Review by Wency

TITLE: Blue Notes

SERIES: Blue Notes #1

AUTHOR: Shira Anthony

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 250 Pages

BLURB:

A Blue Notes Novel

Blame it on jet lag. Jason Greene thought he had everything: a dream job as a partner in a large Philadelphia law firm, a beautiful fiancee, and more money than he could ever hope to spend. Then he finds his future wife in bed with another man, and he’s forced to rethink his life and his choices. On a moment’s notice, he runs away to Paris, hoping to make peace with his life.

But Jason’s leave of absence becomes a true journey of the heart when he meets Jules, a struggling jazz violinist with his own cross to bear. In the City of Love, it doesn’t take them long to fall into bed, but as they’re both about to learn, they can’t run from the past. Sooner or later, they’ll have to face the music.

REVIEW:

Before anything else, I just want to say that this is the second edition of the book published this February 2014. With all the 4 and 5 stars the book got on GR, I’m a little bit apprehensive for my review. But here it goes.

Jason Greene, after he caught his fiancée with a colleague decided that he need a break. Away from his future-wife and from the job that has taken most of his time. Though he know deep inside that he is just running away from things that he need to face. So decided to visit Paris for two months. And once there in the City of Love he visited a bar that plays jazz. That was where he met Jules, a struggling violinist. Charming, talented and with his music, Jules caught Jason’s eyes.

Over all, it was okay-read for me. There parts that I enjoyed and some parts that did not leave an impression on me. I like the last fifteen percent of this book more. And I want to give the other readers reading this review a fair chance at giving this book a try so I’ll start with what I enjoyed with the book.

The Setting. I love it. The majority of the book was set in Paris and the author did a great job at describing the place. I want to go there myself and with this book I find it really beautiful. The narration on the music is really good. Very poetic for me. The feeling was there, so full of emotions. This kind of book really made appreciate Piano and Violin. Those who are fond of music may find this more enjoyable. The writing was easy to grasp even with describing the music-related terms.

Maybe it’s a me-problem. But I just can’t really connect with the characters so much. Maybe if you give this a try you’d like this better than I did. Jason and Jules, they are well written characters but for me they are not the kind of characters I will be thinking about after reading the book.

At first I find Jules a bit of coward. He is afraid of labels and losing control over something and Jules as needy and clingy. The first part of the book I want to ask Jules where his dignity is (He practically threw himself at Jason). But they did grow on me. The character development was there. And I understand Jule’s actions.

One thing I am having trouble is with their relationship. It’s not the age difference (But I did get annoyed by Jason calling Jules as “Kid”. Oh come on! You’ll really call your lover a kid? Huh!). That’s okay for me. It’s just that it was too soon. There’s not much of a relationship building. Because relationship wise, that’s one of the things you’ll be looking between the main characters.

But as I said, I did enjoy some parts of the book. Maybe you’d enjoy this so give this a try. Just because it’s just an okay read for me, there’s no guarantee that you’ll find the same. So here’s to this Book, Paris, Love and Music!

RATING:

BUY LINKS:  Dreamspinner