You Are Mine: A gripping up-all-night psychological thriller

You Are Mine is about Sir Rupert who has a romantic obsession with Charlotte a woman he has been watching for eighteen months. An opportunity has presented itself when her paintings are being sold in at an art exhibit.
Charlotte Aldridge is a painter who lost her boyfriend sex months ago. She’s still grieving his loss and has not been able to paint. Her sister helps Charlotte sell her paintings knowing she needs the money.
Rupert comes into the gallery impressed with Charlotte’s work. He wants to commission her to paint his portrait. Charlotte hesitates. The money offered is substantial however his request to have her live at his estate has her concerned.
Sir Rupert St John Baskerville is a posh man living in a large home in Sussex. His family has lived in that mansion for many years. Each family member before him had his portrait commissioned by an artist. He has invited Charlotte to stay with him so she can paint his portrait to add to his collection.
Charlotte and Jodi have a lovely sisterly relationship. Jodi offers love, support, and encouragement to her sister. Jodi has been her rock after losing Matthew.
This book starts off as one of those on-the-nose narratives with every minute detail overcrowding the storyline. I prefer dialogue driven story’s with minimal descriptive details.
This is a slow progressing story with fully developed characters. Rupert is a patient methodical man. With that patience comes a very drab encountership between Rupert and Charlotte building a relationship. Which means Miranda reserved the action for the beginning and ending.
The concept was brilliant. Taking the typical Stockholm syndrome and adding her own twist was clever. It’s not the content nor the concept that doesn’t interests me. It’s the way Miranda tells the story. Her writing style is too wordy. I have nothing to grab onto to. Rupert is an interesting character. His backstory is fascinating. But I still can’t find it in myself to delve deep into this story.
Where it fell short for me was the long drawn out manner in which the characters progressed. The routine of the relationship was mind numbingly boring. It’s when Miranda goes into great detail describing the way a room looks or how a dress will look on Charlotte. It’s too much. It breaks up the pace taking me away from the connection I develop from the psychotic mind of Rupert. I enjoyed being in Rupert’s psychotic mind. Miranda illustrated his intellectual mindset as well as his inability to interact with women from a courting standpoint extremely well. When Miranda focused all her efforts on Rupert’s psychotic mind I was 100% consumed and intrigued. He is a functioning psychopath with a high IQ with very little common sense when courting a lady companion. As an only child who lost his mother early in his childhood he relied on his father. His father used a firm hand of discipline when raising Rupert. Rupert’s father wasn’t an affectionate man. He used a deep menacing voice when speaking with Rupert. He wasn’t equipped to raise a fragile boy.
For me I needed more of a push. Rather than state the words how these characters hide emotions, think rationally, or conquer the empire. I needed the emotional breakdown and inner turmoil of what these threatening words could actually do.
I felt Rupert’s methods are similar to what a parent would do to discipline a child not a lover. He’s not a masochist and maybe I needed him to be. Miranda went a little too vanilla with her villain.