Ruin Porn (Vallie’s Review)

Title: Ruin Porn (Resonator #1)
Author: S.J.D. Peterson, S.A. McAuley
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 28, 2015
Genre(s): Contemporary
Page Count: 252
Reviewed by: Vallie
Heat Level: 5 flames out of 5
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Blurb:

There is underlying beauty in destruction….

Miah Thade, Finn Reese, and Ritchie Meyer are Resonator, an indie rock band with an edge—best friends turned rock stars, known as the Detroit 3. When Evin Rene appears in their life none of them can deny he belongs with Rez.

They may have named their first album Ruin Porn because people get off on seeing how Detroit went from deeply loved to thoroughly forsaken, but they’re determined to prove that blight isn’t the entire story and blight isn’t always ugly.

Ritchie, Miah, Finn, and Evin take Resonator to a level no one anticipates. But no prosperity comes without sacrifice, and no secret stays hidden without a trail of lies. As Rez’s fame grows, so does the intensity between two of its members…as well as their potential for destruction.

Evin and Finn are about to discover the underlying beauty in their ruin porn.

I love rock-star romance stories. After reading the prologue, I was so sure that I would get an angst-fest and a romance of epic proportions. It was just that good and so promising. The more I read however, the further away for that I got.

The story revolves around the three original members of Resonator, also known as Detroit 3, Miah, Finn, and Ritchie, as well as Kevin, who swiftly became Evin after joining the band as a bassist. We know from pretty early on that Evin has a crush on Finn and it is very obvious why. Finn is hot, snarky, and has the carefree attitude of a rock-star down pat. Evin, on the other hand, is shy, introverted, and can’t quite come to terms with fame, signing autographs, and being recognized by fans everywhere. Miah is the band leader, who is honestly a jerk most of the time, but sort of redeems himself in the end. Ritchie is the mama bear of the group. He often intervenes to put out fires and to keep spirits calm.

The first 50% of the book covers the first tour the band went on. The head hopping became a little bothersome because the other band members’ POVs didn’t seem to offer anything meaningful other than noticing Finn stealing glances at Evin and vice versa. That came especially from Ritchie because Miah is pretty homophobic and has no qualms about showing it. I can understand getting Ritchie and Miah’s POVs for inclusivity purposes, considering there will be other books. But for the first half, their POVs were a few pages at best, describing a sight-seeing expedition, or rehearsing for a concert, or other ordinary things that didn’t seem that unique to the characters so I couldn’t see the point of it.

So I patiently waited chapter after chapter titled after every city they toured in to see the sparks fly and something happen. Then at 27%, my hopes burned and crashed along with any chance I had of liking this book. I guess this is where I should disclose that monogamy is a pretty hard limit for me in romance. I am glad I recently read a book where a threesome at 2% is the catalyst for the MCs to develop feelings for each other, so I have a point of comparison. The MCs here did not develop feelings after the threesome. If they did, it was not mentioned. They both kept referring to the possibility of a threesome again as something really hot and they didn’t seem to have any problems with sharing. In fact, there was no mention of feelings at all. It was all about wanting, lusting, and generally having the hots for each other. There were a few ménage scenes until Evin admitted to himself that he’d rather be alone with Finn but when asked if he wanted to do that by the third party, he didn’t take the chance, acting for all intents and purposes as if he was simply blowing off steam. This bothered me a lot and affected my reading experience significantly. I was so frustrated from the lack of confessing anything, even to themselves, that I honestly couldn’t wait to finish it just so I could move on to something else.

Eventually, there are some plot twists where Finn and Evin show jealousy and possessiveness over the other, but again, it doesn’t amount to anything. They make up by having sex (sometimes alone and sometimes with someone else involved) and go back to being bandmates and friends. There were so many opportunities for them to come clean to each other, even be together in secret, but no. Friends. Bandmates. And threesome partners.

When things come to a head, the band dismantles, which brings us back to where we were after the prologue. Within less than 5%, everything was resolved. Feelings were confessed, monogamy was discussed and promised, the MCs got a happily ever after, and issues which supposedly held them from opening up before (morality clauses in the contracts etc) were magically resolved without even a mention. I was happy to see the guys get a HEA but I feel like I was cheated out of the whole relationship. In fact, there was no relationship as far as I’m concerned, at least. There was friendship, yes, and camaraderie over music and concerts, and bonding and all that. But there was never anything romantic until the very end. Nada. So, the HEA left me a little cold, I am sad to say, because the epic romance that the prologue promised simply never came.

This book already has several 5 star reviews so this is probably a case of it’s not you, it’s me. I won’t discourage people from reading because this might just not be my personal cuppa.

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