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A review by rachbreads
When Stars Collide by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
4.0
3.5 stars.
Honestly, not bad! I picked this one up because I loved the premise of an opera singer/football player romance. Their dynamic was really fun, although they both brought their issues and got on my nerves at points.
As an opera person myself, it was a bit cringey to read (well, listen to, on audio) some of her attempts at including the opera lingo and topics. More often than not, it was right, but when it was wrong, it was REALLY wrong. Like I wish you could have seen me screaming with laughter in my car when she said that she sang "Voi che sapete" at her best friend's wedding. SCREAMING I tell you. Also, after going on and on about her being this dramatic mezzo, every once in a while she, or another character would say, "well, I am a soprano." Ummmm, no you're not?!? I also have questions about who this woman is that sings Carmen, Amneris, Dalila, and ALSO Cherubino?? Elīna Garanča is one of the only ones with that kind of range. I get the feeling that maybe Olivia was modeled on her. One more pet peeve - this narrator was generally pretty good but God, her Italian was awful. A simple google would have told her that "ch" in Italian makes a hard "k" sound....but anyway, I digress. The curse of reading a book about your area of expertise - all you can see are the mistakes.
Honestly, not bad! I picked this one up because I loved the premise of an opera singer/football player romance. Their dynamic was really fun, although they both brought their issues and got on my nerves at points.
As an opera person myself, it was a bit cringey to read (well, listen to, on audio) some of her attempts at including the opera lingo and topics. More often than not, it was right, but when it was wrong, it was REALLY wrong. Like I wish you could have seen me screaming with laughter in my car when she said that she sang "Voi che sapete" at her best friend's wedding. SCREAMING I tell you. Also, after going on and on about her being this dramatic mezzo, every once in a while she, or another character would say, "well, I am a soprano." Ummmm, no you're not?!? I also have questions about who this woman is that sings Carmen, Amneris, Dalila, and ALSO Cherubino?? Elīna Garanča is one of the only ones with that kind of range. I get the feeling that maybe Olivia was modeled on her. One more pet peeve - this narrator was generally pretty good but God, her Italian was awful. A simple google would have told her that "ch" in Italian makes a hard "k" sound....but anyway, I digress. The curse of reading a book about your area of expertise - all you can see are the mistakes.