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I think the concept was really interesting and unique. I’d never really seen a Phantom of the Opera retelling and that made me excited to read it. Unfortunately the story just didn’t live up to what I hoped it would. Rune was boring, Thorn was mildly creepy and the other characters were forgettable. The only character I really liked was Diablo the cat. He was an icon
DNF-I couldn't push through it. I usually finish a book no matter what. I can count on one hand the number of books I began and did not finish. Sadly I didn't connect with the characters and I felt the writing wasn't very good. I thought maybe I didn't understand because I hadn't read the phantom of the opera. I bought and read that book thinking it would help me with this one. It did not . I really enjoyed the phantom of the opera and that caused me to dislike this even more. Disclaimer: I only had it about 2 chapters in.
Owlcrate books can be a hit or a miss for me. This one was a giant miss.
I don't understand this trend in YA lit where we need 100+ pages to give us a setting. This isn't some epic classic novel, it's YA lit. By the time we're done being shown the setting, I no longer care because you've taken too long to get to the plot. I am now no longer invested AND I'm bored.
I had high hopes for this one, but it really wasn't for me.

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I don't understand this trend in YA lit where we need 100+ pages to give us a setting. This isn't some epic classic novel, it's YA lit. By the time we're done being shown the setting, I no longer care because you've taken too long to get to the plot. I am now no longer invested AND I'm bored.
I had high hopes for this one, but it really wasn't for me.

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This story had an interesting twist to it. I enjoyed it, but I also wanted more from it. I think it could have been better as a series. That way the author could have delved more into some areas. There were just too many details that I would have liked to have read more about.
i put it down a couple times and never was in the mood to pick it back up
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"At home, I have a poster on my wall of a rose that's bleeding. Its petals are white, and red liquid oozes from it's heart, thick and glistening warm. Only, if you look very close, you can see the droplets are coming from above, where a little girl's wrist-camouflaged by a cluster of leaves-has been pricked by thorns as she reached inside to catch a monarch." -RoseBlood, A.G. Howard (pg. 1)
The Characters
Rune Germain: Oh my goodness, I love her so much. I loved her character growth through the story, it was just phenomenal. Damn, I love her. I went into the story with a careful eye on Rune because a friend of mine that recommended me the book said she reminded him of me. I wanted to see what it might be that did and kept an eye out for her. Let's just say, I ended up loving her.
Etalon 'Thorn' Laurent: Oh my goodness, my baby! I love him so much, probably even more than I loved Rune. I fell in love with him the first time we got to actual meet/see (whatever you want to say) him and my love only grew for him from there. He is a character that was beautifully written and the character development was absolutely amazing. I want him to be my maestro.
Erik: I have conflicted feelings for Erik. I like him most of the time and he is a fantastically written character but some of the actions that he does sometimes make me want to hit him over the head with a Stradivarius violin (those that have read the book: see what I did there?). Overall I do love the character, mostly.
Diable: Oh my goodness, I love that cat. I am not a cat person by damn did I love this cat. I want a cat like him, except maybe in dog form.
Aunt Charlotte: I was suspicious of her in the beginning. And the middle. Really I was suspicious of her until the end of the book. But anyways, I did enjoy reading about her.
Sunflower 'Sunny' Summers: I liked Sunny, she is a good friend to Rune and she is also really fun to read about. I love her accent.
Jackson 'Jax' Reynolds: Jax is a cool dude, I really liked him. He was also a good friend to Rune as well. I'm glad that him and Audrey go together in the end.
Katarina 'Kat : I honestly thought that she would have a bit bigger of a role in the story, but I am just fine with how much she was apart of the series.
Quan: We didn't see a whole lot of him, but what we did see, he was great in. I love him, he is absolutely hilarious too.
Audrey Mirlo: Audrey was amazing. Audrey had a goal that she was striving towards and she was going to go after it no matter whatand she did reach that goal and got the part. I am also glad that she got together with Jax (I ship it!) .
Other Characters: The teachers were all pretty cool and well written. Professor Tomlin I was shocked about by the end and same goes for Professor Bouchard. Jippetto was alright too.
Synopsis
The Plot: I love the plot. It was put together phenomenally. I love The Phantom of the Opera and I loved being able to read a book based on it.
The Ending: Great, the ending was great. Enough said.I would love to have a novella or something where we get to read about Rune and Etalon living in Paris together and everything. Etalon meeting Rune's family and friends and how Etalon is adjusting to live above ground and without a mask.
What I Loved: Everything. absolutely everything. I could go into everything that I loved about this book, but then we would be here all day so i am just going to leave it at everything.
What I Didn't Love: I loved everything, there wasn't anything that I didn't love about it. Except maybe the fact that I don't own my own copy of the book just yet.
Final Thoughts: Damn, I love this book. It got me out of my reading slump and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the book to be able to put on my bookshelves and I can't wait to maybe revisit it in the future. This book as also gotten me obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera, I have been singing the songs all day, I am probably not cut out to be an opera singer, but oh well.
Final Rating: 5/5 stars no doubt.
The Characters
Rune Germain: Oh my goodness, I love her so much. I loved her character growth through the story, it was just phenomenal. Damn, I love her. I went into the story with a careful eye on Rune because a friend of mine that recommended me the book said she reminded him of me. I wanted to see what it might be that did and kept an eye out for her. Let's just say, I ended up loving her.
Etalon 'Thorn' Laurent: Oh my goodness, my baby! I love him so much, probably even more than I loved Rune. I fell in love with him the first time we got to actual meet/see (whatever you want to say) him and my love only grew for him from there. He is a character that was beautifully written and the character development was absolutely amazing. I want him to be my maestro.
Erik: I have conflicted feelings for Erik. I like him most of the time and he is a fantastically written character but some of the actions that he does sometimes make me want to hit him over the head with a Stradivarius violin (those that have read the book: see what I did there?). Overall I do love the character, mostly.
Diable: Oh my goodness, I love that cat. I am not a cat person by damn did I love this cat. I want a cat like him, except maybe in dog form.
Aunt Charlotte: I was suspicious of her in the beginning. And the middle. Really I was suspicious of her until the end of the book. But anyways, I did enjoy reading about her.
Sunflower 'Sunny' Summers: I liked Sunny, she is a good friend to Rune and she is also really fun to read about. I love her accent.
Jackson 'Jax' Reynolds: Jax is a cool dude, I really liked him. He was also a good friend to Rune as well.
Katarina 'Kat : I honestly thought that she would have a bit bigger of a role in the story, but I am just fine with how much she was apart of the series.
Quan: We didn't see a whole lot of him, but what we did see, he was great in. I love him, he is absolutely hilarious too.
Audrey Mirlo: Audrey was amazing. Audrey had a goal that she was striving towards and she was going to go after it no matter what
Other Characters: The teachers were all pretty cool and well written. Professor Tomlin I was shocked about by the end and same goes for Professor Bouchard. Jippetto was alright too.
Synopsis
The Plot: I love the plot. It was put together phenomenally. I love The Phantom of the Opera and I loved being able to read a book based on it.
The Ending: Great, the ending was great. Enough said.
What I Loved: Everything. absolutely everything. I could go into everything that I loved about this book, but then we would be here all day so i am just going to leave it at everything.
What I Didn't Love: I loved everything, there wasn't anything that I didn't love about it. Except maybe the fact that I don't own my own copy of the book just yet.
Final Thoughts: Damn, I love this book. It got me out of my reading slump and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the book to be able to put on my bookshelves and I can't wait to maybe revisit it in the future. This book as also gotten me obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera, I have been singing the songs all day, I am probably not cut out to be an opera singer, but oh well.
Final Rating: 5/5 stars no doubt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID3hw5ADgn0
Received this book from NetGalley!
More thoughts on my review video.
This novel, which is a modern Gothic Retelling in key of the Phantom of the Opera, was ... ok. Actually, less than ok.
I expected a lot from this book, sure that I would have liked it because inspired by one of my favorite stories. Reading the first chapter I raced to see the 2004 film to get used 'to the context of places and atmospheres.
The first series written by Howard was out in Italy and if I have to strike a positive note to the Italian transposition is the fact that the cover is beautiful and I hope it will also remain when transposed in Italy.
The story sees our protagonist, Rune Germain, who falls in love with this ghost that haunts her nightmares in the French musical college where she moved at the behest of her mother. This school has dark ties to the old Paris opera house. She is sent to this school to quell the pain she feels every time she sings or hears an air of music. Rune has this strange power: when she hears opera music, she can perfectly replicate it and feels bad when she doesn't. The protagonist seems to possess an extraordinary voice and almost aural as Christine's. Her voice is a blessing for others but a curse to herself.
The voice that they both have, Rune and the ghost, is powerful, so powerful as to be dangerous and to kill or lead to death.
The guy with the mask is Thorn, a violinist who has to deal with the real Phantom of the Opera, which sometimes acts as a foster father and sometimes he's its own worst enemy. How does Thorn, who throughout his life has been trained to kill that particular type of victim and only after a meeting he's blown away all of his teachings? Love does not come after a meeting. The love blazes immediately and there is no reason to cheer about it.
Flaws of the book.
There's so much talk about this horrible grandmother and at the end she's present in the narrative, but never speaks and is never presented. It 's like an important part of the book was not addressed and it is very inconclusive.
Sometimes it's boring. The descriptions of the scenes are too long. Sometimes it is so absurd that made me laugh.
There are some gruesome scenes. Sometimes they are too slow, sometimes too fast and you can't really understand what is happening. A moment the protagonist knows nothing, the next moment she knows everything. Wtf?
She meets her classmates who become great friends after less than two pages and accept the risk of dying in order not to leave her alone. These things happen only after a mature relationship of friendship and a little more thickness.
There are too many changes of scene without a scene in the middle to explain what happened and why it happened. It's very confusing and meaningless.
I thought that by reading this, I would immediately take the others by the same author, on the other hand I do not think I will.
Good things about the book.
I loved Etalon's backstory. Of course, going halfway through the book, you get tired but you begin to understand what lies behind the protagonist.
Received this book from NetGalley!
More thoughts on my review video.
This novel, which is a modern Gothic Retelling in key of the Phantom of the Opera, was ... ok. Actually, less than ok.
I expected a lot from this book, sure that I would have liked it because inspired by one of my favorite stories. Reading the first chapter I raced to see the 2004 film to get used 'to the context of places and atmospheres.
The first series written by Howard was out in Italy and if I have to strike a positive note to the Italian transposition is the fact that the cover is beautiful and I hope it will also remain when transposed in Italy.
The story sees our protagonist, Rune Germain, who falls in love with this ghost that haunts her nightmares in the French musical college where she moved at the behest of her mother. This school has dark ties to the old Paris opera house. She is sent to this school to quell the pain she feels every time she sings or hears an air of music. Rune has this strange power: when she hears opera music, she can perfectly replicate it and feels bad when she doesn't. The protagonist seems to possess an extraordinary voice and almost aural as Christine's. Her voice is a blessing for others but a curse to herself.
The voice that they both have, Rune and the ghost, is powerful, so powerful as to be dangerous and to kill or lead to death.
The guy with the mask is Thorn, a violinist who has to deal with the real Phantom of the Opera, which sometimes acts as a foster father and sometimes he's its own worst enemy. How does Thorn, who throughout his life has been trained to kill that particular type of victim and only after a meeting he's blown away all of his teachings? Love does not come after a meeting. The love blazes immediately and there is no reason to cheer about it.
Flaws of the book.
There's so much talk about this horrible grandmother and at the end she's present in the narrative, but never speaks and is never presented. It 's like an important part of the book was not addressed and it is very inconclusive.
Sometimes it's boring. The descriptions of the scenes are too long. Sometimes it is so absurd that made me laugh.
There are some gruesome scenes. Sometimes they are too slow, sometimes too fast and you can't really understand what is happening. A moment the protagonist knows nothing, the next moment she knows everything. Wtf?
She meets her classmates who become great friends after less than two pages and accept the risk of dying in order not to leave her alone. These things happen only after a mature relationship of friendship and a little more thickness.
There are too many changes of scene without a scene in the middle to explain what happened and why it happened. It's very confusing and meaningless.
I thought that by reading this, I would immediately take the others by the same author, on the other hand I do not think I will.
Good things about the book.
I loved Etalon's backstory. Of course, going halfway through the book, you get tired but you begin to understand what lies behind the protagonist.
A 3.5, maybe a 3.75 if I want to get super technical about it.
I actually enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would, but there were certain elements that just weren’t my taste. I think if I had more attachment to the original story, I might’ve overlooked those things. I will say — although the plot was a little slow, I really enjoyed the writing itself. Definitely interested in picking up another story from this author in the future.
I actually enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would, but there were certain elements that just weren’t my taste. I think if I had more attachment to the original story, I might’ve overlooked those things. I will say — although the plot was a little slow, I really enjoyed the writing itself. Definitely interested in picking up another story from this author in the future.
Rune is being shipped off to a small school for performing arts in Paris. While this would be most girls’ dream come true, Rune is freaking out. Ever since she was younger her singing has been seen more as a curse than a gift. As she tries to make friends, she can’t help but feel uneasy … like someone is always watching her.
This is a retelling of the Phantom of the Opera. I love retellings and I love this story but I didn’t think this book lived up to the hype it.
I did enjoy the easy writing style. I flew through this book in about a day but unfortunately it didn’t live up to the source material. I didn’t feel the eerie suspense, there wasn’t a heighten sense of danger, and I didn’t believe the love/obsession storyline.
This book is told through alternating POVs. Rune is are female protagonist, but I thought she fell a little flat. We didn’t get to see a progression of Rune mastering her singing voice. Once Rune interacted with Thorn, her love interest things just started to rush. And while I did find Thorn to be more intriguing, I preferred his back story to his present.
The story just started to take wild turns, while following so many young adult paranormal romance cliches.
I am giving this story a C. It was an enjoyable book, but I don’t think it lived up to the source material.
This is a retelling of the Phantom of the Opera. I love retellings and I love this story but I didn’t think this book lived up to the hype it.
I did enjoy the easy writing style. I flew through this book in about a day but unfortunately it didn’t live up to the source material. I didn’t feel the eerie suspense, there wasn’t a heighten sense of danger, and I didn’t believe the love/obsession storyline.
This book is told through alternating POVs. Rune is are female protagonist, but I thought she fell a little flat. We didn’t get to see a progression of Rune mastering her singing voice. Once Rune interacted with Thorn, her love interest things just started to rush. And while I did find Thorn to be more intriguing, I preferred his back story to his present.
The story just started to take wild turns, while following so many young adult paranormal romance cliches.
I am giving this story a C. It was an enjoyable book, but I don’t think it lived up to the source material.