Review: The Boyband Murder Mystery by Ava Eldred

I was sent a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb: Harri and her best friends worship Half Light – an internationally famous boyband. When frontman Frankie is arrested on suspicion of murdering his oldest friend Evan, Harri feels like her world’s about to fall apart. But quickly she realises that she – and all the other Half Light superfans out there – know and understand much more about these boys than any detective ever could. Now she’s rallying a fangirl army to prove Frankie’s innocence – and to show the world that you should never underestimate a teenage girl with a passion…

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Title: The Boyband Murder Mystery

Author: Ava Eldred

Publisher: Penguin Books, owned by Penguin Random House

Genre: Fiction, YA, Contemporary, Mystery

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Review:

Harri is Half Light obsessed, she knows everything about those three boys – probably even more than they know about themselves. When front man, Frankie, is being held of suspicion of murdering his best friend, Harri simply can’t believe it. Determined to prove his innocence, it’s up to her (and some other Half Light super fans) to find out the truth…

The title of this book drew me in immediately – boybands and murder mysteries are some of my favourite things and to get a combination of the two felt like a win! We get right into the story without any hanging around as the news about Frankie’s situation is revealed to Harri quickly. I always appreciate a punchy start and this one delivered. Character wise, we read from Harri’s point of view and she strikes a great balance between fangirl and determined teenager. I loved that she wasn’t the typical airhead fan that teenage girls are often depicted as but rather she was studying at university and clearly had a good head on her shoulders. The same can be said about the other Half Light fans we meet who all add to story and none of them felt redundant. A stand out was the friendship between Harri and Jas who, despite never having met, can genuinely call themselves best friends thanks to their love of this band. Their relationship was fun to read and definitely reminded me of some of my own friendships 🥰

As for the murder mystery side, and I won’t spoil anything here, but it really did keep my guessing. There’s a lot of misunderstandings and jumping to conclusions which keeps this fast paced and has your mind working overtime to figure out the truth! This aspect of the book feels like a good (if not scary) insight into the music world and really gets you thinking about the inner workings of your favourite artists.

Adding to that, I couldn’t write this review without taking a moment to rave about how much this book took me back to being a boyband obsessed teen! I remember the days of knowing every detail about One Direction or running a blog dedicated to 5SOS and, alongside that, all of the wonderful memories I have of sharing that time with some of my best friends. Eldred really captures the bond that music (and boybands!) can create between strangers and I loved every second of it!

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who’s been through a phase where they too would have done anything for a boyband they loved!

* and yes, I am currently listening to One Direction while writing this 😂

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Rating: 4.5/5

Recommend?: Yes!

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Have you read this book? Or maybe you’ve read something similar? What did you think? I’d love to know!

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