Notes

<img style="clear:both; float:left; padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px; max-width: 375px;" src="https://img.freepik.com/free-vector/illustration-man-woman-guide-screen-smartphone_73637-664.jpg" alt="Illustration of man and woman to guide the screen of the smartphone" loading="lazy">I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I have read a few Lisa Jewell books before and I really enjoyed them. But something about this one was just meh. A seventeen year old girl, Saffyre, is missing. She has connections to Roan, her previous psychologist and Owen, Roan's next door neighbor. The book has three POV's: Saffyre, Owen and Cate (Roan's wife). Cate and Owen's POVs are told through third person, but it's told in present tense (basically, real time). Something about this writing style just turned me off and it made it hard to connect fully with the characters. Saffyre's POV is told in the first person and there is a different timeline. The difference in voices and timelines was a little jarring. I liked the concept of the missing girl, as well as the incel community. The problem was that the issue with the incel community was never fully developed. It was just .
Mainly, it was used as a way to cast doubt on Owen. I didn't think there was a lot of suspense regarding Saffyre's disappearance either. While I was interested enough to keep reading to find out what happened, there were many periods of the story where I was just kind of bored. There were also a lot of other subplots and so much happening with the story that I didn't feel that any one part of the story really got the attention that it deserved. https://shoplat.net/ of the book was a bit much. There was so much that happened at the climax of the book and a lot of it came out of nowhere and I didn't feel fully satisfied with the ending. What happened to Saffyre was alluded to throughout so much of the story and yet it wasn't as dramatic as it should have been, given all the references to it. I also thought that the changes with Owen were too sudden and unrealistic for the character. I did actually guess one of the twists, but the surprises were things that just came out of nowhere and didn't really make sense in the grand scheme of things. This may just be a case of "it's not you, it's me" since the book does get rave reviews from other readers. In my opinion, I think the premise of this one had a lot of potential, but the author just couldn't quite make it work.

Yamaha key actions which is a slight notch or hesitation about half way down the key travel when playing very lightly on a real grand piano is much improved in the new CLP-700 series as compared with the previous CLP-600 series, and now you can actually feel the simulated escapement movement that was hardly noticeable before. The weighted balance when playing on the front of the keys as compared to playing near the backs of the keys is also much improved and has a more even balance than before. So the new changes in the Yamaha CLP-700 key action are very welcome upgrades and should overall please the Yamaha piano lovers out there. The newer model Yamaha NU1X "hybrid upright" digital piano is a specialty polished ebony instrument with a real console-upright key action from a real Yamaha acoustic console-upright piano and is housed in a traditional looking small upright case. In my opinion this NU1X natural key action is more realistic and enjoyable to play than the new Clavinova models as far as a pure "upright" piano playing experience goes.

However, the NU1X key action feels like an upright piano because it has an actual acoustic upright key action in it, and that's fine, but there are some key actions such as what is in a few of the new Kawai and Casio Grand Hybrid models which feel much closer to a grand piano action than the NU1X, even though they are not fully acoustic in construction like the NU1X. This may all sound a bit confusing, and it can be, but all these differences among pianos certainly make for a variety of choices! The NU1X price is approx $6600 discount internet selling price at Yamaha piano and internet stores throughout the US so it is in a fairly high price range but is worth the price of admission if you want a digital piano that mimics a real upright piano with just about all of the same key action parts with the exception of strings, hammers, and dampers. Yamaha UPDATE: Yamaha has an additional specialty Clavinova piano line called the CSP series which consists of two models called the CSP-150 and CSP-170.

These 2 instruments have a special proprietary operating system untilizing a comprehensise software app called Smart Pianist which is a proprietary Yamaha app for iOS tablets. These pianos are like having regular digital pianos and putting them on steroids enabling you to do powerful musical things that you never thought possible on a digital piano. Unlike steroids, these new pianos are safe for you, good for you, give you access to some very cool new musical and educational features that are not available on any other digital pianos, and they won't disappoint you! Roland - Roland's current models in this price range include the HP702, HP704, LX705, LX706, LX708, and GP607 mini grand. The GP607 mini grand actually came out a few years ago and was part of the previous series of Roland digital pianos but is still in the current lineup. You can read about the GP607 in a previous review I have at the following link: Roland GP607 Review.
Here's my website: https://shoplat.net/