A Brand New Tangled & Tempting Romance from New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters. “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 … 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…
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“Monsters walk amongst us. They wear the same skin. They just hide who they are.”
Holy….The Body Painter was nothing like I expected it to be. I was on the edge for the entire book trying to figure out how it would turn out. The prologue pulls you in, leaving you shaken and anxious for what lies ahead on the pages.
“God, please stop. Stop making me hurt.”
Olin is independent, has a warm heart always willing to help others and put their happiness before hers but underneath it all she is extremely lonely. Gil is talented, a loner who has struggled his whole life. He is willing to do everything in his power for the ones he loves but everyone eventually has a breaking point.
“I’d had everything taken from me. Everything. And still my love continued to bleed me dry.”
I was frustrated at parts, cringed at others and desperate for answers. A deliciously dark web has been weaved and nothing, I mean NOTHING, prepared me for the ending. I need The Living Canvas ASAP!!! If you enjoy suspenseful reads that will leave you guessing what will happen next I definitely recommend this book!!
“I stumbled as the hot, lacerating blade punctured my heart and the rest of my hope.”
~ Read on behalf of Two Darlin Dolls and a Book Review Blog
The Body Painter, what an incredible read! The first of the duet blew my socks off completely.
Olin and Gil’s relationship is intense. Actually, intense is an understatement. Their relationship is an array of seesaws; so many emotions happening at once. Like I said before, intense is an understatement.
This book isn’t all romance. It’s dark, it’s thrilling, it has an air of mystery that pulls you in. It leaves you wanting o read the next book, and then binging the series all over again. It’s a novel that touches all the senses and hits all the right boxes. I would DEFINITELY recommend!
Undeniably unique and thrilling! What a fantastic story filled with explosive chemistry and secrets packed with so much suspense you’ll find yourself trying to catch your breath. One of my favorite books by Pepper Winters!
3.5 Stars
I really wavered over how to rate this one. Pepper Winters is one of my favorite authors and that hasn’t changed – she is one of the few authors whose books consistently impact me on a deep emotional level; I can always count on her stories – no matter what subgenre – to give me so many feels. That is certainly the case with The Body Painter: I felt Gil’s pain SO much that it was sometimes too painful. I absolutely loved the angst of his broken relationship with his O, but I figured out what was going to happen in this book pretty early and thus I had a kind of dread waiting for it to finally happen on the page, and an anxiousness for Gil to finally tell Olin – I wanted to scream it at her so she could understand why he was being the way he was and help him somehow! I don’t have what I consider typical triggers, but one I do have is when main characters are under a villain’s thumb, so that impacted my enjoyment a bit, though I objectively recognize it is a very good plot. As usual, the sex was top notch, and if I didn’t immediately feel the couple’s connection (since they mostly fell in love off page) I certainly felt it in a big way by the end of the book. I have no idea how book two is going to go, but I am certainly very eager to read it.
Wow! That was a wild trip! I loved it! Olin was so good doing her best to help others. Gil was stubborn, but he couldn’t let her. This story was so angsty and terrifying. It was a push and pull for both of them. I can’t wait to read the rest of their story!
I loved this and yet I didn’t.
Yes that makes no sense, I know. The Body Painter is so full of beautiful imagery, powerful writing and emotion that spills from its pages into your very soul. I loved every single word that was written, really enjoying the dual point of view. All the present day is from Olin’s perspective, and makes up the majority of the book, with brief glimpses of their past from Gil’s viewpoint. For me that worked well, allowed each narrative to have it’s own voice and feel, rather than become overloaded and confusing.
This story will leave your emotions bleeding, your heart torn into a thousand pieces. It will have you doubting your sanity and there are twists that will break you. Pepper Winters is a master of writing broken and deeply flawed characters, Olin and Gil are no exception to that.
However a star was lost because parts of this dragged, it became a little too repetitive and irritation set in that so much centred around what we weren’t told in this story. I felt like I was watching a tumble drier throwing the same emotions around in the same pattern on an endless cycle. I got that Olin had been broken by Gil’s disappearance, I got that Gil had some big secret, I got that there was danger and also that this pair had explosive chemistry. I got that by 30% into the book, and by 40% and by 50%, which is when I got to skimming just to feel as though I was making progress.
Oh and if you are going to write about the English education system find out how it works please. Students are NOT held back a YEAR on the whim of a teacher. (We don’t have grades over here – unless you’re talking about exam results!) A simple query in the Facebook readers group would have prevented the huge faux pas. I’ve taught for nearly 30 years and have only known a handful of students to re-do a year. This has ALWAYS been with parental and student agreement and based on them having missed a substantial part of an academic year due to ill health. Over here a teacher CANNOT hold you back and make you re-do a year. In fact WE get hauled over the coals regarding why the student hasn’t made sufficient progress! Oh and we don’t have high schools (other than private ones), they’re secondary schools. Which you can leave at 16 to go to college or do an apprenticeship.
The body painter uses a human body as his canvas once and done. That is until, until his long lost love answers his advertisement and becomes his canvas three different times, wash and repeat. There are so many secrets, so many questions left unanswered!
Anything this author writes you know is going to be brilliant! The body painter is no exception. Gilbert “Gil” Clark is a painter…a body painter to be exact at Total Trickery and he is looking for someone to be his human canvas. Olin Moss was his crush in school so when she shows up to be interviewed as his canvas imagine both their surprise. Can these two put the past in the past and work together to make beautiful art or will the secrets of the past still haunt them? Gil is such a tortured soul I just want to hug him. He is hiding something that could destroy them both. The things they both had to endure in their life are heartbreaking. The characters in this story leave you wanting more…”I promised myself I’d be as cruel as necessary to keep you away. That I’d hurt you all over again if that’s what it took. But…I’m too @“$&g weak…” This is told from the past and present to help give the full picture of their heart wrenching story. It does end in a major cliffhanger so be prepared. I just need to know what happens and how Gil and Olin’s story will unfold! Told in dual POV; a must read for fans of romantic suspense with so much hotness you will need a fan handy to cool you off!! I’ll never look at my paints the same again! 😉
I won a copy of this book in a random draw. This is my honest review. What a wild ride! The story wasn’t quite what I expected which to me is always a good thing. It is definitely different and unique. I really, really liked this book. I didn’t find an instant chemistry with the main characters though. They rather annoyed me. I believe I yelled at them both, ALOT, while I read. At times, they both seemed like they should be smarter than they were and that really irritated me. Then again, they were also blinded by their love for one another, so I suppose that’s the way the author wanted them to come across. In any case, theirs was a very complicated and emotional relationship which unfolded throughout the book, both of them scarred in more ways than one. As their story unfolded, for me at least, it seemed very repetitive. They seemed stuck in this never-ending circle of love-lust-trust-mistrust-hate-lust-love-repeat. A couple of times I was like, “Ok, I get it now, let’s move on and get to the point!” I continued on and found some seriously dark, sinister undercurrents working in their story. I LOVE that kind of thing! The twists and turns just kept coming. Be forewarned, this is not a standalone, so you will be holding your breath waiting to find out what happens to these two wounded souls in Book 2, The Living Canvas. By the end of Book 1, the darkness had most definitely arrived and it was getting darker by the minute! I was riveted as I turned page after page since by now I was fully invested in these poor characters and their messed up, twisted lives. When I finished reading, my mouth was hanging open in complete disbelief! OH MY! Book 2 can’t arrive soon enough! Grab this one!
Easy five star read! Once again Pepper tells a tale that’s twisted and addictive and I fell hook like and sinker into it. The characters are intense and complex. Just when I thought it would go one way she went an entirely different direction. I was reeling at the end and now I need more! That ending was gut wrenching! The story was intense and captivating. I could not get enough!!!