ARC Review – Blow (Virtuous Paradox #1) by Heidi McLaughlin

I realize Blow is fictional and I realize that author’s take liberties in fiction, but when writing about something as serious as an addiction to a narcotic or even alcohol it needs to be realistic or it is a slap in the face to so many people who have been through rehab and fight their demons every day. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures 

Description:
Bodhi McKnight has always had everything handed to him on a silver platter: fame, success, money, girls. The raven-haired, blue-eyed hottie is the son of Hollywood A-listers, and when he’s asked to join the boy band Virtuous Paradox, his star shoots even higher. But so do expectations, leading Bodhi down a destructive path of addiction—until a drop-dead gorgeous guardian angel shows him her sizzling brand of tough love.

When Bodhi ends up in rehab, he doesn’t expect to meet someone as cool and down-to-earth as Kimberly Gordon. Although he’s enjoyed the company of beautiful, charming women before, none of them have tried to get to know the “real” Bodhi. But Kimberly isn’t fazed by his stardom. She’d rather go horseback riding, teach Bodhi to play guitar, or ask him about his feelings. Soon Bodhi realizes he’s fallen head over heels for her. He just hopes that he’s strong enough to protect what they have from all the pressures and temptations of the outside world.

ARC provided with no expectations

I’ve never read Heidi McLaughlin before so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I asked to review Blow; my reason for picking it for review was simple, it is about a member of a boy band spiraling out of control and ending up in rehab. Music has always been a big part of my life even though I don’t play an instrument or sing, I love music so I tend to gravitate towards books about musicians or bands and I’m not naive so I know substance abuse runs rabid in the industry and I was curious about this book. I found the characters compelling, but there wasn’t enough substance to it to make it an excellent book. I’m going to break it down and explain what I liked and what bothered me about it in hopes that will help those readers on the fence.

I liked that once Bodhi realized how his addiction was affecting his father, he knew he needed to settle in and give his all to rehab. He realized that having his father hold his barf bucket, help him change his clothes, and hearing him weeping that he had hit rock bottom and needed help. He fought it, he didn’t want to believe he was an addict, but in truth he realized he was and that he was lucky to have people who cared enough about him to help him. I liked that despite the fact he could leave the facility at anytime he didn’t because he knew if he did he’d lose his family. That told me that even though he craved the drugs his family was more important and that underneath it all he was a good guy who lost his way. I liked that when he realized another patient had been mistreated by her husband and he was keeping her children from her he reached out to help her and continued to do so. This showed that despite being somewhat self centered he had compassion for others and although he could have just walked away he didn’t. I liked that once he was out of rehab, he began to understand everything that triggered him to use in the first place and that he knew he was going to have to make changes in his work and in his life so he didn’t relapse.

I was bothered by the fact that despite one really bad episode Bodhi’s detox went very easy. I get that detox is different for everyone but considering the shape he was in I really feel it would have taken more than the approximately three days for him to be up and around and acting pretty normally. His patient liaison Kimberly going from loathing him to being in lust with him in the space of hours really didn’t work for me nor did the fact that despite working at the facility with her father and knowing that rehab patients should not get involved or make someone else their reason for staying clean she continue on as his helper. I was a bit bothered that Bodhi never really pinpointed what caused his addiction or really took responsibility for his addiction; he blamed his parents for their lack of supervision when he was younger, he blamed his manager for their grueling schedule, he blamed his friend/dealer for always being there to provide him with the drugs; but he NEVER took responsibility for the fact that no one forced him to take them, that was on him. I wanted him to realize that in the haze of drugs he lost himself and I don’t feel like that ever really happen. While I’m glad he has a support system when he got out and that his parents took him to their home with open arms, I really wanted them to hash everything out, I wanted his other two band members to really get in his face and ask him if it was worth messing up what they had, and I wanted HIM to confront their manager and make her see that her constant harping and the ridiculous schedule she had them on did not help any of them. I wanted him to stand up and be a man and confront EVERYONE about what happened to him, what caused him to spiral out of control and how they could help him stay clean. Everything was too easy for him in this book; his detox, his rehab, and going back to real life after his time away. IMHO, that was his problem his whole life had been too easy and with little to no consequences.

Was I happy that he found Kimberly and realized what a healthy relationship looked like? Yes, but he only had to look as far as his parents to see a good relationship. While I didn’t approve of the timing of him and Kimberly being together, I can’t discount that she was good for him. However, they really didn’t know much about one another and the fact they went from her hating him, to lust, to professing their love in under 30 days just didn’t work for me. Overall, I was disappointed that the rehab process of this book was glossed over and the addiction part was pushed aside. Had this book been longer and had they reconnected outside of the center, it would have been much more believable and then Bodhi’s success in rehab would have been on him, not on his relationship with Kim.

I realize Blow is fictional and I realize that author’s take liberties in fiction, but when writing about something as serious as an addiction to a narcotic or even alcohol it needs to be realistic or it is a slap in the face to so many people who have been through rehab and fight their demons every day. While I did enjoy the characters, the story was lacking, so for me this book didn’t work.

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