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Merissa (11869 KP) rated Art and Soul in Books

Sep 14, 2020

Art and Soul

Claire Huston | 2020 | Contemporary, Romance

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Art and Soul is the debut book by Claire Huston and is both genteel and charming.

Claire is returning to work after taking a year off on maternity leave but she is finding it hard to get her clients back. Charlie is a painter sinking into obscurity, through both circumstances and his own behaviour. Together, these two can get Charlie back into the limelight and get him the woman of his dreams... but what about Claire?

For a simple storyline, this book was surprisingly complex and intriguing. Claire was a great character, being straightforward in certain situations and yet completely blind in others. Charlie was the more tentative of the two, easily being led by Claire and Rachel. I would have liked him to have been a little stronger but then I'm not the author!

Two things I loved about this book - 1) the main characters are not in their 20's! and 2) it was set in the UK. It makes a nice change for it not to be the US.

The scene setting was brilliant and both Claire and Charlie are helped along by a wonderful supporting cast. This was a lighthearted read without any major angst that kept my interest and the pages turning. Absolutely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2145 KP) rated The Broken Spine in Books

Jan 21, 2021

Uncovering Secrets to Keep Her Own

Tru Beckett is the assistant librarian in her small town. She’s always loved books, so when the town manager comes up with a plan to turn the library into a bookless “technology center,” she does the only thing she can think to do. She saves as many books as she can to set up in a secret bookroom in the library’s basement. She and her friends are almost done with their book rescue mission when the town manager is murdered, killed under a shelf of DVDs in the main library. The police are looking at Tru as a suspect, certain she is hiding something from them. But in order to keep her secret, and the books, safe, True has to find the real killer. Can she do it?

As a book lover, I immediately sympathized with Tru in her quest to save the books, and I love how that secret added an extra layer to her motivation to solve the murder. A couple of times, I thought the plot was slowing down, but then something would happen to jump start it again. The result was a book I never wanted to put down. I loved how everything came together at the end. The characters were all strong, even a couple who only had a few scenes. This is a strong, fun debut, and I can’t wait to visit Tru again.