4.5 Stars
I normally stay away from anything that smacks of young adults or any type of 'Academic' characters. But this is the 1st book in the bundle I'm reading, [b:Falling for the Forbidden|55597361|Falling for the Forbidden|Pam Godwin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1602163096l/55597361._SY75_.jpg|86704033] AND it's written by [a:Pam Godwin|6474204|Pam Godwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1545404751p2/6474204.jpg] who I LOVE!
So keep your fingers crossed for me that I end up liking it.

I'm amazed how much I enjoyed it! While there were a couple of things that bugged me, they weren't enough to keep me from thoroughly enjoying this.

Ivory is very mature for her age, 17. She has had a real rough time of it and still living in a nightmare. But the piano is her everything and she masters it.

Emeric is 27. He becomes Ivory's teacher. And completely obsessed with her.

They blow up the pages. Make that BURN up the pages.

Fantastic read. Very satisfying and I loved the way it ended!
( )

There is no mistaking that this author is exceptional. There is just something about the way that she crafts a story that is full of details that elicit an emotional response. This book is an example of that.

I loved Ivory. I loved the symbolism of her name and the piano. My heart hurt for what she went through. Then comes Emeric. Good lord this beautiful man. Their connection was palpable. I was 100%invested in the first part of the book. However, something happened about 3/4 of the way through the book and it lost a little of the spark. The climactic scenes (the first with her brother and cat(which I am still angry about) and then later at school) either felt out of place in context with the story or just felt meh. Even the epilogue years later felt meh.

I read this as part of Falling for the Forbidden Anthology collection. I would still recommend the book even though the last part fell short in my opinion. ( )

this turned out to be nothing like i thought it would be, but so so so wonderful

edit 9/21/20:
originally I gave this a 5, but after giving it a few days I'm gonna change it to a 3.5-light 4.
this is the second Pam Godwin book that I've read, and I think I've figured out the issue that I've had with both of them (sea of ruin and now dark notes). Pam Godwin really undersells the trauma that her characters, and by that I mean her heroines, go through.

In Sea of Ruin, Bennett suffers through the deaths of her parents at 13, Priest's affair, that completely overlooked non-con scene with Ashley, AND THEN to cap it off: a kidnapping that results in her being locked in a ship's cellar with dead bodies and no light and barely any food or water and she's raped, repeatedly, for like two weeks straight. Even I was traumatized after this chapter, it was straight up awful and incredibly difficult to read.
But afterwards, Bennett was just... fine. It was like it never even happened. So, I must beg the question: WHY was it necessary? Why did she need to go through that experience, if it didn't have any lasting effect (at least that I could gather)?

I think primarily Pam Godwin just enjoys putting her heroines through the ringer,for the sake of putting them through it. In Ivory's case, my issue lies with the ending of the book. I'm disappointed that Ivory decided to not go to Leopold, but I could definitely tell that that's the decision she was going to end up making from early on, I mean how could that have not been her decision? (I'm being sarcastic, I just mean that /of course/ we'd get some bullshit hallmark ending) But I was really not happy that she decided to stay in New Orleans, working on Bourbon Street with her beau in a piano bar. I mean like literally what?? In what way is that supposed to be a satisfying ending for anyone involved? Sure, it's nice that she's following in her father's foot steps, but she never showed any desire AT ALL, to own a bar OR play in a bar like he did. I just hate this cliché of like, girl has big city/big education dreams, but then she meets her soulmate and decides that her dreams aren't actually her dreams anymore. I get it, I'm open to change, but in this case it was just too ridiculous for me to believe that someone who went through as much TRAUMA as Ivory did would want to stay there and entertain rich people and tourists.

And this is what I mean when I say Godwin underplays her character's traumas. Ivory went through hell for years to get her high school degree, and make it to Leopold. All she wanted was to finish school for her father, and leave New Orleans so she could play piano for audiences. Like that's awesome incentive for her to have done the things she did all those years, but her agreeing to STAY WITH EMERIC 10 MINUTES AWAY FROM EVERYTHING SHE SHOULDV'E LEFT BEHIND MAKES ALL OF HER SACRIFICE P O I N T L E S S. She sold her body for YEARS, did unspeakable things so she could stay home and stay in school, but oh right in a split second she basically threw all of that away so she could ... work in a bar and play piano... in her hometown..

This is very, very ranty, but I'm just so not okay with that ending at all lol. I still enjoyed the book a lot, and despite my anger with that turn of events I DID like this book. ( )

Music

Dark Notes is a great read, a few twists and turns and a strong, sexy, alpha male, and a cat. What more could you ask for? ( )

Full review at: https://thequirksandquills.blogspot.com/2016/06/dark-notes-by-pam-goodwin.html?m...

Every once in a while you come across a book that takes you beyond the cheesy romance and gives you that raw emotion that you’ve been thirsting for. Dark Notes is that kind of a book.

“Beautiful, tragic and seductive—a trinity of temptation”

This is an erotic student/teacher romance (don’t we love that one). The writing is simply exquisite. Pam Goodwin makes every word run through your veins and makes you absorb each and every emotion behind it. ( )