Midnight Duet

by Jen Comfort

[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!