Blank Canvases

Title: Blank Canvases
Author: Winnie Jerome
Publisher: Torquere Books
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 16 pages
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

A Guest Review by Jenre

THE BLURB

A frustrated, aging artist who makes ends meet with a dead-end day job is seduced by a beautiful young man who wants nothing more than to pay for his meals and have sex at every opportunity. It sounds like an ideal match, but Kurt’s passionate, irresponsible lover, Garrett, is keeping secrets. Worse, Kurt’s muse has abandoned him entirely. What does Kurt have to lose in order to find his muse and his happiness again?

THE REVIEW

This cute short story begins with Kurt moving into a new apartment. He’s an artist who is stuck on a painting which seems to be going nowhere and hasn’t painted or sold anything in ages. This means downsizing to a tiny apartment which he can just about afford from the money he earns working in a book store.

A young man, Garrett, comes into the book store and asks for Kurt’s help looking for a book. Kurt is astounded when the Garrett hits on him and drags him off to the men’s room for a quickie. This turns into a relationship between Kurt and Garrett, a rich kid who is wasting his time, sponging off Daddy and generally behaving like a spoiled brat. Things come to a head when Kurt calls him up on this and words are exchanged.

I really enjoyed this short. Kurt was such a great character. He wasn’t shy about getting what he wanted from Garrett at first and later, when he knew that he was being used by Garrett as a bit of fun to pass the time, he was still determined to make the most of it whilst he could despite feeling uncomfortable that Garrett paid for everything. The sex scenes between the two men were scorching hot and it doesn’t take too long before Kurt starts to feel more for the young man than just lust. I also liked the realism of the life of a painter: It’s hard work and you don’t make much money, plus you are at the mercy of a fickle muse!

The character of Garrett was a little more difficult to like – mostly because we see him through Kurt’s eyes and although Kurt sees that Garrett is wasted in his job working for his father, he is also convinced that Garrett only sees him as an easy lay, someone to keep him busy before a better offer comes along. The scene where Kurt confronts Garrett about his selfish ways was gratifying, even as I felt sorry for Kurt and his hurt feelings.

The realism in the story carried through to the end. There’s no fairytale ending for either character, but I finished with a smile on my face, pleased to have met these characters and spent some time with them. What more could you ask from a short story?