READ THIS BOOK! "Counterpoint" by Ruth Sims

I woke up Saturday not preparing to do much of anything. I picked up Ruth Sims' book Counterpoint: Dylan's Story (Dreamspinner Press), expecting to read a chapter or two.

I couldn't put it down.

It's a marvelous tale, full of romance, tragedy, and, yes, excitement. Something happens in the second part of the novel that made it absolutely impossible for me not to read on. I don't do book reviews, but I cannot recommend this lovely tale highly enough. It's well-written, meticulously researched, and even the secondary characters (the ones who appear in only a couple pages at most) are given humanity. This is a book that stands apart from its genre specification. Don't pass this off as just another romance novel. This is something special and deserves a large readership. When Sims describes the scene you will see it as clearly as if she's designed the film sets.


Here's the blurb from Amazon: "At eighteen Dylan Rutledge has one obsession: music. He believes his destiny is to be the greatest composer of the rapidly approaching twentieth century. Only Laurence Northcliff, a young history master at The Venerable Bede School for Young Gentlemen, believes in Dylan's talent and encourages his dream, not realizing Dylan is in love with him. But Dylan's passion and belief in his future come at a high price. They will alienate him from his family and lead him on a rocky path fraught with disappointment, rejection, and devastating loss that kills his dream. A forbidden love could bring the dream back to life and rescue Dylan from despair and bitterness, but does he have the courage to reach out and take it? Will he deny the music that rules his soul?"