Today, Waves of Fiction is participating in the blog tour for The Art of Love by Anne Whitney.
Published on June 18, 2013
Purchase: Amazon
About the bookMy Thoughts:
Marina Phillips has spent her entire life as her father’s victim. But enough is enough. All it took was one moment of realization to send her fleeing across the country into the unknown of New York City with no plans and no money. A new life without the constant torture is all she wants, but what she finds waiting is something she never expected.
Fitz is New York’s premiere playboy artist. Sexy, tattooed, and coveted by women and men alike, his performances are heralded as the coming of a new god of modern art. But when Marina wanders into his show, she becomes the inadvertent piece he’s always waited for – a girl to sculpt, to change, and to craft in his own image.
She never expects to fall head over heels into the world of parties, drag queens, agents, and artists craving for her and her benefactor. She didn’t even expect to begin falling in love with someone like Fitz, the sexy, pretentious man of her nightmares.
Above all, Marina never expects her father to stage a cross-country mission to paint her as a kidnapped girl taken by a psychopath.
With her life on the line, Marina has no choice but to accept Fitz’s proposal – change everything she is, inside and out, for the chance to start anew. But Marina has plans of her own. Plans that will rock her world forever.
The Art of Love in my opinion is much more than just a romance story. Underneath the tension filled romance lies a story about art and escaping ones painful life.
Marina finds herself in New York City with nowhere to live and only $6.71 in her pocket. She had to get away that is the only thing that matters to her. The first thing that she discovers in New York is that she is completely lost. When an art gallery showing invitation is shoved into her hand that claims to have free food Marina goes because she doesn't know when she will be able to eat again. While she is there she finds herself being drawn into an art performance piece by a very attractive nude man and well being incredibly innocent Marina isn't quite sure what to make of this performance. Her world gets turned even more upside down when the artist opens up his home to her and offers to help her get on her feet without even knowing her back story. Marina is thrown into a strange world where everything seems to be art and she isn't quite sure where she fits in. When her past is catching up with her she changes her identity and when she wasn't even sure who she was to begin with this causes her so much confusion. How do you reinvent herself when you aren't even sure you were to begin with?
This story had its moments for me. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the art and the characters more than the actual romance. I was really intrigued that the author incorporated so much art into the story and it was art that I haven't personally ever seen before. That by itself kept me glued because I wanted to know more. I also appreciated that the author let Marina not fall into the instalove syndrome. I was proud that she stood her ground when it came down to the I love you part and it was something again I haven't ever seen in a book especially lately. I thought it was a brilliant move and with everything that Marina went through I thought it was true to her character. I won't say that I am happy with how Marina dealt with everything that involved Fitz because there were quite a few scenes where I just wanted to flick her, but that one part felt completely right to me.
I have to mention Fitz in all his artistic tattooed nakedness. In any other story I would be begging for the guy to please put some clothes on, but in this one I laughed every time he would strip down. I am guessing it has something to do with the whole artist thing going on and I have to say I loved it. I mean really a naked tattooed artist what more do you need??!
I will say that I wish the culprit would have been someone different. I had someone in mind and in my opinion it would have made for a stronger storyline. I understand why the author chose to go with who she did, but I still would have liked a bit more drama thrown into the equation. Which is funny because I am all about the drama free books most of the time but I think this one needed a touch more and a little less of Marina questioning who she was and backing away from Fitz.
The Art of Love was a different read that I think most will enjoy for its uniqueness.
3 suns
Good review. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
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