Sharing is Caring - Books: "Venus in Love" by Tina Michele

Note: This ARC was provided by NetGalley & Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

Diving into the lush world of gallery art, debut author Tina Michele's new novel finds two beautiful and young women realizing a genuine love between them that they believed never existed outside their artistic education. 

Ainsley "Lee" Dencourt, a young woman born to a wealthy gallery family, has been cultivated to become the reigning heir to the establishment that put her father on the creative art world map.  Morgan Blake, a young daughter of a farm raising family from the country, has spent years studying her passion of the famed art of the world, striving to take her place among the great curators without the ease of an already established network.  Meeting at the end of their university years, Lee and Morgan immediately take a note of each other, both with plans to investigate the potential of each other.  When a radical event thwarts their plans, each woman falls into their new lives and moves away from the prospect.  But each one still continues to regard the other as a subject of personal, and intimate, fantasy.

The culture, references, and complete immersion of the artistic gallery world, ranging from Paris, France back to the States, was the most significant reason for my desire to read this novel.  Thankfully, I was thoroughly rewarded in this aspect.  The novel was well developed, taking the time and energy to describe the characters and their personalities to provide a comprehensive view of each individual and their place among the others.  It was also full of references, examples, and traits known only to the art world, which provided a satisfaction knowing that the author took the time to research the setting of the novel to all lengths.  Each character was skillfully scripted, providing nuances and distinctions that expanded beyond the usual descriptions of written roles.  In addition, the flow of the novel was exquisite, offering crescendos at the most opportune times, and keeping the reader (i.e. myself) turning the pages over and over again to continue the discovery of the story.

I would give this novel 4.5 out of 5 stars.  The reason for being just under 5 stars would be because of the ending and the ending alone.  Though a beautifully written finale to a novel I will most definitely read again in my lifetime, I felt that the conclusion lacked the same luster that was found throughout the rest of the novel that I had grown to love and appreciate.  That same flow that I praised and adored about this novel seemed to fall short in the final pages.  As I was getting closer to the end of the novel, I started to realize that the ending would only be abrupt due to the number of pages I had remaining, and it did seem to do just that.  Though I will reiterate again that the ending was still enjoyable, I felt that the style of the author made it seem short of what it really could have been.  Aside from this one attribute though, I found it exceeding all of my expectations, prompting me to give the book the higher 5-star rating.

If you're searching for a beautifully written lesbian romance novel that will engage all of your senses and well worth the read, look no further than Tina Michele's newest contribution.  I recommend this to all of my favorite lesbian romance readers, as well as anyone looking for an alluring novel to keep them warm in front of the fire for the holidays.

Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

"Venus in Love" by Tina Michele is available on December 16, 2014 on Amazon and Bold Strokes Books.  Follow the links below to order:

Visit the official page on Bold Strokes Books for additional ordering options:
Venus in Love by Tina Michele

Also, check out Tina Michele's website for everything about the author:
Tina Michele

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