Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Terrible Things
SERIES: Star Shadow #1
AUTHOR: Beth Bolden
NARRATOR: Kirt Graves
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
RELEASE DATE: October 8, 2019
LENGTH: 10 hours, 44 minutes
BLURB:
When Caleb Chance walked out in Detroit five years ago, leaving his band, millions of his fans and his lover behind, Leo knew he could never forgive.
Some things, no matter what the cause, are unforgivable.
But Leo never expected Caleb to show up again, clean and sober and wanting to get their band, Star Shadow, back together. He definitely never expected to agree to Caleb’s plan.
He never expected to confront the love of his life again – or the disaster of his past, the hopelessness of his future, and every terrible thing he’s been carrying inside him.
But maybe some things aren’t so terrible after all.
REVIEW:
The first moment they met as teenagers there was this zing, this instant attraction between Leo and Caleb. It was plain to see for everyone around them. They were drawn to each other like gravity and it wasn’t long before they become one unit in everyone’s mind. But the toll of fame and hiding their relationship from the public took out its right – especially on Caleb who turns to the bottle. Until one night where he just vanished, leaving Leo and the band in the middle of a tour and without a word.
For the next five years Leo never knew if the love of his life was lying in a ditch dead somewhere, or if he was alive. Music was non-existent in his life and he was barely holding on to his sanity, merely existing one day to the next. Until one day when Caleb reappears, demanding the band to get back together and back on a new tour.
Obviously emotions run high in the band. Years have gone by and all of them have changed in the process. The book is mainly focused on the here and now, what happened when Caleb returned, with a few flashbacks to where it all began so sweetly and how it went downhill some years later. It’s told from Leo’s POV only, we share in his feelings, the hurt but also the longing and how torn he is when Caleb returned.
I never liked Caleb, or well, the teenager so in love with Leo was adorable, but the grown version not so much. I mean he’d been what you could describe as missing for five years. With no contact even to just let his friends, family and the love of his life, know that he was still alive. He vanished overnight and reappeared just as quickly. I never felt that he genuinely tried to make things right with the band or Leo. To me his explanations felt like excuses. Sure, he had a genuine drinking problem that needed to be dealt with, but does that excuse everything? Weren’t they worth an apology? Some grovelling? Some effort on his part?
I never really saw that from him, just more demands and rules that the others needed to follow. None were never really put on him in return. He could just waltz back in like nothing happened, as if he didn’t shatter Leo with his stunt just like he did with the band.
That coloured a lot of the book for me. Then there were a few plot holes and inconsistencies. To take one; Leo lost his music when Caleb left. He didn’t play for years, let alone write or compose. To the point where he relinquished his lead position in the band to another guy because he couldn’t keep up anymore. Yet, somehow his music still evolved during this hiatus? Leo’s whole world was Caleb, and I kind of wonder who Leo really is underneath it all. It felt like he didn’t exist as his own person.
Kirt Graves was great, just like always. He made you feel what Leo felt, the love he had for Caleb. How torn he was when he couldn’t help him with his drinking, the fear of one day finding him too far gone. The helplessness. His accent for Diego might have come and gone, but I didn’t mind that, it didn’t detract from the story. His pleasant voice makes it easy to listen to him for hours on end.
RATING: 
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