The Best Yet: A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White

Monday, February 12, 2018

Genre: Historical Fiction

Rating: Five out of five hearts ♥♥♥♥♥= excellent!

Book two in the Shadows Over England series

About:

Willa Forsythe belongs to one of the best groups of thieves in England, which is why a high-profile client has requested she take on a job he has for her- to steal a cypher key from one of Europe's best violinists. England needs it to help with the war effort. Willa is game, but has no idea how difficult this seemingly simple task will turn out.

Famous violinist Lukas De Wilde is estranged from his family, but determined to find them and bring them to a safe country, away from the threat of the Germans. His only problem is he has no idea where they are, or if they're even alive, and the Germans have a target on his back.

Betraying Lukas is Willa's only option- if she doesn't, her family will be in danger. But if she does, then his suffers the consequences.

Click the link here to see the book trailer.

My Review:

I thought I loved Mrs. White's previous danger-and-intrigue-filled series (Ladies of the Manor), but this new one has proved, in my opinion, to best it. Willa is prickly and tough, Lukas dashing and used to getting any woman he wants. Their lives change, however, over the course of the story (for the better, of course), and I loved how unique each of the characters were and how differently they react to the changes, and how the change comes about. Things are not as they seem.

Willa Forsythe is prickly and cold, but still succeeds at being a lovable, engaging character. Her adversary/admirer Lukas De Wilde is warm and charming- everything Willa is not. One of the reasons they go on so well, and why it's so terrible that their separate agendas are so damaging for the other. Passion for music was a big part of the story, and made me itch to learn to play the violin.

The POV was split- sometimes focusing on Willa, sometimes Lukas, and sometimes Lukas' sister Margot. Instead of taking away from the story, however, like the third point of view element sometimes tends to do, Margot's view added to and enriched the book. I was always eager to see what was going on in her part of the story- and it was always something interesting. She reminded me of a girl version of Sherlock- immensely smart, yet unlike Sherlock, her knowledge has led her to God. Willa and Lukas were awesome, but the other characters shine just as brightly- something Mrs. White has done amazingly. I was sad, and still am, to have finished the book and left them all. We also get to see more of Willa's older brother Barclay, which I was thrilled about, since he's been a favorite of mine since the first Shadows Over England book.

Shadows Over England is the best series yet for Roseanna M. White, in my opinion- the best series of the year, to top that. A Song Unheard was good to begin with, but got even better at the climax- then I was furiously reading, totally invested, even forgetting about the nice weather that happened to come by that day. It pulled me in- the detailed, realistic characters; the different, sometimes cruel, sometimes beautiful settings; Willa and Lukas' sparring and sometimes witty exchanges; forgiveness and family; Willa's passion for music; and the way you don't know how the story is going to end, because so far the options aren't pretty, but you've got to keep going on because you want something beautiful to happen. Danger and all that ensues isn't the only thing portrayed in this novel, however- there's forgiveness and love and family and Father. It's a really touching story.