I don't know why this took me longer to read than the other Windham tales I'd read previously. Maybe Val not being the typical "alpha"(?) male sort of decreased my drive to get to the HEA. Belatedly, I realized that perhaps his virtuosity (is that he word I'm looking for?) at music (playing AND composing) made him (to borrow a modern phrase) more in tune with his feelings (and therefore more expressive of them) than other historical romance heroes I've read about. And perhaps that is not the escape I'm looking for when I crack open a historical romance paperback. But the evolution of the relationship and the resolution were certainly satisfying!Also, from the brief mentions of Ellen in subsequent novels (yes, I read them out of order!!!), I had expected Ellen to be more aloof/forceful/I-don't-quite-know-how-to-say-it. Not someone intimidated by a louse of a cousin... I read this book as part of a three book bundle after I read The Heir and The Soldier, and I liked this book the best out of the 3. Lord Valentine Windham has a courtesy title, however being one of the surviving two out of four sons of a duke have made him wary of ladies of the ton. He is a very talented pianist and he saves all his passion for his music. In fact, in The Heir, Val was introduced as the son who was rumored to prefer men for all the interest he didn't obviously show to women. This (pretending to be gay for his father) history was not mentioned that bit at all in Val's novel.I'm glad that Val didn't take many chapters to make his first move with the the heroine. The protagonists have a lot of chemistry and there are some steamy moments. I also liked that in this book there wasn't a huge Class Barrier like there was in the first two books.
What do You think about The Virtuoso (2013)?
I didn't like this one as much as I'd hoped. But it was still good to finally get Val's story.
—Sabi
Interesting, I switched my ranking of #2 and #3 upon re-reading ... not sure what that says.
—cassafrass14
