Painted (The Art of Love #2)

I had caught up with all of my ARCs, requested a toooon more, and proceeded to avoid them. Oops. At least this one let's me get caught up with one of my favorite authors. Here's Merry Farmer's "Painted." It's the second novel in her new series, The Art of Love.

["The art of love is listening to your heart when your head tells you what you’re doing is so, so wrong….

Painter Rhys Hawthorne is a rising star in the art world and a favorite teacher at the Hawthorne Community Arts Center, but his inspiration has been stuck for weeks, he’s still grieving for his sister, who lost her life in a car crash, and his personal life is a mess…because he can’t stop thinking about younger, vulnerable Early Stevens, who is not only confused about their life, they’re an employee of the family.

Getting tangled in a forbidden infatuation is the last thing Rhys needs…

Early is still coming to grips with being nonbinary and figuring out what they want in their life, and now their parents have kicked them out of the house. The only light in their life is the Hawthorne family, who have taken them in. But living at Hawthorne House only puts Early into forced proximity with his crush, Rhys. They might not know what they want or how to navigate the pitfalls in front of them, but they know they want Rhys.

But will one night of accidental passion between Rhys and Early help both of them get unstuck and find their path, or will their scandalous feelings for each other put the entire Hawthorne family in jeopardy?"]

These two did not have it easy, not in their individual lives or in their mutual friendship/relationship. Rhys is dealing with grief and survivor's guilt still so strongly that it's turned him into a martyr of sorts. Early is trying to understand themselves, all the while dealing with their parents phobias and the cis-heteronormative views of society. 

If only that had leaned on each other sooner. Or maybe the drama would only have happened sooner. Because after these two allowed themselves to feel their feelings for each other, it wasn't easy or simple. It got more complicated and more heartbreaking and more trigger warning-y. 

Eventually, with sooooo much help from the Hawthorn family, the Brotherhood, and therapy, they were able to make something happy and healthy. Romance is wonderful and sweet, but it isn't perfect. Relationships are hard, communication is hard, dealing with trauma is hard. But these two slowly figured it out (and are still figuring it out). 

And (okay, spoilers), I love how imperfect and emotionally complicated their first sexual experience was. It wasn't easy or perfect or star-crossed. It was filled with...a lot of complex things. Rhys and Early should have taken this step differently, and the whole thing should have been more "magical", but I love how real it was. It was realistic as hell, even if it broke my heart a little.

Any more brothers that want to fall in love and break my heart at the same time? Because there's quite a few more emotionally stunted and hurting boys in his quirky as hell family that deserve their HEA. 

Trigger Warnings: grief, lack of acceptance by family, and more.

#grr #gayromancereview #arcs #arcteammember
#thrown #painted #decorated #theartoflove #theartofloveseries #merryfarmer #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks