Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: Listen
AUTHOR: Kris Bryant
PUBLISHER: Bold Strokes Books
LENGTH: 195 pages
Release Date: February 12, 2019
BLURB:
Former child music prodigy Lily Croft spends most days in her home office crunching numbers and analyzing data as an actuary. Once she filled concert halls across the world, until the pressure got to be too much and forced her retreat. When her boss hands her a temporary assignment, Lily has to leave the safety of working from home to work with people at an office. She keeps her head down and stays focused, but one night on her way to the train station, she hears music wafting from The Leading Note and the life and feelings she suppressed for over a decade bubble up to the surface.
Lily is inexplicably drawn to Hope D’Marco, Leading Note’s gorgeous and brilliant founder. But falling for Hope and re-exploring her passion for music force Lily to face her past. Will she go back into hiding, or have the courage to confront the consequences of her past and present colliding?
REVIEW:
This story is told in first person and completely from Lily’s point-of-view, which worked extremely well in this instance. I normally like to get into both leads heads, but the author did such a good job of bringing Hope to life, this story lacked for nothing.
The anxiety Lily suffers from is palpable, and although she has a therapist, there is little on page about her therapy, thank goodness. Seeing her overcome her self-imposed reclusiveness (is that a word?) via other avenues was far more enjoyable.
Some may say Hope seemed too perfect. I didn’t see her as perfect per say, but she was definitely perfect for Lily. As expected, what seems to be pre-required angst reared its ugly head around the 80% mark, but it was brilliantly done. Nothing about it felt forced or convoluted.
This is the first story I’ve read in a long time with a virginal character, and it made a refreshing change both in and out of the bedroom.
This story is a little slow to get going but is definitely worth hanging in there. Oh, and Clio, loved him.
If you suffer from anxiety, know someone who suffers from anxiety, or want an insight to how it may impact on someone’s daily life, I urge you to pick this book up. In fact, I urge all readers who enjoy a good lesbian romance to grab a copy.
RATING: 
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