Vivaldi in the Dark

Out-and-regretting-it comprehensive attendee Jayden Phillips turns his cast-iron plans for life upside-down by falling in love with private-school violinist Darren Peace, a sardonic boy with the craziest hair Jayden's ever seen. But all is not what it seems, and Jayden's bullying problem becomes meaningless when he is confronted with what the music does to Darren. How do you stop a dangerous depression rooted in the same thing that makes someone what they are? Dark moods, blank apathy, and the undertow of self-loathing all simmer beneath Darren's dry and beautiful veneer, and Jayden feels powerless to stop them. Then a mugging gone wrong takes the music forcibly away, and Jayden is finally given the chance to change Darren's life -- and, quite literally, his mind.

Sequel to Vivaldi in the Dark... Three years after that first meeting in a theatre storeroom, Jayden Phillips and Darren Peace are separating for the first time, trading in school for the trappings of adult life. Jayden has achieved his dream of a place at Cambridge University; Darren has achieved his own of escaping the Cold War of home and tasting true independence for the first time. A hundred miles apart and embarking on two very different paths, Jayden feels it is inevitable that time and distance will slowly pull them apart. School relationships, after all, don't last. Darren disagrees -- at first. Love is all they need, and they have weathered harder storms than chasing dreams. That is until the separation, and the encroaching influence of Jayden's new friends, begins to take its toll on Darren's mental state. Alone, he descends in a rapid downward spiral that is finally arrested by one night and a drastic course of action. In the wake of a single unanswered phone call, Jayden learns that time and distance have the power to do much more than break a relationship. The dream is over -- and the reality is far, far worse.

Sequel to The Devil's Trill Sonata... Although their relationship has been repaired since the disaster that was Cambridge, Darren has not. His depression has worsened over the years until it is no longer an option to watch the illness play out its patterns. Treatment is a must. Treatment is also a difficult disaster. When the second attempt at medication goes as badly wrong as the first, and Darren is forced through a rapid deterioration of mood swings, insomnia, nausea and increasingly dangerous thought patterns, his partner Jayden begins to fear that the only end to this disease will also be the end of Darren himself. Apart from a single glimmer of hope: when Darren's best friend asks Darren to play at his wedding, Darren begins to slowly return to the half-forgotten piano. As he slowly sinks back into the music that he deserted seven years earlier, the shadows -- finally -- begin to fade.

The best-selling gay romance series by Matthew J. Metzger is now available in a box set! Contains the stories: Vivaldi in the Dark: Jayden's course changes when he falls for dry violinist Darren. But all is not what it seems, and Jayden is confronted with a dangerous depression that has brought Darren to the edge more than once, and undoubtedly will again. Darren's talent is his own undoing -- until a mugging takes the music forcibly away, and Jayden has the chance to change Darren's life and, quite literally, his mind. The Devil's Trill Sonata: Jayden is going to university. Dream-chasing and distance have Jayden thinking a break-up with his boyfriend is inevitable -- but they've weathered worse storms, right? Wrong. As their relationship fractures, Darren's depression strengthens -- until one night, a rejected call, and drastic action. Too late, Jayden learns where his heart truly lies. The dream is over -- and the reality is far, far worse. Rhapsody on a Theme: Their relationship has been repaired since Darren's overdose, but Darren has not. When two attempts at medication fail badly, his partner Jayden fears that the end of this depression will only come with the end of Darren himself. Until Darren is asked to play at Ethan's upcoming wedding. As Darren slowly returns to the music that never quite left him, the shadows finally begin to fade.