Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Dissonance
SERIES: Blue Notes #6
AUTHOR: Shira Anthony
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 240
BLURB:
A Blue Notes Novel
British noble Cameron Sherrington has hit rock bottom. The love of his life, opera sensation Aiden Lind, is marrying another man, and Cam knows it’s his fault for pushing Aiden away. As if that’s not enough, someone is trying to take away his family business, and the US authorities are pursuing him on charges of money laundering. Fearing for his safety and unable to return to London, Cam runs, but he’s too broke to find a place to stay, and his fugitive’s life doesn’t even remotely resemble a Hollywood thriller.
Desperate and betrayed by the people he thought cared about him, Cam takes refuge in the subway station where Galen Rusk plays his trumpet for tips. Though Cam hears the beauty in Galen’s music, it’s Galen’s firm hand on his shoulder that stops him from throwing everything away. Their unusual relationship takes a turn that surprises them both, and neither man is sure he wants the complication. Galen is fighting the ghosts of his past, and Cam has his own nightmares to face. When Cam’s troubles threaten to tear them apart, Cam figures he had it coming—that it’s all penance due for a life lived without honesty or love. But he never considered the possibility that he might not survive it.
REVIEW:
I am so happy Cameron got a chance to prove he’s not the asshole he appeared to be in Aiden’s book! Well…. He was an asshole, but he got his chance at redemption.
Lord Cameron Sherrington is a spoiled, obnoxious, cheating, snot. At least to all outward appearances. He divides his time between his apartment in New York, and one in London, nominally running a company, and spending his inheritance. He’s actually gone through all of his money and is living off what he convinced the board of his family company to give him. He rarely speaks to his mother, his father died years ago, and he has issues with his controlling uncle Duncan. He drove away the love of his life, Aiden, by cheating on him. He is one mess of a man. And it gets worse when he is accused of embezzling money from the family company. He finds out the FBI is after him and he panics and runs.
Galen is a fabulous musician with a healthy fear of commitment, and some trust issues! His story is slow to develop during this book, we really don’t get all of it until close to the end. He is a music teacher by day and a busker in the NYC subway by night. He’s very committed to his students, especially the gay ones, helping as he can when they have problems. He plays his trumpet in the subway, picking up a bit of cash, but really it’s for the love of music, and sharing it with strangers. He sees a well dressed man come through a time or two, thinking he’s pretty, but cold, and is surprised when he leaves him a large tip. One night he finds that same man, attempting to sleep on a bench in the subway. Things have obviously changed in this man’s life, and he offers help. Cam is reluctant to accept that help, but realizes he has no choice.
That is the basic set up for this fantastic book. Cam and his issues are front and center, he has no money, is hiding from the FBI, doesn’t know who to trust, and has no idea what to do. He’s got some really nasty stuff coming out in his head about his uncle, the man he loved and trusted as a father. He tries to deal with it all while living at Galen’s house. Galen tries to help as he can, but he has his own issues and is only willing to commit so much to Cam. There is also an attraction building betewen them, but each tries to ignore it. Galen is generous and caring, wanting to help Cam, but has a big wall around his heart that he is reluctant to break. He’s obviously got some problems in his past, but is not ready to share with Cam.
The non romance plot of this book is great. Cam has made some bad business decisions and hasn’t always paid attention to what is going on, both with the family business and one he’s purchased on his own. He gets taken advantage of, and is now paying the price for his inattention. He struggles to sort it all out, he really just wants to ignore it all. Plus he’s got all this crap from his past coming up, with his uncle and the boarding school he attended. Oh, and his dawning discomfort of the way he treated Aiden, and his eventual understanding of why he behaved that way. He goes through a total transformation and redemption. The Lord Cameron from the beginning of the book, is not the Cam at the end of the book. Everything about him changes. I love a good redemption story and we get that here.
Then there is the romance between Cam and Galen. Slow and gentle…. They sneak up on it, not even realizing they have fallen in love until it is too late. Cam thinks he doesn’t deserve Galen, he’s been such an ass to his past lovers, using and leaving them. Especially Aiden. Galen we don’t really get to know as well, we know he’s got some pain, but we don’t know much about his past lovers. He’s very much about “now”. Not telling about his past, even when it’s clear it would help Cam to hear it. Not thinking about the future, he can’t see one with Cam, so why bother thinking or planning? He’s a very interesting man, I wish we had gotten more than a glimpse of his past.
I liked the plot, the whole who-is-doing-what-sneaky-shit to Cam, and the complete transformation that Cam goes through. I loved the romance between them, they are great individual characters and are even better together. There wasn’t loads of sex, it wasn’t needed and wouldn’t have worked. What there was, did work very well. Their whole relationship is slow and sweet, so was the sex. It took a while to get there, but was worth it. I liked the ending, I wasn’t sure where we were going at one point, I didn’t see a solution. But it was there and it was perfect. The writing was great, I have read all of the Blue Notes books, this one may be my favorite. They are all good, but this was exceptionally good too.
If you haven’t read the series, you’d be fine reading this one on it’s own, a couple of characters pop in to help, but not knowing their story won’t detract from this one. But, if you haven’t read the others, you should! It’s worth it, they all have interesting characters, all with a music connection. All weaving together in a fantastic series of interconnected stories. Shira Anthony’s love of music is very evident in these books, and made me wish I was musically inclined. ..
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: