The author stated this book would reflect the Phantom of the Opera/Beauty and the Beast story that I hold so dear to my heart. The basic premise does include some Phantom-esque dynamics, but the story quickly fails to keep up with the heart of the original story. First of all, I bothered me to no end that she would keep the name of the main character, Erik, but change the name of his love interest to something other than Christine. It just felt wrong, the entire time. We first meet Marisa when she is 16, and the book develops some rather heavy Lolita references that carry through to the very end. The author including love scenes between a 16 year old and 30+ man just felt icky. The characters never really developed or matured through the novel. Marisa never seems to age much past 16. She and Erik are immature, selfish and contemplate suicide far too often for rational people. The book lacks a plot for the most part. The author will also jump years between paragraphs, which gets annoying after a while. The "climax" of the book is heavily reminiscent of Lolita as well. By the end, I was so disgusted with the characters that was glad the book was over and I didn't have to read about them anymore. A poor example of Phantom inspired fiction. ( )

This was the second "Phantom of the Opera inspired" book I read after the original novel of Leroux's, and it was a huge disappointment. The writing isn't very good at all, and the characterization is equally bad. Erik comes off as a creepy old man chasing after jail bait, and Marisa is a classic Mary Sue. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. ( )

Love this author's books. Great read.

Back Cover Blurb:
Story of a sensitive young girl who falls in love with a brilliant older man who is scarred both physically and emotionally. It really is an engrossing, touching novel. ( )

I couldn't even finish it, I have rarely had this problem, but I just couldn't get into it. A major disapointment as I was looking forward to a nice contemporary fairy tale. ( )