The Best Things Are Worth The Wait

This review is part of a review swap and valid as of chapter 15. It looks like the beginning of a university romance, and a story about the entertainment industry. The balance act of keeping these two stories together as well as apart doesn't alway pan out even though the main character is the very bridge between the stories. The main reason it feels a little disjointed is that the university part is very light hearted with lots of bantering between girls, a group date, the most popular boy in school, or in this case university, and all that. Basically a perfect setup for a romcom. Then we have a much darker story about actors, or at least the beginning of such a story. I may be wrong, which I hope I am, and this contrast ends up working perfectly well, but as of chapter fifteen it doesn't. With two stories for the price of one we have an abundance of characters. To be more exact there are characters strewn around in every corner, and more often than not there not enough space so you have more than one character in one corner. As of now there are more named characters than chapters, and it leaves me stunned with confusion. Apart from non standard dialogue tags it's a very pleasant read. Sure, the story wavers a little between third person limited point of view and its omniscient counterpart, but there's not all that much head hopping. When the story finally settles down and finds its own pace, let's say some twenty chapters down the line, we'll know for certain where this is going. We don't yet, because while fifteen chapters would normally see us past the beginning, when you have two stories we're still firmly in the beginning, and a few characters are effectively still being introduced. Now for the stars. Writing: Five stars. A few few glitches here and there, but not enough to yank a star. Updates: Five stars. Fifteen chapters more or less mass updated. Story: Four stars. Mostly because the two stories yet have to settle into one. Add that we're thrown dual sets of flashbacks and back story. I'm yanking a star due to the disruption this causes. However, each story flows perfectly well standing alone. Character: Four stars. I'm swamped with names, humungous numbers of names, and they barely have a chance to get a personalitiy each. It's going to take a long time to flesh them all out. I believe they eventually will, but for now I'm yanking a star. World: Four stars. The little there is is drowned in characters. It's not a lack of places, but they're just that -- places. A dorm room, a computer hardware store and an office. Oh, there's a somewhere where an audition is held, a nondescript outside of the university, and they go drinking somewhere. I'm tempted to yank two stars, but I'll settle for one. The setting definitely needs some work. Lastly, since this is a pleasant read I suggest you give it a shot if you're into a romance with a huge cast of supporting cast. It could very well turn out a gem, and if not -- it was still a pleasant read to find out.