#6BestHop – Meet the conductor

Pull up a chair and help yourself to a coffee (smell that lovely aroma?), then imagine you’re a stressed out clarinettist who’s just returned to her first orchestra practice in weeks and is faced with a new, rather exacting, conductor. It’s time for an interval and everyone is busy chatting.

***

Steam rose out of the urn as I filled my coffee cup. I usually drank tea, but I needed the extra caffeine kick to survive another hour of Stefan’s demanding directions.

I grabbed a rich tea biscuit out of the torn packet, spun around on my heels and collided with a white shirt. Black liquid splashed across the fabric. The droplets leaped across the space between us in slow motion, splattering upon impact.

He swore under his breath. I recognized the voice. It had been ringing in my ears for most of the evening. For some ridiculous reason, I tried to mop the spots up with the palm of my left hand. Black marks smeared over the cotton. His belly sucked in as he inhaled. No, not a belly. Too firm for such a description. More like a muscular, flat abdomen. His white shirt hid him well.

As I smeared the coffee spillage around, brushing the stain into the fabric, my hand trembled.

He tapped my wrist. “I don’t think that’s helping, do you?”

I ceased my futile efforts at damage limitation and looked straight up into Stefan’s dazzling eyes. I retracted my hand as if spring-loaded. My face bloomed with unwanted heat, my jaw dropped and I desperately wanted a hole beneath my feet to swallow me up.

***

Amateur clarinetist Callie turns up for an orchestra rehearsal following a six-week absence to find a new conductor in residence—Stefan, a charismatic man with ambitions of being a composer. After he gives her a lift home, he invites her to his house for a practice session. What begins as a music lesson ends with a passionate display of dominance by Stefan.

As their sexual affair blossoms, Callie is increasingly drawn to find out more about her aspiring composer and why he is a potent lover in the bedroom. When she turns up unexpectedly at his house, she is shocked to find him in the company of a naked woman. Horrified to think that he might have betrayed her, she calls an end to their relationship, but persistent Stefan begs for a second chance.

Encouraged by her boss to resolve her feelings toward Stefan, Callie seeks out a friend of his, hoping to understand what drives him to dominate, but the given explanation creates more unresolved issues for Callie. Determined to seek out the truth, she plans to confront Stefan. But by then, he has gone abroad. Callie must make a decision—cash in her savings and follow Stefan, or banish him from her life. If she does the latter, she will never understand the nature of the intense emotions he has awakened within her. Does she dare to love him?

Manic Readers Review 5*:

I loved Perfect Notes. From the beautiful cover, to the characters of Callie, a clarinetist, and Stefan, the conductor of her orchestra, it’s a wonderful book for a musician such as I am, or even if you know nothing about music.

There is a D/s vibe, but it’s very muted compared to some, and there is no spanking or bondage. Stefan is dominant in the bedroom, which turns Callie on. However, she’s not ready for someone to take over her life, which she fears Stefan is doing. There’s a pretty good hero’s and heroine’s journey here, as these two dance around each other to find true love and respect. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the sex is off the charts.

I loved the naked music practice scenes. Can’t imagine doing it, but figure it has to be a better cure for stage fright than what they normally tell you—to imagine the audience naked!

Goodread Reviews:

I LOVED reading about the musical aspect in this. The author did a wonderful job incorporating and bridging the musical and sexual tension between the two. In fact, I felt as though those were some of the best scenes. Speaking of scenes, yep, they’re in there and plentiful. Stefan definitely knows what he’s doing and Callie is just along for the ride…and loving it.

***

After a rather awkward start, Stefan offers Callie an additional music lesson. This ends in Callie and Stefan having hot sex, and Callie doesn’t know what to make out of the situation. She is not in the clear about her feelings about Stefan at all. Nevertheless, the two of them come closer, and this means that there are some marvelous sex scenes, as both are very playful and cannot get enough of each other. Callie and Stefan are fun characters to read about. It took me a while to see beyond the mind blowing sex they have, but the two of them do have their own personalities and weaknesses, and the sex scenes are actually rather important for the plot.

***

I just finished reading this and loved it! I thoroughly enjoyed the authors writing style and descriptivenes. I enjoyed the backdrop of music and was able to follow the musical references with very limited knowledge. The music added a further dimension to the story.

The author did a wonderful job of weaving the musical theme through the story and blending music and intimacy which leads to some very hot scenes to titillate the reader.

Buy Links:

Amazon US, Amazon UK, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, AllRomance or at Totally Bound.

Read the opening of Chapter One here.

Excerpt – A lesson in breathing

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