Solo by Kwame Alexander

Synopsis:

When the heart gets lost, let the music find you.

Blade never asked for a life of the rich and famous. In fact, he’d give anything not to be the son of Rutherford Morrison, a washed-up rock star and drug addict with delusions of a comeback. Or to no longer be part of a family known most for lost potential, failure, and tragedy. The one true light is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her parents have forbidden their relationship, assuming—like many—that Blade will become just like his father.

In reality, the only thing Blade has in common with Rutherford is the music that lives inside them. But not even the songs that flow through Blade’s soul are enough when he’s faced with two unimaginable realities: the threat of losing Chapel forever, and the revelation of a long-held family secret, one that leaves him questioning everything he thought was true. All that remains is a letter and a ticket to Ghana—both of which could bring Blade the freedom and love he’s been searching for, or leave him feeling even more adrift.

Publishing Co.: Blink
Release Date: July 25, 2017
Rating:★★★

Reveiw:

I received this book from Netgalley and Blink Publishing in exchange for my honest review. 

First, I just loved that this was written in verse because one, it definitely made me feel like I was breezing through the book, and two, being in verse made the writing seem so beautiful. Although, there were two parts where the same words were repeated over and over, adding one word every line until it made a sentence and I hated that the most. ( Ex: After the, After the rain, After the rain comes, After the rain comes a, After the rain comes a rainbow.) It was just really annoying!

I thought the characters were delightfully obnoxious, which is a plus seeing that is how they were meant to be perceived. I immediately hated Chapel, Blade's girlfriend, and picked her out as a gold digger upon meeting her and immediately wanted him to see it too, and drop her ass. There was also a part where Blade said he started thinking about how dangerous it felt to love someone so much when they can't be with you and the whole time I'm reading this I'm thinking about how dangerous it is to love someone who loves what you can do for them more than you care to admit seeing.

His father was just as unbelievable as it gets to the point where you're asking, who raised him? But I did enjoy the piece of karma that was received by a very worthy recipient. I hate that Blade was the "hopeless romantic" type. For me, it really tarnished his character and I took it as a shot at him for being "young", since the stereotype is young people don't hold common sense and lack restraint and/or good judgement. 

I felt like Blade was in a ticking time bomb situation because he was surrounded by toxic relationships. I really liked the big family secret but I'm mad and a little disappointed we didn't get to see it fully play out. Also, I didn't really care for the song bios and I gradually started to feel like it weighed the pages down.

I only thought the book was alright so I can't really say if I would or wouldn't recommend this but of course the choice is all yours.