Play Chopin for Me by Max Vos

 

 

Dale Lusk has lost his restaurant and adjoining apartment in a terrible fire and has nowhere to turn to except for his younger sister Chrissie who takes him in and uses the opportunity to influence her brother in turning his life around. Dale has devoted his time to making his restaurant a success and is a popular and well respected chef in the area, however, it has come at a cost. He has no social life and no love interest. Chrissie takes him shopping and he has a complete make over and what emerges is a gorgeous GQ worthy man. Chrissie also knows that one of the tutors at her college where she studies Opera and is training to be a singer, is looking for a room mate. And so the tale of Dale and al begins.

 

Al Borkowski is a classical pianist who lives in a huge brownstone house. His room mate has recently moved out and Dale fills the vacancy bringing with him a new lease of life for Al. Al has lived his entire life under the suffocating influence of his grandmother following the deaths of his parents and has never had the chance to discover friendship, love or any kind of social life. When Dale and Chrissie and their colourful entourage wedge themselves firmly into his life, everything changes for Al and a whole new world opens up to him.

 

The story is just lovely. I was captivated by the two main characters but the supporting cast are equally as interesting and I felt this was a fully rounded novel. Fans of Max Vos will be surprised at how sweet this story is (because let’s be honest Max can be a little explicit at times) but it’s a nice change especially as the plot was so thrilling. The grandma is basically an evil witch and Al needs to be pulled from her clutches so he can escape her influence and claim his heritage which is rightfully his.

 

I would have awarded this book 5 stars but the beginning felt a little bit lacking in terms of explanation for the fire and it took me a good few pages to get into the spirit of Dale’s predicament which in my opinion could have been portrayed with a bit more emotion. However, overall I liked this book so much and was really drawn in by the story. The author has drawn on many of his own life experiences relating to Dale being a chef and Al being a classical musician and this is evident throughout. The difference between first-hand knowledge as opposed to researching it on Google is what makes the book flow naturally. And of course it helps with the sexy bits too!