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.