Reviewed by Susan Helene Gottfried
It's often difficult to walk into the middle of a series and be able to understand the nuances established with each character. This is something I commented on when I reviewed Don Bruns' novel, St. Barts Breakdown.
With Magnolia Belle's latest book in her Black Wolf series, Black Wolf on Tour, I don't think that entering the series midway is what made it difficult to fully embrace. Rather, short scenes, thin characterizations, and details that don't add up combined to make this a less-than-satisfying read.
Black Wolf On Tour is the story of Joaquin Black Wolf, the young, handsome, talented drummer of the band that bears his family name. Joaquin is almost too perfect: his biggest flaw is that he takes full advantage of the groupies who flock to him (without ever contracting something requiring antibiotics -- or worse).
Enter a photographer who is hired to do a pictoral of the band. Jade is also almost too perfect to be believable: she's young, beautiful, talented, and usually knows all the right things to do and say. Of course, the sparks fly.
The book is billed as a modern-day romance, but it's not. Romances, by definition, end with a Happily Ever After, and the ending of this book is anything but happy. To say much more would be a spoiler, yet I need to stress that what happens to Jade and Joaquin throughout the book is a fresh plot. The perfect characters don't get a perfect ending.
Nor is this book perfect. Joaquin's other brothers seem interchangable. Caleb is the only one who emerges, and only because he seems to be the band's leader. Jay and Matthew could be one and the same, for their various functions in this novel. Even when the author slips into their points of view, we don't get a feel for who they are. In fact, when it comes to Joaquin himself, we don't get to see much of the clown we are told he is. He treats Jade as a drum, and that's funny, but if there are other instances, they don't come to mind.
The short sections within the chapters contribute to this mind-wipe effect. While their shortness helps keep the pace moving, at times, it moves too fast. There are real opportunities for deeper exploration of the subject at hand, but they aren't exploited. Instead, we are off on another tangent, usually through another character's point of view. It's hard to be inside all of these different people, all of whom seem one-dimensional.
Even Eli, the bad guy, has only one side to him. Jade doesn't want to sleep with him, and so he's got to get revenge. His excuse that he won't let a woman dump him neither explains nor excuses his extreme and persistent reaction. He could be a really terrific problem for Joaquin and Jade if he would be more devious, even given the line that, in real life, exists between band and crew. Instead, his actions spiral into increasingly unrealistic behaviors, and while it culminates in the first of two pretty major shocks and some great plot twists, when you step outside the emotion and take a good, hard look at how the inner workings of a successful rock band operate, you realize this scenario could never take place.
And that is one of the other major flaws in this novel. The backstage details aren't correct. This hugely popular band has no security staff. They do appearances in malls -- which is something that pop bands do in order to meet their teenage fans. Black Wolf, by all accounts, pulls in a more mature audience; otherwise, Joaquin's sex life takes on a danger that's simply distasteful. Why would adult fans come to a shopping mall to meet the band? And where is the security for such an event? As it is described, there's not a lot of planning or forethought involved. Maybe it's a flaw in the narration, but it comes across as being the product of a phone call along the lines of, "Hey, mega-popular band. Come hang at the mall and meet your fans!" And somehow, the fans know to be there.
While I understand the need to minimize characters, the lack of security is a flaw that both allows Eli be his bad self and yet undermines the credibility of the book.
Speaking of credibility, Joaquin loses some with me for his constant referral to Jade as "baby girl." It almost demeans her and it certainly changes the texture of their relationship. They begin as equals, yet Joaquin's insistence on the "baby girl" line reveals that he can't view her that way. Being her White Knight is one thing. Being her father is another, and his need to take care of her even before the initial problems with Eli reveal that he's just not ready for a strong, independent woman. Maybe what ultimately happens between Joaquin and Jade is actually a good thing.
As I said,
though, this book isn't a failure. It has a large number of flaws --
including
a lack of scene-setting and other descriptive words and passages -- but
would
be a fine beach read.