Title: Playing with Passion: A Novel
Author: Katrina Reinhardt
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-5320-4313-0
Pages: 158
Genre: Romance/Drama/Music/Arts
Reviewed by: Jessica Schmidt

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Playing with Passion is a novel about a young French woman who comes to the East Coast to study music and develop her innovative ideas about combining art and music. She struggles to navigate her professional and personal lives and tragedy impacts her future choices and the life she is building. Author Katrina Reinhardt certainly succeeds in writing a story that appeals to a wide audience and manages to teach the reader a lot about appreciating classical music and art. The characters are very relatable, and readers will identify with the main character’s struggles and yearnings.

The novel is very well written. The scenes come to life in the reader’s mind and the author’s in-depth knowledge about art and music are clearly conveyed to the reader who learns about the world of classical music and a general appreciation of art and music. This book is appropriate for young adults and adults of all ages. There are some explicit scenes that may not be appropriate for preteen or younger readers. This would be perfect for readers who enjoy romance and interesting multifaceted characters.

I have always enjoyed reading romance novels and this was an intricate book given the author’s obvious knowledge about music and art. Readers who are a life-long appreciator of culture would enjoy learning more about classical music while reading this book. Readers will certainly be waiting impatiently for the sequel to learn what happens next and the details about the first meeting between Yvette and Chloe.

Playing with Passion is well written, although I felt the ending to the novel was abrupt. I am sure the author has a sequel planned that will continue the story and answer the many questions running through the reader’s mind. The ending left the reader wanting more, but perhaps a short afterword could have been used to keep the reader intrigued about what happens next.

Katrina Reinhardt has crafted a wonderful first novel which is full of interesting characters, romance, real-life challenges, and the magic of music and art that are woven throughout the story. The author’s own passion for music and art shine through and the reader will want to venture out to hear the music from unfamiliar composers to experience what the main character describes. This is a story that captures the reader’s interest and their heart due to the author’s well-developed characters and their experiences. The readers will want to read more about Yvette’s life and find out what happens next.