Review: Facade by Kim Carmichael

Title: Facade: A Modern Romance Inspired by The Phantom of The Opera
Author: Kim Carmichael
Publication: March 23rd 2016 by Irksome Rebel Press
Genre: Adult ~ Contemporary ~ Romance
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating: 2/5

Received in exchange for an honest review.

   

The world is nothing but one big façade. You have to be special to see the behind the mask.

Erik Renevant once lived in the spotlight. As lead singer for the wildly successful group, Specter the world revered him. When an accident destroyed his band and his face, he chose to live his life in the darkness, hiding away from the shadows of his former self and refusing to be seen again.

Christine Day longs to have her chance in the spotlight. Living her life flitting from one thing to the other and currently without a permanent residence, she sees her big break in becoming the backup singer for an unknown band and entering the Stage of Stars, the latest hit reality competition.

When Christine wanders into Erik’s perfectly controlled world and he hears her voice, he knows she is destined for super stardom. However, he never dreamed she would be the one to help him shatter his own façade and lead him into the light.

Façade is inspired by the beloved story of the Phantom of the Opera and is a combination of all the different incarnations.

Facade was a bit of a fail, sadly enough. Sure, it had some things that I liked but mostly it wasn't a very good book for me, which is really too bad because I'm a huge Phantom of the Opera fan.

I'll start with the good. What I liked was obviously that this book was inspired by The Phantom of the Opera. I liked how the author took elements from the original story and put them in a modern setting. It was also a pretty quick read so that's also a bonus.

Now the bad... the characters were kind of boring. Especially Christine fell flat to me. She really had no depth whatsoever. Erik could be okay at times, though. I also wasn't a fan of the writing. It was mediocre at best. I just wanted more character and world building, I guess.

I also want to say that the story itself wasn't bad either. Like I said before I liked the modern setting. And also Christine entering a competition called Stage of Stars where Erik trains her for. 

I'm not sure what to say about the secondary characters. I definitely liked Nash. But as for the others, I don't really feel like I got to know them that well. The romance aspect wasn't my favorite either. Sometimes it was okay, but other times it was just bad.

Overall I wouldn't recommend Facade by Kim Carmichael. I really wanted to like it but even though I'm pretty obsessed with all things Phantom of the Opera, this wasn't the story for me. 

       About the Author:

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Kim Carmichael began writing nine years ago when her love of happy endings inspired her to create her own.

A Southern California native, Kim's contemporary romance combines Hollywood magic with pop culture to create quirky characters set against some of most unique and colorful settings in the world.

With a weakness for designer purses, bad boys and techno geeks, Kim married her own computer whiz after he proved he could keep her all her gadgets running and finally admitted handbags were an investment.

A multi-published author, Kim is a PAN member of the Romance Writers of America, as well as some small specialty chapters.

When not writing, she can usually be found slathered in sunscreen trolling Los Angeles and helping top doctors build their practices.