In Pursuit of the Painter

by Ashtyn Newbold

Formats

Included in Subscription

What happens when a monstrous debutante meets a fierce apprentice painter? War.

If there’s one thing Michael Cavinder can’t abide, it’s vanity. As the son of an artist, he has seen a great deal of it from his father's clients. When Lady Patience Hansford, clearly fresh from London society, demands a portrait from Michael’s ailing father, she offers payment that their family desperately needs. An apprentice in the trade, Michael paints the portrait in his father’s place.

When Patience’s dissatisfaction with the portrait brings her to do something unpardonable, Michael creates a new portrait—one portraying her for who she truly is. A monster. When its display in a local exhibition garners Michael’s work fame and attention, Patience seeks her revenge, pursuing the painter who ruined her reputation. What she didn’t expect, however, was to find much to like about Michael, and much less to like about the person she has become.

As Michael and Patience struggle to find their places in society, games of revenge and betrayal continue from all sides, drawing them unexpectedly closer. When it comes to falling in love with the enemy…will their hearts betray them too?

Formats

Open reader Upgrade Account

Included in Subscription

Book Details

Genre

Historical Romance

Subgenre

Regency (1811–1820)

Series

Sons of Somerset

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑🫑

Profanity

2 Mild

Violence

1 None

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

2 Mild

Publication Date

September 13, 2021

Language Versions

English

Fiction Form

Novel

Regency Romance Starring Chris Evans

Due to the cover model’s shocking likeness to our beloved Captain America, I could not help but imagine Chris Evans as the hero for this novel (albeit with brown eyes instead of blue). Anytime I consciously tried to NOT picture our dear Avengers actor in the role, my mind rebelled, and so by the third chapter, I simply accepted it. The effect was not unpleasant. It was surprisingly easy to envision him as a determined lower-class painter in the early 1800s. How unexpectedly fitting and entertaining. I daresay a film adaptation of this book with Mr. Evans cast as the main character would be an instant success. Five stars. Five thumbs up.
And yes, I do think this book is worthy of its own movie adaptation. It would be like Pride and Prejudice with a twist starring Chris Evans. Who wouldn’t want to see that? The unattached female masses would collectively swoon, no doubt. But since this hypothetical scenario has not yet taken place, however brilliant, at least we have this novel. If you enjoy clean, high-quality regency romance and the option of mentally casting the male lead with Chris Evans, read this book. You shan’t be disappointed.

Eh...

I'm a bit torn here, but at the end I didn't feel satisfied, so I dropped the review from 3* to 2*. The story was too imbalanced for me to really enjoy, and some of the discussions around forgiveness and revenge really irked me. For example, revenge and justice are two different things.

Spoilers

Both characters hurt the other, one more consciously than the other. Patience acted like a spoiled brat by refusing to pay, but that had been a possibility they'd agreed upon. Michael hadn't intended the level of consequences his portrait would have, but knew there was a possibility that her likeness could be recognized - and he didn't attempt to alter it even slightly such as recoloring her hair or eyes.

I thought certain plot points were unrealistic, such as Michael's initial invitation in London, Patience accepting the invite, and Patience giving her jacket to the woman, which resulted in the contrived art theft misidentification and clunky parallel to the Orpheus myth. Also, everyone is apparently content just shrugged off the now multiple thefts in their neighborhood. Ignoring the pickpocketing purse snatch, there was a break in and theft from a place of business. Report it. The thief is dumb enough to wear a bright jacket attached to another theft for the job, so the art could potentially be recovered. Gah.

All that said, I didn't hate the story. It was written well enough that I finished, though there were some editorial errors in the Kindle edition. While both characters were not likeable at various times, they weren't extreme enough or consistent enough for me to stop reading - though neither were they likeable or interesting enough to rise to a satisfying conclusion. (Yes, she still accepts his proposal as expected in this genre.)

I’ve no patience with Patience…

But it’s actually a really good story, even so. I don’t think I’ll read this author again, though I think I’ll finish the series since it’s free on kindle unlimited. Im glad I didn’t pay for it. Patience made me crazy, but Michael is wonderful and the story is clever. It’s almost too much a morality tale, but the ending is really beautiful. I do not enjoy reading stories about unlikeable heroines. This seems to be a trend in HR lately. The only reason I didn’t quit the book in disgust with Patience half way through is I was having a sleepless night. Even as Patience reforms under the loving and completely undeserved kindness of Michael’s family I didn’t like her. It’s also pretty vague as to the time period. It’s supposed to be 1815 but there are almost no details to place it that early in the century, and several things that should have been there but aren’t, like Patience not having a maid or abigail, walking about the streets of London unescorted. Please. The vicious desperation of her “noble” family is really over the top. You may like it more than I did.

Loved it!

This book was so good! It’s an enemies to more story, and it was done so well! I read half of the book in one sitting, but then I had to put it down because naptime was over. I was so stressed over what was going on and what was going to happen, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters all evening until I was able to sit down and read again at bedtime! (I was stressed in the best bookish way; the kind of stress where things are happening in the story and you don’t want to stop reading. 😉)

I loved the character development, the uniqueness of the story, and the beautiful themes woven through the story! Some of the choices made by the characters were horrible, but they made sense in the story, and the author did an incredible job with the characters and their story arcs. I highly recommend this book!

Sweet Regency Read

It has a slower start than I prefer, but In Pursuit of the Painter is a slow burn. I am a huge fan of Ashtyn's book and this one is no different.

The characters have depth and facets that add to the complexity of the story line. She does a great job of building chemistry and sharing the story between the characters that draws in the reader. It really is a sweet story.

This is a clean read which I appreciate.

This book was provided for me in exchange for my review. All thoughts are my own.