Midnight Duet: A Novel

by Jen Comfort

From The Astronaut and the Star author Jen Comfort comes a wildly electric romance about two musicians who collide on the stage of a Nevada opera house.

Self-professed diva Erika Greene has it all: a starring role on Broadway, legions of fans, spectacular natural talent. But after an accident on stage leaves her face scarred and her career in shambles, Erika retreats to Paris, Nevada, where she’s inherited a ramshackle opera house in desperate need of some TLC.

Erika pours her savings into the building, but it’s not enough to stave off casino developer Raoul Decomte’s avaricious gaze. With foreclosure imminent, she leases the space to some unexpected tenants: a German hair metal band, fronted by glam rock god Christof Daae.

Erika is tempted by Christof’s low-slung leather pants—and even more so by his ambitious drive to make Nacht Musik international superstars—but he’s off-limits. The rest of his band thinks he’s still dating their beloved keyboardist, who is conveniently not present on this jaunt to the American Southwest. When Erika finds out Christof’s been unceremoniously dumped and is trying to keep it under wraps, she makes a deal to keep his secret…for a price, of course.

Christof is desperate to hold the rest of the band together after his keyboardist’s departure, but he can’t maintain the charade forever. Nor can he resist the opera house’s mysterious proprietor, who tempts him with midnight singing lessons. It isn’t long before sensuous nighttime interludes turn into smoldering backstage encounters.

But can their newly ignited passion survive the searing light of day? Or will their beautiful duet turn into a brokenhearted power ballad for one?

• ISBN10: 1542038510
• ISBN13: 9781542038515
• Publish Date: 10 January 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Montlake
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 348
• Language: English

Reviews

[scarr]

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. The author and I are mutuals on social media. 

4.5 stars! I have been in love with The Phantom of the Opera since basically forever. I saw the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical on Broadway when I was 11 and I listened to the Original Cast Recording of the musical over and over so much I can recite it from heart. I had the poster and I had the piano sheet music I obsessed over throughout middle and high school. I adored RL Stine's Phantom of the Auditorium. So yea, I'm a fan of the myth. I guess I can stop flexing now lol . . . I so enjoyed Jen Comfort's first romance, The Astronaut and the Star, an actual laugh-out-loud romcom so when I learned her follow-up would be a modern Phantom of the Opera retelling, I was verklempt!

Erika Green is starring in a Broadway musical when her life falls apart. Retreating from her life as a Manhattanite, she heads West to take over her deceased aunt's opera house (with an attached former brothel). Erika is a complex woman who, although often selfish, is just trying to survive the circumstances she finds herself in. I liked the complexities of her character; she is not sweet and shy about her talent. She is ambitious and recognizes how her talents can take her further in her career. But at times, Erika is also kind of a mess in ways we don't allow leading women to be. I feel the author excels at writing women who are complicated in these ways. 

After two years of struggling to maintain the building, Erika accepts a request from a German metal band to rehearse their new work in the (maybe haunted??) theatre. Enter Christof, the frontman for Nachtmusik, and his crew of spooky and silly bandmates (one may be a vampire??). Christof is fresh off a break-up and very earnest about getting his band to achieve cross-over success in North America. The sparks fly between Erika and Christof - for Erika it's because she hasn't gotten laid during her time in Nevada and for Christof it's because his desire for Erika awakens the kinky pirate he has never explored. Watching these two get more intwined was delicious and often hilarious.

I feel like there has got to be a message about capitalism in the contrast between the Nevada desert and a crumbling opera house/former brothel? Regardless, I kind of fell in love with the actual theatre; it felt like another well-developed character in this book. I worked for a movie theatre when I was younger. It was not part of a chain rather it was a "fancy" theatre - had the curtains that would open and close on the screens, had lush decorations (it had a wax figure scene from the Cecile B. DeMilles's Moses with running water and everything) AND it felt haunted as fuck at night. So for anyone that loves the Phantom of the Opera myth, is a theatre geek or worked in a theatre, you might also love this book!