Genre: contemporary romance, Phantom of the Opera retelling

Erika Greene is a rising star on Broadway - she’s even been nominated for a Tony for her role as Fantine in Les Mis - until a terrible accident disfigures her face and sends her fleeing New York for a new life in Paris, Nevada. Now, the owner of an early 19th century theater and brothel in need of some major repairs and deep in debt, Erika takes a gamble on hosting Nachtmusik, a German hair metal in need of a location to write their first English language album. Frontman Christof Daae, in his low slung leather pants, long hair, and devastating sex appeal is desperate for more success, but is also desperate to keep the secret from his bandmates that Gillian, his longtime girlfriend and band’s keyboardist and backup vocalist has left them. But Erika unlocks something in Christof, and suddenly all of the reasons they shouldn’t embark on a torrid affair seem pale in comparison to passion and fame.

Midnight Duet is the Phantom of the Opera retelling I didn’t know I needed. Equal parts campy, heartfelt, and incredibly sexy. @plottrysts coming through, as always, with the perfect recommendation for a good time. I cannot count the number of times I laughed out loud while reading this. Look, Erika keeps two rats in her bedroom - the basement/sex dungeon of the old brothel - that she’s named Javert and Jean. There is one very clever This is Spinal Tap reference (kudos to Comfort for resisting the urge to use too many of those references, because it can’t have been easy!) and

Don’t mistake the campiness and humor in this book for covering up for lack of character development or plot. Jennifer Comfort has taken familiar characters from Phantom of the Opera and blended them expertly with Broadway Diva and Metal Band Frontman. Each secondary characters is equally well-developed: Sibylle in particular was A Trip and I loved the sass of the baby sister and bassist who holds midnight seances, and the shrug-it-off rockstar behaviors of Waldo and Sergei gave me the impression of a real band. As for plot, there are both overtures and subtle nods to the original Phantom, which I always appreciate in a retelling.

Comfort also knows how to bring the heat. I always appreciate intimate scenes that progress characters and move plot alongside making me sweat a little. From what might be one of the hottest solo voyeur solo scenes I’ve read - a recent trend in my books, so this is saying something - to blazingly hot passionate encounters, I was impressed with the tension and release Midnight Duet provided.

While I’m rarely a fan of rockstar tropes, I am absolutely the target audience of this book thanks to a decades-long metal obsession. This blend of Broadway musicals and German hair metal as a retelling of Phantom of the Opera is hysterical and sexy and has me daydreaming of metalheads with long hair and eyeliner.

Thank you to Montlake Romance and NetGalley for an eARC of Midnight Duet. It’s coming your way 1/10/23.

2.5/3 stars - this one didn't quite hit the mark for me! This was a very niche read, but I LOVED the Broadway references and Phantom inspiration. I just ended up caring way more about that and finding anything pop culture related than I did about the characters and their struggles.

Erika doesn't need to be a lovable h but I at least need to feel some type of interest in her plight. And her being stuck in the same headspace of "oh I'm cursed but not cursed but cursed because I did Bad" lost its impact after like 2/3 of the book. And I did not like Christof, sadly.

Hopeful for the next one, though!

Review currently up on goodreads.

This was a very forgettable book.

There wasn't any depth to the characters. They were way too cliched.

The romance was terrible. It was an extreme case of insta lust/love. The main characters had neither any chemistry nor any reasons to be attracted to each other.

The side characters were barely present.

This could have been so much better but unfortunately it wasn't.

1. I adored The Astronaut and the Star. 2. I fell in love with The Phantom of the Opera stage show at age 16. So you can imagine my excitement when Jen Comfort tweeted that her next book would be a gender-flipped PotO retelling.

Midnight Duet did not disappoint. It’s fun, funny, outrageous, and horny, yet emotionally vibrant contemporary romance that absolutely worked for me. I know that this book will likely be too over-the-top for some, but I loved it. The main characters are very dramatic, while also being completely self-aware of it. While we don’t get POVs from the side characters, I suspect the same is true for them.

I’m not sure if the first half of the book was a little slow (as life was definitely getting in the way of my reading). It took me several days to get to the 50% mark, but after that I just couldn’t put it down and finished the remaining half in one afternoon.

I realize this review is lacking in detail, but I don’t want to spoil the ride (or the theater jokes).

3 stars.

This is one of those books where two, seemingly opposite things are nevertheless true:

1) I had heaps of fun.
2) I really, really wish I liked it more.

As to (1):

This book is soooooooo funny. I was, in fact, laughing out loud. Not rolling on the floor (I HAVE MY DIGNITY, SIR!!), but definitely indulging in hearty guffaws. Erika and Christof both have a distinctive voice, and they are both smart and sarcastic and earnest and extra and hilarious. I have so many highlighted lines and god, I would love to go out for a drink and a gossip with these two. There was so much here that was just so damned delightful -- even for someone who doesn't consider herself a theater kid or a musical theater aficionado or, god forbid, a hair metal fan. The writing is easy and confident and assured. Like I said: heaps of fun.

So much so, in fact, that it almost obscured the fact that (2):

Some things about this just fundamentally didn't work for me in ways that I couldn't ignore.

The main thing -- and this is kind of a killer because it's absolutely central to Erika's character and motivations through the first 2/3rds of the book -- is Erika's insistence that she's a Bad Person who must repent for her Bad Past and now be Good. I. HATED. THIS. Because it felt entirely unearned and insistently moralizing and she just kept circling back to it like a mantra and it drove me more and more batshit every time.

Because the thing is -- yes. Erika made a Bad Life Choice by sleeping with her understudy's boyfriend. Although really, she's the one who was single and ready to mingle, not him. So why does she assign herself all the blame? Not that I'm condoning sleeping with your friend's/ colleagues/ anyone's boyfriend unless the relationship is open, but I hate how she's convinced this makes her a slattern who deserves all the horrifying shit that happens to her, while the BF in question is let off scot-free. But anyway: fine, sleeping with the understudy's shagpiece, bad, I can get onboard with that. But this isn't really what Erika is repenting; or at least, not entirely. Because it seems like the basis of her conviction that she's a Bad Person is really that she . . . liked casual sex and had a lot of it? And also was a diva?

[Deep breath]

NEITHER OF THESE THINGS ARE BAD!!!!

Starting with the latter: divas. Real divas -- women whose incredible talent is matched only by their unsurpassed work ethic that makes the Rock look like a dilettante -- are as necessary as the air we breathe. They are something to aspire to. I feel compelled to point out that Mariah Carey is a diva, and without her, we wouldn't have Christmas. (#festive) DO NOT TRY TO SELL ME THE LIE THAT BEING A DIVA IS SOMETHING TO BE ASHAMED OF, ERIKA GREENE!! EMBRACE YOUR DIVA SELF!!!

[Calming mantra]

And as to the sex thing . . . this just makes me kind of sad and disappointed. It felt like she spent the whole book slut-shaming herself. And I mean, this book is horny AF. But for all the pleasure-seeking, there is so much pleasure-denying and pleasure-shaming -- and the only reason for this is because Erika is supposedly a Bad Person who does not deserve (deserve!!) anything that feels good, because things that feel good not do help her in her quest to be a Good Person. And I just can't get onboard with this message. Which means that I couldn't get onboard with why she was convinced that she had to stay away from Christof. Which means that my patience for the will-they, won't-they game diminished more each time Erika reminded herself that she wasn't a Bad Person anymore, leaving me more fuming than horny.

(Tangent -- this made me realize that, by reading primarily queer and MM romance these days, I happily miss out on this kind of self-slut/pleasure-shaming. Not to say that queer people don't engage in self-shaming about perceived sluttiness, but that this particular trope is by and large absent from that particular genre. Thankfully.)

Also . . . I appreciate that Erika comes to the realization that All You Need Is Love, but it feels incredibly dismissive of her former life and accomplishments in a way that -- and I happily admit to overthinking this -- feels kind of regressive. There's no reason why Erika couldn't have been an ambitious but generally fulfilled person before the tragedy that befell her, such that her journey with Christof was about rekindling that ambition and fulfillment. Instead, it felt like she was rejecting all that made her before, in order to find "real" fulfillment with a man. Basically, this whole commitment to Erika being a Bad Person is an unnecessary wrecking ball. We could have gotten to the same place with a lot more subtlety and finesse, without all the pleasure-shaming and ambition-shaming and career-shaming baggage that Erika is loaded down with.

The other thing that bugged me, albeit not as much as the Bad Person issue, was Erika's motivation for saving the opera house. In that I didn't buy it. I mean, it was a familial link, but she had almost no emotional ties to or contact with that part of her family. It was a money trap and a death trap. It was a place she had gone to make herself invisible and wallow in self-pity. (Understandably! This is a perfectly reasonable reaction. But it seems more like something you'd want to get away from, rather than cling desperately to.) And because I didn't buy her motivation to save the opera house, the big confrontation towards the end with Christof rang completely false, because she's equating her not wanting to leave the two-year failed project of saving the debt-laden opera house with his not wanting to leave the band he's devoted his entire life to. Sorry, but these things are not equal, which means that she's expecting a level of sacrifice from Christof way beyond what she is putting on the table. I mean, I'm all for her standing up for herself in love and demanding her worth. But it felt like she was holding him hostage to her own self-esteem issues, and that big confrontation was more an ultimatum than an attempt to communicate and find a solution as equals.

I realize I haven't said anything about Christof, but that's basically because I kind of love him. Not to say that he's perfect. He's also kind of a dumbass! And super controlling! (Two traits we share in common.) But his arc wasn't laden down with as much normative bullshit as Erika's, so he didn't push my buttons the same way she did. Also, I love him.

So that's where I land: a book that, in some ways, I enjoyed the crap out of, but in other ways, drove me completely bonkers. I believe in Erika and Christof as a couple and I'm glad they got their HEA, but I just wish we could have gotten there better.

I love a good retelling...sadly, this was not one that struck my fancy. It had plenty of allusions to Phantom of the Opera, but none of the magic and mystery that I wanted to see from a Phanfic. The first half was just bad, I didn't connect with the characters or their relationship. The second half was a bit better, the relationship and characters were more interesting as the story went on, but I really only finished in order to give a review of the whole book. Based on the first part of the book, I never would have made it to the end, it would be in DNF pile for sure.

This was an absolute delight and such a fun surprise to find here on NetGalley! My inner theater kid was squealing with joy the entire time. Definitely recommend this one! Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance!

Honestly? I just got this book from Netgalley cause I liked the Cover and wanted something to do with Music. Did not even read the blurb, just pushed myself into the deep without checking - and I don't regret it!

4/5 Stars
2/5 Chillies

Genderswapped Phantom of the Opera
Dramatic and Emotional
Full of references and eastereggs
Grumpy/sunshine
Slow Burn
Gothic/ metal vibes

This was a quick read. Did not see the time fly. It did take a bit for me to get into it, but then I was hooked. Both main characters are drama queen's and the whole plot is a bit crazy, but thats kinda the charm of it. This book doesent take it self to serious and that works amazing. Jen Comforts writing style is definitely up my alley and creates an atmosphere all former theater kids will love. The romance is very slowburn and has some nice steamy moments. The heroine got a very good redemption arc. What else do you need to know? A yeah: it has my beloved found family vibes, guy liner and leather pants, learning to love one self and spicy tension. I only wish we would have gotten to know some of the side characters better.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I give this book 5/5 fire tornadoes.

I've seen Midnight Duet marketed as a "contemporary gender-swapped Phantom of the Opera" and... it is definitely that, but somehow also not at all what I expected? As anything Phantom-adjacent must be, it's dramatic as all get-out, and bonkers in a way that I usually associate with old-school romances. Yet at the same time, it brings a modern sensibility and sensitivity to that bonkersness that makes it much less fraught to enjoy. I'm normally a person who is drawn to internal conflict and slow character development and realistic emotional tangles in her romances, and that is not what this book is giving. But honestly, I could not bring myself to care. Because this book was just SO committed to what it was doing - even when what it was doing was deeply, deeply weird (highest praise) - that I ended up having the best time reading it.

For a book that has enough plot to sustain two Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals, while adding in a fair amount of horniness and steam to boot, the surprising best part of Midnight Duet is the two main characters. There's Erika, an unrepentant diva whom we meet just as she's gotten the role of a lifetime as Fantine in Les Mis. She then immediately loses said role due to an on-stage accident (or is it??) that leaves scarring on half her face. She flees to the only place she can turn to, a derelict opera house in Paris, Nevada that she inherited from her great-grandmother. She takes up residence in the adjoining abandoned brothel with her pet rats Jean and Javert (LOL), lamenting her lost career and trying to save the opera house from the clutches of an evil would-be buyer. To raise the funds, she rents the space out to Nachtmusik, a German hair metal band led by Christof Daae. Christof is desperately trying to hold his band together after their keyboardist - and his long-time girlfriend - abruptly quit. He is described, at various points throughout the book, as looking and dressing like the cover model of a pirate romance, a professional wrestler, a bandit, and a sorcerer who wants to lure you into his labyrinth. He embraces all of those descriptors with gusto (I cackled every time his inner monologue qualified his own bleached icy-white hair as "awesome" and his actions as "badass") and it was just... so much fun.

What I loved the most about Erika and Christof though is that while they are both MASSIVE drama queens, they are drama queens in a way that is a) ruthlessly specific and b) actually quite distinct from each other. Erika's a bit more of a traditional theater-kid kind of dramatic: she's an exhibitionist who loves attention and performing and turning absolutely everything up to an emotional 11. And Christof is a type-A, "I must control everything via spreadsheets and extensive planning" type of diva. He's super tightly-wound and fully believes that his band - and thus his entire world - will fall apart if he lets himself slip up even the slightest amount. I really appreciated the exploration here of the fact that there's more than one way to be an absolute mess of drama. And that all different kinds of drama messes are deserving of love.

Not only does this double-diva dynamic bring Erika and Christof into a lot of engaging personality conflict, it also transitions seamlessly into their sex scenes. The way these two have sex feels like an exuberant, horny extension of who they are in the rest of the book. Christof loves being in control, Erika enjoys taking direction and putting on a show (I don't know which is more perfect; the mutual masturbation scene with Erika onstage and Christof in Box 5,or the first night they spend together finding increasingly athletic ways to bang while staring at themselves in a giant gold mirror). And.... I’m not sure how to describe it, but it's just unadulterated FUN without ever feeling like it's making fun of the characters? I loved it. My only complaint is that we never got to actually see the alluded-to scene where Christof and Erika sing power ballad duets in an antique claw-footed bathtub.

If at this point in the review the book is starting to sound a bit *too* zany to work.... I get that, but it really didn't feel that way to me. There's a genuine heart to this story, a real sense of love for divas and misfits, and an embrace of each character's highly specific weirdness that felt oddly grounding, amidst all the drama. I especially loved the supporting cast - primarily the other members of Nachtmusik - whose antics provided the perfect backdrop for Christof to be his loving, exasperated, too-controlling self. Plus, Christof and Erika are also both delightfully self-aware of their own diva tendencies, which lends a knowing edge to what would otherwise be just an uninterrupted diet of camp. (Best self-aware quote award is a tie between Christof: "My masculinity is impermeable, thank you. It is my massive ego that is wounded" and Erika: "I went to Julliard, you peasant")

My only real issue is with the end of the book. I'll stay spoiler-free on the details, but basically I’m not quite sure it pulls off the balance of external plot and internal romantic/emotional conflict. The abundance of uber-dramatic plot at the end felt spot-on with the tone of the rest of the story. But it meant that the emotional conflict didn’t really get a chance to breathe and develop? The nature of the conflict felt very true to the characters, being broadly based on Erika’s preference for big romantic gestures, and Christof’s need to meticulously plan every practical detail of everything, including other people's lives. But, I just didn’t quite get the space I needed to invest in it, and it made Erika look a bit unreasonable in the not-fun way. But that was easily overlooked in the giant pile of delight that was the rest of this book.

Because, really, this book is a giant pile of delight. It's dramatic and messy and WEIRD and completely unafraid to commit to its own weirdness. I read it with the biggest smile on my face, and if this sounds like your kind of thing, I bet you will too.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

This book is WILD and yet as a retired theatre kid, this made my melodramatic heart so happy.

Somehow this author managed to combine two of my favorite things, theatre and 80’s hair metal, into a magnificent romp through Nevada.

This book puts its own gender swapped spin on the Phantom of the Opera, and I almost lost my mind when I saw the name Christof Daee. I appreciated the sprinkles of drama, especially from Erika and absolutely loved that Christof is a rock god who also loves a good excel sheet.

This was a very fun reimagining of the epic tale that is The Phantom of the Opera and was an extremely quick read. I rated this one 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC I enjoyed every ridiculous moment of it.

This book drops on January 10th of 2023 and if you’re also a huge theatre geek who loves romance I would check this one out.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own.

Little slow start, but stick with it and you won't be disappointed!!! Absolutely loveable characters and MUSIC - YES!!!!

The story is a little cray cray at times, but that is part of what makes this book amazing!

Romance, music, craziness, humor/comedy. All the things I look for in a rom-com.

Definitely pick this one up when it's out in January 2023!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I am sorry to say I did not enjoy reading this book; I found it a slog to get through: the writing was uninspiring, the story too silly, it was about 20% too long, and the romantic scenes were all cringe and zero steam to me. I see it has a lot of 5-star reviews, so this book is going to be polarizing: you'll probably totally love it or hate it.

This book is fun with an angsty heart, wrapped references that are done in the best way.

At its core Midnight Duet is a gender-flipped retelling of Phantom of the Opera that takes neither the plot of the original nor itself too seriously. Erika was a mean girl Broadway star that is rethinking her ways after an accident scars her face after being told "bad things happen to bad people". During her convalescence she inherited an opera house in Paris, Nevada (with an attached brothel at back, natch) so she works to make it profitable again, despite its sorry state and a developer who would very much like to buy her out.

Enter Christof Daae and his hair metal band, Nachmusik. They need a creepy place to work on their new album and are willing to pay handsomely for the privilege. So what if there's a hole in the middle of the stage? Erika will make this work. She's even more determined when she lays eyes on Christof, a rocker in the mold of Bowie, wearing a flowing blouse open the waist, tucked into tight pants.

The sexual tension between these two is palpable from the get go and leads into a long, slow burn buffeted by references of all sorts. Some are explained in the story and others are Easter eggs that are funny on their own, but even more funny if you know where they came from. Phantom and other Broadway references are rife of course, but there's also callbacks to movies and even children's books.

While Erika is a mean girl to start she never becomes truly unlikeable. We see her fighting her worst impulses on the path to becoming a better person. Christof, on the other hand, is a take control kind of guy, both in the band and in the bedroom. He believes a bit of hard work can solve any problem, but Erika knows that fate is cruel and can change your life in an instant.

I was completely, utterly onboard with the whole book until the end. Someone does something stupid that is within the realm of possibility but not justified well enough on the page, followed by a (slight spoiler) Why didn't you do that utterly unreasonable thing that you mentioned when you were drunk, I'm so mad at you!" bit that made little sense to me. If you love angst you may eat this up, but it was right at the edge of my tolerance level.

All in all it's an interesting and fun take on the Phantom story that still strikes out and does its own thing.

Content notes: disfiguring accident, gambling, drinking to excess, structure fire (seen from the inside), cheating (by side character)

I could not put Midnight Duel down but I also didn't want to finish it because I knew it would be a little while before I could read another piece of brilliance from Jen Comfort. I went into reading this book without knowing a single thing about it. I never read the synopsis before reading a book, & I especially didn't since this was an eARC by one of my new favourite authors. What I now know is that I love every word & every page & every chapter. This book is hilarious & sweet & sometimes extremely hot (in more ways that one!). Let's be frank, Jen Comfort can write a sex scene. She proved this in her debut novel, "The Astronut & The Star" & her gift shines again in Midnight Duel. Jen's attention to detail & description is spot on. It seems like, without trying, she can turn her reader into a puddle of lust. If you're not hooked by the first 85% (how could you not be?) the last 15% of this book will have you ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT! The twists & turns will give you whiplash.

Side note: It doesn't hurt that she is 2 for 2 in mentioning Bon Jovi in her novels, which is an instant extra star in my eyes.

This was definitely a different concept for a romance! I've never read a book which focused on a Broadway star and a German rockstar. I love Broadway and musical theater in general, so I really connected with the main character Erika. I also really liked that she wasn't perfect and that she had a lot of flaws. Made her seem much more realistic. I loved the HOT romance that developed between Christof and Erika. I also laughed out loud at some of the banter amongst the German bandmates as they try to understand the American culture and English words. I would definitely read another book by Jen Comfort!

4.5 stars! I have been in love with The Phantom of the Opera since basically forever. I saw the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical on Broadway when I was 11 and I listened to the Original Cast Recording of the musical over and over so much I can recite it from heart. I had the poster and I had the piano sheet music I obsessed over throughout middle and high school. I adored RL Stine's Phantom of the Auditorium. So yea, I'm a fan of the myth. I guess I can stop flexing now lol . . . I so enjoyed Jen Comfort's first romance, The Astronaut and the Star, an actual laugh-out-loud romcom so when I learned her follow-up would be a modern Phantom of the Opera retelling, I was verklempt!

Erika Green is starring in a Broadway musical when her life falls apart. Retreating from her life as a Manhattanite, she heads West to take over her deceased relative’s opera house (with an attached former brothel). Erika is a complex woman who, although often selfish, is just trying to survive the circumstances she finds herself in. I liked the complexities of her character; she is not sweet and shy about her talent. She is ambitious and recognizes how her talents can take her further in her career. But at times, Erika is also kind of a mess in ways we don't allow leading women to be. I feel the author excels at writing women who are complicated in these ways.

After two years of struggling to maintain the building, Erika accepts a request from a German metal band to rehearse their new work in the (maybe haunted??) theatre. Enter Christof, the frontman for Nachtmusik, and his crew of spooky and silly bandmates (one may be a vampire??). Christof is fresh off a break-up and very earnest about getting his band to achieve cross-over success in North America. The sparks fly between Erika and Christof - for Erika it's because she hasn't gotten laid during her time in Nevada and for Christof it's because his desire for Erika awakens the kinky pirate he has never explored. Watching these two get more intwined was delicious and often hilarious.

I feel like there has got to be a message about capitalism in the contrast between the Nevada desert and a crumbling opera house/former brothel? Regardless, I kind of fell in love with the actual theatre; it felt like another well-developed character in this book. I worked for a movie theatre when I was younger. It was not part of a chain rather it was a "fancy" theatre - had the curtains that would open and close on the screens, had lush decorations (it had a wax figure scene from the Cecile B. DeMilles's Moses with running water and everything) AND it felt haunted at night. So, for anyone that loves the Phantom of the Opera myth, is a theatre geek or worked in a theatre, you might also love this book!

An oddly compelling five-star read. I didn’t know with this one, I honestly felt like I fell in love with Erika as she feel in love with herself. At first I was struggling to read the story, as it was just so hard to get through, but then the fun started and it just kept coming. I loved the whole premise of the story and loved how the Germans fell into the story and just added a lovely element to it, each one added a whole new aspect to the story. Then the theatre itself felt like its own character, when you added all of these together, it can get a little complex and dramatic so you could get a little lost, but somehow this author keeps them all on track and singing from the same sheet. This is a fun and compelling story, that you need to pick up.

This book made me feel warm and fuzzy! The FMC and MMC where incredibly together, their dynamic was musical ;) and incredible.

Where to event start… I absolutely loved everything about this book. The 80’s references, the outfit descriptions, the outrageous overdramatic characters, the rats!! EVERYTHING! I’ll be honest, I went in this with low expectations and ended up having the best time reading it! Phantom of the Opera meets 80’s hair metal?! Sign me up!!

Our FMC, Erika, has inherited a crumbling, haunted opera house and it’s attached brothel. Our MMC, Christof, is the front man for a German hair metal band who is trying to make it big in America. Christof rents out Erika’s opera house to write the band’s first English album. The two are instantly attracted to each other, but try to stay away since Christof is supposed to be dating a fellow band member. Spoiler alert, they broke up, but the rest of the band doesn’t know!

Christof Daae is an absolute puppy! Such a little sweetheart, but with a bossy, domineering side just begging to be let out. Erika Greene is a messy, melodramatic, attempting-to-be-independent, woman, and I loved her journey from bitter and slightly depressed, to fully accepting of her flaws and learning her worth. The banter… so good. The heat… sooooo good. My only wish, more spice! What we get is good, really good, but please, you can’t build it up that much and then only give us a few scenes! And Ms. Comfort, you mentioned pegging, but where was it?! I want more! I need more.

I also wish Christof’s anxiety had been explored a bit more. I did feel like he was taken advantage of by the band and never really respected by them. Even when he finally has the discussion with the band on responsibilities, it seemed like it was blown off and not really addressed.

This book is over-the-top dramatic, cheesy, and doesn’t take itself too seriously which is why it’s such an amazingly fun read! Take a chance on it!

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the arc. All opinions are my own.

I was nowhere near prepared to love this book as much as I did--OMG! 😍

Picture this:

Gender-swapped rom-com retelling of Phantom of the Opera

with Moulin Rouge level theatrics and costumes

and a German hair metal band

and you get the masterpiece that is 'Midnight Duet'.

"The way he sang it, German was a beautiful language. But not in a dewdrops-and-flowers sort of way; in a velvet-and-sin, pinned-to-the-wall-and-fucked-hard sort of way."

Erika Greene is a Broadway star who loses it all after a tragic accident, she runs to Paris, Nevada to take over the crumbling brothel opera house she inherited. With her funds running desperately low, she rents the opera house out to Nachtmusik--a German hair metal band that hopes to reach international stardom after success in Europe.

"Thanks to Cristof. Her knight in shining . . . gold pants."

This book had me absolutely laughing out loud and smiling like a total idiot. It's so over the top, and yet still completely self aware. It only made me love this story even more! And the writing is so clever! it really sucked me in... seriously I finished this book in less than 24hrs LOL! I can't wait to read more from this author in the future!

Erika starts off as very, very unlikeable...as in the absolute worst but I still rooted for her redemption arc and ugh what a lovely arc it was! 😍 And the drama? Calling her dramatic doesn't even begin to cover it, but it totally worked for me--she even has the floor length silk robe.

The pining?! And the spice?! 🔥 All I have to say is the organ & the costume closet. 👀 YALL I don't even have words this was so good! 🥵

If you're a fan of: Phantom of the Opera, sexy pirates guyliner & men in leather pants, found families forming from the most wildly chaotic friend group, adorably unconventional pets, the thrill of possibly getting caught in the act, & an unlikable heroine learning to love herself, then this book is totally for you

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.