Review: full of drama, danger and emotion
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 8, 2014
The Crescendo ,(A Musical Interlude 2) ,  KaSonndra LeighReview from jeannie zelos book reviewsAn Aria in Venice (A Standalone Companion to the Prelude) Now Available!The Prelude An International Bestseller!The Crescendo (Book #2) Coming May 27, 2014The Dark Duet (Book #3) Coming June 24, 2014The Overture (Book #4) Coming August, 2014The Finale (Release date, TBA)I'm onto this one having read Aria and Prelude so I'm beginning to get a feel for the nature of the people involved. It's a beautiful setting, Italy, music and dance, and of course the Black Butterfly design studio...I loved Alek and Erin in Prelude, then saw a little of them in Aria, and now we're back with them. Alek's mother is still a controlling Alpha bi tch and doesn't accept that he wants Erin, she's not the type of person she has in mind for her beloved son!  She'll do whatever she can to separate them...add in problems from Alek's past that are coming forward and taking up his time, and the person from Erin's past who – courtesy of Katerina – has become a large part of her new life, and there's fireworks. Lots of misunderstood communications, feelings of being kept out, drama and emotion and of course as always some scorching, sizzling and sensual love scenes. It's clear to everyone that Alek and Erin are very deeply in love – but is that enough to overcome all the drama surrounding them. They really are tested in this book, both emotionally, and physically with life threatening events happening once again.It's a story full of passion, drama, emotion. The Russian Mob connections are becoming more prevalent, with danger from two separate angles there. And of course Erin is never going to be good enough for Alek in Katerina's eyes so she'll stop at little to separate them, regardless of how Alek feels about it. He needs to be strong, and I think he is, but he also doesn't want to alienate Katerina if it can be avoided.  So its a tangled and passionate romance, tied up with problems from the pasts of both of them, and the present which seems to be catching up with them....A great love story, and heart stopping monments of danger. This doesn't end on a cliffhanger as regards Erin and Alek, but there's a definate drama at the end signalling an emotional and dangerous time to come.I found the start a bit slow, I've a love really for dialogue based novels, and the beginning here seemed to me to be quite long inner monolugues and musings of whats happening, could happen, and what could be done. I guess I want more action less thinking! I wanted to say “get on with it!!” but that just me, and the action heated up pretty quickly once the pace picked up. After that there was much more dialogye to shape how the story was panning out. Then it's a lurch from one crisis to another, from danger to heartbreak, and back to love – very fast paced, with scarcely a moment to breathe...I guess they needed that early gentle start to prepare! What I really love too, is that Kassondra has clearly worked out much of these books ahead of time, so the release dates are just months apart not years as too often happens, and so the series will remain fresh in my mind when the next part is out. Then once everything released it'll be a great series to read back to back, my preferred way of reading, so I can get all the story without waiting for parts.Stars: Four - a great read.ARC supplied via Author.