Many thanks to Patricia and FFBC Tours for my spot on this Blog Tour.

This was quite a fun and a different book for me as what I knew about art was a big fat zero. The author did end up teaching quite a few bits of it.

Sabine was an art student on scholarship and wanted to gain the approval of her teacher Krell. Her classmate Adam helped her, and she ended up creating her version of her professor’s work and sinking into a crime.

My first book by author Catherine Linka, quite a well written book it was. I liked how the characters were etched, they got the opportunity to develop over the pages. Sabine was portrayed seeped in reality where her vulnerability and thoughts of doing the right thing endeared me to her.

The first half was a wee bit slow, I am used to thrillers. Once I got used to the flow of the story, it became an easy read. I liked how the author showed the situation of deceit and the subsequent moral dilemma. The story had its thriller-y vibe happening which kept me hooked to the book.

Few social issues were incorporated into the story. I am not so fond of romance especially when the blurb didn’t promise one, I coolly could set those moments aside to enjoy Sabine’s story. I got to learn something new about art too.

Overall, it was a fun read over the weekend.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

Winning a scholarship to California’s most prestigious art school seems like a fairy tale ending to Sabine Reye’s awful senior year. After losing both her mother and her home, Sabine longs for a place where she belongs.

But the cutthroat world of visual arts is nothing like what Sabine had imagined. Colin Krell, the renowned faculty member whom she had hoped would mentor her, seems to take merciless delight in tearing down her best work—and warns her that she’ll lose the merit-based award if she doesn’t improve.

Desperate and humiliated, Sabine doesn’t know where to turn. Then she meets Adam, a grad student who understands better than anyone the pressures of art school. He even helps Sabine get insight on Krell by showing her the modern master’s work in progress, a portrait that’s sold for a million dollars sight unseen.

Sabine is enthralled by the portrait; within those swirling, colorful layers of paint is the key to winning her inscrutable teacher’s approval. Krell did advise her to improve her craft by copying a painting she connects with . . . but what would he think of Sabine secretly painting her own version of his masterpiece? And what should she do when she accidentally becomes party to a crime so well -plotted that no one knows about it but her?

Publication Date: February 2020