But time has changed them both.
Daniel is an industrial titan with powerful enemies. Clara is an idealistic journalist determined to defend underprivileged workers.
Can they withstand the cost of their convictions while their hearts--and lives--hang in the balance?
Comment: I got this book mostly because of the cover. I'm not a reader that buys because of covers, but here and there I confess I find myself marveled by some gorgeous cover and that prompts me to see if I might buy that book, which, in this case, was so. Even the back is gorgeous with the manuscript letters and plain design...I liked it. Although the blurb isn't the most thrilling thing ever, I still went with it and purchased the book. And this month it was the first read of February.
This is the story of Daniel and Clara, they come from different sides of the society where they are growing up in but they're friends and they share a passion for classical music. One day, an accident shapes up the rest of Daniel's life and his goals. After years apart, they reunite again and although Clara still fights for those who can't, Daniel also still sees only his main purpose in life, to get revenge. Will these two find common ground again?
Based on the blurb alone I might not have gotten the book. I don't like the friends to lovers trope much and even worse the lovers reunited. Thankfully this is a Christian book so things weren't intimate like that in this story but they did have a sort of past together. I don't enjoy these much because I prefer the spark of a new relationship, to see the development of the chemistry between characters, I don't know, but there's something boring about reading about reconnection. In this story we don't see it as much because nothing ever happened between them except friendship. Still, they had an opinion about each other and inevitably that shaped up their current relationship too.
This was my first book by this author as well. So, a new style and voice to get used to. I can't say I found it bad, because it's a very simple, fluid writing. But I also thought she used too many things in her story. It was the character's personal challenges in life, the main plot, then a sort of villain who wasn't as obvious as that, then the political plot, then the society environment....really too many things that I think were confusing and too much. I think the author had many ideas and by inserting them all, some didn't seem to belong in the plot nor did they feel right.
The romance. This is a Christian story, so no intimacy between the characters and kisses are simple and more affectionate than passionate. Still, I believe in trying to be subtle and keeping things quiet, it seems the main idea that comes out is they are friends, but there's not a real love between them...I think books with no sex are easy to accomplish and not having the protagonists in sexual scenes doesn't men they can't show how in love or how much passion they feel. I think that, in this case, it looked like they weren't really in love. They had a good relationship based on years of friendship, common ideas (after a while of course) and companionship, but I didn't feel their passion for each other. I don't think there's nothing wrong in making it obvious they want each other even if we don't see it on the pages. Other author did it successfully in this genre.
The main characters have a very solid personality and social goals that drive them in terms of action, but the personal development I saw didn't convince me much. It suited the idea of redemption in a way, but I wasn't totally convinced about it, so...a bit of a lacking in this part of the story.
Now I don't know if the other stories are in the same flow, meaning not very developed where I think it matters. Of course, everything is a matter of personal taste and the blurbs in her other novels seem much better to me, but if this one didn't wowed me as much, I fear for the others...to think about more later on.
This one was OK in everything but if I were to pick all the details that I would change it would still be quite many. So, although some things were good enough, most of them weren't and I was left with a feeling of wanting more and better.
Grade: 6/10
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