3.5 stars, rounded down

This story was quite promising. I was immediately drawn in by the conductor/musician aspect, and it didn't disappoint. In fact, I think the beautiful descriptions of the music and how Laszlo and Isabeau played together were stellar.

What fell short for me was the slightly underdeveloped characters. I wasn't fully convinced of their feelings toward one another except for when they were playing together, and this type of age gap & guardian/ward romance really needs that passionate emotional connection to be believable for me. Otherwise, I start to feel like it's icky. And I started to feel a bit icky about Laszlo having sexual feelings for a girl he took in when she was 8.. (not that he started having those feelings WHEN she was 8, but ya know).
Overall, I liked this book, but it could have been better.