Composing Love

by Audra North

A satisfying category romance from Entangled’s Lovestruck imprint…

He'll tempt her down a wild path...

Composer Minh Jackson needs her big break. Fast. Gifted, dedicated, and ambitious―none of it means anything if she can't compose a film score. So when she finally gets her big break, it should be the best day ever. But film studio owner Chris Reichert isn't exactly gung-ho about Minh. And with one look at the blond, tattooed hunkity hunk, Minh's dream suddenly feels distinctly off-key...

Secretly, Chris is completely attracted to―and distracted by―Minh. He also knows better than to get involved in anything serious. Yet as the days pass and the score begins to take shape, Minh finds herself noticing that there's more to Chris than she thought. And it's not long before their initial physical attraction comes blazing to life. Now they've both crossed the line between professional and very personal.

But all it takes is one small mistake to not only end this precarious new relationship, but bring their careers to a crashing finale...

200 pages, ebook

First published September 27, 2014

About the author

Audra North is a contemporary romance author of more than twenty romances, including the Stanton Family series from Entangled Publishing, the Hard Driving series from St. Martin’s Press, and the Pushing the Boundaries series from Samhain Publishing. She is the owner and publisher of Pink Kayak Press, which focuses on the publication of diverse romance works. Winter Rain, a Pink Kayak Press anthology, won a gold medal in the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards.

Audra enjoys speaking to writing groups and at industry conferences. She is also an avid jogger and loves running marathons. She has three children and lives with her family outside of Boston.

For more about Audra, and to sign up for her newsletter, visit audranorth.com.

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 - Technically excellent, but lacking in artistry. Stars.

I am a huge fan of Audra North, having read quite a few of her Stanton Family series novellas, I was looking forward to reading the first book in her new Mathematicians and Musicians series.

This is a book that I would say as a reader you need to stick with, and to be honest I was ready to DNF it at around the 50% mark, but a fellow reviewer of whose opinion I respect urged me to stick with it so it did. I am glad I finished Minh and Chris’ story, but I can’t say I was blown away by it. I think the main issue I have is the fact that it to 50% + of the book before their story really got going.

He wasn’t trying to be an asshole. I just seemed to happen around Minh.”



You can feel that this is very much the beginning of a series with the introduction of a whole plethora of characters, I like that in a way, but again I think this did in part add to the initial drag for the beginning of the book.

He makes you want to break all the rules.

My other issue is that I didn’t really feel much of a connection between Minh and Chris, and for most of the book I didn’t really find much to like about Minh either. I think Audra was trying to portray a woman who is very much straight-laced, and by the book, but unfortunately I found that a lot of the time she just came across as uptight, judgmental and snobbish.

”Why would you think that I want to fuck an arts and crafts project.”

I found Chris’ acquiescence to changing himself to ‘fit in’ with Minh’s interpretations as to what is ‘right and proper’, pretty much every time she had a dig at him a little too ‘laid-back’ and I wanted him to give her as good as he was getting a lot more than he actually did. I also think this would have helped with their chemistry earlier on as well, if there was a little more back and forth between the two of them.



That said, I did like the unique set up of the film studio and the varied and many secondary characters, of which I am sure some of them will become main characters in their own books as the series progresses.

Although I was not blown away this time, I am in no way deterred from reading more books by Audra, I hope that now the scene has been set, the series will build and develop from this book. Let’s face it in life as in books, you can’t like everyone can you!

ARC generously provided by Entangled, in exchange for the above honest review.

[Janey · Rating 2 out of 5]

ARC generously provided by entangled publishing in exchange for an honest review..

Minh Jackson is a composer, who is keen to get into the movies and creating film scores. She has applied to many companies, but her only avenue at the moment, is the potential to be involved in commercial jingles.

She has been living her life in the shadows for the last 6 years. Her confidence had been battered, her artistic flair had been amputated, she had paid a high price for dipping outside the norm. Now she needed to curb her ways..stay predictable, expected, conformist.

Chris Reichert is the owner of Phantom Studios, a new, exciting adventure that has absorbed most of his time, energy & money. The Studios are on the verge of releasing their first film, with Chris at the helm of some unique animation.

Their first meeting sees them physically crashing into each other, with Minh in awe of Chris, but fighting the feeling, because he isn’t someone she should be fawning over. He wouldn’t appear on her “safe” list.

I’m afraid this story didn’t work for me for a number of reasons. Whilst I enjoyed the authors voice, a new one to me, I struggled with how some of the storyline was held together. The main reason for it not working was the characters. I felt a total disconnect, especially to Minh, and that made it difficult to become invested in the story. Her dialogue was repetitive and extremely whiney…jeez. I really struggled to get a proper picture of her completely. Chris came across slightly better, although his development was purely superficial.

I know this is a book from Entangled Lovestruck imprint, and therefore not along the same lines as Brazen, but I did read another from there recently, and the story seemed to have a better impact on me.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having loved Audra North's Stanton Family series, I was very much looking forward to reading the opener to Musicians and Mathematicians. Composing Love was a book of two halves. Unfortunately I hit the 50% mark bored; nothing particularly had happened, I didn't have any particular connection to the characters and it was a struggle to pick it back up. But I did. And in its defence it improved.



What we have is a Vanessa Mae wannabe, Minh and a hipster film producer, Chris, who have an instant attraction to one another when he spills his drink down her. When Chris' sister Daria moves in with Minh and her roommate Gali, it just so happens that Minh was the one spilled upon. He needs a score writing for his film, she is a musician. They may have felt this all consuming instant attraction and burgeoning chemistry, but I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Chris; he was sweet, determined, intelligent and his sexiness eventually came through, but Minh...I just disliked her for a large part of the book as she was rude, stubborn, shallow and I wondered what Chris was thinking being attracted to someone who came across as stuck up. But Chris coaxed out her more endearing side as the book progressed and their chemistry did begin to become clearer.

However. Some of their sexy talk, wasn't exactly how I would term sexy...

“You look really nice. No matter what you wear.”
F***. That was…that had to be the sexiest thing anyone had ever said to him.”



Polite yes, even sweet, but sexy, not so much. I tell my husband at least a couple of mornings a week he looks nice. Usually earns me a smile, sometimes a quick kiss, but it's me being nice, not trying to entice him back to bed.

With several secondary characters featuring, the path has been paved for more in the series, but I think the amount of time developing their characters and relationships in the early part of the book was at the detriment of our actual couple. Had it been at the pace of the second half and Minh's deeper truer character shone through earlier, then I'm sure I would've been writing a different review. Unfortunately it came a much too late for me to rate this any higher than 2.5, but, as I said, I do usually enjoy Audra's work and just because this one wasn't for me, it certainly doesn't mean I won't read her books in the future.

Copy received courtesy of Entangled Publishing for an honest and unbiased opinion

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a challenge for me to read. I was really disappointed from the beginning. The first time they met, the way they interacted and the way things worked out just felt awkward. Also, everything happened within such a short amount of time that the book felt rushed. The whole feel of the book was like I was running a race and it was not a good run.

Minh was such a hard person to relate to. She was annoying at times, especially when she would refer to “the rules.” I couldn’t get my mind around the idea that a person could be so close-minded. I could not understand why she connected so well with Chris. A person that is so into “rules” would not have even looked twice at a guy like Chris.

I loved the way Chris was described. The tattoos and piercing had me intrigued. Unfortunately, I quickly lost my admiration for him when he would start speaking about his ex and always compared Minh to her. It seemed as if he just could not let that go and I was almost certain he would never be able to get over it.

Overall, I just could not get into this book. It seemed so unrealistic and hasty. The story lacked something, almost like Minh’s music. It was ordinary and didn’t have that special something to make it stand out. Unfortunately, the whole mathematician and musician story just did not add up for me.

[Elisabeth Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Composing Love by Audra North might look like a conventional contemporary romance, in a lot of ways, it isn't. There's the primacy of work, even something as formal as what I might term "calling". The hero and heroine are both enmeshed in questions of identity and ability as they relate to the world and even view themselves. And it's an intercultural romance between white, rebellious, hipster guy Chris Reichert and half black, half Asian, staid, conservative classical musician Minh Jackson. And at every moment, on every level, these two throw sparks when they brush up against each other.

When we first meet Minh, she and her friend Greek Gali are decompressing at a club in San Francisco. Minh has recently been on a series of bad dates predicated on the assumption that she can use a check-list to identify a potential mate. The latest in this ill-conceived string is a guy who likes both black girls and Asian girls and refers to dating half black, half Vietnamese Minh as like getting two for the price of one. In her entirely justifiable irritation, she slams headlong into Chris, sending her drink flying and her desires skittering in his unlikely direction. And when he shows up at her apartment later with his sister, who is looking for a new place to live, it sets them on a path toward both personal and professional fulfillment.

Minh captured my quirky little reader's heart immediately. She's bright, talented, loyal, a little bit uptight and entirely unsure of herself and her place in it. She really wants to compose music for movies, but whenever she submits her portfolio, she's told that her work is technically excellent, but has no passion. This has left her feeling uncertain whether she is really capable of composing at that level and getting ready to settle for something she views as "less". Chris, on the other hand, is bright, talented and has passion, but he's unwilling to compromise his unconventional outlook in order to fit in and it's holding him back, even if it takes Minh's gentle prodding for him to realize it.

A good portion of Composing Love takes place with Minh and Chris at work or discussing work, which is a relief in a romance marketplace full of billionaires and people who in theory have professions, but only seem to actually work when it's convenient for the plot. So much of both Minh's and Chris's identity is tied up in their capabilities and notions of success. Minh in particular struggles because her family has always cautioned her against breaking out of the box in any way (including her music), keeping everything she wears and is and does within very conservative bounds so she might fit into a society that is always to some degree biased against her. Both this logic and prior negative experiences with taking chances are things she has to think about critically before she can embrace both Chris and her potential as a composer.

I really enjoyed Composing Love, zipping through it in the course of a morning. Thoroughly three-dimensional characters with friends, family, personal histories and definite aspirations shouldn't feel this revolutionary in contemporary romance, but it did.

For a recipe inspired by Composing Love, visit Cooking Up Romance: http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/201...

[Rebecca Allen]

I was offered an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Minh Jackson is a composer bound by rules—a list, to be precise, of qualifications she needs a man to have. Breaking those rules is not an option, nor is stepping out of line when it comes to composing music. She’s convinced that taking risks and deviating from her routine is what destroyed her sister’s life and nearly tore her family apart, not to mention brought about her own heartbreak.

Film studio owner Chris Reichert does not qualify for her list. Not with the crazy way he dresses, his piercings, or his tattooed forearms and neck. I was drooling over Chris from the get go, and actually, so was Minh...on the inside. On the outside though, she insists that there’s no way in hell she’d want to “fuck an art project.”

Her sarcastic wit had me at hello.

The chemistry is right there with Minh and Chris, from the minute they meet to when he reluctantly offers her a job composing the score for the animated movie he’s making. The problem stems from the fact that they can’t seem to get out of their own way enough to let that chemistry take over, both of them weighed down by baggage from their pasts. Chris’s background I could get on board with: he’s been burned by his ex-girlfriend and is having difficulty trusting Minh, not to mention his growing frustration over the fact that she won’t step out of the box with her music, something he knows she’s capable of. Minh, however, I struggled a bit with. Her reasoning for sticking to rules and how she applies it to every aspect of her life was a little tough for me to buy. She believes she is the reason for her little sister Kieu’s downfall because she broke the rules once and took her to a wild party, wherein Kieu got her first taste of drugs and later becomes an addict. I understood Minh’s guilt, but I had trouble with the idea that it led to Minh holding herself back on everything from music to men. It got easier to suspend my disbelief the more I learned about her Asian-African background. Because of her bi-racial ethnicity, she spent her childhood trying to conform, to follow the rules and be respectable. It was the only way she got people to see past her looks, and was something instilled in her by her father. The privilege of skin is not a topic I’ve seen often in contemporary romance, and it was a fresh addition to what in the end is a lovely little story.

I adored the moments when Minh let her dirty side come out, when her mouth starts flying and she yells at herself to shut up, as well as her snarky comments about Chris’s attire, showing the sharp person she is behind her scars. I loved watching Chris try to change his appearance to impress her, the fantasies he has when he should be focusing on work, and his palpable need to be seen and understood. The book has a harmonious balance of humorous moments and gut punches, as well as one hot as hell kissing scene, among other smutty moments.

If you’re looking for a sweet story about love helping people break all the rules, then this is it. Although, I must warn you, it might inspire you to start singing songs from Rent whenever you put it down, because Mimi and Roger were the perfect Minh and Chris in my head.

Go read it!

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We leave you guys alone for half an hour and find you half naked, giving each other some kind of violent sponge bath?"
"Can't another man smack another man with a wet sponge without being given the third degree?" …
"Nope. I can think of precisely zero circumstances under which sponge fighting would not raise at least a few questions."

After running straight into a gloriously sexy, tattooed man and getting his beer poured over her, Minh Jackson, has absolutely had it with this week. Minh is a classically trained composer who wants to work in movies. However, she continues to receive letters stating that she is "technically excellent, but lacking in artistry". Living in the music is not something that Minh can afford to do, especially after last time. But the sexy, tattooed man is back and offers her a composing gig for a movie. Can Minh resist this man while getting the job done?

Chris Reichert is a mathematician. He opened his own movie studio last year and if he doesn't finish his first movie soon, the studio will cease to exist. Chris runs into Minh helping out his sister and after some harassing from her, Chris offers Minh a composing gig. But the music he heard her play at her apartment is unlike anything he's getting from her now. Chris must push past her walls to access what is hiding but he may not be able to stop from pushing her into his bed.

I enjoyed Composing Love. It's a fun, quick read that gives you a glance into animation and composing. There are a lot of different characters that are outside of the norm. What you see isn't what you get with them. It was great to see a woman of color as the heroine in a contemporary romance. We've not had enough of them and I hope to see more.

MInh has all of these rules to keep her safe, but she comes across as being somewhat stuck up. As the book goes on Minh starts to ditch rules and becomes a much more likable person. It would have been better had we seen some of this right away. It took me a while to actually Minh. I had an affinity towards her being a composer and playing a string instrument but didn't end up really liking her until about half way through.

Chris has rules too. His boil down to never do the expected and don't trust women. Chris to me is halfway between an alpha male and a beta male. He gives Minh a lot of crap about her rules but then pulls back and gives her room. He doesn't make her outright face them as I think an actual alpha male would. He's definitely sexy and a catch but I would have like to see more give and take between Chris and Minh. I know Minh could have taken it. Under all her rules is a spitfire ready to duke it out.

Though this story started out a little slow, in time I came to enjoy it and hopefully the next book, which I'll definitely read, will be even better.

[Maria Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This delightful romance is the story of Minh and Chris. Chris is going out on his own to become an independent filmmaker and is looking for someone to write a score for his new movie. When he hears Minh's music he knows it will be a perfect fit - but when they see each other face to face he realizes it's not only her music that he wants to have in his life. On the surface they seem to be so different. Can Chris convince Minh to let go of her rules and create something meaningful with him?

I really enjoyed this story! What struck me from the beginning was the uniqueness of the setting and characters. Chris is a rebel inside and out, handsome, tattooed, independent in thinking and action, but brilliant in his work. He doesn't care what people think of him, he just wants to make a great film and he is the brains behind his company's latest endeavour. Minh is an attractive woman but strait laced in her appearance, her actions, and her music - a fact that bothers her when she finds her music is rejected from film studios for being technically accurate but not moving enough. Since a tragic event that happened earlier in her life, she has endeavoured to do everything by the book and following a set of rules in her life so that nothing can hurt her, including not creating the music that is simmering inside her. Chris is everything she is afraid of - a rulebreaker at heart, and yet she finds herself drawn to him sexually and emotionally. He pushes her to accept that she has the capability of producing the music he wants if she'll only let go of her inhibitions. The chemistry between them sizzles and when they eventually give in to their feelings the love scenes between them are sexy and compelling. The evolution of both characters over the course of the story, the changes they make in their thinking and actions was well written and believable.

Secondary characters introduced in the story are key to the plot and add humour and camaraderie to the story. Chris's film making partners are an eclectic lot and it would be great to see them get stories of their own.

Overall I found this to be a fun and entertaining read, with interesting and unique characters, a different than usual plot (always welcome!), steamy love scenes and a couple that deserves a happy ever after. 4 stars!

[D.S. Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost Passed This One By
I almost didn’t want to read this book after looking at the other reviews. I am so glad I didn’t. This book was a book with good characters and a compelling story. I liked the way it followed the main characters, Minh and Chris, contrasting them with the animated film Chris was producing.
Minh is a character tormented by the thought that she caused her younger sister to become a drug addict by taking her to a wild party. After that Minh makes a set of rules for herself so that she won’t take chances like that again, with anything. Her life becomes safe. Her music becomes safe. She doesn’t break the rules anymore.
Chris is a man who has been betrayed personally and professionally by a woman he thought he loved. He has trust issues because of this and makes sure he only has flings so that no woman will get too close.
When they meet, Minh sees Chris as the ultimate rule that she can’t break. He is tattooed and edgy with an attitude that says he doesn’t follow the rules. Chris seems Minh as a beautiful woman who is too uptight, except for the music she composes when she thinks no one is listening.
Chris needs Minh to compose music for his animated film. This film is the first one his studio has produced and will be the beginning or the end of his career. The music Minh gives him is her “by the rules music” when he wants her “wild” side to come out. That is the music that will help make his film a hit.
As the book progresses we see more of why Minh is like she is and why she feels she can’t let go. I love that it resolves her issues with her father and her sister and Minh comes out of herself to start becoming the person she is meant to be.
The whole story was satisfying for me, and the only issue that I had was that it did slow down a bit in the middle. This wasn’t enough to bring down my score on the story, however. I loved the characters and, although Minh kept dwelling on not breaking her rules, I felt that she was working through a process and coming to doubt her decision to live that way.
I hope more people read this book and give themselves a fair chance to get to know the characters.

[She Hearts Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a relationship that devastated not only her but also her family, Minh has come up with a list of requirements for someone she could date seriously. She's had enough disastrous dates that she is ready to swear off men completely. Minh isn't just struggling in her personal life, but also professionally as well. She keeps getting turned down for movie scores. A trip over a boot attached to a sexy tattooed man makes her feel things that make her feel uncomfortable. They meet again when Chris insults her when his sister applied to be her roommate. To smooth things over he offers her a chance to audition in writing a score for his animated film and that offer brings change into both areas of her life.

I liked the story even though it started out a bit slow. Chris grew on me, but I really didn't connect with Minh.

I give Composing Love 3 hearts!

[J Kiwibooknerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC Courtesy of Entangled Publishing

Review to come on release day...:)

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review.

This is unfortunately a DNF for me. So no review will be coming.

[Devika · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC generously provided by entangled publishing in exchange for an honest review..