#Moonstruck by Sariah Wilson

I really wanted to love this book. On paper, it has all the elements I adore in a romance - it's a clean fake relationship rockstar romance. It's like my catnip! And to be fair, this isn't a terrible book. It's just let down by a strong theme of internalised misogyny.

I can handle a small cast. I can be disappointed that the promising female friendships near the start fade away, the only non-villainous females in the cast are a secondary love interest and the supportive best friend, and still get over it.

I'm really not keen on how the heroine slams the hero's fans, to his face, and is never corrected. He never stands up for them, explicitly dislikes the music he makes that they follow him for. I was uncomfortable but willing to let it slide if she showed growth or was called out on it, but that never happened. Her viewpoint stood unopposed.

I've been there, in that crowd of screaming fans. I've followed and liked and binged YouTube interviews and music videos and behind the scenes. I've made friends and signs and shoddy gifs. I came away from the book feeling like the main character, and the author, would look down on me for this. I have no patience for a book about a rockstar who won't defend his fans. I'm not here for girls getting called "pleeches" (plastic leeches) for daring to be pretty and scoring a meet and greet with their idol.

Listen, the rest of the romance is nice enough, but it's been weeks since I first read the word 'pleeches' and it's not clever or funny, it's just mean.

Three stars.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley