Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Duet 
AUTHOR: Eden Winters
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: November 9, 2015
LENGTH: 7 hours, 13 minutes
BLURB:
A conqueror’s decree can’t separate Aillil Callaghan from his Scottish heritage. He wears his clan’s forbidden plaid with pride, awaiting the day he becomes Laird, restores his family’s name, and fights to free Scotland from English tyranny. An Englishman in his home? Abomination! Yet the tutor his father engaged for Aillil’s younger brothers may have something to teach the Callaghan heir as well.
Violinist and scholar Malcolm Byerly fled Kent in fear, seeking nothing more than a quiet post, eager minds to teach, and for no one to learn his secrets. He didn’t count on his charges’ English-hating barbarian of an older brother, or on red-and-green tartan concealing a kindred soul. A shared love of music breaks down the barriers between two worlds.
Aillil’s father threatens their love, but a far more dangerous enemy tears them apart. They vanish into legend.
Two centuries later, concert violinist Billy Byerly arrives at Castle Callaghan—and feels strangely at home. Legends speak of a Lost Laird who haunts the fortress in wait of his lover’s return. Billy doesn’t believe in legends, ghosts, or love that outlasts life.
But the Lost Laird knows his own.
REVIEW:
This book…. I’m lost for words.. How I loved listening to this book. The love, the agony. The tears! So many, many tears. But it was so worth all the tears.
Duet is divided into two parts. Back in 1758 when it all started, when we meet Malcolm Byerly and Aillil Callaghan, and then present time when it all begins again, when legends aren’t just legends anymore…
Malcolm Byerly is a quiet soul. He lives for his violin and to educate young minds. When we first meet him he works it a school in Kent. One day a new teacher comes to the school, a teacher that might just threaten the quiet life he leads. Fear of getting caught has him running to Scotland to become a tutor for the younger boys in the Callaghan family. If only the oldest brother didn’t hate him so much.
Aillil hates the English and everything they stand for. Actually hate is too tame a word for the loathing he has for those people, that country. He’s just biding his time for when he can take over the family title and restore his family name and heritage. So when his father hires an English tutor for his brothers, he is furious and more than a little suspicious of the man. After all Englishmen can’t be trusted.
As time pass and through careful observations, he comes to realise that Malcom might not be as bad as he first believed him to be. Not only that, they share some common interests and secrets. Their relationship slowly develops through a shared love for music. Aillil slowly teaching Malcom about intimacy with another man, and Malcom teaching Aillil about love. Their relationship is a beautiful one. It’s tender and sweet and forever.
Until the day when an unforeseen foe tares them apart and they become a legend at Castle Callaghan. About two young lovers separated, to be reunited when the time is right. About the laird playing his lover home at night. Only the wait is long, longer than he imagined, but he played when his lover was near. Until finally one day, the time was just right, and Billy sets foot in Scotland. He finds the violin that’s been kept safe for him all these years and hears the music that might just bring him home again.
I loved this book. I loved Malcom and Aillil’s love story. Their love shone through it all. It truly became the stuff of legends. The kind of love people dream of having, that they would do absolutely everything and then some to keep. You felt it all right along with them. The happiness when they were together, and the pain when they were separated. The promise of a someday in the future. Which is why, when that future finally arrived I was disappointed by the ending of the book. It felt anticlimactic to say the least. We’ve been waiting for them to finally reunite, to finally be able to love again, and it all was over in just a few minutes. I wanted more. A lot more if I’m being honest.
Michael Ferraiuolo narrated this book perfectly. There wasn’t one thing that I’d change. He sure brought me back in time, all the way back to 1758. I was there for every sweet moment between Malcom and Aillil. And I was right beside Aillil mourning his lover, chasing death in hopes for the two lovers to be reunited once more. Ferraiuolo made me feel every single thing these men shared, the good and the bad. I loved every second of this book.
Duet was a truly beautiful story about an epic love. It was beautifully written and Ferraiuolo added another layer with perfect narration and feelings to it. I had a wonderful time listening to this book, and I’m definitely recommending it to you to read. But bring tissues, you’re going to need them.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] Read More » […]