Book Review: Hazel Fine Sings Along

Synopsis:

When your voice is all that matters, sing loud.

As Hazel Fine steps out of her crummy hotel room into the bright Los Angeles sunshine, she knows she’s got one — and only one — chance. Her audition for the massive talent show, The Sing Along, could change her life forever. She has the talent. What she needs now is a bit of luck.

Soon, Hazel finds herself alongside fifteen other contestants who all have the same dream: superstardom. There’s the beautiful Hollywood golden child, Bella. The bright, bubbly country singer, Zoey. The extraordinarily handsome surfer/influencer, Benji.

And Hazel, who has more to hide than her past. She’s got the chops, but can she handle the pressure without self-combusting?

Add in an undeniable attraction to the show’s talented yet brooding musical director, Nick. And the lecherous tactics of one of the judges. Hazel soon finds herself in over her head.

But with her guitar strapped to her shoulder, she’s going to sing her heart out & maybe open herself up to love at the same time.

Who says you can’t have it all?

Review:

Katie Wicks is the pseudonym adopted by bestselling novelist Catherine McKenzie for her new venture as the author of romantic comedies. McKenzie, a native of Montreal, Canada, graduated from McGill University where she studied history and law. She penned ten bestselling novels in the early mornings and on weekends before retiring from the practice of law in April 2020, and turning to writing full-time. She launched her writing career penning women’s fiction, including Spin and Arranged, before turning her focus to thrillers like Smoke, The Good Liar, I’ll Never Tell, You Can’t Catch Me, and Six Weeks to Live.

McKenzie considers herself an “amateur” guitar and tennis player, and says she has “always loved reality singing shows,” although, “unfortunately, my voice isn’t good enough” to audition. Having always wanted to have a competition show serve as the setting for a novel because “there’s something so fun about the thrill of the competition mixed in with all the emotions,” she employs the premise with Hazel Fine Sings Along.

Hazel Fine is determined to secure a spot on The Sing Along, an American Idol-esque televised singing competition. “Sing along if you know the words,” the audience shouts with the long-time host, Keshawn Jackson. As the story opens, Hazel has been waitressing and is leaving her room in the sleazy Motel California and her best friend, Amber, a sex worker, to audition. When that goes well, she checks into the much nicer hotel in Universal City that will be her temporary home, along with the other contestants’, as their performances are judged by Georgia Hayes, an iconic country music star with a drinking problem, and Martin Taylor, who is one of the industry’s most successful music producers. He also produces and owns the show.

Hazel is harboring secrets that, if discovered by the network and producers, could get her ejected from the competition before it even gets started. She is twenty-eight years old, but has produced identification indicating she is only twenty-two. Hazel Fine is not her real name, although she has truthfully stated that she is from Austin, Texas. She has withheld pertinent details about her background and will surely be evicted from the hotel if it is discovered that she is harboring her pet rabbit, Checkers, in her room.

Hazel isn’t just talented. She’s determined to forge a career in the music business . . . and do so on her own terms. She loves singing her own compositions, accompanying herself on the guitar she purchased in a pawn shop six months ago by working double shifts to scrape together the purchase price. At the audition, she “sang as if her life depended on it. Because it did.” She’s tired of living in a dumpy motel room she can barely afford, working long shifts in a diner. “She shouldn’t feel this old at her age, whatever it was. Her life was supposed to be more than this. She deserved more than this.” She had to “reach out and seize” the chance that felt like her last one. And she did.

But surviving the initial audition was just the beginning of a fraught journey to being crowned the winner of the competition. First, she has to get through more grueling individual and group competitions and, hopefully, be among the select group of competitors who will perform on the televised shows. And when she accomplishes that, she must navigate around numerous roadblocks that stand between her and victory.

Hazel encounters sexual harassment from the show’s powerful head judge. Martin Taylor holds the power to thwart Hazel’s trajectory to musical stardom, and he makes inappropriate advances, demanding that Hazel capitulate or face expulsion from the competition. Hazel contemplates lodging a complaint. But how? To whom? Taylor literally controls nearly every aspect of the show and there are no witnesses to his quid pro quo propositions. Who will believe her? It is a compelling component of the story that is both contemporary and timeless, and accurately demonstrates the real conundrum that victims too-often confront.

There is also the delicate matter of forming collegial relationships with the other contestants, with whom Hazel is required to perform on the show. Hazel immediately bonds with her roommate, Zoey, a Black country musician who agrees to keep Checkers’ presence a secret and talks incessantly about missing her girlfriend. But there are mean girls competing, including beautiful Bella Moore, whose mother was a cast member on one of the housewives reality shows. Her father is wealthy, and Bella has over two million Instagram followers. And the show’s producers insist that Hazel play along as they invent and publicize a fake romance between her and Benji Suzuki, a talented singer who has already curated a large online following by posting videos on TikTok.

As if that weren’t enough, the contestants must collaborate with other musical artists, and Hazel is paired with Georgia Hayes. Keeping her sober long enough to prepare proves challenging, and in the process, Hazel gets an up-close glimpse into the stressors that plague artists as they establish and strive to maintain a successful career in music. Georgia proves to be as vulnerable and damaged as she is famous and revered by her fans.

And of course, there is Hazel’s burgeoning attraction to Nick Barnes, the show’s musical director. He is handsome, charismatic, and off-limits except in a solely professional capacity. Inappropriate fraternization could also result in Hazel being dismissed from the competition and cost Nick his job. But Hazel and Nick turn out to be inspired collaborators – musically and personally. McKenzie, aka Wicks, says her favorite part of writing is crafting dialogue, noting that the romantic comedy genre is “very dialogue driven. You need the conversations between the romantic interests to sparkle and getting to see that form on the page is very satisfying. If I pulled it off, that is.” She did. The relationship between Hazel and Nick is punctuated not only with witty bantering, but believable and emotionally resonant conversations as they get to know each other and recognize their deepening feelings, as well as the myriad reasons why they must proceed cautiously.

As the story progresses, Wicks convincingly illustrates the pressures the contestants endure in order to remain in the competition, including the believable politics, machinations, and backstabbing in which some competitors engage, and the crushing disappointment that befalls some of them. But for Hazel, failure simply isn’t an option. She has burned bridges and nearly emptied her bank account. The prospect of having to pawn her beloved guitar in order to buy a bus ticket back to Austin with her proverbial tale between her legs is unthinkable. Wicks gradually reveals exactly why Hazel is so driven to succeed and determined to keep her secrets from coming to light. Hazel is endearing from the outset, feisty and surprisingly principled, despite the lies she told to get into the competition. And readers learn about her childhood, her past experiences as a performer, and the betrayal that caused her to become estranged from her parents, she grows increasingly sympathetic and likable.

Hazel Fine Sings Along is an entertaining and charmingly enjoyable first foray into the crowded romantic comedy genre. It’s a nearly perfect beach read that will have readers rooting for Hazel to win both prizes: the talent competition championship and the guy. And looking forward to the next book from the multi-talented McKenzie/Wicks.