5 Boys in the Band

5 Boys #1

by Evie Kady

There are five boys in the band and I want them all. Their management has other ideas.

Make a documentary about the hottest boy band on the planet? You bet your sweet buns this broke film school grad’s gonna say yes.

But when I find myself caught between five hot frustrated megastars and their fiendish management company, I can’t help but become drawn in to their world of glamorous parties and violent power struggles.

If I can figure out how to make everyone happy, there’s a chance I could get everything I’ve ever wanted. Five times what I wanted. If not? Well hey, looks like I might just break their fans’ hearts…

Book 1 in a complete Reverse Harem rockstar romance series. Featuring steamy scenes, dollops of angst, continuing storylines and MM, this hot rockstar romance is a tale where no one chooses. #WhyChoose?

Genres: Contemporary, Why Choose, Music, Romance, M M Romance, LGBT

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2019

Reviews

[nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a brilliant start to this Reverse Harem rockstar series. I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now and had high hopes once I started reading. And I definitely wasn’t disappointed.
Kat is our heroine, who is employed to go on tour with disgraced boy and Royal Element to make a documentary to improve their reputation. Adam, Leon, Seth, Conor and Tarek are our heroes and they all have one thing in common...Kat.
There’s intense chemistry (between the guys too!), a storyline that kept me interested the whole way through, and dram aplenty. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes over the course of the series.

[Ola Adamska · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had not expected to find myself in shock of characters and twist that was in The book. I started reading it with a thought - it will be another nice and Easy RH with lots of THAT kind of action
But... I got a story with real characters, intriguing female lead and plot that was not oberused in those kind of books.
I will read book 2 for sure as this one was a Great debute of The author!

[Jennifer G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tarek is the hot one. Seth is the sweet one. Conor is the funny one. Leon is the older one. And Adam, well, he's the most popular one. Together they make up Royal Element. They were each chosen to fill a specific role in the boy band. But boy bands have a limited shelf life and they are starting to reach the end. Maybe it's already over and they just don't realize it. When Kat is brought in to shoot a documentary on the band, will she be filming their greatest success or their demise?

This book is both amateurish and addicting. The writing changes style and direction a little past the midway point. There were plot holes. There was a distinct absence of any description. Full appearances, the bus or the tour itself. The characters lack depth and appeal. Kat is wildly inconsistent. A virgin slut. The guys' sex appeal was nonexistent. Each one of their advances went from borderline creepy to completely offensive. And yet, it wasn't a complete wash. The story idea is really good. The basics are all in place. It could benefit from a rewrite. If the author hired a critique partner to help her develop the characters more, keep a consistent voice, and pad the details of key scenes, this could be a terrific book.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was on the shorter end but I didn’t mind, seeing as there are 4 more books in the series. The storyline was interesting. Kat is a filmmaker and she’s hired by the record label to travel for 2 months with a boy band to film a documentary of behind the scenes footage. Two of the members of the band had a sex tape of them with 2 women, a “foursome,” leaked to the public, so now they are on a strict no girls, no sex, curfew, no shenanigans order by their label. Kat knew this about them and was reluctant to accept the job but she did anyway.

I am kinda on the fence about how I feel about this book. I liked it, the end was hot, and I feel like it’s leaning toward more MM interaction in the next book(s). However.... I’m feeling like Kat isn’t really respected by the guys at all. Maybe they just like her because she’s there and they are “banned” from being with other women? Kinda bullshit if you ask me and how Kat falls for it, I don’t know. Makes me feel less for her character as well as the guys. Adam sucks ass in my opinion, and I don’t like him anymore. Tarek started off in the beginning by calling Kat ugly multiple times which left a bad taste in my mouth.

I’d rate this 3.5⭐️ and I’m still giving the other books a chance. I hope they don’t disappoint.

[Kasumatata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rockstar Romance Fix

I absolutely love Rockstar Romance and when I find them within the RH genre I need to read it. I have been postponing reading this for a while, but when I heard the series was close to being finished, I wanted to start it asap. I was not disappointed at all, this book was amazing and I can already predict that this series will be binged within the next couple of days.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but sweet

3.5 Stars I enjoyed this read it’s super fast and way to unrealistic but if fast paced rhr is your thing than you will love this! Character building is good and you will find yourself picking favs amongst the boys, it’s got potential and I’m along for the ride

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Augh. Bad. It was like reading A, D, G, K, P, Z. It was missing and skipped things that build characters and relationships. Book 1 had potential then it got worse. DNF book3.

[Caroline Doig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 1st read and review for this author and wow what a way to get to know this authors work, this is my absolute favourite genre and this is an amazing story. Kat is a photographer she’s been hired to go on tour with a band to shoot a documentary on them, she’s being paid a lot of money which obviously helps but she is very excited to go on tour with this band. At first the guys think that she is a spy for MCM but she proves to them differently, all of the guys care and want to protect Kat especially when a person spikes her drink. They take her in a room and give her some water then each of the guys take in turns to stay with her while the others go to the awards. But is MCM using Kat to break up the band?, you will have to get this book to find out that answer. It’s a fantastic story and I highly recommend this book it’s definitely well worth the read.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pacing of this book was all over the place! Not continuing the series.

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very pleasantly surprised! The author managed to make all the characters feel like they were equally the "main character" that was amazing to me. You get to know all and like all the characters, and you find yourself rooting for the all.
A very nice book and I would love to read the rest

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Emily W · Rating 1 out of 5]

DO NOT READ THIS SERIES IF YOU DO NOT LIKE DARK THEMES

Sorry for all caps, but since the author failed to put that warning at the beginning of this series, I feel I need to(she does warn the reader at the beginning of the book the themes are present in, but it was a little "too little, too late" at that point for me).

I originally rated this book 4 stars, but in good conscience, after reading the rest of the series, I cannot let that rating stand because I would not recommend this series to most people, for many reasons. I am going to explain those reasons, but I'm gonna put them in a spoiler tag because there will be spoilers for this book and some of the others as well. If for some reason you care about my opinion about this book, you can check them out. There are a lot of them and they range from pretty major to small and nitpicky. I just have a lot of feelings about this series and needed to get them out.

I want to make it clear that I'm not saying that there is no one who will enjoy this book series, I'm just not one of those people and I think there are a lot of people out there who will feel the same way.


My biggest problem with the series is what I already mentioned above. I have no problem with authors including dark themes in their books, I have even read some dark romance books before and enjoyed them, but I feel that it should be disclosed early on. It's not just about "triggering" people(although I do think that's an important consideration), it's about the fact that I think it's kind of scummy to sell somebody something without letting them know something that will be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. Specifically, the major dark themes involved in this series are: kidnapping, sexual assault, sexual abuse of a minor, and abuse of power. There may be more, but I'll be honest, I skimmed most of book 4, which is where the majority of this takes place.

Now that I've got the biggest problem out of the way, I'm gonna discuss some of the other problems that I encountered that hindered my enjoyment of these books to at least some extent. First, this was clearly originally written, at least in part, as One Direction fanfiction. Which is not inherently a bad thing, but at the series went on it became clear that this was not well-written fanfiction in my opinion.

Second, the pacing of this series was atrocious. Part of my feelings on this point are probably personal preference, but when I'm reading romance I don't really want a bunch of external plot that is not directly contributing to the development of the relationship in the book. There was just way too much external BS and not enough focus on the interpersonal relationships between the characters. There were so many things that I just started skimming through because they weren't contributing to the story IMO and they were keeping me from the limited parts of the story I actually enjoyed. I thought the dream sequences were weird and unnecessary(and I honestly think the whole "Seth in the hospital" thing came about because the author couldn't handle developing that many characters at once and wanted an excuse). I also don't love the massive role that Conor's family has played in a lot of the series and I really could have done without the racist grandpa.

Third, this book would have been fine if it had been allowed to exist as a single, self-contained entity and that is probably the single easiest way that this author could have improved this series. Or significantly extend it and spend way more time letting the reader actually become invested in all the characters before trying to get them to care about the non-relationship elements of their lives.

Fourth, this sort of connects to the first point about this being fanfiction. The author was so hellbent on this band being a mimic of One Direction that they tried to do too much. This story would have probably been significantly better if a couple of the characters had not existed or at least did not have as big of a role as they did(specifically I'm thinking cut Conor out entirely and make Adam disappear completely after the first book).

Fifth, why is Leon allowed to act like such an asshole? It's like he thinks someone needs to take Adam's place as the jerk in the group and I don't get why everyone seems to just accept his behavior. Particularly some of the things he says to Kat. Sure she gets mad in the moment, but then the next time they interact almost without fail(and definitely without an apology) she just pretends it didn't happen.

Sixth, this one is related to the reason why I think Conor should have been left out completely. Besides the problems I had with his family, he just was not a good character. I honestly cannot think of a single redeeming quality, other than maybe the red hair? He was a total wimp when it came to Seth being in the hospital and you would think that since he's convinced that his presence led to his sister getting "better" that he would want to make sure he was there for Seth too.

Seventh(kudos to you if you're still reading at this point), this is sort of offshoot of point 2, but it annoys me enough I need to talk about it separately. Why was there so much effort to keep the characters separated after the first book, specifically Kat from the guys? It just felt like a tactic to make the books longer. There was the music festival that Kat went to at the beginning of book 2, then the vacation with her father, then the kidnapping, and then for some reason after they got her back her first instinct was to run back to her father again. It's like the author didn't really want to or know how to write romance, so she did everything possible to avoid it unless she felt she had to.

Eighth(I think I'm starting to wind down now), I hate the attempt to try to make the reader feel sympathetic to Adam. I understand what he went through but that is not a defense for the things he does throughout these books. "Hurt people hurt people" may be true, but it's an explanation, not an excuse.

Ninth(oops came up with something else), therapy is not the only way to overcome trauma and normally I'm not opposed when books use alternative methods. However, with the amount of toxic behavior going on in this book, it really would have been the only responsible option. They all should have been in solo therapy, there should have been therapy for them as a group, as well as for different pairs as well. Instead you've got a bunch of what amounts to kids trying to unfuck their own brains and it's just frustrating as hell.

I will end this with one of the only positives that remained throughout pretty much the whole book: Tarek. I absolutely loved him essentially from start to finish. Even when he was acting like a jerk at the beginning, I felt there was a lot I was going to like about him in the end and I was right. Although I'll be honest, in some ways this is kind of a negative because I like Tarek so much he is literally the only reason I'm still reading book 5. I would have given up by now if it weren't for him and could move on with my life.


Overall, I just did not enjoy this series. If you're looking for a reverse harem book with a band in it and can handle somewhat dark themes(unlike this series they basically all occur in flashbacks and are much more general), I recommend Groupie and its sequels by CM Stunich.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars means the book was OK - I have read similar books that had more character development and that is sorely lacking in this one. The Author also seemed to go out of her way to parody the music and entertainment industry which has me not taking this story seriously at all. Right now I don't know if it's a cross between fantasy and dark comedy, or just not that great. However there is more to this series and my curiosity has won out, so I will continue.

[Jasmine Hoisington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different and good

A lot of people said this book was like Groupie but I don’t see it besides it being about a band. I’m excited to see how the series progresses.

[Brita Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I started this one after reading another series by Evie Kady, and I'll start by saying that I am on the fence with this one. Let's just break the players down a bit, and then I will tell you a bit about what's going on in the story, and you can decide if you want to read this series or not.

We have our FMC Kat. She is our documentarian.

MMC 1 Tarek, we will call him the hot one.

MMC 2 Seth, he will be the sweet one.

MMC 3 Conor, he's the funny one, of course.

MMC 4 Leon, if anything, he's almost like the older brother.

And

MMC 5 Adam, he's the popular one.

Tarek, Seth, Conor Leon, and Adam together make up a boy band called Royal Element, and they were each selected because they were perfect for a certain role, see above. It could be that they have already had their 15 minutes of fame, and they just haven't caught up with reality. But, when Kat is hired to film a documentary about the band, it is yet unknown if she is going to be filming their great success or their final downfall.

I found this book to be a contradiction of being both amateurish, and yet, at the same time, it was so addicting I couldn't put it down. Evie keeps changing her writing style and the direction she wants the story to go in halfway through the story. And that ends up leaving plot holes. I found that there was a distinct abundance of any descriptions.

I got nothing on how the characters looked, the bus, or even the tour. Our characters are flat and rather one-dimensional. And they have absolutely no appeal what so ever. Kat is inconsistent and can't make up her mind to save her life. I don't understand how one can be a virgin and still sleep around all the time at the same time. It's yet another contradiction.

The guys have zero sex appeal what so ever. I don't see how anyone could find these characters appealing. Their advances were creepy and offensive. And yet, I can say that there were parts of the book that were not a total wash. The main idea of the story is really very good, and the basic concepts were there. Yes, it could be rewritten and fleshed out and Kady could have used some good Alpha and Bata readers to help her flesh out the story and fill the plot holes and tell her when and where her character's were flat and coming off creepy and this would have helped to give her a better voice and given her more consistency. It would have also given her more attention to the details of key scenes. This would have actually made it an awesome book.

While the band is on tour is when Kat is on tour, and the band itself is on fire. Kat is actually interested in getting the experience in her field, but she is sky around the band. Adam is the one who doesn't like her at first, but he does get interested in her. Honestly, it seems like the more time they spend together, the closer they all become, and soon, the band is giving Kat some experience she never expected. It's once they start to sleep together, the band starts to calm down and actually stop getting in all the trouble they used to.

But, there is someone who is against the band, and they are actively trying to destroy them. It's when the band is nominated for an award that they all go to accept that someone tries to hurt Kat, and the guys all go to her.

The questions are: Will the guys be able to figure out who the threat really is? And can they all have an open relationship with Kat?

Despite all the problems with this novel, this is still a great story, and it will draw you in, and it leaves you wanting more. The chemistry that does develop between Kat and the guys will melt your heart.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is gonna get 1.5 because...i am not about slut shaming, whether real or fictional. but i am slut-questioning. this woman has never been kissed. she's a virgin, who is asked to make this documentary about a band she barely knows. and literally on day one, she's starting to kiss them. day two (???) this absolute sociopath climbs into THEIR BED when they're not there to get herself off???

and all the guys are like "yep, this is normal and regular, we should all date her," instead of CALLING THE POLICE. and at the end of the book, she loses her virginity in some sort of orgy?? which seems absolutely insane because first of all, she has had maybe two conversations max with any of these people. we know absolutely nothing about any of them, including her. there's almost no characterization other than what we get in the very beginning when the guys are describing what the label has assigned their archetypes to be.

plus, obviously the label is bad, they're doing shady shit. i am not condoning that. but from kat's perspective, she doesn't know that for most of the book. all she knows is that she is being paid $100k+ to do this documentary and NOT fuck the band. and instead of being professional and normal because, again, she's getting paid $100k (at LEAST) she decides to flout all of their rules with guys she does not know, for literally no reason at all.

plus there's something so bizarre about the way she interacts with these guys. she keeps thinking to herself that they're so young, but i'm pretty sure she's at most one year older than the oldest one. but if you're like wistfully sighing like "hmm, these guys are so young, they argue like kids, how silly." then what are you doing sleeping with them?? it doesn't really sound like she finds it charming, she more thinks they're kinda dumb. so i do not get why she is so desperate to sleep with them all within like 2 days of meeting them.

unfortunately, i'm curious about the whole deal behind the label, so i'm going to continue the series. but i'm hoping we will get some sort of understanding behind any of these people. i want some tension, some buildup, some explanation of who these people are and why they like each other. the whole point of reading romance is to read about people falling in love. there's none of that in this book. also all the descriptions are vague in a way that's very strange. the tour bus layout makes no sense. and it's just really hard to visualize anything in this book because nothing is described.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly sure how to rate this...

I’m a little torn with this one. I didn’t have a problem with the writing or the characters, but some of the story elements were kind of weird.

When Kat found out that she was going to be working with the band she was disappointed. She doesn’t know much about music, except musicals, and she doesn’t like their music. So, I didn’t really understand why little virginal Kat was so quick to be wowed by their kind of creepy advances. And it felt super strange that she kisses one of them the first day she meets them. I also didn’t quite understand why the guys were attracted to her, (one of the guys even describes her as ugly when they first meet), except that they hadn’t been allowed to hook up with anyone in months so they were just hard up? - I think it would have been a better story if they had a working or antagonistic relationship a little longer, maybe fought the attraction or discovered things about each other’s personalities first. The guys “caught feelings” almost immediately but never really went into why they thought she was so awesome.

I can’t really talk about it without spoilers, but the “bad guys” schemes are way more complicated than they needed to be.

I was also bothered/distracted by the non-description of the tour bus. Most tour busses just have bunks, some have rooms but you have to walk through them to get to the next area unless it’s the master bedroom area at the back. Kat describes having her own room on the bus, but it’s in the front? People don’t have to walk through it to get to the kitchen? Where is it? How to people access the gym on the top deck where were the stairs?

But beyond that I did enjoy the characters and the authors writing style overall. I did finish the book feeling invested and wanting to know what happens in the next book.

[Raecharmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kat gets hires to be the documenter for a hot band while they are on tour. Kat is interested in getting experience in her field but is a little skittish around the band. Adam doesn't like her at first but slowly he gets interested. The longer they are together the closer the band bonds with Kat and soon they are giving her some new experience that she never expected. Once they all start sleeping together its seems the band calms down and stays out of trouble. However there is someone against the band and trying to destroy them. When they get nominated for an award they all end up going but when someone tries to hurt Kat the guys go to her. Will they be able to find out who the threat is? Can they have an open relationship with Kat?

This is a great story that will draw you in and leave you wanting more. The chemistry between them just about melts the kindle your reading it on. This is a well written and very entertaining story. I would recommend this book to any book lover.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Anuschka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the last year I have read quite a few r/h books. Some I read and are kinda forgotten the next week. This book however has the potential to be one of those books that stay with you no matter how long ago you read it. The story is unique, the characters are unique, their journey in the book is the right amount of exitement and background information to keep the reader guessing as to where this is going and why they are going there. Every action can be questioned and there might be a different reasoning behind it. It also sounds real enough that it can happen in this world. The characters are believable, which sometimes can be a bit hit and miss with r/h books as there are so many characters to describe and they all need to be different.
So why do I say the potential? Plain and simple, this is not a stand alone book, this is a book in a series and it depends on the rest of series to make this truly a great book. I can really recommend this book, but I would have waited till the series was complete to read it in one go if I had known it up front.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

Torn

Update: finished the series and I’m extremely glad I stuck with it. It ended up being a very unique, very impressive RH. The character growth was beautifully done. The first book is a little rougher in comparison to the others, but definitely worth continuing.

About halfway-60% through the book, it transformed completely. It was like reading a watt pad story compared to a KU one (not insulting watt pad, but it’s often a little less edited and a little less skilled). There were times in the book where I literally had to close my kindle because the secondhand embarrassment was so big. The female main character doesn’t have a defined personality like the others. As of right now, she seems more like a doormat. She’s both virginal and terrified and yet some sort of sexual goddess going through an awakening. It’s too conflicting.

However, it hooked me. The plot twist and premise itself is unique. Many are calling it Groupie 2.0, but I disagree. They’re both very different. Based on the improvement in writing towards the end, I’m thinking the next book will be much better. I’m hoping we see more personality from the female lead.

Depending on how the series goes after this, I may come back and change my rating to a 4. Looking forward to diving into book 2.

[Joyce Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good foundation laid for the upcoming books in this series. The story line is complex but intriguing. All the main characters have been identified and fleshed-out to this point, with the usual assortment of characters, some more palatable then others and then, some, well, you might just want to give a wide berth to. Some of the elements contained in this first novel are: mystery, high drama, much angst, sexually explicit scenes, betrayal, intrigue, corporate usury and sabotage, This reader has some questions pertaining to the hierarchy and boundaries the corporation is operating with. There appear to be some layers of management missing: agents, managers, road manager, PR personnel to name some. We shall see how this all plays out.

Good Stuff.

[SJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free sampler of this book (the first couple chapters I believe) it intrigued me enough to get the full book and give it a try. I have read a few “pop group “ reverse harems and this one is similar yet different to the others. It has a dark edge to it, but in some respects you could well believe the storyline actually happens in real life. The first book does well to explain what is going on as it unfolds without being lengthy and boring. The mix of characters is interesting and there is enough drama to keep me interested. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next, I am reserving judgement as to whether I am going to love the series at this stage as there’s an uncertainty in my expectations but on the whole a good read and I am about to dive into book two

[Kat Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this boo!k

Loved, loved this story. I can't wait to read the next one. I love all the main characters ( even Adam, but he better come back from the dark side). I like Kat (great name by the way, its mine too), but I had hoped she would stick up for herself more with the nasty Carla. I did love her scene with Conor in the boardroom though!

She is much more confident at the end of the story and I loved that. The 4 guys seem pretty amazing with Kat and hopefully they will stay that way. Here's hoping Adam doesn't remain an a$$hole!.

Highly recommend the whole series. Can't wait to read all of the books.

[Destiny Bridwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. This is only the first book in this series. I love books about hot and smexy rock stars. I have been reading a lot of romance as of late. She is there to film all about their lives, but she can't deny how delightful yummy. She was there for work but it became so much more. It is a world that she is not used to. I did like that the book was from different POVs. So will feelings hold up to fame? I will have to read the next few to find out. 

[Stfnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t like how this book was written. Read 75% and then gave up. It was a bit all over te place, a bit juvenile in the ‘oh my god first kiss’ departement, though the characters are young adults. I don’t say something like that can’t happen, I know it can and that’s totally fine, but I found it a bit over the top in this book. I’ve also read 3/4 of the book but it felt like there was only 25% progress between the characters and the performances and stuff with the record label. So, I decided, while this can be perfectly readable for anybody, it was not meant to be for me. ✌🏼

[Anne Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried to like this book and the others in the series.... i gave up when beginning reading book 3... lack in character depth or grow... their connection in between the band members and kat just seemed off... and way too much in between stuff...
thought i could enjoy this bu4 sorry...
The one star is for some decent hot scenes there. You write them good... keep an eye on your characters and 4heir development...

[BookishBlondeNerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot twist!

I love a RH with rockstars! This book actually took me by surprise. It's not the typical trope and has some depth to it. Read it because it's different, because the characters are different and because it's a good story. Excited to see what the journey has in store for them. Also because Seth. Love him

[Theresa Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book. Kat is a photographer looking to make her big break when she is approached by MCM to document the most popular boy band Royal Element. Things do go the way they are planned. I liked Kat's personality and the guys. The story is well written. I look forward to reading what happens after Adam's betrayel.

[Dezi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story!

I just loved Kat, she was pretty awesome. The guys were great also. I loved the guys and couldn't pick my favorite if I had to. Of course we all know Adam is on the pop list and I hope we find out more of what is going on in that head of his. I can't wait for book 2 and seeing where everything goes from here.

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this book, but... and I know it’s shallow AF, the cover is just UGH! I know... don’t judge a book by it’s cover an all but I really think that a cover is important and it can attract mote readers to the book. My personal artistic tastes aside, I really enjoyed this one, Seth is my favorite, hands down!!

[Hannah Brooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and steamy

So the ending was were it really got hot. A very well written steamy scene. A few minor grammatical errors. Overall an enjoyable book, I wish the fmc had been stronger, feistier or even a bit sassy there was just something missing. There's definitely potential in the next few books and it'll be interesting to see how the characters are developed.