Art and Soul - Claire Huston

 

Description

There’s no problem Becky Watson can’t fix. Except her own love life…

Struggling single mother Becky Watson longs to revive her career as a life-fixer, working miracles to solve her clients’ problems, no matter how big or small. Since the birth of her two-year-old son she has been stuck preventing wedding fiascos for the richest and rudest residents of the Comptons, a charming, leafy area of southern England known for its artistic heritage.

So when semi-reclusive local artist Charlie Handren reluctantly hires Becky to fix his six-year creative slump, she’s delighted to set him up with a come-back exhibition and Rachel Stone, the woman of his dreams.

Though they get off to a rocky start, Becky and Charlie soon become close. But as the beautiful Rachel becomes Charlie’s muse, Becky is forced to wonder: will giving Charlie everything he wants mean giving up her own happily ever after?

Review

I'm not going to lie - the mention of a slice of cake was the hook to get me to read this book. However, what I enjoyed so much more were the art references!

We meet Becky just as she's been asked to intervene and fix the life of a semi-reclusive artist. You can imagine how that goes at first - basically he tells her to just get lost. However, Becky wins him round and gets the job as his life coach and a promise to hook him up with the woman of his dreams, Rachel Stone, the owner of a local gallery. I had a picture of a young Grace Kelly in my mind when Rachel was described, she sounds perfect (well to look at at least!).

Becky is a really realistic and down to earth character and that was true for the whole book. I felt like I had taken a peek into a real life situation. Whilst Charlie the artist, hankers after Rachel. It soon becomes apparent that Becky likes Charlie, especially as he seems to get on so well with her young son. But he's made it clear he likes Rachel and now he's got an exhibition at her gallery so they are spending a lot of time together.

I could really see this being made into a film. The plot wouldn't be amiss in a Jane Austen novel, with suitors and misunderstandings, all with a side of cake served by the wonderful best friend Ronnie. Let's not forget the art though. The author obviously knows a lot about art and described to perfection a few paintings I have seen in real life. I loved the scene where Becky got one of Charlie's paintings into The National Gallery - if only very temporarily, before a Klimt took its place.

I think this book has something for everyone and it was all for me down to a T, I loved it.
I can't believe this is a first novel. The writing has a richness of words that wrap around you and make you feel so cosy. The plot had depth with well developed characters. I was sorry when it ended.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Claire for an electronic copy of the book
for review.

You can get your own copy of Art and Soul here: https://getbook.at/ClaireHustonAandS

It’s also free to download if you have Kindle Unlimited.

About the Author

Claire Huston lives in Warwickshire, UK, with her husband and two children. Art and Soul is her first novel.

A keen amateur baker, she enjoys making cakes, biscuits and brownies almost as much as eating them. You can find recipes for all the cakes mentioned in Art and Soul at clairehuston.co.uk along with over 100 other recipes. This is also where she talks about and reviews books.

Social Media Links

You can also find Claire on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads and Pinterest:

https://linktr.ee/clairehuston_author