flickerthenflare:
I had the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Blended Notes, which means I can...
I had the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Blended Notes, which means I can tease a few things….
(Images borrowed from @lilahsuzanne‘s twitter because they were too pretty to resist)
I was prepared for the first Spotlight book to remain my favorite in the series, but I think Blended Notes just won out. Given how much I enjoyed the first two, that’s high praise indeed. I didn’t think it would be possible to unseat Broken Records in my mind because I just love this one particular moment in it where Grady’s bisexuality (and his overall understanding of himself) is put in his own words and you can see how much of the story up until that point has been other people’s perceptions of him. I think it’s so deftly done. But! Blended Notes impresses me as a follow up story that has a lot of depth. I think it’s really beautifully, thoughtfully told.
I
was sold on Blended Notes two pages in, with Grady and Nico both making an
appearance. It feels so good to return to these two. They’re adorably
settled in their relationship. They have their stumbles, but the more
mature look is good on them.
Grady’s
relationship with fame/a public life from the first book continues to
fascinate me. While Broken Records is about how both he and Clementine and even
Nico are perceived, this book is more about the choices Grady makes as
an artist: handling what to make public, how much to let others in, and what kind of
control he has over the art he makes.
I appreciate that there’s conflict and there’s not an obvious solution that readers can
spot right away but the characters somehow can’t. Lilah Susanne trusts the readers to let the story unfold, and it’s that much more rewarding for it.
I’ll have more to say over the next few days, but at a high level, let me just say it’s been an absolute pleasure to read this series from beginning to end.
