This is my second book by Barbara Linn Probst and won't be my last. As long as she writes such beautiful books I will continue to read them.

This is a beautiful story with a lot of feelings involved. A family who are almost perfect. Susannah, Aaron, and James. Mom, dad, and son. Susannah was a piano player who had given up her dream to be a mother. She wanted to be the best mother possible and thought being home full time was the way to do that. She devoted her young life to her husband and son. When she's offered a chance to play again she takes it. Her son is almost sixteen and she wants this so bad. Little does she know what lies ahead for her.

This book has a lot going on as most of the books I read does. It's about adoption and all that goes with that. Finding a birth mother. Finding out you have siblings and other family. Taking you away in ways from the parents who raised you. Who loved you completely. I really liked learning about Susannah's other family. I didn't like them very much though. I also didn't like her mother very much. The one who raised her. She was a bit to controlling for me. I loved her dad. He seemed so sincere and like a good man. I also was angry at Aaron through a lot of this book. But I also understand his view on things. I think Susannah was a bit selfish in some ways. I think she finally was getting what she wanted and nothing was going to stand in her way. Nothing. James was just a typical teen.

This book has such a good storyline. It's told in a way that you truly feel each character. You feel their pain, happiness, fears, selfishness and likes. You will feel like you belong with them. I could feel Susannah's fear when she found out something was possibly wrong that could interfere with her musical career. The fact that her and Aaron seemed to be in opposite corners was flooring. They seemed to be so together. That part I didn't like at all. But it made the story more interesting and made you wonder if he was hiding something.

This is a beautifully written story. It's about a family. Two families at times. About a chance to play again. To be the pianist that you always wanted to be. To dream and dream big. A chance.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #BarbaraLinnProbst, #SheWritesPress for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

5/5 stars and a high recommendation. You will love how this book plays out. It's truly beautiful.

The Sound Between the Notes is a beautiful work of fiction. Susannah is the mom of a teenager who gave up her music career for family. Now she has a second chance, and she feels like it's her turn to do something for herself after giving so much to her husband and son for so many years. She agrees to perform at a fundraiser concert with a famous music producer in the audience. Then she discovers problems with her hands, a hereditary disease from her biological parents, people she never knew. Wound around this central story are themes of parenting, adoptive, biological, and unrelated, like Susannah's music teacher. All types of parents make mistakes, including Susannah, and all types of parents make it work. I completely enjoyed Susannah's journey, and the different aspects of life presented: Susannah as a child, as a mother, as the daughter of an aging parent, as a prodigy, as adopted, as a biological sister. Every role presented rewards and pitfalls that were wonderfully presented in this novel.

What if you had one more chance to accomplish your goal?

Susannah Lewis career as a pianist has been on hold for nearly sixteen years, ever since her son was born. Instead of continuing on the path of her dreams, she was devoted to putting her child first, a feeling that she’s never had from her birth mother since she was put up for adoption. But now, suddenly, she has a chance to vault into that elite tier of “chosen” musicians. And as a concert of a lifetime lingers around the corner, Susannah has to face multiple problems in her life including her family, health, and overbearing memories to get ahold of that love for music she once had before.

I had a love-hate relationship with Susannah throughout the novel. There was part of me who admired her determination to follow her dreams again and felt discouraged for her when she hit road bumps along the way. However, her childlike attitude at times when she felt as if she was being told “no” was super annoying. Susannah had a hard time listening to those who had her best interest at heart and it made me wonder, and question, what did playing music again as a career really meant for her. Yes, you can sense the love and desire she has to keep playing. However, her obsession with trying to fix her disease sometimes gave a sense that it was more about showing the world that she is still the best rather than creating emotion through music again. Nonetheless, she became a character that at the end I understood her more.

The Sound Between The Notes is beautifully written and the plot had so many twists and turns I couldn’t put the book down. It’s heart-warming, captivating and emotional and even with my annoyance with Susannah at times I still cared about her character. This isn’t a book just for lovers of music, but for those who struggle with the urge to accomplish a goal that was their first love and those questioning who they are outside of everyone else.

Thank you to the author, She Writes Press and NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Sound Between The Notes will be published on April 6, 2021.

This novel is not a favorite. I found the main character, Susannah, too self-absorbed, relentless and stubborn when it came to pursuing her goals of finding her birth mother and of restarting her concert career. I can understand her motives but not at the expense of the other relationships in her life.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Sound Between the Notes is a beautifully written heart warming story about a classical pianist who puts her career on hold in search of a better life for herself and her family. After 16 years away from performing an opportunity presents to return to her piano. During this process her devotion to her career requires more attention and she later faces a life changing crisis that threatens all she has worked for. This well written story is like a piece of classical music, with each beautiful word being like the notes placed together to make a distinctive sound! Probst writes with such detail you will be engrossed from start to finish. I highly recommend this beautiful book!

Thank you NetGalley for this delightful ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Sound Between Notes was 3.5 stars for me. Beautifully written, but I didn’t find the characters likable redeeming, even after their inevitable self-realization. I found myself most immersed in the “Then” chapters, and I wish there had been more development with Simone and her “blood family.” However, it was a beautiful read that I enjoyed overall and would recommend for the right person.

Schubert knew he was dying when he wrote his B-flat major sonata. The piece was going to be Susannah's reentry into her lapsed career as a concert pianist. Her early gift had been set aside when she became a wife and mother. Now it was time to put music a priority in her life. Especially as there was a chance of being on a CD of composers who had died young.

But Susannah's little finger was not as responsive as it should be and a doctor delivered the horrible news: she had Dupuytren's contracture, and no one could predict how quickly it would progress or how severe it would become. There was no cure, and few treatments available.

Susannah would not to listen to the doctors, or her husband, and merely wait and see what developed. She would do everything to make her comeback a success and to prevent another sidelining of her career. Misha Dichter had overcome Dupuytren's. So would she.

I loved how the story is filled with music, composers, and the stories of the challenges they faced. I remember hearing some in concert, like Alicia de Larrocha and Vladamir Horowitz. The author is a serious amateur pianist and understands what she is writing about, and it shows. Susannah's search for just the right piano with the right touch struck home; I always had a challenge when I played a piano not my own.

When Susannah met her future husband Aaron he bonded with her father over Thomas Kuhn. I loved this reference! I had read Kuhn's book Structure of Scientific Revolutions in a Poly Sci class in my early college career.

Now, Susannah's father is losing his memory and will need to find Assisted Living soon. With her dad, preparing for her upcoming concert, her teenage son going his own way, and her husband trusting her to take care of all the domestic duties she had always been responsible for, the stress is building.

Aaron was the logical thinker, the scientist. Susannah was the creative one, the one who could speak through music. They had always relied on each other's strengths to balance. Now, by not listening to her husband's advice, a wedge had appeared between them. She had broken the unspoken contract; would their marriage survive it?

The Sound Between the Notes has great depth into human nature and family connections, including Susannah's feelings and relationships with her adoptive parents and biological family. The climax is dramatic and the resolution satisfying. Readers of women's fiction will enjoy this novel. Many of us will recognize the challenges of how changing marital roles require a paradigm shift that some couples overcome and others can not.

I previous read the author's novel The Queen of the Owls.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Wow. This book is absolutely beautiful. Probst writes with such detail that your heart aches and beams along with her characters. I’ve played piano since I was 5 years old, so I feel Susannah’s emotion and connection to the instrument and the excitement of creating beautiful music by the touch of her fingers on the keys
A beautiful story about life’s surprises- the wonderful and tragic ones and the grace that comes with it. The emotions are so raw and honest in this book. This story shows us the way music can bring us together, provide us peace, and awaken our souls.

This is a great book even if you are not a musician or piano player. Yes, there are a lot of musical terms, types of classical music references and piano terms in the book but it was not off-putting and added to the plot of the story. Susannah had a second chance to become an elite pianist after 16 years and during her audition he hand suddenly starts to cramp but she makes it. On her journey, practicing and playing becomes an obsession, and her husband, who was unaware of her musical gift, starts to question her actions. Susannah finds out she has a disease that causes her hands pain and to curl. What happens next? You will have to read and find out yourself.

I was surprised how good this and it was not what I expected. I was an accomplished flute player in my youth, but life got in the way and a good teacher was hard to find as I got older and now my flute needs to be repaired because it is out of tune. I could highly relate to Susannah's desire to make up for lost time in here musical journey. To be diagnosed with a disease that effects your hands is unimaginable and heartbreaking. I enjoyed how the story played out (haha) and how it ended.

Recommended as a story from anyone who has had difficulty, struggles and determination in succeeding in life. I would read more from this author.

Thanks to Netgalley, Barbara Linn Probst and She Writes Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 4/6/21

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the novel. This was honestly one of the most beautifully written novels I have read in a long time. I felt as though it was written like a piece of music. I loved the family drama and the themes of adoption, parenting, identity, etc. The author did not disappoint with this novel and I believe that it will be a favorite among book clubs come April!

I really enjoyed reading this book! It was so descriptive and because the story goes between the past and present it was fast paced. There were many topics discussed with many emotions and it was a joy to read.

I’m a pianist, so I was very interested in reading this book. Personally, I enjoyed the author’s descriptions of music, but non-musicians could find them cumbersome to get through. On the other hand, I’m sure many women can relate to Susannah’s dilemma. She gave up her dreams to raise her child and now she wants to do something for herself. It’s a struggle that many mothers must face. I did enjoy the book and plan to listen to Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major soon!

Solid Story, Could Have Used Better Structure. This was a solid story of a woman trying to find herself after putting her career on pause to raise her kid and give him a life she had never had. For me, though, the structure of the storytelling itself would have dramatically benefited from a slight variation of the technique here. Here, we get a mostly dual timeline story, a bit scattered at times (date stamps alone would have been useful in that regard, even if just "x years ago") but workable. What *really* could have elevated this story though would have been to take a page from another tale of another professional struggling to find his way and looking back on his life - Billy Chapel in the *movie* version of For Love Of The Game. (We shall not speak of the book - one of very few cases where the movie is by far the superior story.) There, the story is told in the same dual timeline approach that we get here - but with *both* timelines happening before the seminal event (in that case, the last game Billy Chapel will ever pitch as a professional baseball player, in this case an important concert), then some follow-up after the event itself. Ultimately just a tweak, though a significant one, that would have made the story flow so much better for at least this reader. Still, truly a worthy read and very much recommended.

As a pianist myself this book was hard to read at times. In the first chapter when her fingers don't make the notes she is trying to play during the audition, I'm not ashamed to say that my heart beat like j was watching an episode of criminal minds. It was neat to get to read a book from a perspective close to mine!

Wordcraft: “the art of using words” (Oxford Dictionary)

Based on my experience of reading “The Sound Between the Notes,” I believe Barbara Probst to be a master of wordcraft. She beautifully demonstrates the power of words to evoke not only rich emotional responses, but also to illuminate a complex, multilayered storyline. I was deeply moved by her descriptions of the transcendent qualities of music, and, while I am not a musician myself, I was able to identify and empathize with the protagonist as she struggled with the potential loss of her gift.

Susannah Lewis is a brilliant, classical pianist who set aside her career for marriage, motherhood and a life in the suburbs. As an adoptee with unresolved issues about her birth mother’s abandonment, she devoted herself to her husband, Aaron, and her son, James, and in the process lost touch with the inspiration and magic of music. Now that her son is sixteen, Susannah is free to reclaim her passion by pursuing an opportunity that may rekindle her dormant career. However, there are two primary obstacles: her family and her health.

Initially enthusiastic and support of her goal, Aaron and James quickly realize that they are losing a vital person who kept their lives running smoothly. Aaron is obnoxious in his arrogant stance of intellectual superiority and uses it to mask his fear of change. James begins to act out as an entitled teen who expects his mother to be available at his beck and call. While both reactions are understandable, it is frustrating to observe and feel Susannah’s struggle to honor herself and her dream while trying to preserve her family.

Underlying all this interpersonal conflict is a deep concern about Susannah’s ability to play. She discovers that she has a hereditary disease that may or may not cripple her hand and end her career before it even takes off. As she weighs her options for medical treatment, she discovers an inner resolve to stand up for herself despite strong opposition to her choices.

This is a highly satisfying novel both in its storyline and lyrical prose. I heartily recommend it.

My thanks to the author, She Writes Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing a digital ARC in exchange for an independent, honest review.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.