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The Virtuoso (2013)

by Grace Burrowes(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1283326604 (ISBN13: 9781283326605)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Sourcebooks Casablanca

series

Windham

review 1: The Virtuoso features the youngest Windham son, Valentine. As the third in the series, the applied formula always becomes incredibly obvious and unfortunately, every seam was in view and rather threadbare. In this series--and Burrowes isn't the only one to do this--each series has a 'theme' and it's applied in 3 different ways. In the Duke's Obsession trilogy, the men are extremely tortured and the women all have 'devastating' secrets. I don't necessarily like the cope-out but every author does this these days.This is the weakest of the three. The only thing that saves it is the solid characterization that Burrowes can delve out without trying but it won't save this book at all. On most occasions, this can mask some of the other issues that run rampant in all her books. Fo... morer one, social interactions and 'deportment' of the era. Granted, if I wanted to read how people behaved and acted during that time period--I'd read Jane Austin and stick with it. In order to make it relevant and current, Burrowes tends to stick to the basics of the era but how the characters are presented is much more modern. I don't mind this as long as the characterization isn't too superficial and there aren't other eye-roll issues.The main problem with this book is that everything but characterization is poorly executed. The 'villian' is like all her villains--pretty vanilla. Ellen's 'secret' was really convoluted while Val suddenly becomes rather knowledgeable in the arena of construction and menial labor. There was just a lot senseless things going and asking a lot for me to accept...and I couldn't. It mars their romantic journey with needless distraction and contrived plot devices. Also, Val's injury to his hand was merely a device and then forgotten about. Burrowes usually handles details a lot better but this story wasn't to my tastes, or up to Burrowes' skills.
review 2: Perhaps one of the most dificult things to do in my opinion is to put music into a story. How do you make it sound to an audience that is reading it? It's like reading sheet music, if you can't read it that way, then how are you going to know what it sounds like to the untrained ear? This novel manages to do that and more. It's as if all your senses are satisfied by it at the end. You've smelled the flowers of Little Wendon, you've tasted St. Just's candied violets, but most of all, you've been swept away by Valentine's music. less

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