Review: Painted Faces

Rating: ★★★★★

Author: L.H. Cosway

Genre:  Adult Fiction; Contemporary Romance

Publisher: L.H. Cosway

Publication Date:  December 14, 2012

Pages: 358

Format: E-book; Self-Published Paperback

Content Rating: NC-17

"It doesn't matter what he's wearing. I like the him that's underneath the clothes and the painted face. I'd like him no matter what he wore."

Overview

Come forth with an open mind, for an unconventional tale of love.. 

Dublin native Freda Wilson considers herself to be an acquired taste. She has a habit of making offensive jokes and speaking her mind too often. She doesn't have the best track record with first impressions, which is why she gets a surprise when her new neighbour Nicholas takes a shine to her.

Nicholas is darkly handsome, funny and magnetic, and Freda feels like her black and white existence is plunged into a rainbow of colour when she's around him. When he walks into a room he lights it up, with his quick wit and charisma. He is a travelling cabaret performer, but Freda doesn't know exactly what that entails until the curtains pull back on his opening night.

She is gob-smacked and entirely intrigued to see him take to the stage in drag. Later on, Nicholas asks her if she would like to become his show assistant. Excited by the idea, she jumps at the chance. Soon she finds herself immersed in a world of wigs, make-up and high heels, surrounded by pretty men and the temptation of falling for her incredibly beautiful employer.

In this story of passion and sexual discovery, Nicholas and Freda will contend with jealousy, emotional highs and lows, and the kind of love that only comes around once in a lifetime. (Goodreads.com)

Review

1. This is why I still read indie!  Lately I have grown frustrated with a lot of the indie books I pick up because of weak plots, one-dimensional characters and rampant grammatical errors but Painted Faces reminded me that a truly good book and talented author can be found amidst the masses of indies.

2. Freda tops my list of favorite protagonists.  Freda, a.k.a "Fred," is an every girl.  She has a self- deprecating sense of humor that reminds me somewhat of Bridget Jones, but is still uniquely her own and is both hilarious and endearing.  The story is told in her first person point of view and by the end of the book you feel as if you know her inside and out.  She goes off on odd tangents that could frustrate some readers, but for me, those ramblings help to define her and add a comedic element that sets this novel apart.  I can't honestly remember when another character has made me laugh so much as Fred.

3.  I have a thing for unique plots and this one has it in spades. It is refreshing to read a love story that doesn't follow a harlequinesque mold of what a romance should be.  Originally, I read the overview of this and thought "Hmmm, I'm just not sure.  How does that work?" but eventually my curiosity won out and thank God it did. I love stories that challenge you to see beyond your preconceptions.

4.  "Who would have thought a drag queen could be my ultimate male fantasy?"~ Freda.  It can't be an easy task to convincingly create a character like Nicholas, but Cosway sold him to me 110 percent. He is somewhat of a paradox. A sexy combination of alpha male and effeminate performer.  I totally got him. I understood what made him who he was and to my own astonishment, I was completely taken in by him.

5. I was actually sad to reach the end of the story and for me that is a sign of an excellent book.  It doesn't happen very often.  I just didn't want to leave the lives of this group of crazy Dubliners.  I miss them already.

Bonus

Not since Colleen Hoover's Slammed, have I found a book where I highlighted so many passages. There were so many lines that had me laughing out loud, sighing or shaking my head in frustration.  So I thought I would list my top five favorite quotes as a bonus:

1. "I love him because he challenges my view of what a man is." ~ Freda

2. “I might not have a boyfriend, but I have cupcakes, an those tasty bastards haven't let me down yet.” ~ Freda

3. “We all paint on a face to show the world," Nicholas replies philosophically. "For some of us, that's quite literal.”

4.  "I wouldn't even care about how I'd look snogging the face off a drag queen." ~ Freda

5. "You know Viv, most men try to get their girlfriends out of their clothes, not into them." ~Freda
"I think we both know that I've never been most men," ~Nicholas
"No you're not, you're better." ~Freda