The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley

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The details…

  • Title :  The Music and the Mirror
  • Author : Lola Keeley
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ylva Publishing 
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 18, 2018 
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9783963240157
  • Available formats‏ : ‎ ebook, paperback, audiobook 
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 826 KB
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 330 pages
  • Audiobook : narrated by Abigail Rakocy; 12 hours and 58 minutes
  • Genre ‏ : ‎ contemporary romance 
  • Themes: women loving women, falling in love, success, determination, hard work, talent, ballet
  • Tropes: ice queen, opposites attract, age-gap, celebrity, mature lead, workplace romance, mentor/mentee, rich girl/poor girl

The blurb from the publisher…

When new dancer Anna isn’t nervous as hell around her ice queen ballet mentor Victoria, she’s falling in love with the beautiful and powerful woman. This age-gap, workplace lesbian romance is a sizzling, award-winning page-turner, whether you’re into ballet or not.

Anna is the newest member of an elite ballet company. Her first class with her mysterious idol, Victoria, almost ruins her career before it starts. When she shows she might be a potential star, Victoria chooses Anna to launch a new season around.

Now Anna must face down jealousy, sabotage, and injury, not to mention navigate the circus of friends and lovers within the company. The pressure builds as she knows she must pour everything she has into opening night and prove to her rivals and herself that Victoria’s faith in her is not misplaced.

In the process, Anna discovers that she and the daring, beautiful Victoria have a lot more than a talent for ballet in common, and that not every thrilling dance can be found on stage.

My thoughts…

The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley is a captivating sapphic romance shaped around the talented and imposing world of ballet. The story follows Anna Gale, a young and gifted dancer who joins the Metropolitan Ballet in New York, and Victoria Ford, a former prima ballerina and current company artistic director. Though their start is rocky, their chemistry can’t be denied. The road from mentor-mentee to lovers is complex, but it is something neither is willing to walk away from. Their journey is riddled with all the pressure and politics one would expect to find inside the Metropolitan Ballet, but it is their passion that truly makes the book exciting.

Keeley does a remarkable job of creating realistic and engaging characters. Anna is a dynamic and relatable woman who must overcome many challenges to earn a spot on the stage, and this makes her quite sympathetic to readers. Cultivated with real depth and dimension, Keeley’s portrayal of Anna is quite impressive. She is a fearless but kind-hearted woman, determined to succeed. Her display of courage and perseverance makes her a very likable character. Readers not only cheer for her, they fall in love with her.

Victoria, too, is well developed. She is a study in contrasts and Anna’s opposite in every way. Stern, demanding and secretive on one hand and caring, generous, and vulnerable on the other, she is an ice queen like no other. Yet, Anna seems to stir something in her, melting the ice bits at a time, exposing vulnerabilities that not only captivate Anna, but readers too.

This is the quintessential opposites attract romance, and readers feed off of it. Their romance is as steamy as it is heartwarming, provoking one to stay up late into the night flipping pages. The chemistry between Victoria and Anna is palpable and intense, stirring a tension that nearly arcs. However, beneath it all simmers a passion and tenderness that hooks readers. And when the end comes, there’s a satisfaction felt that only a truly fantastic romance can deliver. 

Final thoughts…

Keeley has designed a well-paced, well-structured narrative in her telling of The Music and the Mirror. She uses vivid and descriptive language to portray the beauty and brutality of ballet. Her scenes capture the emotions of the characters nicely and her setting is quite immersive, pulling one in from the beginning. Anyone who enjoys a slow-burn sapphic romance with sweet and steamy elements will not be able to put this tale down.

Strengths…

  • Well-written narrative 
  • Immersive story world 
  • Likable, well-developed characters 
  • Engrossing romance 
  • Rereadable

This romance is available from…

A bit about the author…

Lola Keeley is a writer and coder. After moving to London to pursue her love of theatre, she later wound up living every five-year-old’s dream of being a train driver on the London Underground. She has since emerged, blinking into the sunlight, to find herself writing books. She now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her wife and four cats. If you’d like to know more about her, check out her Facebook and social media.

**If this interests you, check out the follow up to The Music and the Mirror, Interlude.

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