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Red Velvet Crush

Christina Meredith

2.97 · Rating details · 69 ratings · 19 reviews

Rock music, a broken family, challenging sisters, and the crush of first love—Red Velvet Crush has everything you need in a summer read. For fans of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Eleanor & Park, and This Song Will Save Your Life.

Teddy Lee’s mother ran off when she was in second grade. And ever since, Teddy Lee, the often-overshadowed middle kid, has tried to ...more

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Hardcover, 304 pages

Published June 14th 2016 by Greenwillow Books

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New YA Releases June 2016

68 books — 62 voters

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn

YA Music Books

458 books — 787 voters

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Average rating 2.97 ·

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· 69 ratings · 19 reviews

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Apr 17, 2016 Peach added it

Shelves: 2016-releases, dnf, young-adult, not-for-me, arc, contemporary-romance, nice-cover-tho

DNF

I could've sworn I reviewed this? Anyway.

Teddy ~~Grahams~~ Lee is a would-be singer. She hopes to bring the family back together with her voice and her knowledge of '80s musicians, I assume. Her mother has fled town, so her father raises her, her misogynistic brother, Winston, and her sister, Billie, who has a penchant for shoplifting.

The love interest is a mortifying visual. He's said to have a comb-over, thin lips, and "a pooch." Thanks for the handsome image. As did book did zero for me, ...more

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Jul 10, 2016 Hayaisreading rated it really liked it

Red Velvet Crush by Christiana Meredith

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Feb 02, 2016 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley-edelweiss, 2016-resolutions, contemporary, read-2016, young-adult, r2r-complete

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)

This was a YA contemporary story about a girl in a band, but I lost interest.

Teddy Lee was an okay character, but I just didn’t connect with her well. Not sure why this was, but I just didn’t really love her.

The storyline in this was about Teddy Lee’s band going on tour over the summer, and that was pretty much it. I kept waiting for something else to happen that was ...more

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Mar 25, 2016 Kris rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2016

This is a great book for readers who loved Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It is a story about how sisters can hurt each other and what it is like to be the sister who always gives in and what happens when that stops. It is a love story and also a story about heartbreak and second chances. I absolutely loved this and will recommend it to everyone!

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Mar 23, 2016 Julie added it

This book was about sisters, family and being in a band. There was some romance . I wasn't too sure if Teddy was girl or boy in the beginning. But I loved that it focused on family relations while being in band. I finished it this morning and I enjoyed it.

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Jan 29, 2016 Louisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A book about a band and about a family! So amazing to read, and I just loved it!

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Nov 24, 2017 Chocolate rated it it was amazing

Sigh. This book was heavy, emotionaly.

The connection Teddy Lee had with music was beautiful. For a person with siblings and spotlights, I understood her pain.

Winston was the perfect crazy brother.

I hated Billie and I don’t understand how TL can forgive her. She was full of herself. It could have been because she grew up without a mother, but idk.

Ty, he was very likable, but when he did what he did, I wanted to punch him repeatedly.

Jay, the crazy happy spirit. I love him.

Ginger, I think he might ...more

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Jul 26, 2018 Danielle Urban rated it really liked it

Red Velvet Crush by Christina Meredith is a deep story of two sisters. One of them is always being overshadowed by the other one. Teddy Lee just wants her family to be a family again. So, she comes up with an idea and let it roll. But it isn't too long before her sister, Billie once again takes over...and things go down hill from there. I liked Teddy. She seemed likable and wanting what's good for others. Her family is in this broken weird phrase. One that cannot be shaken. Her father loves her ...more

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Jun 01, 2017 Erin rated it it was ok

I think what the problem in this book was is that there just...wasn't anything that happened. The band forms, Teddy hooks up with her insta-love boy, they go on a mini tour, Teddy and the boy get in a fight...sort of? Teddy is jealous of her sister. Boy comes back to her. The end.

On the one hand, I appreciate that the band didn't make it big right away--they didn't make it big at all. They toured some dive bars and then went back to their small town. I just don't know anything about the ...more

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Mar 28, 2019 Jessica (The Psychotic Nerd) marked it as dnf

Shelves: harper, rt-2016, read-in-2016, released-in-2016, pov-girl, stand-alones, summer-2016, music, contemporary-realistic, used-to-own-a-copy

This was a DNF book for me. I gave up on this book mainly because nothing was happening and I was halfway through the book. There should be a story by that point and really did not seem to be going anywhere. So, I set the book aside.

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Sep 25, 2018 Alexa Herondale-Cullen rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-library

it got a little boring at the end. but it was still good

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Nov 15, 2015 Nicole rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2016-releases, book-tour

Teddy Lee Carter is the middle child. Her older brother Winston and younger sister Billie are always getting in trouble. Ever since her mother left her family, it's always been her siblings and her dad. Winston started working at a radio station and has a great idea to form a band. After auditions, Ty, Jay and Ginger Baker join Teddy Lee and Billie to create Red Velvet Crush. After practicing in the garage, Winston's boss is able to secure gigs at small bars and clubs. However, Billie is getting Teddy Lee Carter is the middle child. Her older brother Winston and younger sister Billie are always getting in trouble. Ever since her mother left her family, it's always been her siblings and her dad. Winston started working at a radio station and has a great idea to form a band. After auditions, Ty, Jay and Ginger Baker join Teddy Lee and Billie to create Red Velvet Crush. After practicing in the garage, Winston's boss is able to secure gigs at small bars and clubs. However, Billie is getting more attention than Teddy Lee. Billie is in the spotlight and Teddy Lee is upset that Billie always gets what she wants. Sadly, because of the tension between Teddy Lee and Billie, things don't end up well with the band.

Although Red Velvet Crush seems like a typical story about a girl in a band, it is not. There is a lot of focus on the family dynamics. A single dad is raising three children after his wife leaves him and the family for good. Barely scraping by, he is able to provide food and shelter by working more than one job.

Winston and Billie are always getting in trouble and Teddy Lee is definitely feeling the middle child syndrome. She wants to be in the spotlight once in awhile but even when she is so close to pursuing her passion, her sister messes up. Billie is selfish and she is definitely annoying. It was hard to read about how Billie takes advantage of Teddy Lee. Billie knows that her sister will give in to whatever she wants and it's frustrating to read about. I seriously wanted to give her a slap or two.

The romance in the book is straight on instalove. It is all lust and no love. Teddy Lee and Ty had no connection in their relationship beyond the physical. Yes, he cared about Teddy Lee wanting to sing her own songs and all but I didn't see any development in the relationship pass the crushing and lusting. They didn't see a connection building into something more.

The plot was all over the place and it was hard to figure out what the main focus of the book is. According to the synopsis, Christina Meredith explores the complicated relationship of sisters and much more than that. I find the writing weak on the sisterly part. All I read is Billie always getting what she wants and Teddy Lee wanting to shine once in awhile. Teddy Lee gets so annoyed to the point where she gives in ALL the time. Even when Teddy Lee gets to front the band, she pretty much gives up. Billie pushes her buttons.

I wish Meredith delved more into the music scene by weaving the sisterly relationship with ins and outs of being in a band. I wanted that feeling I got when I read For the Record. There is lack of character development in the novel. I wanted to see growth between the characters and I didn't see much growth at all. Billie stayed like Billie and did what she wanted to. The guys in the band did their own thing. Winston continued to be Winston. And Teddy Lee didn't live up to my expectation. I wanted her to claim her own ground. I wanted her to say, "I deserve this moment to shine." I wanted her to finally be able to be in limelight. Instead, I got a girl who gives in to what her sister wants. She gives up. I want to see a strong female character who won't let her siblings push her around.

Red Velvet Crush is contemporary novel suited for those who don't mind reading about doing something spontaneous and trying to find out what you want to make of yourself. ...more

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Feb 01, 2016 Isamlq rated it liked it

Shelves: arc-galley

I kept holding my breathe expecting Something Big to happen. No, not her and The Boy. And no, not them and The Tour... but something about betrayal and trust and thorny familial bonds set side by side with some newly made connections, and in the midst of all that --- possibility of conflict. So yes, Red Velvet Crush was sweet, sexy, with potential for damage... eventually. Because in the mean time, surprisingly, this we all about family.

I'm particularly impressed with the familial connections I kept holding my breathe expecting Something Big to happen. No, not her and The Boy. And no, not them and The Tour... but something about betrayal and trust and thorny familial bonds set side by side with some newly made connections, and in the midst of all that --- possibility of conflict. So yes, Red Velvet Crush was sweet, sexy, with potential for damage... eventually. Because in the mean time, surprisingly, this we all about family.

I'm particularly impressed with the familial connections then complications in this one... and that's both in the family she's born into and the other one she's chosen. It's the bitter/resigned outlook Teddy Lee has when it comes to Billie that's most remarkable in it's honesty because everything about them read so true: the first with her sense of why me and the second with her own ingrained ideas of what was fair (to her.) Or even how Teddy sees Winston... and what adulting could possibly look like. It's with him that a muddled sense of past and present are put together: is he a screw up or not? is he grown up or growing up... or just playing at the first? But then there's a similar feel with regard to her father too; quiet in his presence, made surprisingly louder in his absence. Her emotion while not quite all over the place are complicated. As she loves him, finds comfort in him she also resents him and his (in)action and pigeon holing which sibling has which role. Classic middle child angst I initially thought... except the manner that aspect is told here while nothing new felt authentic.

Surprisingly, that same depth in how her family is tackled felt almost absent with regard to what the band and who the boy would become for/to her. Perhaps that's given the newness if both? So, maybe not so surprising after all. But it is with this new group... that she opens herself to possibility- that she isn't just Winston's little sister or Billie's older one, or even that kid whose mom left. There's a tentative openness to her with them in the picture. And it's also with them that the sweet-sexy-potentually damaging comes in. So yes we do get what the cover and the blurb hint at... except I liked this aspect less than I did when it was about her and her thoughts in Billie and Winston and her father mainly because her with them felt true and possible.

Thank you, E!
3 stars. ...more

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Dec 14, 2016 Brianna rated it it was ok

Shelves: aty-2016, 2016, edelweiss-read

I was really looking forward to this book. I love books involving music and bands that potentially make it big. I also am always curious to read books that involve relationships between sisters that may not be ideal relationships. Since this book had both of those factors I figured 'why wouldn't I like it?'. Things just didn't really click or come together the way they could have. It was almost there, but didn't quite get it.

One of the biggest issues I had with this book was what the expectation ...more

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Sep 12, 2016 Megan rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, royal, realistic

2.5 stars

Teddy Lee Carter is the middle child. The responsible child. Since her mother left them, Teddy has been the one in charge of getting her drunk younger sister, Billie, home after parties and keeping tabs on her wild older brother, Winston. Teddy's passion is music and one summer she finally gets what she's always wanted: a band (Red Velvet Crush) and a means to share her music with the world. Like everything else in Teddy's life however, Billie will not be content until she has what ...more

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Mar 23, 2016 Rhea Dsouza added it

Shelves: 2016-releases, edelweiss, dnf

Red Velvet Crush was a book that could not hold my interest, not even when I reached the 40% mark, and that's when I gave up on it. While the idea of the book is definitely intriguing, I didn't find it executed very well. It took me a while to even find out if Teddy Lee was a boy or a girl. I could read traces of romanticising of drugs and that's a hard limit for me. The love interest Ty was as generic as they come--mysterious, sexy, smelling good. Nothing was happening, which made the book ...more

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