It’s time for
the first of three post about books including music/about music. This is all
part of my musical feature "Sky’s Musical Corner" (see schedule at the end of
this post). So in this post I introduce you to some books that are about music.
Some I have read, some I haven’t. And of course there are many more, this is just a little selection. I will also feature certain books separately, including guest posts by the authors.
The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me by Lucy
Robinson
Sally is an incredible
singer but she sings only in her wardrobe where nobody can hear her. She'd
rather join a nudist colony than sing in public.
That is until she
ventures to New York where a wild and heady summer of love and loss changes her
forever. No longer able to hide in the shadows, Sally must return home to
London to fulfill a promise she cannot break - to share her voice.
But just as she's
about to embark on her new life, a beautiful man turns up on Sally's doorstep
bearing a sheepish smile and a mysterious hand-written message.
How did he find her?
Why is he here? Does he hold the truth to what happened back in New York? And,
with him back on the scene, will she still have the courage to step into the
spotlight?
Proposing to Preston by Katy Regnery
Preston Winslow has a
heart as open as the sky and room in his life for someone special. When he
falls in love with Broadway actress, Elise Klassan, he holds nothing back.
Elise, who has made
tremendous sacrifices to forward her career, is swept off her feet by handsome,
charming Preston...but the stage has been her first love for so many years, she
doesn't know if there's room for Preston in her life. When the day comes that
she must choose between her ambition and her heart, she profoundly hurts the one
man who could have made her happy.
Two years later, Elise
has become a world-famous actress and Preston is a very successful lawyer. But
fame has not equaled happiness for Elise, and Preston is much too bitter and
cynical to ever consider falling in love again.
Is it possible that
the only person who can mend Preston's heart is the one who originally broke
it? Only if Elise can figure out a way to make him believe in love all over
again.
See you Soon Broadway by Melissa Baldwin
Maris Forrester has a
wonderful life with an amazing boyfriend and a fulfilling job. She’s happy and
content . . . or so she thinks. Maris has always had huge dreams of being on
Broadway. Ever since her very first performance as a child, she has envisioned
herself on the stage under the shining lights. Now she has to decide whether
she should to give up her wonderful life to chase those dreams.
When her parents
announce they are moving, she comes across a long-lost family treasure. She
doesn’t realize that this treasure may hold the key to her future and to all
her dreams coming true.
And if that wasn’t
sign enough, a mysterious stranger throws another wrench in the mix at a
dazzling rooftop party benefiting the Arts. These could be signs of things to
come.
But will she remain
content in her perfect world, or will she step into the unknown world she has
always dreamed of?
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
One miscarriage too
many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple
went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into
alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion;
Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship,
then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now
married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with
Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds. Like her House Rules and several other previous Jodi Picoult
novels, Sing You Home grapples with hot button issues. The novel
also includes a CD of songs, each matched with a chapter in the book. Perfect
for book clubs.
All Together Now by Gill Hornby
The small town of
Bridgeford is in crisis. Downtown is deserted, businesses are closing, and the
idea of civic pride seems old-fashioned to residents rushing through the
streets to get somewhere else. Bridgeford seems to have lost its heart.
But there is one thing
that just might unite the community--music. The local choir, a group generally
either ignored or mocked by most of Bridgeford's inhabitants, is preparing for an
important contest, and to win it they need new members, and a whole new sound.
Enlisting (some may say drafting) singers, who include a mother suffering from
empty-nest syndrome, a middle-aged man who has just lost his job and his
family, and a nineteen-year-old waitress who dreams of reality-TV stardom, the
choir regulars must find--and make--harmony with neighbors they've been happy
not to know for years. Can they all learn to work together, save the choir, and
maybe even save their town in the process?
All Together Now is a poignant and charming novel about
community, family, falling in love--and the big rewards of making a small
change.
Choral Society by Prue Leith
When Lucy and Rebecca
agree to help the shy Joanna overcome stagefright during their choral class, an
unlikely friendship develops among the three. And soon enough, the lessons turn
to matters of the heart. Lucy has been recently widowed and now faces the loss
of her “old-fashioned” food column. Rebecca is a flighty single mother with a
voracious sexual appetite, and Joanna is a hard charging businesswoman, who
comes home nightly to an empty house.
