What Goes On Tour by Claire Boston
Romance Contemporary
E book, 282 pages
February 11, 2014
Momentum Moonlight

Reviewed by Tori

Adrian Hart aka Kent Downer, is a Texas born and bred rock star whose social phobia and an abusive childhood forced him to adopt a different personality for the stage. This personality is suave, sexy, and confident in all the ways Adrian is not. Touring in Australia, Adrian finds himself in a bind when his niece’s nanny comes on to him and then quits when he refuses to sleep with her. Enter Libby Miles.

Libby Miles, a semi famous youth author, first meets Adrian when they are scheduled on the same talk show. Adrian’s fears manifest during the show and Libby helps him stay grounded. They meet again at a bookstore signing and a friendship develops between Libby and Adrian’s niece, Kate. Circumstances a line and Libby becomes Kate’s nanny while Adrian finishes up his tour.

Libby and Adrian fight their attraction to one another, citing employer/employee conflicts but soon decide to give into fate and indulge in one another until the tour ends. When a scandal breaks, blowing open all of Adrian’s closely guarded secrets, Libby finds herself on the outside looking in. Can Adrian see past his mistrust or will he push Libby and her love out of his life?

What Goes On Tour is a mild romance contemporary about a socially awkward rock star and a semi popular youth author.  The book has a strong Mills & Boons feel to it with decent if not heavily developed characters and a simplistic storyline. Predictable from the first page, the story has most of the necessary aspects to ensure you are casually entertained to the very end. While the story had a nice flow and is well written, it wasn’t an explosive romance that elicits reactions across the emotional spectrum.  It’s…nice. Nice characters, nice situations, nice off scene sexual relationship. Slow to start, it isn’t until the last quarter that we see the author dig a little deeper into her characterization and storyline to give us the drama I wished we had seen throughout the entire book.

The story is riddled with benign day to day scenes that don’t allow for the reader to connect to the protagonists past an entry level. The connection is told to us but not shown. The progression to love wasn’t fully explored on paper and left me feeling ambivalent. Adrian and Libby are interesting in their own rights but spend too much time second guessing themselves and each other.  I did enjoy the time spent on the mechanics behind Libby’s writing career and the explanations behind Adrian/Kent metamorphosis.  Both have trust issues  but Adrian’s childhood and fame causes him to lay a lot of his issues at Libby’s feet. She is guilty until proven innocent. There is a faint “woe is me” attitude that permeates the story, leaving you feeling slightly sorry for the couple but also wanting them to take charge of their lives and stop being so complacent. The romance is so subtle, you aren’t really sure there is one until you see them in bed together. Sex scenes are off scene.

Secondary characters add to the story but take from the romance. Kate, Adrian’s niece, is an exuberant child whose voice is too reminiscent of the adult writing her. The fact she holds so much power is determining if Adrian and Libby will even have a relationship was disconcerting. George, Adrian’s manager, holds Adrian’s ear and career in the palm of his hand but seems to drop the ball a lot when the scandal rears it’s ugly head.

The ending wraps everything up and gives the readers what they wanted-a happily ever after. While I’m sure many will love this simplistic low key romance, I’m afraid I needed more oomph for my buck.

Rating: C

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