What do you think?
Rate this book
Silent Crescendo
Even when their mutual attraction made a silent crescendo to a shared and loving passion, Judith knew she could never find emotional harmony with Rafael David the famous operatic tenor. His whole life, both on and off stage, was too much influenced by the heady drama of his profession...
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Catherine George
445 books73 followersDeirdre Matthews was born in a village on the Welsh-English border, where the public library featured largely in her life. Her mother, who looked upon literature as a basic necessity of life, fervently encouraged her passion for reading, little knowing it would one day motivate her daughter into writing her first novel.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
At 18, she met a future Engineer, who had set in a pendant a gold sovereign, that his grandmother put in his hand when he was born, and she have never taken off since. After their marriage he swept her off to Brazil, where he worked as Chief Engineer of a large gold-mining operation in the mountains of Minas Gerais, a setting which later provided a very popular background for several of her early novels. Nine happy years passed there before the question of their small son's education decided their return to Britain. Not long afterward a daughter was born, and for a time she lived a fulfilled life as a wife and mother who always made time to read, especially in the bath!
Her husband's job took him abroad again, to Portugal, West Africa, and various countries of the Middle East, but this time she stayed home with the family. And spent a lot of lonely evenings in between the reunions when her husband came home on leave. "Instead of reading other people's novels all the time," he suggested one day, "why not have a shot at writing one yourself?" So she did.
But first she took a creative writing course. Encouraged by the other students' enthusiasm for her contributions, she decided to try her hand at romance, and read countless Mills & Boon novels as research before writing one herself. Her first novel was accepted in 1982 as Catherine George, which Romantic Times voted best of its genre for that year, along with more than sixty written since.
These days son and daughter have fled the nest, but they return with loving regularity to where she and her husband back for good from his travels live, with Prince, the most recent Labrador, in a house built at the end of Victoria's reign in four acres of garden on the cliffs between the beautiful Wye Valley and the River Severn.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 1, 2016
Re Silent Crescendo - this is a fluffy little sweet romance, focusing around Opera of all things and the surprise is it isn't Mary Burchell. I thought no would dare to follow in her footsteps after the Warrender Saga in HRtopia, but CG must have felt a smidgen of pastiche for MB and brings us a tale of an Operatic tenor who has lost his voice and a good-hearted, funny physiotherapist who helps him find a new direction.
The story starts with our 24 yr old h jogging in her local village park, she is knocked down by a man in a black balaclava hiding his face. She panics, thinking she is being attacked, and she jumps up and punches him in the jaw and then runs off. She runs home to the cottage she shares with her 34 yr old widowed sister and while she is disturbed by the incident, she can't seem to get the stranger's fragrance out of her mind.
She dismisses the incident in favor of empathizing with her sister's current dilemma. Her sister is helping to organize a local operatic group's big annual musical festival and their lead male tenor is out for the count. The family joke is that the h is the most unmusical person alive while the rest of the family are opera and musical fanatics. The h figures she is doing good to recognize some of the pop top 40 hits, but she listens as her sister describes grand operatic tragedy that is inflicting itself on real life.
Having no solutions but a listening ear, the h also teases her about crushing on one of the main organizers of the week long extravaganza. She is encouraging her somewhat reserved sister to do some subtle flirting and thinking a bit about her own somewhat lacklustre relationship with a local Dr., she likes playing sports with the suitor but she just isn't feeling the vibe when they start making out. She wonders what is up with her, but soon dismisses it in the rush of daily life.
She winds up breaking up with the Dr. when he becomes more amorous than she cares to respond to, but her sister invites her to hear the new tenor replacement. He is a huge opera star who is staying with the man the sister is in love with, and has volunteered his services so the big production can go on. Everybody is hugely excited and the h is wondering what all fuss is about, she thinks all operatic tenor's are chubby guys with little appeal.
Nevertheless, she agrees to go along for the evening for moral support and while the famous tenor is singing the flower song from Carmen, the h is transfixed by the music and the man so movingly performing it - complete with real stiletto on stage. (check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1daf... with Jonas Kaufman for an example of what had the h so enthralled.) The sister is happy cause the man she has been luring is chasing her back and the h is wondering what hit her cause the H wasn't singing "Play that funky music" yet she was still excited.
They all go to the aftershow party and the sis's guy introduces her to his tenor friend, she moves away from the crowd surrounding him, but he grabs a bottle of champagne and approaches her. He fills her glass and then apologizes, the h gets one whiff of him and realizes that he was the guy in the balaclava in the park. He apologizes profusely for scaring her, he had throat problems and couldn't speak and the hat was pulled down over his face to protect his vocal cords while he ran.
The h accepts his apology, but when his manner becomes dramatically flirty, she decides she isn't an opera groupie and takes herself off. She decides to walk home from the theater, it is only a short distance, but she is followed by a man in a black balaclava. She thinks it is the H, having it on with her, so she is completely taken by surprise when it is a real mugger and he knocks her out and steals her jewelry and her purse.
The h wakes up in hospital, it is the same one she works at and the big excitement is that the H carried her in unconscious. He was still wearing his operatic flowing ruffled pirate shirt and it was covered in the h's blood. The h is a bit perturbed that more people seem to be excited about the H's presence than worried about her copious blood loss.
After she is released the next day, she goes home but is getting no rest with all the neighbors dropping by to chat about the H and the press that wants a story. She is really irritable and cranky and when the aunt of the sister's guy calls to invite her to hide out at their manor, the h rapidly agrees. She is informed the H will be leaving the next day, so she thinks she is safe enough. She doesn't think she and the H have a lot in common, outside her wild, unexpected physical attraction.
As things go, she and the H wind up being alone together that evening, he comes across as very passionately infatuated with her and the h isn't sure if he is just being operatically dramatic or if he is just looking for an easy score. Passionate kissing occurs, until the H pulls her down on the ground and re-injures her stitched up head.
Needless to say, blinding agony in one's skull is not a prelude to passionate lurve making and the H is horribly embarrassed. The h staggers to bed and is strangely disappointed when she finds out the H is gone when she wakes up the next morning. The h goes home, the sister's romance is proceeding nicely and the h keeps getting single carnations delivered every day. She doesn't hear anything from the H, she just gets a carnation with no note.
She is a bit techy but trying to refocus herself on her life, when she finds out the H was in hospital to have a lump removed from his throat. The h is very concerned and her family knows something is up. The H has apparently disappeared and is scheduled for an indefinite rest. The sister's beau suggests that a certain Wales village might be a nice place for a late September visit and the h goes off and tracks the H down.
She finds the H dramatically despondent, his lump was removed and he is physically well, but his singing voice is gone forever and he has no clue what to do next. We found out earlier he is 39 and was married to a woman who died in childbirth very young. She used the H as a cover for her pregnancy by another famous opera tenor. The H had no clue and when she told him he was a lousy lover after the wedding, well - that marriage wasn't the happiest ever.
Since the wife died the H has done nothing but sing, travel and sample the HP lovely lady buffet. He is shattered now and has no direction. The h is resoundingly practical, she sees worse things everyday at the hospital in her job as a physio and she reminds the H that he has accomplished more in his life than most people ever do. She helps him move out of self pity and when he asks her to stay with him for a bit, she agrees hoping to get him moving into another direction in life.
She acknowledges she is attracted to him but sternly informs him that studdette services are not on the menu. That lasts for a few days, it did not happen sooner cause the h was ill with a flu for the first day or so, and the H took care of her. They wind up in bed eventually and the h is blissfully happy, turns out she was just a late bloomer waiting for the right gardener. The H proposes after a mad fit of passion and the h refuses.
She worries that they have nothing in common but lust and that when the passion dies, they essentially have nothing central to build a relationship on. He wants her to quit her very demanding and well-liked job and retire with him to grow olives and have kids.
The h can't see either one of them being happy in that lifestyle and so after her refusal, the H sneaks off leaving her alone with a brief, but suitably dramatic note. (There are shades of the Warrender Saga all over this book between the H's drama, the flowers and the impassioned angsty little note.)
The h goes home to get her life sorted again and finds the sister is ready to marry her longed for beau. The wedding is imminent and the h tries to be happy for the sister, but she is kicking herself for turning the H down, cause she is terminally bitten by the love bug.
The H does show up for the wedding but he makes no mention of a future and the h returns to her lonely cottage, doomed to eternal regret for not counting the world well lost for love and flinging her cap into the vagaries of fortune to take a chance with the H. (By this point the H's operatic tendencies have rubbed off on her.)
Then the sister returns from her honeymoon preggers and convinces the lovelorn h that she needs to accompany the sis and her hubby to a musical evening in London. They have borrowed a friend's apartment and the sister really needs her support as her hubby will be involved in the production and afterparty and wants his pregger lady to have someone on hand in case of possible baby trauma.
The h thinks this is an excuse to shake up her moroseness but she makes the effort and agrees to go. The night of the big production, the h and sis are in the lobby when she finds out the H will be performing new music he composed. The h is unhappy and even more unhappy with the bearer of the news, a luscious lady who indicates that she is "very good friends" with the H. The musical composition is a big success and the sister and hubby want her to go with them to meet the H at the afterparty.
The h is completely despondent, she figures this is the H's way of saying she doesn't mean anything to him now. She helped him through a bad time but that is over with his new career, and now that she has seen the competition, she is to be chalked up as a nice memory during a bad time. The h leaves and is back at the borrowed flat when she hears a recording of the H playing.
She is sorta freaked by the music, she goes to investigate and finds a computer controlled recording of the H singing "please don't leave me alone" in Italian. Then the H shows up and the big dramatic finale begins. She tells him she figured he was done with her as he never called or wrote, he says she turned him down and he wasn't sure he could establish a new career for himself.
Now he has decided to open an operatic training school and she will come and be his wife as he loves her madly and can't live without her. She admits her life is nothing without him and she will set up a gym at his school and get his student's physically fit. She forgives the sister for setting her up and the H assures her that they are thrilled about the pending nuptials.
They adore each other, have a purpose in life together and so now they can make out on the floor, until they remember there is an available bed or two and the H admits to dumping the sister and hubby in a suite at the Savoy so he could work his wiles on the h. HEA's are all around and it is another successful venture of love conquering all in HPlandia once again.
This really is a nice homage to Mary Burchell, she had written her last novel On Wings of Song (the last book of the Warrender Saga and bringing the story line full circle,) the year before this book and MB would pass on six months after this publication.
I think CG wanted to do a tribute to a writer she admired greatly. Having also traveled through HRtopia in addition to her HP's, I think she does a nicely balanced book that captured the best essences of the MB saga and at the same time sets her up for her own progress through both HPlandia and HRtopia in her own Pennington Series.
Of all the writers who contribute to both lines, CG does seem to embody a lot of the traits that made so many of Mary Burchell's books classic keepers. CG's stories usually have very well developed characters with a lot of interconnecting stories and her books usually exhibit the same sort of timelessness Mary Burchell's did. CG focuses on the relationships and the interactions between her characters and also uses some pretty universal plot dilemmas that aren't singular to the standard HPlandia tropes.
This is CG's first HP that really focuses her talent for building a solid story line and characterizations that may be a bit unlikely, but almost always provides a very satisfying HEA. I recommend this one as an example of the things she has to come. While there aren't any other big connections with CG's other books, this is one where you get a good feel of where she is going in the future and so Silent Crescendo makes and excellent test book to see if CG is your cuppa for an HP or HR adventure.
The story starts with our 24 yr old h jogging in her local village park, she is knocked down by a man in a black balaclava hiding his face. She panics, thinking she is being attacked, and she jumps up and punches him in the jaw and then runs off. She runs home to the cottage she shares with her 34 yr old widowed sister and while she is disturbed by the incident, she can't seem to get the stranger's fragrance out of her mind.
She dismisses the incident in favor of empathizing with her sister's current dilemma. Her sister is helping to organize a local operatic group's big annual musical festival and their lead male tenor is out for the count. The family joke is that the h is the most unmusical person alive while the rest of the family are opera and musical fanatics. The h figures she is doing good to recognize some of the pop top 40 hits, but she listens as her sister describes grand operatic tragedy that is inflicting itself on real life.
Having no solutions but a listening ear, the h also teases her about crushing on one of the main organizers of the week long extravaganza. She is encouraging her somewhat reserved sister to do some subtle flirting and thinking a bit about her own somewhat lacklustre relationship with a local Dr., she likes playing sports with the suitor but she just isn't feeling the vibe when they start making out. She wonders what is up with her, but soon dismisses it in the rush of daily life.
She winds up breaking up with the Dr. when he becomes more amorous than she cares to respond to, but her sister invites her to hear the new tenor replacement. He is a huge opera star who is staying with the man the sister is in love with, and has volunteered his services so the big production can go on. Everybody is hugely excited and the h is wondering what all fuss is about, she thinks all operatic tenor's are chubby guys with little appeal.
Nevertheless, she agrees to go along for the evening for moral support and while the famous tenor is singing the flower song from Carmen, the h is transfixed by the music and the man so movingly performing it - complete with real stiletto on stage. (check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1daf... with Jonas Kaufman for an example of what had the h so enthralled.) The sister is happy cause the man she has been luring is chasing her back and the h is wondering what hit her cause the H wasn't singing "Play that funky music" yet she was still excited.
They all go to the aftershow party and the sis's guy introduces her to his tenor friend, she moves away from the crowd surrounding him, but he grabs a bottle of champagne and approaches her. He fills her glass and then apologizes, the h gets one whiff of him and realizes that he was the guy in the balaclava in the park. He apologizes profusely for scaring her, he had throat problems and couldn't speak and the hat was pulled down over his face to protect his vocal cords while he ran.
The h accepts his apology, but when his manner becomes dramatically flirty, she decides she isn't an opera groupie and takes herself off. She decides to walk home from the theater, it is only a short distance, but she is followed by a man in a black balaclava. She thinks it is the H, having it on with her, so she is completely taken by surprise when it is a real mugger and he knocks her out and steals her jewelry and her purse.
The h wakes up in hospital, it is the same one she works at and the big excitement is that the H carried her in unconscious. He was still wearing his operatic flowing ruffled pirate shirt and it was covered in the h's blood. The h is a bit perturbed that more people seem to be excited about the H's presence than worried about her copious blood loss.
After she is released the next day, she goes home but is getting no rest with all the neighbors dropping by to chat about the H and the press that wants a story. She is really irritable and cranky and when the aunt of the sister's guy calls to invite her to hide out at their manor, the h rapidly agrees. She is informed the H will be leaving the next day, so she thinks she is safe enough. She doesn't think she and the H have a lot in common, outside her wild, unexpected physical attraction.
As things go, she and the H wind up being alone together that evening, he comes across as very passionately infatuated with her and the h isn't sure if he is just being operatically dramatic or if he is just looking for an easy score. Passionate kissing occurs, until the H pulls her down on the ground and re-injures her stitched up head.
Needless to say, blinding agony in one's skull is not a prelude to passionate lurve making and the H is horribly embarrassed. The h staggers to bed and is strangely disappointed when she finds out the H is gone when she wakes up the next morning. The h goes home, the sister's romance is proceeding nicely and the h keeps getting single carnations delivered every day. She doesn't hear anything from the H, she just gets a carnation with no note.
She is a bit techy but trying to refocus herself on her life, when she finds out the H was in hospital to have a lump removed from his throat. The h is very concerned and her family knows something is up. The H has apparently disappeared and is scheduled for an indefinite rest. The sister's beau suggests that a certain Wales village might be a nice place for a late September visit and the h goes off and tracks the H down.
She finds the H dramatically despondent, his lump was removed and he is physically well, but his singing voice is gone forever and he has no clue what to do next. We found out earlier he is 39 and was married to a woman who died in childbirth very young. She used the H as a cover for her pregnancy by another famous opera tenor. The H had no clue and when she told him he was a lousy lover after the wedding, well - that marriage wasn't the happiest ever.
Since the wife died the H has done nothing but sing, travel and sample the HP lovely lady buffet. He is shattered now and has no direction. The h is resoundingly practical, she sees worse things everyday at the hospital in her job as a physio and she reminds the H that he has accomplished more in his life than most people ever do. She helps him move out of self pity and when he asks her to stay with him for a bit, she agrees hoping to get him moving into another direction in life.
She acknowledges she is attracted to him but sternly informs him that studdette services are not on the menu. That lasts for a few days, it did not happen sooner cause the h was ill with a flu for the first day or so, and the H took care of her. They wind up in bed eventually and the h is blissfully happy, turns out she was just a late bloomer waiting for the right gardener. The H proposes after a mad fit of passion and the h refuses.
She worries that they have nothing in common but lust and that when the passion dies, they essentially have nothing central to build a relationship on. He wants her to quit her very demanding and well-liked job and retire with him to grow olives and have kids.
The h can't see either one of them being happy in that lifestyle and so after her refusal, the H sneaks off leaving her alone with a brief, but suitably dramatic note. (There are shades of the Warrender Saga all over this book between the H's drama, the flowers and the impassioned angsty little note.)
The h goes home to get her life sorted again and finds the sister is ready to marry her longed for beau. The wedding is imminent and the h tries to be happy for the sister, but she is kicking herself for turning the H down, cause she is terminally bitten by the love bug.
The H does show up for the wedding but he makes no mention of a future and the h returns to her lonely cottage, doomed to eternal regret for not counting the world well lost for love and flinging her cap into the vagaries of fortune to take a chance with the H. (By this point the H's operatic tendencies have rubbed off on her.)
Then the sister returns from her honeymoon preggers and convinces the lovelorn h that she needs to accompany the sis and her hubby to a musical evening in London. They have borrowed a friend's apartment and the sister really needs her support as her hubby will be involved in the production and afterparty and wants his pregger lady to have someone on hand in case of possible baby trauma.
The h thinks this is an excuse to shake up her moroseness but she makes the effort and agrees to go. The night of the big production, the h and sis are in the lobby when she finds out the H will be performing new music he composed. The h is unhappy and even more unhappy with the bearer of the news, a luscious lady who indicates that she is "very good friends" with the H. The musical composition is a big success and the sister and hubby want her to go with them to meet the H at the afterparty.
The h is completely despondent, she figures this is the H's way of saying she doesn't mean anything to him now. She helped him through a bad time but that is over with his new career, and now that she has seen the competition, she is to be chalked up as a nice memory during a bad time. The h leaves and is back at the borrowed flat when she hears a recording of the H playing.
She is sorta freaked by the music, she goes to investigate and finds a computer controlled recording of the H singing "please don't leave me alone" in Italian. Then the H shows up and the big dramatic finale begins. She tells him she figured he was done with her as he never called or wrote, he says she turned him down and he wasn't sure he could establish a new career for himself.
Now he has decided to open an operatic training school and she will come and be his wife as he loves her madly and can't live without her. She admits her life is nothing without him and she will set up a gym at his school and get his student's physically fit. She forgives the sister for setting her up and the H assures her that they are thrilled about the pending nuptials.
They adore each other, have a purpose in life together and so now they can make out on the floor, until they remember there is an available bed or two and the H admits to dumping the sister and hubby in a suite at the Savoy so he could work his wiles on the h. HEA's are all around and it is another successful venture of love conquering all in HPlandia once again.
This really is a nice homage to Mary Burchell, she had written her last novel On Wings of Song (the last book of the Warrender Saga and bringing the story line full circle,) the year before this book and MB would pass on six months after this publication.
I think CG wanted to do a tribute to a writer she admired greatly. Having also traveled through HRtopia in addition to her HP's, I think she does a nicely balanced book that captured the best essences of the MB saga and at the same time sets her up for her own progress through both HPlandia and HRtopia in her own Pennington Series.
Of all the writers who contribute to both lines, CG does seem to embody a lot of the traits that made so many of Mary Burchell's books classic keepers. CG's stories usually have very well developed characters with a lot of interconnecting stories and her books usually exhibit the same sort of timelessness Mary Burchell's did. CG focuses on the relationships and the interactions between her characters and also uses some pretty universal plot dilemmas that aren't singular to the standard HPlandia tropes.
This is CG's first HP that really focuses her talent for building a solid story line and characterizations that may be a bit unlikely, but almost always provides a very satisfying HEA. I recommend this one as an example of the things she has to come. While there aren't any other big connections with CG's other books, this is one where you get a good feel of where she is going in the future and so Silent Crescendo makes and excellent test book to see if CG is your cuppa for an HP or HR adventure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 7, 2018
Garbage
February 3, 2017
Catheeine George is back...with the opera. Wild horses couldn't pull me away from this.
This book gets 3 stars because :
1 The Novelty factor
These two don't have meetcutes, they don't casually run into each other. It's scare, shock or awe - packs an emotional punch every time.
2 I liked how these two were represented, it was the opposite of what you expect from H and h.
Rafael was passionate, dramatic and emotionally expressive. He could be tender and was happy to make the grand gesture. That scene made me smile.
Judith had a casual, pragmatic approach to life. She didn't let Rafael wallow in self pity and was the tough friend we all need at some point.
3 Judith was not manipulated or persuaded to make a huge decision. Being away from Rafael helped her realize her feelings and her decision was completely her own.
This rarely happens in Harlequins. Usually a "push" from external factors is present. This was a welcome change.
This book loses 2 stars because :
1 I really liked Rafael but didn't find Judith appealing. Fail to see the allure...
2 Judith's baseless defensiveness was downright tedious. Plus she was rude at times.
This book gets 3 stars because :
1 The Novelty factor
These two don't have meetcutes, they don't casually run into each other. It's scare, shock or awe - packs an emotional punch every time.
2 I liked how these two were represented, it was the opposite of what you expect from H and h.
Rafael was passionate, dramatic and emotionally expressive. He could be tender and was happy to make the grand gesture. That scene made me smile.
Judith had a casual, pragmatic approach to life. She didn't let Rafael wallow in self pity and was the tough friend we all need at some point.
3 Judith was not manipulated or persuaded to make a huge decision. Being away from Rafael helped her realize her feelings and her decision was completely her own.
This rarely happens in Harlequins. Usually a "push" from external factors is present. This was a welcome change.
This book loses 2 stars because :
1 I really liked Rafael but didn't find Judith appealing. Fail to see the allure...
2 Judith's baseless defensiveness was downright tedious. Plus she was rude at times.
September 26, 2017
Sweet opposites attract story between an opera star hero and a physiotherapist heroine. They meet cute while jogging - she thinks he's going to mug her because he's wearing a ski mask to stave off a cold before a charity concert. That's all cleared up when the hero recognizes the heroine at the after party and apologizes.
The heroine is mugged for real and the H/h have more interaction when the lord of the manor (and the hero's best friend) invites the heroine to convalesce there. The heroine is attracted to the hero but thinks he's such a good actor that he can't possibly mean all the sweet nothings he's been whispering in her ear.
He sends her flowers daily for a while and then the deliveries abruptly stop. Heroine thinks he's lost interest, but he's been in for surgery and his vocal chords are damaged and he'll never sing again.
Heroine tracks him down in Wales and they share a magical two weeks together. Then he proposes and the heroine turns him down because she doesn't want to lead an aimless life.
Hero gets his act together and debuts a composition at a comeback concert. He's going to write music and conduct. Heroine has been miserable without him. She accepts his proposal this time. HEA
This was very slow going. We don't even meet the hero until chapter two. The heroine is one annoying, prickly, defensive character for most of the story. But the hero is charming and the premise was fun.
The heroine is mugged for real and the H/h have more interaction when the lord of the manor (and the hero's best friend) invites the heroine to convalesce there. The heroine is attracted to the hero but thinks he's such a good actor that he can't possibly mean all the sweet nothings he's been whispering in her ear.
He sends her flowers daily for a while and then the deliveries abruptly stop. Heroine thinks he's lost interest, but he's been in for surgery and his vocal chords are damaged and he'll never sing again.
Heroine tracks him down in Wales and they share a magical two weeks together. Then he proposes and the heroine turns him down because she doesn't want to lead an aimless life.
Hero gets his act together and debuts a composition at a comeback concert. He's going to write music and conduct. Heroine has been miserable without him. She accepts his proposal this time. HEA
This was very slow going. We don't even meet the hero until chapter two. The heroine is one annoying, prickly, defensive character for most of the story. But the hero is charming and the premise was fun.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2011
A decent old HP. He was an opera tenor and she was a girl who didn't care much at all for music. It was fairly well written. One thing that makes a good older HP is if I don't skip ahead to the end. This one kept my interest and kept me reading straight through. The characters were well developed. This wasn't one where the hero is an asshat and the heroine is wimpy. They get together and he asks her to marry him. She says no, but when he leaves, she realizes she's made a mistake and wishes she could have a do over but alas, she must suffer until the end of the book.
July 29, 2022
I'll give it 2 stars as it's my beloved Catherine George. But I'm disappointed.
The beginning is promising. We meet a level-headed career girl who catches the interest of a well-known opera singer. She seems uninterested and he seems enchanted. What could go wrong here?
Suddenly everything changes. He stops pursuing her due to a health scare and she's the one chasing him across Wales.
The beginning is promising. We meet a level-headed career girl who catches the interest of a well-known opera singer. She seems uninterested and he seems enchanted. What could go wrong here?
Suddenly everything changes. He stops pursuing her due to a health scare and she's the one chasing him across Wales.
August 15, 2011
Hero is a tenor who has fysical problems, heroine is a physiotherapist, though that isn't how they meet.
I liked that the heroine was capable and strong, but the finale fell a little flat.
I liked that the heroine was capable and strong, but the finale fell a little flat.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews