Painted Faces (Painted Faces, #1) in Buddy Read Zone

Apr 27, 2020 Patty ~ Wrapped Up In Reading Book Blog rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-authors, favorites, gives-me-the-warm-fuzzies, pure-perfection, adult-contemporary, top-ten-book-boyfriends, top-fantasy-boyfriends, finally-reading-this-one, contemporary-romance

*****FIVE STARS*****

I'm kicking myself for not getting to this story sooner.
For years I promised that I was going to find the time to read it, and am so happy I finally got the chance.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK!!
Nicholas (Viv) is my new favorite Hero.

...more

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Oct 04, 2013 ~IreneOust~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, favorite-couple-award, top-10-reads-2013

This review, as always, will mostly consist of my feelings about the book and will tell you absolutely nothing (or very little) about the actual book ...

A few weeks ago, I received a rec from several of my GR friends with a link to a FREE download of this title from Amazon site. I got it and a few days later, while in between reads, I decided "Why not?" ...

How much did I enjoy this book?? Enough to delete the FREE version of it from my Amazon account so I can BUY it because I felt it was just t ...more

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Feb 10, 2013 M. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

We all paint on a face to show the world.

Wow. I don't know what to say. This book has rendered me speechless. I was so captivated and thoroughly sucked in. It completely messed with my mind. I was just scrolling through my Kindle library and accidentally opened this book. I saw the prologue and I just knew I had to read it.

So why did it mess with my mind? Well, for starters, our hero is a drag queen. Sounds weird, huh? I have to admit I went in blind with this one so I didn't know, but had We all paint on a face to show the world.

Wow. I don't know what to say. This book has rendered me speechless. I was so captivated and thoroughly sucked in. It completely messed with my mind. I was just scrolling through my Kindle library and accidentally opened this book. I saw the prologue and I just knew I had to read it.

So why did it mess with my mind? Well, for starters, our hero is a drag queen. Sounds weird, huh? I have to admit I went in blind with this one so I didn't know, but had I read the blurb first, I probably wouldn't have picked it up. Something about drag queens freaking me out, especially if they're the hero. Anyway, I was all wrong and I shouldn't be so judgmental. I'm damn glad I go in blind with books, because I would be missing out had I not read this.

It starts with a powerful prologue about Nicholas as a kid. It explains how he started wearing women's clothes and why he did it. I have to say this was a brilliant way of introducing Nicholas to us. We start off understanding him right off the bat.

After the prologue, the book continues in Freda's point of view and stays that way. It was kind of a bummer for me, because I was so intrigued by Nicholas and the prologue, I wish there were some parts in his POV too.

When Freda meets Nicholas, we find out that he's her new next door neighbor. He's being described as a hot as hell guy. Freda and her roommate Nora invite him over for dinner and find out that he's a performer. He invites them to see his opening show and they decide to go check it out. They don't know he's a drag until they see him perform. This was kind of a shocker, because I really expected Nicholas to keep this a secret. Which he didn't. He was super open about it and everyone knew. Another shocker: Nicholas is actually straight. A hot straight guy who performs in the weekends as a woman. Mindfuck, I'm telling you!!

Friends-to-lovers is my favorite. I love watching a relationship progress and the friendship grow strong. Not to mention the sexual tension that gets built up until they finally give in and cross the line to lovers. That's kinda what happens here too. Freda and Nicholas become best friends and turn into lovers.

I could become his cool gal pal who he comes to for advice about life and women. He'd talk to me of his current super model girlfriend and how they are having relationship problems. Then he'd rest his head on my lap and I'd brush his black hair for him and tell him how women are complicated creatures and that he needs to give her space and love. I'd come out with sappy little nuggets of wisdom such as, Nicholas, true love is like a flower, it needs care and sustenance in order to grow. It will be cheesy in the most wonderful way.

Even though they're friends, Nicholas feels very attracted to her. Freda is the insecure kind of chubby girl who doesn't believe someone like Nicholas could ever have any serious interest in her.

I get the impression he flirts with everyone, but I'm too insecure to handle it.

Although the attention Nicholas gives her makes her feel like she's special. Different than all the other girls.

Isn't that what every girl wants? To be loved by someone uniquely, to make a man feel something he hasn't yet felt for anyone else.

Despite this sort of attraction/uniqueness/friendship, she knows that he'll just end up breaking her heart, so she steers clear from his sexual flirtations.

If I slept with him even once I'd probably end up following him around like a psycho lovesick puppy for the rest of my days.

I absolutely loved Freda. Really she has the best sense of humor and her inner monologues just killed me. She's damn hilarious and smart. She makes shit jokes all the time and has no filter whatsoever. She'll just blurt out whatever she's thinking. When the situation gets a bit serious, she just handles it with humor or insult.

I may act like a snarky bitch at time, but that's mostly a front for the scared, shy girl who's hiding behind her.

Her life is utterly boring and she hasn't had a relationship in three years.

I've never been in love. It's sad but it's true. I think the most I've ever been in has been low grade lust

When Nicholas enters her life, all that changes. She's fascinated by the drag queen performances and everything that's Nicholas. He makes her laugh, turns her on and turns her world upside down. Slowly but surely she can't deny the feelings and the crazy attraction she has for him anymore.

I stare into his eyes for a second and get caught, like a fly in a spider's web. There's deep, deep pain in him somewhere, underneath the flirty, confident surface. Is it strange that I suddenly feel like pulling it all out of him so that I can spread it before me and study the cracks?

Nicholas has had a rough past and has been through a lot of shit. His mom died when he was a little boy and his dad was a cold man. He had never experienced love, so sex was all he knew. That's what he initially wanted from Freda.

What will it take for you to scream my name?

He tries to get inside her pants, but when he realizes she's not having it, they become best friends.

You'll always be my friend, won't you Fred? Don't let me fuck this up. I need you in my life now. I need the golden eyed girl who can make me smile.

Just as Nicholas brings color to Freda's life, Freda brings color to Nicholas's life too.

You're a ray of sunshine, Freda.

It's a messed up situation, because they're friends, but they both feel crazy attracted to each other.

We say we're best friends, but really we want to get inside each other's pants.

With Nicholas being so hot and such a guy, I had a hard time coping with the fact that he sometimes dressed as a woman. It just felt so fucking weird to me. That is until one particular scene that really got me thinking.

One day they're walking down the streets and they see a living statue dressed in yellow from head to foot with his face painted gold. You know, one of those creepy guys who spring to life once you drop a coin in their basket and scare you to death. I've always been fascinated by people like that, but what really changed my thinking is the comparison Nicholas makes when they see the golden guy. He says we all paint on a face to show the world and for some of us, that's quite literal. You can imagine that after reading this particular scene, I got myself wondering if it really is the same thing? Living statue and drag queen? I mean, yeah, when I think about it, it is. And I never would've looked at it that way if I hadn't read this book. We're totally fine with people dressing up as someone else. I mean just think of Halloween, Elvis lookalikes, street artists, performers, actors/actrices, clowns, etc. So how come we get all freaked out over someone dressing up as the opposite sex? It was nothing more than just performing to Nicholas. It was an act he had perfected, but it didn't mean he actually was a woman or wanted to be one.

Freda's best friend Nora gets freaked out when she sees him perform for the first time too, but she slowly comes to terms with it. Nora is one of those people who cares too much about her outer appearance and can whine for hours about her hair getting messed up. I love her relationship with Freda and how Freda handles her.

Nora, your self-pity monitor is beeping, it's telling me you're feeling sorry for yourself over something trivial and need to get a life.

I actually found myself laughing out loud a lot with this book, despite the heavy and unconventional subject. It addresses taboo topics with a sense of humor, and I love that. I loved everything about this book. As I said, completely sucked in. I regretted finishing it.

I love him because he makes me laugh when I don't feel like laughing. I love him because he challenges my view of what a man is. I love him because I know I shouldn't love him and that he'll break my heart. I love him because he's a complete and total anomaly. I love him because I want to kill the sadness inside him more than I want anything else in the world.

I love you Freda. It feels like nobody in the history of the world has loved another person as much as I love you. I love you so much it hurts. You make me smile, you make me laugh, you make me burn.

...more

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Jun 05, 2014 Jessy (Jessy's Book Club) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-romance, favorites, tortured-heroes, new-adult, must-read, stay-with-me-books, sweet-sweet-romance

One of my favorite books this year is Still Life with Strings. I sat down yesterday and realized I was missing that feeling the book gave me, so naturally I got another book by the same author. I read Painted Faces in one sitting. I’m just in awe at how beautiful this author’s stories are.

In Painted Faces, we meet Fred and Viv… and really, aren’t these the best character names ever?! Fred is short for Freda, our heroine. She’s running home from work soaked to the bone when she bumps into her new ...more

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