He's with the Band

by Julie Stone

After twenty-three years of marriage to an utter jackass and beige décor as far as the eye can see, Campbell Cavett is now divorced. Officially. But how did she lose herself for all these years? Somehow she went from being a bold, starry-eyed young groupie who followed Golden Tiger on tour to…snapping photos of snot-nosed kids for their Pinterest moms at the local Portrait Hut.

But she takes her Divorce Party one bottle of Pinot Grigio too far and wakes to discover she’s quit her boring-ass job, arranged to sell her house, and has tickets to the Golden Tiger reunion show. Which is exactly when fate and Campbell decide it’s time to pick up where she left off all those years ago.

Now Campbell’s on tour as the official photographer of her favorite band and living the life she’s always dreamed. But backstage access means that she’s about to discover a whole lot. Not just about herself, but about a blast from her past who looks way hotter than he has any right to twenty-plus years later. Plus there’s that mind-blowing secret Golden Tiger’s been hiding from everyone. They say time can heal anything. But is six weeks on the road enough to truly start fresh?

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Second Chance Romance, Contemporary Romance

297 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 17, 2022

About the author

Julie Stone was born a child of the seventies complete with rainbow shirts, bell bottoms and a belief in unicorns. All that whim and whimsey ushered her into the wonderful world of being a teenager in the eighties, something she has a hard time letting go of most days. I mean, the styles, the music, the movies? It was a playground for the creative mind she was growing.

Alas, she had to leave all that behind and become an adult. Graduating with a degree in English from the University of Iowa (go Hawks!) where along with a degree she also earned herself a husband. She embarked on all of the regular, boring grown up things that come with age. Until the magical world of motherhood brought along a new chapter of joy, terror and sleepless nights.  But also, nap time. Suddenly there was time to go back to her creative calling and write. Through raising two boys, several moves around the midwest, those stories and that keyboard kept her company and kept her, relatively sane. (Depending on who you ask.)

Currently settled in Iowa, she continues to pursue her love of the written word, her cats and sMothering the three boys in her life to the best of her abilities. She is the Author of three books, These Darn Heels, Deja Who? and Try, Try Again.

Reviews

[nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so excited and intrigued by this book; the blurb really had me intrigued, and as a Rockstar Romance fan, it sounded like everything i love to read. Unfortunately, it really just fell flat for me. My main issue was the character of Davis. Upon seeing him again for the first time in years, Campbell describes him as "having had work done to his face" and then later on says that the botox in his forehead doesn't allow him to close his eye properly when he winks at her. YIKES. This was not attractive to me in the slightest and started giving me Mickey Rourke vibes. I loved the premise of the characters being more mature, so why not let them age gracefully?
From this moment on i struggled to connect with Davis, and that was a real disappointment.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.

[Marija · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was just what I needed to read by the warm and cozy fireplace.
That hidden teen in me loved to read about how midlife boring Campbell gets her life back (in a way) after her divorce. She gets a chance of a lifetime to follow the band around the country again as the band’s photographer and biographer. It was such a fun and interesting read, I even had a moments when I was laughing out loud.
Characters were likeable and nicely developed.
Storyline was great with a few surprises toward the end. But all in all, I really enjoyed reading it, I recommend it
Thanks to Entangled and Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Jennifer Shirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grab your favorite concert t-shirt and go on tour with this fun, second-chance romance!

After a later in life divorce, Campbell is struggling to find her way in her new single life. So when her favorite all-time band announces a reunion tour, she and her girlfriend decide to go—after all, those concerts were some of the best memories she ever had. But a simple concert leads her to running into an old friend and, more so, a job as concert photographer. However, getting this second chance with the band leads to more implications than she realized, including a chance at love again.

[Lesley Kagen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this one! A poignant, but funny debut! Kudos to Ms.Stone!

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

***ARC Provided by the Publisher via NetGalley***

DNF at 22%

I'm ok with a heroine who is a little down on her luck, or even a hero for that matter.

What I'm not ok is a heroine who makes decisions and then feels trapped and tragic about them.

This book, at least what I read of it, felt like watching a life unravel tragically. And it's hard to be excited about someone's new life when they aren't

I'm unable to recommend this title.

[A_Stylish_Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you @entangled_publoshing for a copy of He’s With the Band. A second chance romance about Campbell, recently divorced with no job and goes to a concert for Golden Tiger, her younger day obsession. This book is a fun take on BTS on a has been rock n roll group and also Campbell figuring out herself.

I found Davis’ character a little gross and they way he treated women and didn’t understand how Campbell or Marissa found him attractive. I wished there was more back story to Vince to give us a better idea and his attraction to Campbell. They story was a bit predictable but overall enjoyable.

[Jessie Carvalho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. 3.5 stars, rounded up. In my opinion it's more of a coming of age than it is an actual romance book. Very music forward. It has the vibes of the movies Rockstar and Almost Famous to me. It didn't focus much on romance until close to the end. Campbell is living her dream of being on the road with her favorite band. She's learning a new career, a new life without having a husband. It's definitely cool to read her growing and learning. I love that the characters are not super young too. It's rare to read a book about a 40 year old. It was refreshing. I recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ARC!

[Jocelynereadsromance · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was a well written, nicely paced novel, told through first person present. Overall the read was enjoyable, but I found that I was reading a different book than I expected which make my overall enjoyment just mediocre. I think Julie Stone's writing is very well executed and that her heroine was compelling and interesting to read about, but the overall expectation of a romance was really lacking for me.

This novels focus is on Campbell, and her journey to rediscovering herself after her divorce. We spend the novel in her head while she rediscovers who she was before she was married and who she now wants to be now that she is not feeling stifled by her ex-husband. Campbell, through the help of her best friend, decides to take matters into her own hands and becomes a photographer (and commemorative book author) on a Band reunion tour. This is the same band that she has loved since she was in her late teens and early twenties and spent a year as a third tier groupie. During this new tour with the band, Campbell learns who the band and the people close to the band truly are, while learning that maybe childhood crushes and who she should really be considering might not be the same person.

Overall, this was a really lovely journey of discovery for Campbell. I found her to learn to be strong and independent. She learned to rediscover her love of photography, she learned to examine and understand how this band's music effected her and still does, and she learns to stand up for what she deserves. But, because this is not exactly what I was expecting I found myself a bit disappointed and left with a lack luster feeling. I was hoping to read a romance novel with a strong hero and heroine both at the center. While there is a romance, the main focus of the story is not on this romance. So, I really felt like I was missing out on many of the romantic elements I was hoping to get out of this story.

If you are looking for a novel about a women's rediscovery of herself, this is a great option. It has the fun background of a band on tour and it has a bit of liveliness because of the rock'n'roll life style while having a nice level of maturity. If you are looking for a story that has a slight romantic element but that is not the main focus, this is also a great option for you. Julie Stone's writing is definitely worth reading and her characters and charming and compelling.

OUT January 17, 2022

Thank you to Entangled: August and NetGalley for an eARC, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Sandy S · Rating 4 out of 5]

HE’S WITH THE BAND by Julie Stone is a contemporary,adult, rock romance story line focusing on one-time groupie turned amateur photographer Campbell Cavett and the rock band Golden Tiger.

Told from first person perspective (Campbell Cavett) HE’S WITH THE BAND follows one-time groupie turned amateur photographer Cambell Cavett, now forty two, as she finds herself the band-photographer for the reunion tour of Golden Tiger. Golden Tiger disbanded over twenty years earlier, just months after our heroine spent a glorious summer as a rock band groupie but Campbell Cavett, for all her wants and desires, never had the full groupie experience, thanks in part by the actions of the band’s manager Vince Caparelli, the man who controlled everyone in and out of Golden Tiger’s life. Fast forward more than twenty years, and the first night of the tour, Campbell comes face to face with the same tour manager, who hasn’t forgotten our story line heroine. Hired to take pictures, and write about the band, Campbell slowly discovers that all is not as it appears to be, including the manager’s conection to the band. As Campbell begins to disect the individual members of the band, our heroine finds herself on the outside looking in, as secrets reveal the truth about what happened years before.

HE’S WITH THE BAND is a back-stage pass, so to speak, about the lives of a band that imploded years before. Within months of Campbell’s journey with Golden Tiger, the band fell apart, following the release of a disastrous album but as Campbell begins to unravel the truth about the members of the band, a secret once kept is about to reveal the heart break and pain of unrequited love.

HE’S WITH THE BAND is a journey of discovery for not only the band but for our story line heroine. Campbell Cavett’s marriage had imploded, and a mid-life crisis, of a sorts, finds Campbell trying to relive the summer that was but no longer is. The premise is entertaining and captivating; the romance is subtle; the characters are interesting and engaging-the slow build up to the twist is revealed a little at a time.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

www.thereadingcafe.com

[KDRBCK · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's With the Band by J. Stone, published by Entangled Publishing LLC, is a book that had me torn a bit. I was intrigued from the start because it got full speed - yay.
Campbell Cavett is a year old , freshly divorced photographer that gets somehow the job to photograph the reunion tour of her favorite rock band. A band she was a groupie of years ago. And here it starts. The heroine transforms into a whiny, drinking like a fish groupie again, hormone riddled, can't stay away from the lead singer, but rather should. She has no professional distance at all, wich she should have in my opinion when wanting to do a decent job. So as youz can see, the heroine has me a bit in a bind. I really really wanted to like her, but...
So and now the hero. I liked Vince, but I had to take not only a second, but a third look, he was just that bland and just not there. He was more like a vanishing wallflower and I just don't know.
So all in all. The story started out great, had some length further on, but turned out a decent read, stars.

[Julie Booklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story has promise, and the older heroine, and rockstar, is a good start. The blurb did pull me in. But for this reader, the mark was missed. Campbell is in her 40’s, recently divorced, and gets an opportunity to go on the road with her favorite band from her younger years as their photographer. For me, the story did drag at times, and I would love more backstory about Vince.

If you enjoy second chance stories and enjoy rock star reads, this might be for you. Campbell is a good character, and we all need a friend like Marissa. I did enjoy Campbell’s growth. The book is a nice escape to the world of music.

Thank you, NetGalley and Entangled Publishing LLC, for the advanced copy; this is my voluntary review.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pleasant enough second chance romance. When the two main characters do finally do the deed, the action is left to the imagination, because, sometimes that is more erotic than a blow-by-blow. In this case, it was a little too neat, but it worked.

The premise is that Campbell thinks she is joining the band to sleep with the lead singer. She doesnt' realize or even guess that the person that she knew 20 years ago, the band manager, who she hung out with when she was a groupie was really was who she should be interested in. The lead singer just loves 'em and leaves 'em, and she knows that, but still she thinks that is what she is supposed to do.

And she admits to that, that it is just body chemistry making her feel that way.

Although the ultimate mystery is telegraphed several times in the book, Campbell doesn't catch on until nearly the end. I made a note the second time the hint was given in the story. It made me frustrated that she couldn't see it too.

A generally good story. Amazing how many things Campbell forgot about, though.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Elaine - Splashes Into Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a contemporary romance which starts with divorce
After twenty-three years together it is Campbell Cavett's choice.
She's had enough of endeavouring to conform to him and his needs
Instead she's rebelling as divorce party wine her bravery feeds.

Campbell resigns from the job that she hates
And instead plans to trust more in the fates!
Before marriage she followed the Golden Tiger on tour
They're touring again - so she's going once more.

Her camera in hand, she and friend go to the gig
Where about rules and more she doesn't give a fig.
She ends up on stage, dancing and photographing the band
She never dreamt just where that would have her land!

Touring as the band's official photographer now
She's a job to do that's brilliant, but she isn't sure how!
Back stage passes, hotels, mixing with the band and more
She's remembering her life from before.

However there are secrets that she accidentally discovers
Should she keep them to herself or share them with others?
As she gets to know better the band and their crew
Who'd dream there'd also be a romance opportunity, too?

Get ready to have an exciting life on the road with the band,
Trying to ensure nothing gets completely out of hand.
With drama unfolding whilst she's living this new life
There's also brewing some troubles and strife.

What a heartwarming read of re-finding yourself again
After a bland life trying to fit in caused nothing but pain.
It's inspirational and fun, sharing rock and romance
And showing what happened when love's given another chance.

For my complementary copy of this book, I say thank you,
I throughly enjoyed reading it and this is my honest review.

[Kali White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this charming and funny love story set in the crazy world of rock bands and concerts. Great read for nostalgic lovers of music and concertgoers!

[Jan Stenzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met and have seen Julie at a few author events in Iowa. Fun to now read her book. I enjoyed the story. I found myself comparing it to “Almost Famous” and “Daisy Jones.”

[Lily Mulholland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the tropes, the plot was pretty good but I wanted more from this book. Part of that’s on me: I think this book has helped me to work out that I prefer romantic drama (the accursed ‘women’s fiction’) than straight romance, which seems to happen too easily, without sufficient character development or depth of feeling.

I kept imagining how good this book would have been had it explored its themes with greater care and depth and if our heroine had a deeper POV.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, fast paced read. Made me want to put on my favorite concert t shirt, pull out my 80s albums and binder full of concert ticket stubs.

[Suzette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Campbell is at a crossroads in her life. She is getting divorced and doesn’t know how she got to where she is and where she wants to go next. A drunken celebration sees her making a decision that sees her going back to revisit her past. Vincent has always lived in the background of the rock and roll band he managed. It is just the way he liked his life. He too is getting a chance to redo the past but he already knows the whole picture. The story is at times funny and sweet. The characters are a great mix of good friends and aging groupies. The story is poignant and hopeful. Love abounds and there is a happy ending for Campbell that is totally rock and roll.

[Samsbookspot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newly divorced Campbell attends a reunion concert of her all time favourite band.
20 years ago Campbell was a groupie and followed the band on one of there tours.
Can she recreate what she experienced back then.

This was a good read, I loved Campbell and connected with her character. I understood how she felt after coming out of a divorce and not knowing who she is as a person.

The band were your typical ageing rock stars that wanted to capture their hey days with sex, drugs and rock and roll.

This was my first time reading this author and I will be definitely reading her books again.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a slow burn that you don't get any relief until like the last 10 pages. About half way through I got confused and had to check again to make sure this was listed as a romance. It's much more a story about self discovery and learning to live with the choices you made.

I enjoyed the story but it was not at all what I was expecting. If you don't like slow burn romances, this is definitely not the book for you, but if those are your thing, well, have at it.

*Thank you to the publisher for this eARC.

[Marlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an ok read. I like the idea of looking at roads less taken and exploring the what-ifs. The story moved along at a good pace overall however there were parts that were a bit heavy in parts and it seemed to slow down. Campbell, the female character seemed a little self-absorbed and did not really learn from past roads taken. The male character, Max, was not easy to read and although I figured out who was the writer in the band it could have been exposed earlier.

[Nikki Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Campbell divorces her husband, sells her house, and goes to see her favorite band on their reunion tour, she has no idea she’ll become the band’s photographer. While she thinks she wants to be with the lead singer, Campbell and Vince, the band manager, actually are the two who belong together. This was a unique story that kept me wondering what would happen next and if Campbell would figure out she was better off with Vince. I really enjoyed this story and I think you will too.

[Denise Morse · Rating 2 out of 5]

He's with the Band is the story of rediscovering yourself and getting back in touch with your youth. Campbell has just gotten divorced and decides to throw caution to the wind and go back to being a groupie/photographer for her favorite band. She meets back up with them and most importantly their band manager, Vince.

It was a really slow burn and slow in general for me. Even though I was the target age for this book, I had a tough time connecting with the characters and their journey.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really was excited about this book solely on reading the synopsis. Older heroine getting back on her feet and finding her true self again. However, in execution this story just dragged on and for there to be such a big deal about groupies and sexual escapades, the interaction between the main characters at that critical moment was a let down.

Thank you for the ARC to read and review.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Former wild child Campbell gave up the life she wanted for the one she thought she should have. Beige and boring she isn’t living she’s existing. Enough! Days after the divorce was finalized Campbell gets a chance to discover which path was the one she should have taken. This is a terrific story of what ifs and second chances.

[Rachel Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Campbell is newly divorced and not sure what happens next when she spots that Golden Tiger are going on tour. 20 years ago she followed them on tour, just wanting a chance to get in with the band. Will she get her chance know, or will Vince still be getting in her way?
A fun read!

I received an ARC in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this story intrigued me a lot. I like the later in life characters. Makes it more real. After a divorce, Campbell decides to go to a concert and let’s loose. I liked this book a lot. It kept me occupied and engaged the whole time.

I received this ARC and I am voluntarily reviewing this book.

[Suzi Deyoung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story!

Loved all of the characters in this book. Happy endings are the best and this book does not disappoint but there are enough twists and turns along the way to capture your interest until the end. Can’t wait for the next book from Julie Stone!

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I like a good rom-com, I usually don't read many romance novels, as most feel simply one note to me. But this one has a more grownup approach to finding love and the courage to pursue second chances.

[Cynthia Brubaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal book! Julie's ability to pull you into the main character's world and feel what she is feeling is unmatched! Having been around a band myself, I found Julie's story to be full of accurate and pertinent details. I'm loving this book so far and am excited to keep on reading!