Publishing date: 20.02.2025 (DD/MM/YYYY) 

Thank you to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for the ARC. My opinions are my own. 

TLDR: A man visits a painting every day and falls in love with the subject and the art itself. On the other side, the subject internally converses with her admirer and reflects on the time she was posing for said painting. 3 stars

An unnamed man visits a painting in his local museum every day. He falls in love with the painting, more specifically the subject. On the other side the subject converses with him, reflects on his affections, and wonders if he truly loves her. She also tells us of the time she was posing for the painting, and the relationship she had with the artist. 

The characters here are deeply flawed and hypocritical. The men talk about love, but they love two people. The woman also speaks of love, but more superficially or like something she can use. No one was directly likeable or dislikeable, more like people I simply disagree with. 

Pacing is strange. I have no concept of how much time has actually passed, or exactly when the different POV's take place. It is a slow paced book writing style-wise, but I think it is moving quickly timeline-wise. 

The story itself is strange and obsessive. These people are all obsessed with each other, but the focus is mostly on the woman. So it is a character centric story. Not much happens, really. 

I did not enjoy the way they talked about the woman. "Out of shape", "distant", they way they phrased whether or not she was pregnant. It felt icky. It felt like they viewed her as a lesser being. 

The woman herself also has a few problems. A spine first of all would be nice. Something happens where she is disgusted, but does nothing. She seems so conflicted with the things she does and can't make up her mind properly. There is also a lot of flip-flopping of "loves me, loves me not". I found it a little tiring and juvenile. 

The writing is beautiful, but maybe a little boring and "compact". Separating it a little more would make for a more comfortable reading experience. That might just be me. 

Audience is adult. Targeted at people who enjoy themes of obsession, moral dilemmas, and a little surrealism. 

I am giving this 3 stars. I enjoyed the premise, but not the execution. It was a little hard to read with the blocks of text on every page. But if it seems interesting I would recommend you try it.