The Body Painter by Pepper Winters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
“Must be slim, able to stand for long periods of time, and be impervious to the cold.”
The headline caught my attention.
“Hours are negotiable, pay is minimal, clothing absolutely forbidden.”
The second line piqued my curiosity.
“Able to hold your bladder and tongue, refrain from opinions or suggestions, and be the perfect living canvas.”
The third made me scowl.
“Other attributes required: non-ticklish, contortionist, and obedient. Must also enjoy being studied while naked in a crowd.”
The fourth made me shudder.
“Call or email ‘YOUR SKIN, HIS CANVAS’ if interested in applying.”
The final made my heart race.
I should’ve kept scrolling past the advertisement.
I should’ve applied for the boring receptionist job at minimum wage.
I should’ve clicked on any other job where I got to keep my clothes on.
But I didn’t.
I applied.
My interview is tomorrow…
The Body Painter
Second chance romance between two broken people
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💛🖤💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌏
Character development: 🤒😌🙃
The heroine: Olin – She is a former dancer who lost her career aspirations when she was in an accident. The used car lot where she worked most recently had closed down two months ago and she has been out of work ever since. She is getting desperate for a job and applies for a position as a living canvas for a popular body painter.
The Hero: Gil – he has become popular as the hooded figure on YouTube that is seen painting the bodies of naked women. He is gruff, grouchy and bad tempered. He has a commission to paint something specific and needs a new model to work on.
The Story: When Olin goes to interview for the job as the model for a popular body painter she is stunned to find her former high school boyfriend Gil. He seemed to hate her and wanted her gone immediately. There was a time when they were in love and he just disappeared from her life. He now seems to be a monster who wants nothing to do with her.
The book was told in dual points of view and narrated by Will M. Watt and Felicity Foster. The book takes place in Great Britain and both narrators have British accents and pleasant voices. Each narrator read their own parts within each chapter, so the male narrator didn’t have to do female voices and vice versa. That is my favorite kind of narration.
The story was told partly in flashbacks to when they were in school, when they first met and Gil watched Olin and fell in love with her. He came from a bad background where he was always worried about where he was abused and he was held back in school twice by their teacher who had it out for him. He saw Olin as such a good and honest person and was surprised that she wanted to be friends with him.
The blurb didn’t indicate that this was a second chance romance. I usually stay away from those because I don’t like it when the main characters have a whole history together that took place prior to the story beginning. So my rating reflects that a bit. I do love Pepper Winters writing though, especially her captive romance works. I still plan to read a few more of her series that I haven’t gotten to yet.
Though the story was good, especially if you like dark romance romance between two broken people and secrets that take time to come to light. Personally I like a Hero that is more put together and I just didn’t get why Olin put up with Gil and pined after him given that he treated her like crap, both when they were young and again when she meets him seven years later. I get that she wanted to know why he left her the way he did, but really does it matter? He treated you bad, why should the reason matter? Even if he had a good reason, should you give him another chance to hurt you again?
I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
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