I’m a romantic at heart. Over the years I’ve read many romances which I’ve loved. But every now and then I run across a book which isn’t just a romance but also thoroughly romantic. Have you ever read a novel(la) which is a love story with a city? My first experience with this was Rachel McMillan’s Love in Three-Quarter Time. It achieved the impossible, supplanting my long held love for all things Paris with a new one for Vienna -a city I’ve never even seen. That love affair grows and expands with McMillan’s second Vienna novella, Rose in Three Quarter Time.
SYNOPSIS
Rose MacNeil is a gifted, but undiscovered violinist when Oliver Thorne first meets her after a performance. Oliver, once a talented cellist, is now a famous conductor for the Ranier Quartet in Vienna after an accident ruined his ability to play. Rose dazzles Oliver both personally and professionally. He encourages her to stick around Vienna until a spot in his orchestra opens up. In the meantime the two strike up a friendship, bumping into each other and wandering around the beautiful, historic city.
Rose finally gets her chance and is offered the position of first chair. However, her visa is denied. Oliver, desperate not to lose her, and Rose, desperate to hold onto her big break, enter into a marriage of convenience. But Oliver’s contract has a strict morals clause which prohibits relationships with members of the Quartet, so they must keep their new relationship a secret.
This isn’t the only challenge Oliver and Rose face. Oliver tries to keep to his self-imposed vow to love Rose from a safe emotional distance and respect her wish for friendship only. Rose finds herself falling for her friend as they live together and she sees the real man behind the fame and position. Add in a hauntingly gorgeous city and the romance of their mutual love of music and these two may just find themselves breaking all their own rules.
For my full review of this delightful story, please follow me over to The Silver Petticoat.
I have read novels based on cities but I do not remember one focusing on a love story. I think that this is because I only explored postmodern texts in which the events take place in the city.
In this book, the city of Vienna comes alive as a secondary character. It’s a rather romantic view of this great city, but grounded as well. I totally fell in love with Vienna after reading the author’s first book Love in Three Quarter Time and loved revisiting it in this follow up.
I think I read a book like that once. I don’t really remember its name though.
Really enjoy Rachel’s sweet little novellas. She has a knack for this kind of romance that’s always full of overseas locales and historical facts. 🙂
I agree! She really has a way of making both history and cities come alive.