elizabethberger's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
jessthebookworm's review against another edition
3.0
This story follows Rosanna, a young girl growing up in Naples. One night at a party being thrown by her parents, she gets asked to sing a song for the guests. Her beautiful voice blows everyone away, and catches the ear of Roberto, a soon to be famous opera singer, and womaniser. Roberto insists that Rosanna be sent for training to make singing her career. Rosanna falls in love with Roberto at first sight, and never forgets him.
Years later, after Rosanna comes out of her musical training, her path crosses once again with Roberto's and the two begin a tumultuous love affair, one which will turn Rosanna's life upside down. It poses the question: is love enough?
This is one of Lucinda Riley's very early novels, written long before her "Seven Sisters" series, and unfortunately it shows. She hadn't yet fine tuned her incredible story telling abilities when she wrote this one. The dialogue is completely stilted for the most part, and Rosanna is one of the dumbest characters I've come across in a long time.
Despite its shortcomings, it was an enjoyable story and an easy read. However, don't let this be the only book you read by this author, it won't give you a good indication of her talent!
Years later, after Rosanna comes out of her musical training, her path crosses once again with Roberto's and the two begin a tumultuous love affair, one which will turn Rosanna's life upside down. It poses the question: is love enough?
This is one of Lucinda Riley's very early novels, written long before her "Seven Sisters" series, and unfortunately it shows. She hadn't yet fine tuned her incredible story telling abilities when she wrote this one. The dialogue is completely stilted for the most part, and Rosanna is one of the dumbest characters I've come across in a long time.
Despite its shortcomings, it was an enjoyable story and an easy read. However, don't let this be the only book you read by this author, it won't give you a good indication of her talent!
amyolive's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
relaxing
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lottie_c's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
regitzexenia's review against another edition
2.0
It breaks my heart to give this 2 stars, because I usually love Lucinda Riley’s books. But I really didn’t like this one, for a book titled w/ a big Italian city, it hardly takes place in Italy, it’s repetitive and slightly took predictable. I was the most interested in the secondary characters and would have loved more about the family dynamics of Rosanna’s family. But mostly I hated the romanced between Rosanna and Roberto. It drove me mad to read how she gave up everything for him and made horrendous decision after decision all in the name of “love” which felt more like an obsession and a deeply emotionally unbalanced relationship. This is one of her older books and she’s definitely grown as a writer. I just wanted this book to end and for Rosanna to finally realise that her relationship with Roberto isn’t a whirlwind romance, it’s pretty toxic. Definitely did not like this one and I’m so sad about it.
frederikke07's review against another edition
5.0
Ligeså vel som første gang jeg læste denne smukke historie, ramte den mig også denne gang dybt i hjertet på alle tænkelige måder. Mere er der ikke at sige!
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
5.0
Lucinda Riley really is the Queen of sumptuous locations and settings and this is set in the world of opera and quite simply should be on the stage or screen itself. Glorious – we see the backstreets of Naples and the glittering stages of Milan and everything in between.
Imagine yourself in a grand theatre near the canal in Naples, sitting in the darkened auditorium, scared to breath as you don’t want to break the silence of anticipation. What awaits you is a musical spectacle with some of the greatest performers of their age..
The curtain rises, you shiver with excitement..
What must it feel like for those performing right in front of so many expecting eyes, focused and just waiting to capture every single moment of the spectacular that unfolds..
Lucinda Riley allows us to go behind the curtain of the most glittering opera houses in Italy and those of Convent Garden and New York to meet two great performers whose story behind the scenes was as operatic if not more so than that on the stage..
Rosanna totally captures you through her journey from Naples to standing on the stages of the opera houses of New York and Covent Garden – this world and the palatial homes she lived in a result. This is like catching a glimpse of the large personalities that we imagine the opera world to be famous for. Roberto was portrayed as this great maestro in the opera world who despite being quite odious at times, certainly self-absorbed, prone to acting like a drama queen, was still capable of sympathy and understanding to some degree.
The setting of the opera scene was not one that I had ever been immersed in before. I’m not an opera fan and have never even been to a performance but that didn’t matter reading this as now I feel as if I was right beside Rosanna every step of the way and that I felt the tension of what it meant to want to be on that stage so badly, and to sing so that the silence afterwards was deafening.
All growing dreams but as the scenery gets more sumptuous and more glittering, Rosanna finds that the old cliche is true and that all that glitters is certainly not gold. For her obsessive love for Roberto is not nurtured in the way that it should be by him and she finds out secrets from the past are always waiting in the wings….
A glorious epic story of two singers – crackling with the passion and the prima donna mood swings that we might associate with huge stars at times.
But it’s the story behind the wings – of how they got there and the sacrifices they made along the way which is the most thrilling story of them all.
Take a whirlwind tour of the worlds most stunning opera houses and enter in to the musically crafted world of Lucinda Riley. Rapturous applause
Imagine yourself in a grand theatre near the canal in Naples, sitting in the darkened auditorium, scared to breath as you don’t want to break the silence of anticipation. What awaits you is a musical spectacle with some of the greatest performers of their age..
The curtain rises, you shiver with excitement..
What must it feel like for those performing right in front of so many expecting eyes, focused and just waiting to capture every single moment of the spectacular that unfolds..
Lucinda Riley allows us to go behind the curtain of the most glittering opera houses in Italy and those of Convent Garden and New York to meet two great performers whose story behind the scenes was as operatic if not more so than that on the stage..
Rosanna totally captures you through her journey from Naples to standing on the stages of the opera houses of New York and Covent Garden – this world and the palatial homes she lived in a result. This is like catching a glimpse of the large personalities that we imagine the opera world to be famous for. Roberto was portrayed as this great maestro in the opera world who despite being quite odious at times, certainly self-absorbed, prone to acting like a drama queen, was still capable of sympathy and understanding to some degree.
The setting of the opera scene was not one that I had ever been immersed in before. I’m not an opera fan and have never even been to a performance but that didn’t matter reading this as now I feel as if I was right beside Rosanna every step of the way and that I felt the tension of what it meant to want to be on that stage so badly, and to sing so that the silence afterwards was deafening.
All growing dreams but as the scenery gets more sumptuous and more glittering, Rosanna finds that the old cliche is true and that all that glitters is certainly not gold. For her obsessive love for Roberto is not nurtured in the way that it should be by him and she finds out secrets from the past are always waiting in the wings….
A glorious epic story of two singers – crackling with the passion and the prima donna mood swings that we might associate with huge stars at times.
But it’s the story behind the wings – of how they got there and the sacrifices they made along the way which is the most thrilling story of them all.
Take a whirlwind tour of the worlds most stunning opera houses and enter in to the musically crafted world of Lucinda Riley. Rapturous applause
cfh's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
halkid2's review against another edition
3.0
Lucinda Riley has become one of my favorite authors; I am particularly enjoying her series of novels called The Seven Sisters. This one however is not a favorite.
As Riley explains in the foreword, her publisher asked to re-publish some of her earlier works - now that she has become a bestselling author. (After all, it’s another revenue stream, right?) This novel is among those early books. Riley says she did some rewriting and editing, but it’s clear to me this is an earlier work.
It’s simply less polished. The plot is less sophisticated. Riley doesn’t yet trust the reader to figure things out from the characters, and, instead, has to spell out everything she wants you to know. Even the dialog is flatter than what I have come to expect from her more recent novels.
The story however is engaging and will keep you reading to the end. It begins with 11-year old Rosanna Menici, just discovering her exceptional singing voice. Though living a very modest life with her family in Naples, Italy her older brother Luca manages to help Rosanna access singing lessons and she grows up to become a successful opera star.
Most of the book, however, focuses not on her voice and career, but on her lifelong love for older, already-established opera star Roberto Rossini. Theirs is an all-consuming passion, which turns out to have significant drawbacks, particularly for Rosanna. I don’t want to spoil the book, but I’m sure you can probably imagine what some of the plot twists will be.
At the same time, in a secondary plot, Rosanna’s brother Luca is trying to figure out whether he has what it takes to become a priest, with all the sacrifices required. And Rosanna’s older sister Carlotta (the beauty of the family but a more minor character) lives with the consequences of one big mistake made when she was in her late teens.
The book covers about 15 years. You’ll learn a bit about the world of opera. And a little about the behind-the-scenes shady deals that can happen in the art world. But mostly it’s just about people dealing with everyday life — success, commitment, friendship, family, illness, death, and love. Perhaps if I hadn’t read so many of Riley’s more recent books, I would have rated this higher. But, there you go.
As Riley explains in the foreword, her publisher asked to re-publish some of her earlier works - now that she has become a bestselling author. (After all, it’s another revenue stream, right?) This novel is among those early books. Riley says she did some rewriting and editing, but it’s clear to me this is an earlier work.
It’s simply less polished. The plot is less sophisticated. Riley doesn’t yet trust the reader to figure things out from the characters, and, instead, has to spell out everything she wants you to know. Even the dialog is flatter than what I have come to expect from her more recent novels.
The story however is engaging and will keep you reading to the end. It begins with 11-year old Rosanna Menici, just discovering her exceptional singing voice. Though living a very modest life with her family in Naples, Italy her older brother Luca manages to help Rosanna access singing lessons and she grows up to become a successful opera star.
Most of the book, however, focuses not on her voice and career, but on her lifelong love for older, already-established opera star Roberto Rossini. Theirs is an all-consuming passion, which turns out to have significant drawbacks, particularly for Rosanna. I don’t want to spoil the book, but I’m sure you can probably imagine what some of the plot twists will be.
At the same time, in a secondary plot, Rosanna’s brother Luca is trying to figure out whether he has what it takes to become a priest, with all the sacrifices required. And Rosanna’s older sister Carlotta (the beauty of the family but a more minor character) lives with the consequences of one big mistake made when she was in her late teens.
The book covers about 15 years. You’ll learn a bit about the world of opera. And a little about the behind-the-scenes shady deals that can happen in the art world. But mostly it’s just about people dealing with everyday life — success, commitment, friendship, family, illness, death, and love. Perhaps if I hadn’t read so many of Riley’s more recent books, I would have rated this higher. But, there you go.