Book Stats
Stars: 2.5 Stars
Start Date : 02/20/24
Ending Date: 02/25/24
Genre: NA Gothic Romance Fantasy
Form: Epub
Page Count: 252
Publishing Date: 02/15/21
Point of View: 1st Person ,Dual POV’s
Setting: High Tower
GoodReads:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3825041362
StoryGraph:https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/d03fbcf6-6c82-4a4b-81bb-55dc345cb251
Music of the night is a Phantom of the Opera retelling mixed in with Beauty and the Beast. Aria is an inspiring singer who lost her fortune and father a while back. She lives in the High Tower Castle thanks to Count Zorik for exchange of room and board; she is a dancer for the theater Count Zorik runs. In order to become a better singer, she goes to the mysterious Tower that is on the outskirts of the city when she hears music coming from it. She finds the master of the tower, Uriah, a mysterious young man who lives in the tower who has magical abilities who is also secretly cursed. He becomes Aria’s teacher to develop her singing voice better.
My main problem with this book was the main character, Aria. Aria was bland, borderline Mary Sue and dramatic as hell. Honestly if it wasn’t for the gorgeous cover I wouldn’t even know she was a black woman for real. She was so bland that she didn’t feel real. She had really no motivation other than just to sing and get out of having an arranged marriage. Even she looked down upon the others who were having parties to have a good time drinking and doing other things even though she had lustful desires on her own thinking about Uriah.
She honestly lacked critical thinking skills that the author really tried past it off as naivety but she’s 21 years old acting like she damn 16. Like the first scene she had with Count Z I knew straight off the bat when he said he had something to bring up with her that I knew he was thinking about marrying her. She couldn’t figure out why and she was confused at how he acted possessive towards her in the 60% mark of the book.
The biggest offense that had me looking up towards the air like it was a camera in my face like the office and I’m breaking the fourth wall comes with the whole monster killing people at the theater plot. Now she keeps thinking that Uriah was the monster and killing people but most of the time, with the expectation of one time, when an attack happens she was with him in the tower.
Especially that one time when they had their first night together while it was a ball going on and a person got killed. Unless he got out of the bed, hurl ass to the castle to kill this person as the monster then hurl ass back to the tower before you even woke up from his bed how the hell can you assume he’s the monster? He was with you the whole fucking night while yall sing then had sex so when the fuck he had time?? That’s too much fucking work going back and frond from the tower and castle in a short period of time. It took this chick like 5-6 chapters later to realize that he wasn’t a monster because every time a monster attacked they were together. Like I fucking figured this out and she had to go through dramatics and thinking he was the monster before applying critical thinking skills to realized that it wasn’t him. 2 plus 2 equals four chick. It’s not that hard if you fucking think.
I really hate books that have me figuring out things like a way ahead before the main character does. It really not fun as a reader to figure out something when your main character is still clueless as fuck with no irking at all because they just will not think. It’s more fun when you as reader have an irking along with the character and you both found out or arrive at that conclusion at the same time.
Uriah was ok but really felt like a great value version of Erik that went stale. It was really more to be desired with him for the most part. I just wish we had more of his POV chapters since they were the only ones I could have a full stomach and not eye roll. It’s the fact he didn’t tell her everything which she kept whining for him to do until the last two chapters of the book..
Like you don’t put a whole book’s worth of plot that should have been incorporated into the book into the last two chapters of the book. This is really reminding me of the OG Beauty and the Beast that after the beast turned back to the prince and the story was over, the book had like 20 more pages of exposition thanks to the Fairy telling her tale. Which is the reason why a lot of versions of BATB don’t even put that tale in there.
The writing had me rolling as well. If I see a version of “Clasped my hands together” one more time. Or the phrase “hurled myself on the bed crying”. This book was so fucking dramatic which it didn’t take all that for real. “Clasped my hands together” was used 15 times and this book is one 250 pages long.
Just everyone in this book was underused and underdeveloped. She tried so hard to be a beat from beat version of POTO that her own ideas didn’t get fully developed. The last two chapters with the exposition were really good but it should have been throughout the story. I was going to read her other works but after this one was such a disappointment, I doubt it.
The real rating is a two but the artwork raised it up .5 stars.
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