The Devil's Trill Sonata by Matthew J. Metzger

20935687 Title: The Devil’s Trill Sonata

Series: Vivaldi In the Dark, #2

Author: Matthew J. Metzger

Genre: Contemporary/Depression/Young Love

Length: Novel (267 pages)

Publisher: JMS Books (March 2nd, 2014)

Heat Level: Mild

Heart Rating:
♥♥♥♥ 4Hearts

Blurb: Sequel to Vivaldi in the Dark

Three years after that first meeting in a theatre storeroom, Jayden Phillips and Darren Peace are separating for the first time, trading in school for the trappings of adult life. Jayden has achieved his dream of a place at Cambridge University; Darren has achieved his own of escaping the Cold War of home and tasting true independence for the first time.

A hundred miles apart and embarking on two very different paths, Jayden feels it is inevitable that time and distance will slowly pull them apart. School relationships, after all, don’t last. Darren disagrees — at first. Love is all they need, and they have weathered harder storms than chasing dreams.

That is until the separation, and the encroaching influence of Jayden’s new friends, begins to take its toll on Darren’s mental state. Alone, he descends in a rapid downward spiral that is finally arrested by one night and a drastic course of action. In the wake of a single unanswered phone call, Jayden learns that time and distance have the power to do much more than break a relationship.

The dream is over — and the reality is far, far worse.

Product Link: http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/419060/1/the-devils-trill-sonata

Reviewer:  GiGi

Review: Jayden and Darren are back, this time facing new hurdles to their growing relationship and maturing lives. This story would be about the usual young love, tested by time and distance, which the odds are stacked against, but add to that one partner suffering from depression and you have even more trouble. Both fight an inner conflict about the distance college and job training are now putting between them as Jayden goes off to his dream of studying at Cambridge and Darren moves farther south to train as a crime scene investigator with the police force. They both know the odds, both Jayden and Darren struggle inwardly about whether or not it would just be better to break up now, instead of a slow drift apart. Even new friends suggest that high school love doesn’t last beyond college. But Darrin is determined to make it work, and Jayden is in love and can’t fold either. The pressure of new friends and the crazy workload at Cambridge are wearing Jayden down. He feels pressured to fit in with his snobby new friends and feels the distance between him and Darren grows each painful day.

Darren feels his depression creeping in, even the on the job training demands can’t keep him distracted, he’s starting to feel numb, even to the pain of Jayden drifting away. This story seems darker than Vivaldi in the Dark does, at least for me it brought me down to some very emotional lows. I held very little hope for the young couple, and became frustrated with the lack of coping mechanisms Darren had, not to mention how spineless Jayden became without him.

Parts of the story seemed to slow down and get drawn out, become …well….depressing. Which is kinda what the books is all about. Unfortunately, the main characters don’t pull their heads out of their bums in time to avoid a very tragic incident. Don’t worry though, the ending will satisfy you…but I think there’s more in store for our maturing couple.

This was yet another very well written story, very smooth, and the transitions in POV were clear. The sexual content is appropriate for YA readers, it’s intimate, but it’s vague. I felt the distance between Jayden and Darrin, and I felt the frustration too, the writing was most successful at that. I’m glad that in the end, Darren and Jayden didn’t just learn to cope with Darren’s depression. They took steps to learn to treat it. Empowering and encouraging!