The Architect of Song by A.G. Howard

Genre: Supernatural, New Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction

Pages: 425

Publishing date: August 15th 2016 by Golden Orb Press

A lady imprisoned by deafness, an architect imprisoned by his past, and a ghost imprisoned within the petals of a flower – intertwine in this love story that transcends life and death.

For most of her life, nineteen-year-old Juliet Emerline has subsisted – isolated by deafness – making hats in the solitude of her home. Now, she’s at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a twenty-seven-year-old mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name “Hawk” on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton.

To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton’s secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches … or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton’s interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it’s too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever.

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A.G. Howard won me over with the Splintered series and I swore that anything she wrote I would read thereafter. Here I am!

Juliet Emerline became deaf as a young girl due to a bout with an illness. When she was a little girl there was an incident that none liked to talk of, but she had fallen into a mine and a boy covered in mud tended to her, saved her and that was something she had blotted out from her memory. Years later she finds out that Lord Thornton, an unsavory Viscount has designs on her estate and since her mother and father are no longer alive and she is in the care of her Uncle, she has no option but to entertain the prospect of marrying him – or become a spinster. Except one day while visiting her mother’s graveside she steals a flower from a nearby grave and discovers that when the petals touch her flesh she sees a ghost.

While Juliet is exploring the option of marriage which is something she is strictly against, she forms a close bond with “Hawk” her ghost and together they begin to unfold the mystery behind his death, who he is and who and what Lord Thornton is all about. Little by little the mystery is pieced together about both “Hawk” and Lord “Nicholas” Thornton and just when you think you know the outcome it changes.

That’s the premise of the story and it’s so intriguing. Howard has such a wonderfully morbid outlook when it comes to writing and I adore it.

There were some downsides for me, there isn’t much world building in this book which was a let down for me because Howard can build worlds like no other. This was a dip into culture though and we felt the world through that.This is basically a story that focuses on character building, we get dregs from society and what is proper, what isn’t and how the Romani culture is viewed and that is how we get our world aspects.

Alongside that is the fact there is a love triangle – insert my eye roll here – but there was one thing I learned when I read the Splintered series and that was Howard knows how to remedy that expertly. The outcome in that department pleased me.

There is also the fact that because not much world is presented to us it’s a lot of chatter between Hawk and Juliet in a room. Add some sleuthing and really there isn’t much that is going on. Some parts were inconsequential to the actual plot and felt like filler to me.

I think overall this book was worth a 3.5. The love aspect of the story was a little off for me and though there were some twists and turns it didn’t make me thrash. There were a few spots where I skimmed because it wasn’t that important to what was actually happening. But the overall story was so oddly and tragically beautiful, though.

Fans of A.G. Howard won’t be disappointed, that is for sure.