Hello my fellow readers and book lovers! It has definitely been a while since I’ve posted a book review, despite reading quite a bit of books. One of my goals for 2022 is to be more engaged through my blog content and share my reviews of the books I’ve read, or currently reading.
The first book I started the new year with (while confined to the house due to COVID) was the “The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes” by Elissa R. Sloan.
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS ALRT***
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“Cassidy Holmes isn’t just a celebrity.
She is “Sassy Gloss,” the fourth member of the hottest pop group America has ever seen. Hotter than Britney dancing with a snake, hotter than Christina getting dirrty, Gloss was the pop act that everyone idolized. Fans couldn’t get enough of them, their music, and the drama that followed them like a moth to a flame – until the group’s sudden implosion in 2002. And at the center of it all was Sassy Cassy, the Texan with a signature smirk that had everyone falling for her hook, line, and sinker.
But now she’s dead. Suicide.
The world is reeling from this unexpected news, but no one is more shocked than the three remaining Glossies. Fifteen years ago, Rose, Merry, and Yumi had been the closest to Cassidy, and this loss is hitting them hard. Before the girls split, they each had a special bond with her – truths they told each other, secrets they shared. But after years apart, each of them is wondering: what could they have done?
Told in multiple perspectives – including Cassidy’s – and through different timelines, this is a behind-the-scenes look into the rise and fall of a pop icon, as well as a penetrating examination of the dark side of celebrity and the industry that profits from it.”
The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes book jacket
As many of us remember, the late 1990s and early 2000s were all about pop boy and girl bands being all the rage and topping the billboard charts – from NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls and so many others (Spice Girls were my jam!), we fell in love with them, idolized them, and wallpapered our rooms with their posters. In this novel by Elissa R. Sloan, the Glossies come together as the pop girl band sensation of that time period and follows their rise, fall, and subsequent lives of the band members years later. Told from the perspective of the four band members, you quickly realize that not all that glitter is gold in the world of music and entertainment in Hollywood.
While the present narration is told by the three remaining Glossies and how they feel about Cassidy’s death, it is Cassidy’s narration of her time in the band that really paints the picture of what the music and entertaining industry was like throughout their rise to fame and what eventually led to the breaking of the group and her estrangement from her band members. Each of the band members (Rose, Merry, Yumi, and Cassidy) brought to the group a different personality and dynamic, yet all were affected to one degree or another by their time in the spotlight and how each dealt with it differently.
We are first introduced to three of the four Glossies (Rose, Merry, and Yumi) as they are on radio talk show for their guest appearance in a big Hollywood movie 15 years after they were last a pop girl group sensation. During the interview, they learn of Cassidy’s death, supposedly by suicide, and how they each react to the news. From there, each chapter is told from one of the group member’s experience – Cassidy from her days in the past, and the rest of the group in the present. Whether it is Cassidy’s mental, physical, or emotional abuse, Rose’s grabbling with her sexuality, Merry’s sexual assault, or Yumi’s type-casting and stereotyping, each of those incidents have left each group members with scares and trauma that lasted throughout their lives, leading to Cassidy’s death by suicide.
Reading this book in the post #metoo movement, there were a lot of instances where I’d ask the characters “why don’t you say/do something?!” and how could certain things happen that are taken as the “norm” in that world. Sex, drugs, abuse…these were in fact the reality at that time (and even now) of what it meant to be in the entertainment industry and what you would be expected to endure. The fact that coming out and speaking up would not garner support from your peers, but result in being dismissed and possibly facing lawsuits, so in order to continue to rise, you don’t speak about it.
I don’t know about you, but I used to watch the Spice Girls and daydream about what it would be like to be a pop icon like that, singing up on stage, and having fans screaming for me. I’m sure we all have at some point idolized and dreamt about what it would be like to be Hollywood rich and famous. But books like “The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes” also point out that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Beautifully written to illustrate that sometimes behind the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, there is a huge industry that has a darker side we may not always see. Or else we know of, but don’t want to acknowledge and instead focus on what we want to see.
I’ve tried my best to not include spoilers if you’d like to pick up the book yourself and check it out. It was very entertaining and a quick read.
I got my book as part of my Book of the Month subscription where you receive 1 free credit per month to pick one of the month’s selection of new and upcoming releases. If you’d like to get your first free credit follow my link here to check it out!
Or check out the book here to get your copy in hardcover, paperback, audio, or Kindle!
I don’t always keep all the books that I read and review, so if you’d like me to send you my copy leave a comment with your favorite boy/girl band from the 90s or 2000s and I’ll randomly pick a winner and message you directly.
Hope you guys enjoyed my review! If you’ve read the book I’d love to hear how your thoughts about it down in the comments below! ❤
Stay healthy…Stay safe 🙂 ❤
~XO~
Dose of Dalia 