Title: Drawn
Authors: Elle Brownlee
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press,LLC
Release Date: October 21, 2016
Genre(s): Paranormal
Page Count: 200
Reviewed by: Kristin
Heat Level: 2 flames out of 5
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Blurb:
Sebastian (Sen) Holt is an artist currently in New Orleans. He’s always been a wanderer, believing in fate and following signs to guide his destiny. Although he itches to pull up stakes, getting a painting into a gallery keeps him rooted. One morning his good friend calls him in desperate need of help with her cleaning business. Her regular cleaner flaked, she can’t lose her client, and there’s no one else.
The job is at a large and recently restored house—and the owner, Morgan Ballard, comes home unexpectedly. They are immediately drawn together, as if they know each other, but they’ve never met. As they grow closer, Morgan behaves like two people. Sometimes he’s friendly and casual, and other times intimate and demanding. Sen juggles his painting through bursts of vision-like inspiration, the cleaning job, and an unexpected commission—all while trying to unlock the growing mystery of the intense connection he feels to Morgan. He’s not sure which scares him more—the strangeness surrounding their growing bond or that he’s found someone to make him reconsider his lifelong wanderlust.
Drawn is set in New Orleans and the book beautifully reflected that Southern summer lassitude. While the reader gets a glimpse of the character of the city through the house and cemetery, the emphasis is really on the unfolding relationship between Sen the artist and Morgan the architect.
A series of coincidences have brought Sen and Morgan together. Sen can’t really explain the growing attraction or the sudden visions that afflict him, but soon realizes his interaction with Morgan is helping to create some amazing paintings.
Not being an artist, I did enjoy watching the creative process, watching a trigger event spur Sen’s creativity and passion. I loved how Sen talked to his paintings, as if he recognized the souls captured in the ink and oils.
Only a couple of small complaints and I do mean small – there was one inconsistency between the start and conclusion of the book: the first “vision” Sen had at the house and storm was sans Morgan, when later he realizes the storms are tied to Morgan, not the house.
And perhaps the pace of the story was a bit slow for my tastes. I waffle on this, because that slow unfolding kinda reflects that Southern culture, but on the other hand, the reader picks up the connection well before Sen figures it out and left me rather antsy. So…mixed thoughts on the pacing.
Lastly, the big revelation was almost anti-climatic, which given the build-up (and the pacing) left me going “huh” more than “oh, cool!”.
Ultimately, a very enjoyable story about two people finding each other and the events that brought them to that confluence.
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