Amber (The Literary Phoenix)'s Review of A Thousand Perfect Notes

by C.G. Drews

An emotionally charged story about the power of dreams, and how passion can turn to obsession.

Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.

When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it?

Thrilling and powerfully written, this is an explosive debut for YA readers which tackles the dark topic of domestic abuse in an ultimately hopeful tale.

Anyone who picks up A Thousand Perfect Notes needs to be prepared to have their heart brutally ground into the pavement.

This novel is heartbreaking. It's the story of a boy born to a mother who could not fulfill her dreams, so she lives vicariously through him as best she can and when he does not live up to her expectations, she rains Hell's wrath on to him. Trigger warnings in this novel for domestic abuse (physical, mental, and emotions) abound. You don't often see this sort of relationship in YA novels (I've only seen it once before, in [b:The Hearts We Sold|26309792|The Hearts We Sold|Emily Lloyd-Jones|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493649801s/26309792.jpg|46309051]).

C.G. Drews writes masterfully. She adopts a somewhat untraditionally formatting style at times, but the way the book is broken apart perfects the flow. We are given dynamic, interesting characters and a hero who is not a hero most the time, but does his best. To whatever end. I loved the way the story ended because it was real and right and not cheesy. It offers hope and a little sadness. It was beautifully done.

The whole novel was carefully and beautifully done. But it is hard to read, because it is brutal at times. But even the broken souls have stories... and this one is Beck's.

A Thousand Perfect Notes

by C.G. Drews

Reviewed by Amber (The Literary Phoenix) on Jul 11, 2018

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