4.25.2022

finished reading

This book makes me feel old.  Its target audience is "emerging" or "new" adults and the main characters' immaturity reminds me that I am an adult adult.  No longer emerging or new. 😕

I haven't read many books by this author but already I see her formula: insta-love, damsel in distress, unlikable villain, the love interest with a secret, all working toward a big twist of fate reveal at the ending.  The characters were flat, except for the quirky roommate.  Auburn is a very young and inexperienced twenty-one year old, which I found unrealistic.  Owen is a worldly hipster artist with no financial struggles, which I found unrealistic.  Lydia is a manipulative shrew and her son the cop on a power trip, Trey is such a caricature that I eye-rolled.

Am I being too picky?  Maybe.  But it makes me feel old.  I did, however, enjoy the PostSecret-esque confessions linked with the artwork.  The artwork in the book is lovely.

From the publisher:
Auburn Reed is determined to rebuild her shattered life and she has no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to become deeply attracted to the studio’s enigmatic artist, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?

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