high school. Were some of them lying to their parents??? But, all of us who are parents know that teenagers and young adults do things that are never revealed, or at least not until much later in their lives.
Rebekah told us, that in the end, it was all about the music. And I think we can all remember back to when the music was important, defining and evocative. Who doesn't remember their first concert? Certain songs have the power to send you back in time to re-experience many emotions and unforgettable moments.
January 28, 2016
I was given this book in exchange for a review. Whenever this is asked of me, (or any book not matter what) I never look up what it is about or read other people's reviews. This way it is a fair honest unbiase review.
I have to say I was not in love with it. I felt as if I was reading a teen's fan fiction from the internet. While the idea was good, the execution did not come across as the way I think the author wanted it to be. It became too predictable to what would happen.
We have all had those fantasies about our favorite celebrities so it is possible to sub them in for yourself while reading but for my taste, it was too much like a fan fiction.
I have to say I was not in love with it. I felt as if I was reading a teen's fan fiction from the internet. While the idea was good, the execution did not come across as the way I think the author wanted it to be. It became too predictable to what would happen.
We have all had those fantasies about our favorite celebrities so it is possible to sub them in for yourself while reading but for my taste, it was too much like a fan fiction.
August 1, 2015
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads giveaways.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book as much as I would have liked. I do enjoy YA books, and this short story had all the elements to make a good story - musicians especially, but it just didn't hit the right notes (pun unintended).
I didn't like the characters and didn't find them to be an accurate representation of teenagers.
Overall, a little disjointed, and frankly, disappointing.
Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book as much as I would have liked. I do enjoy YA books, and this short story had all the elements to make a good story - musicians especially, but it just didn't hit the right notes (pun unintended).
I didn't like the characters and didn't find them to be an accurate representation of teenagers.
Overall, a little disjointed, and frankly, disappointing.
December 24, 2015
It was ok. I didn't really like the characters and found their behavior a little disturbing. There's a difference between being a fan and a crazy fan. These girls fell into the crazy fan camp but didn't seem to realize it.
And what kind of a name is Face Rake?
And what kind of a name is Face Rake?
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews