Carrie Lofty - Song of Seduction

Tormented by guilt. Haunted by scandal. Freed by love.
"Austria, 1804"
Eight years ago, composer Arie De Voss claimed his late mentor's final symphony as his own and became an icon. But fame has a price: fear of discovery now poisons his attempts to compose a redemptive masterpiece. Until a new muse appears, intoxicating and inspiring him...
Mathilda Heidel renounced her own musical gift to marry, seeking a quiet life to escape the shame surrounding her birth. Sudden widowhood finds her tempted by song once more. An unexpected introduction to her idol, Arie De Voss, renews Mathilda's passion for the violin—and ignites a passion for the man himself.
But when lust and lies reach a crescendo, Arie will be forced to choose: love or truth?

Comment: I saw some readers praise this book once and what they said made me curious, especially since the setting is in Austria, a country I dream of visiting. Now, years after, I've finally managed to start the book...

In this historical novel, young heroine Mathilda Heidel is living with family friends while deciding what to do, especially since she became a widow. She has also always loved the violin but let go of such dream once she learned of her parents' scandalous past and she even married a quiet man, hoping a bland life would finally give her peace. However, a sudden chance makes it possible for her to meet composer Arie de Voss, a man whose talent (and looks) she had admired...

Arie is a composer but what brought him fame is a lie, for he claimed a piece not of his authorship. Nevertheless, meeting Thilda makes him want to write music again and do more, but will he let the past guide all his decisions? And what about Thilda, can he get past her reservations and prove her what they have is genuine and worthy of a chance?

At first, this seemed to be a rather confusing story and I wasn't certain about what the goal of the whole thing was. It is also the first book I tried by the author and I wasn't used to her writing style, which I've found a little distracting, in the sense that some things seemed to be presented with urgency and then weren't so and other things seemed to be given a build up and I assumed we would be going towards something big/important and, after all, it wasn't so... As if things didn't quite got there...

Mathilda is an interesting heroine and I was convinced by her behavior and thoughts, after all she assumed people would gossip as much about her or anything she would do as they had regarding her parents. I can accept her decision to have a safe if also boring life, but of course we quickly learn that the "lesson" for her to learn here is that people should seek happiness and respect, even if that means not living by others' rules or demands. I liked the fact she could have her music and her new love and that didn't have to mean compromising values or letting others dictate her wishes.

Certainly this is always easier to say than to do but that is why this is a romance novel! The secondary characters around Thilda were supportive, namely the friends she is living with and I did like seeing how she tried to behave in ways that would not embarrass them and that they never demanded she do this or that or else. I think the historical details about this and the Austrian society weren't overwhelming but enough to let me be aware of them as facts.

Arie was a bit more complex, to my way of thinking. He wanted to be a composer, achieved this and in moments of doubt and weakness, assumed a piece he didn't do. Although this isn't considered "that bad" by some characters when the subject is finally revealed by Arie, I can't help but appreciate that he still felt like he had to confess, otherwise he could not really be free of guilt. This shows me he has conscience and that he knows he made a mistake but, of course, the path to this isn't that quick...

The romance was a little subdued, I'd say. I liked they took time to get to know each other and that there was a lot of emotional commitment and even sharing of personal stories before they got intimate. But as a whole, the romance was a little.. predictable and I think i'd have liked it more if it had looked as if their feelings were impossible to avoid, not because they had to act on them, but because the reader would be shown more and better ways of why it was so. In the end, I was happy for them, but I'm not stuck on their story now anyway, for instance.

In a way, I liked the experience of reading this book, but I must confess the writing wasn't fully convincing to me and I would have liked a stronger romance, or better presented. Still, for an historical romance with a different setting from the norm, it was fine. I did like all the location references, even though this is historical and nowadays Austrian reality is certainly another.

Grade: 6/10