An honorable artistBenedict Pennington’s greatest ambition is not to paint a masterpiece, but to make the world’s greatest art accessible to all by establishing England’s first national art museum. Success in persuading a reluctant philanthropist to donate his collection of Old Master paintings brings his dream tantalizingly close to reality. Until Viscount Dulcie, the object of Benedict’s … of Benedict’s illicit adolescent desire, begins to court the donor’s granddaughter, set on winning the paintings for himself . . .
A hedonistic viscount
Sinclair Milne, Lord Dulcie, far prefers collecting innovative art and dallying with handsome men than burdening himself with a wife. But when rivals imply Dulcie’s refusal to pursue wealthy Miss Adler and her paintings is due to lingering tender feelings for Benedict Pennington, Dulcie vows to prove them wrong. Not only will he woo her away from the holier-than-thou painter, he’ll also placate his matchmaking father in the process.
Sinner and saint–can both win at love?
But when Benedict is dragooned into painting his portrait, Dulcie finds himself once again drawn to the intense artist. Can the sinful viscount entice the wary painter into a casual liaison, one that will put neither their reputations, nor their feelings, at risk? Or will the not-so-saintly artist demand something far more vulnerable–his heart?
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The first thing I always want to know when I’m reading a series out of order is will I be totally lost. Rest assured, this fourth story in The Penningtons series stands alone and causes no confusion. I love historical romance and enjoy a M/M one when written well. I’m not much interested in art and art history, but the story description sounded interesting nonetheless and I wanted to read it.
The book started out a bit slow for me. The art references didn’t capture my attention. As for the main characters, Clair seemed like an uncaring fribble and Benedict just came across as moody. But as the book moved along, I began to like the two of them. They were so much deeper than they appeared at first. By the end of the story, I absolutely loved them both! It was a truly lovely (and steamy) romance full of longing.
As for the art aspect of the story, it still didn’t capture my attention….until I got to the part about The Raft of the Medusa and Clair’s feelings about the painting. I looked it up and was fascinated by both the artwork and the story behind it. The artist himself was also quite interesting. You can’t look at that painting and not feel some deep emotion. I saw a photo online of it hanging in the Louvre. I’ve been there! It was all so overwhelming that it’s hard to remember all the artwork I saw there, plus I know there was so much there that I didn’t get the opportunity to view. I need to look at the pictures I took there to see if I took one of that painting.
I am so glad I stuck with the story! It truly ended up fascinating me. I want to go back and read the rest of the series. Kudos to Bliss Bennet for pulling me into the art world.
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I had not read the other books in the series. Benedict Pennington abandoned everything to pursue his dream and had become a renowned painter. As he finally returns home, he has high ambitions to open the first National Museum. I found this so interesting because it entails so much history and information about art that I did not know. Benedict finds a patron who might donate some old masterpieces and gets caught in being pushed to woo the gentleman’s granddaughter!
He runs into old schoolmate Viscount Dulcie who also wants the paintings, and the two end up in a competition to marry the wealthy granddaughter to obtain the art! But as the two are thrown together, who will come out the victor? Will they win each other?
The author brought the art world alive and the two characters were very distinctive in their different personalities. An enjoyable read and can be read as a standalone.