"Notice Me" by Emem Uko

This is a contemporary YA novel that is perfect for fans of boy bands and overall the music industry and the making of a band. The main character Anders becomes a lead vocalist almost by chance and the band he is a part of is catapulted into fame almost overnight.

I liked the beginning of this novel. The surprise message an author receives from a mystery celebrity was a good way to pull a reader in. However, once the identity of the celebrity is established the book abruptly switches to past events and recounts in excruciating detail his journey to fame and his everyday life as a member of a popular boy band.

One thing I could not understand was where most of the novel was taking place and why it was not revealed. Anders gets recruited by a foreign entertainment company that specializes in creating and promoting bands. You can sort of guess from the text that it is based in Asia (I would say Japan or Korea), but the author never identifies the country or the language, and I could not understand why. I think it takes away from the book and creates an annoying distraction (at least it did for me).

In addition, after the initial set-up that included a hint at unrequited love, we move into a detailed account of Anders' life as a lead singer of a boy band and do not come back to the love interest until the last quarter of the book. Moreover, there is no literary tension of any kind until about half way of the book and I did start to wonder whether anything interesting would happen any time soon. The plot definitely gets more interesting tn the second half of the book, despite the fact that the author still tends to be very detailed in her accounts of individual events.

I would say this book will appeal to anyone who likes boy bands, nice likable characters, detailed accounts of celebrities' lives and unsuspecting Cinderella stories, where an insanely popular musician falls in love with an ordinary fan. Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.