Review of Entrapped by Claire Ayres

 

Cellist, Luka, has moved to Bristol to start a new job and recover from the betrayal of finding his best friend and his girlfriend in bed together. He doesn’t plan on the emotional thunderstorm that meeting his next-door neighbour Jess causes.

Jess had everything, a man she loved, friends she adored and then the world crashed around her. Depression came from nowhere and slowly started ripping her life away. Now she lives a lonely, sad life but the music which she keeps hearing next door is waking her up and she doesn’t know why.

Join Luka and Jess as they discover life after heartache, how to forgive and how to live and love again.

*Entrapped is an 18+ Contemporary Romance

Available on Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited

 

Fellow blogger Claire from over at BrizzleLass is the author of this recently released steamy romance novel, the first in the Musicians Hope series.

Sometimes a book just touches your heart and you can’t say why.  This was my experience with Entrapped.  I’m not a musician and thankfully I’ve never grappled with depression but the emotions described in this book moved me.

The characters…

Jess is one of the sweetest characters.  Through her the reader explores how depression can unexpectedly take total control of someone’s life.  How a person can watch their own actions and emotions play out in front of them with limited control over them.  Different sides of Jess are revealed through the different people with whom she interacts from colleagues, to best friends to Luka.

Luka is just plain sexy.  He needs to learn to trust.  Even the smallest perceived infringement of his trust is enough to send him running into the hills. I enjoyed reading about how he manages to overcome his past and deal with his present.  Through him the reader can also capture a glimpse into the life of a professional musician… something I found to be quite fascinating.

The music.  I wish I could play an instrument, especially one as haunting and consuming as the cello.  I had a horrible experience with a music teacher that fully turned me off.  One day, I’ll learn though.  The way Claire describes Luka’s music, how it makes him feel and how it makes Jess feel is spellbinding.  I think the word ‘entrapped’ is a perfectly good description of how a piece of music can fill you up and entirely surround you.  The eBook version of this story contains a link to Claire’s playlist for the book.  I’ve been enjoying making my way through the list.  Who knows, maybe one day I will learn how to play a cello!

Mental health awareness is something we need to see addressed more and more and more.  Stories like this one help bring the issue into the light.  Jess’ spiral into depression is described respectfully and can help others to understand this illness.  The author’s own experience and work in this field was put to excellent use.  Finding love doesn’t make Jess’ depression go away, it just adds an extra tool to her arsenal for fighting against it.

There were a few bits in the middle that I think could have been better.  How Ade becomes a problem for Jess and Luka could perhaps have been developed and made a bit stronger.  I suspect we may see Ade again in another book in the series???

Overall, I felt entrapped by the feelings evoked by this read.  Jess’s fears, hopes and desires were clearly presented and contrasted against Luka’s sense of self-preservation and ultimate tumble into love.  I’m looking forward to reading more in this series.

I give Entrapped 4/5 melodic espresso shots.