Willy W. reviewed on 10/12/2015 + 503 more book reviews

The Virtuoso was faster-paced than the two previous installments of this series. The characters were relatable and their interest and attraction to each other made sense. I loved the "heathen" and the entertaining dialogue between all the characters.

That being said, this story, like the others in the series, had the main conflict being secrets that seemed unnecessary to keep. I understood initially why Val didn't want to disclose his station and parentage, but eventually it seemed rather silly. Ellen's secret did make more sense, but once they were deeply involved, her secrecy also seemed irrational especially since it was clear that nobody trusted the villain in the story.

As with The Soldier, this book also contained pointless references to the heroine's menses and way too many scenes of men being naked together. Even in today's society, where things are considerably more permissive, men rarely wash each other unless they're in a relationship. Burrowes' need to include scenes like that in every book is just kind of weird. I'm glad her male characters have deep and loving friendships, I just find the frequency of men being naked and rubbing each other a bit out of place in a book about a male and female romance.

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