Hi guys, we have Avylinn Winter visiting today with her new release Volatile, we have a great excerpt and my review, so check out the post and enjoy <3 ~Pixie~
Volatile
Avylinn Winter
Like a depressed moth drawn to a wild flame, Chris hoped that flame would brighten his life, not burn him alive.
Chris Sinclair fades into a grey world after losing his mother to cancer. When forced to attend a concert as a last attempt to coax him out of his shell, he discovers that life might not be as bleak as he first thought.
Dante Heron holds the audience between the tips of his fingers and the delicate bow, playing the violin as if every heart is his to command. However, something darker brews behind the façade, and Chris is determined to solve the enigma.
When Chris is offered the job of traveling around Europe with the famous violinist, he surprises himself by accepting. With no idea what awaits him, he’s thrown into a world where emotions rule and rules are bent.
They’re a perfectly dysfunctional match, but then there’s always calm at the heart of the storm.
The Violinist (Now called Volatile), won a Watty award in 2015 in the LGBT+ category. The Wattys is the world’s largest online writing contest hosted once a year by Wattpad.
Excerpt
I needed time to recuperate, but I couldn’t leave until Ayden was ready to go. He knew how important it was to maintain connections within the industry, and he was getting good at it. I sometimes wished I could tell him that he was kissing some serious ass, but I doubted he would appreciate the observation—besides, I knew he wasn’t that kind of guy. He did what he had to in order to keep his career going, and I shouldn’t complain. He was the one paying for my education with the money he earned from modeling. Without him, I wouldn’t have seen the insides of a decent classroom.
“Ayden, how happy I am to see you!” A woman in her late thirties, dressed in a black satin cocktail dress that screamed ‘I’m rich’, kissed the air above Ayden’s cheeks and gave the three of us a too-perfect smile.
“Ms. Demalier, thank you for inviting us.” Ayden made a slight bow and waved his hand at Cal and me. “This is my husband, Callum Sinclair, and my brother, Chris.”
When her hand reached out to find mine, I forced a smile and shook it like I was supposed to do. She had a firm handshake and an intelligent glint in her chocolate-brown eyes.
“Callum, Chris, lovely to meet you.” She smiled again, and I prayed that she was done with us. Of course, I couldn’t have been more wrong. “Ayden, why don’t I steal your brother for a while? He seems to crave a conversation with someone who isn’t past their twenties yet, so I’ll make some introductions.”
“Sure, go ahead.” Ayden’s face lit up in a relieved grin, which made me wonder who this woman was. He hadn’t told me anything about her, apart from her being a friend of his agent. I didn’t know what to make of her, but I knew it would be bad for Ayden if I declined her offer. I clenched my fists behind my back, unclenched them and forced another smile.
“That is very kind of you, Ms. Demalier,” I replied, knowing that it was required of me.
“Oh, no need to be so formal. Come with me and I’ll put a real smile on that handsome face of yours.”
I had no reply to that. None at all.
Cal and Ayden waved me off as Ms. Demalier laced her arm through mine and steered me farther into the room. “So, this place is a den with wolves ready to have a chew at you, but, of course, they’re still not exciting enough to dispel the boredom. But I know just the right cure.”
Again, I was left unable to reply.
The well-dressed crowd parted before Ms. Demalier in an unsettling manner. I felt their curious stares dig into my back as she dragged me toward a table with hundreds of crystal glasses. “Wolves,” she’d said. They didn’t look very wolfish to me. Rather, they reminded me of cats with their self-satisfied smirks and ill-disguised vanity.
“First, champagne.” She swept up two glasses with careful grace and gave me one of them. I studied the small bubbles as they rose through the wine, not quite sure what to make of it. Ms. Demalier must have noticed my odd stare because she let out a soft laughter. “Don’t worry, you’ll like it. It’s impossible not to enjoy this one.” She pointed at a dark green bottle, and I guessed I should have recognized the brand—it was implied that I should—but I wasn’t that kind of guy. I drank beer and the occasional glass of Jack Daniel’s, but certainly not wine of the sparkling kind. Besides, I wasn’t old enough to drink, but she didn’t need to know that little detail.
“Ah, there he is.” Ms. Demalier pointed at someone behind me, and I almost choked on the dry wine. It was the violinist who’d held me entranced throughout his solo. He appeared much the same as he had on stage, but without that entrancing energy. “Dante, come and greet my new friend, Chris.”
No, his eyes weren’t wild anymore—they appeared completely dead as they stared at nothing. He didn’t smile, and he didn’t offer his hand.
“Dante, get over it. The performance was flawless, and here’s someone who probably wants to discuss something that has nothing to do with music.” Ms. Demalier nudged me forward as if to physically attach us to one another.
Dante’s eyes narrowed, but as his gaze shifted to me I saw how his expression transformed into something very different. He appraised me from head to toe with an amused smirk dancing on his lips. Annoyed, I did the same to spite him. He appeared exotic with those pale green eyes paired with his dark, unruly tresses, but the contradiction suited him. His nose would probably have been the most prominent part of any other face, slightly crooked and thin, but his eyes stole all the attention. Girls would swoon, that much was clear.
“Chris, was it?” Dante’s voice was smooth as silk and held a deep timbre that fit well with the rest of him. I shivered just as I’d done when he’d played, and the feeling intensified when his lips curled into a grin.
Before I had collected myself enough to answer, his gaze wandered away. He used his slender fingers to brush the tiny leaves of a bonsai tree displayed next to us as if the ornament was far more intriguing than I was.
“Do you believe we have souls?”
When I didn’t answer right away, he looked up, piercing me with unwavering focus. I blinked, unable to stand the strange intimacy.
“I think so. Maybe.” I wasn’t sure what to answer. The question seemed layered with more than one intention, but I didn’t know him well enough to deflect potential hazards. If he were religious, he might be offended by my evasive answer.
“I’ve always wondered. If the soul leaves the body when we die, can it latch on to anything?” He touched the tree again. “Like this tiny plant. What if there’s a soul hiding in there?”
I thought about Mom. Everyone who had lost someone must wish that the soul lived beyond the years of our frail bodies. But where would they go? I had no clue. I grazed the miniature leaves with the tips of my fingers.
“Don’t think I’d want to be rooted like that,” I said, not exactly sure where the statement came from.
Dante smiled, and this time, it was a soft smile—one that seemed at odds with his overwhelming intensity. It was a dangerous, seductive smile.
A devil. Definitely.
About Avylinn
Raised in one of the cold corners of the world, Avylinn spends her days either wrapped up in a blanket or basking in the precious sunlight. When she can’t choose herself, she’s holed up in an office working with climate research that has little to do with the worlds and characters she creates in her vivid dreams.
Always the emotional one, she has found her outlet in writing, voicing thoughts, emotions and fears through her characters that feel very much alive to her. And, what began as a hobby soon took more and more time in her life until she realized that she had left her old life behind and entered a new one where her emotions turned into a super power—ready to launch at her poor readers.
She recharges with the help of coffee, cinnamon buns, popcorn and occasionally a healthier alternative.
Social media links
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Wattpad
Review
Title: Volatile
Author: Avylinn Winter
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (213pgs)
ISBN: 978-1-78651-454-7
Publisher: Pride Publishing (23rd August 2016)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥ 3 Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Like a depressed moth drawn to a wild flame, Chris hoped that flame would brighten his life, not burn him alive.
Chris Sinclair fades into a gray world after losing his mother to cancer. When forced to attend a concert, as a last attempt to coax him out of his shell, he discovers that life might not be as bleak as he first thought.
Dante Heron holds the audience between the tips of his fingers and the delicate bow, playing the violin as if every heart is his to command. However, something darker brews behind the façade, and Chris is determined to solve the enigma.
When Chris is offered the job of traveling around Europe with the famous violinist, he surprises himself by accepting. With no idea of what awaits him, he’s thrown into a world where emotions rule and rules are bent.
They’re a perfectly dysfunctional match, but then there’s always calm at the heart of the storm.
Purchase Link: https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/volatile
Review: Chris feels lost after his mother’s death, he can’t stop remembering that he was a terrible teenager and suffers guilt for how he treated his mother during those years. Nothing really seems to catch his interest until he meets a violinist who draws emotions out of him with his music.
Dante is isolated as a famous violinist, he’s never had real friends and he’s stuck in a loop of loneliness. Chris sparks something inside him but getting through to Chris is hard when Chris sinks into himself constantly.
I have to admit that I had a hard time with this story because it’s all from Chris’s point of view; Chris is a really hard character to connect to so I actually became annoyed at his attitude of pitying himself all the time. God I wanted to knock the crap out of him at times, he just came across as totally numb and drab, hell he might have depression but even people with depression have some spark of life in them at times.
Now Dante was a very interesting character and I would have loved to see inside his head, he’s temperamental, demanding and oh so damn lonely, he would have been an amazing character to see this story through.
Their relationship is actually awkward, lots of misfires and no really conversing between them. There was a lot of back and forwards between them, neither one opening up to the other which led to silence between them when they should have been talking. *sigh* It was just so frustrating. And it became harder and harder to see a connection between them because of it.
I actually was going to give this story a 2, it was the last chapter that saved this book because that was when Chris seemed to actually have some spark and feeling.
I recommend this story to those who like dysfunctional relationships, a good storyline and decent characters.
