‘Paint the Sky by’ @BoyonBoyLoving #LilyGBlunt #LGBT #Book #Review

Beth reviews Paint the Sky by Lily G. Blunt (published by the author on August 30, 2014, 278 pages)

This book was provided free of charge by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:   A love of art…

A mutual interest in art draws two shy university students together. Ben admires Vinnie’s painting of the university building, so Vinnie invites him to an exhibition of his artwork. From a wealthy family, Ben purchases some of Vinnie’s art and arranges for the artist to personally hang the paintings in his apartment. 

Starry, starry night… 

Ben commissions Vinnie to paint his portrait, in order to spend more time with the artist. On the night of the sitting, Vinnie finger-paints the starry night on Ben’s chest… and they kiss. They begin a relationship beneath the night sky, God’s own canvas. 

But every relationship has its ups and downs and so it is with theirs. When Ben thinks Vinnie spends too much time with a fellow artist, his jealousy drives a wedge between them and forces Vinnie into the very thing Ben dreads. 

Hold tight to your dreams… 

Ben and Vinnie will have to walk through fire before they can find one another again. But if they believe, and if they keep their faith in the night sky and each other, just maybe they can make their dreams of love come true. 

Author Excerpt:

Vinnie led me across the room, pulling me by the shirt. “Lie back on the sofa for me and I’ll paint you.”

As if in a dream, I settled my head against one arm of the sofa, my legs dangling over the other end, scarcely breathing now. Vinnie knelt on the floor beside me with an open pot of paint in his hand.

Teasingly, he dipped his index finger into the dark blue paint as if it were cream he would lick off. His finger connected with my skin and he made short strokes across my chest, the coldness of the paint making me shiver.

Mesmerised by the closeness of his beautiful face, the view of the night sky through the window, and the picture forming upon my chest, I watched as dab after dab and stroke after stroke he built up a mix of shades, until a dark night sky with the moon and stars were there to be seen—a masterpiece, drying on the warmth of my blazing skin, a transient thing of beauty. His fingers skimmed my skin causing gooseflesh to ripple in waves down my arms and thighs. My nipples pebbled in response to his touch.

And when he was done, his lips met mine in a languid kiss; how our first kiss should have been—sweet, innocent, and full of promise. He pulled away, smiling down at me.

This was the beginning of something special.

 

 

This is a story of a relationship between two men, Benjamin (Ben) Penrose, 23, son of well-off, successful, indulgent parents, studying English literature and music; and Vincent (Vinnie), 23, an art major with a much different background. After finally screwing up his courage to speak with Vinnie as he was spotted painting a picture on the campus grounds one afternoon, Ben wangles a casual invite to see Vinnie’s school art exhibition. At that moment, Vinnie is all that Ben can think about. He even ends up returning to his room and writing a story, featuring the seemingly impoverished student artist. This is unusual for Ben because he is a self-professed “horn dog” who “prefers one night stands over dating.” Yet somehow, he sees himself wanting more with the somewhat elusive Vinnie. However, when he does meet up with Vinnie again at the art exhibition and is introduced to Vinnie’s brothers as “BJ” instead of Ben or Benjamin, it dawns on him that Vinnie may be onto him and his past sexual promiscuity. Nevertheless the two men make a plan to have Vinnie sketch Ben for a portrait for his father, in turn, Ben brings his violin and plays a piece that he wrote especially for him.

One theme throughout this book, as you probably already noticed, is art and music.  One beautiful scene that really strikes this theme home is as follows:

“Finger paints?” The image of Vinnie dipping his fingers in the soft liquid and applying it to a canvas was highly erotic. “Have you ever used them to paint a picture?” I swallowed hard. Not for the first time, I breathed in his unique scent. I longed to trail my tongue along his neck and take his lips with mine. Vinnie reached around me to take the dark blue pot, his bare arm rubbing against my torso, and his warm breath close to my ear. “No, I haven’t actually, but I’d love to paint the night sky as it looks tonight to remember you playing the violin for me.” “You want me to play again?” My voice was hoarse with desire. I swallowed deeply trying to moisten my throat. “No, I want to paint the sky on you.” His lips barely touched the side of my face, soft and warm, but sent a scolding tingle rippling through my body. “Can I?” he whispered into my ear.

I nodded once, hardly daring to move in case I scared him away. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Vinnie’s empty hand stroked up and down my chest from behind, his thumb grazing across my shirt over my nipple before reaching the buttons. One by one, he undid them, tantalizingly slowly, peppering my neck with soft sweet kisses, until my shirt hung open, my chest exposed. The pads of his fingers trailed over my skin, seeking, exploring, taking his time, painfully slow. His breath came out in loud and fast pants.

Vinnie led me across the room, pulling me by the shirt. “Lie back on the sofa for me and I’ll paint you.” As if in a dream, I settled my head against one arm of the sofa, my legs dangling over the other end, scarcely breathing now. Vinnie knelt on the floor beside me with an open pot of paint in his hand. Teasingly, he dipped his index finger into the dark blue paint as if it were cream he would lick off. His finger connected with my skin and he made short strokes across my chest, the coldness of the paint making me shiver.

Mesmerised by the closeness of his beautiful face, the view of the night sky through the window, and the picture forming upon my chest, I watched as dab after dab and stroke after stroke he built up a mix of shades, until a dark night sky with the moon and stars were there to be seen—a masterpiece, drying on the warmth of my blazing skin, a transient thing of beauty. His fingers skimmed my skin causing gooseflesh to ripple in waves down my arms and thighs. My nipples pebbled in response to his touch. And when he was done, his lips met mine in a languid kiss; how our first kiss should have been—sweet, innocent, and full of promise. He pulled away, smiling down at me. This was the beginning of something special. My heart knew it at that very moment.

It may seem like the men are well on their way to a happy future together at this point, but things don’t always go the way you expect them to, do they? Both men are working through things and there is some heartbreak and angst looming on the horizon. Ben convinces Vinnie to move in with him, and they are both thrilled and having a wonderful time with each other at first. However, Ben just can’t leave well enough alone, and he breaks Vinnie’s trust by overstepping his bounds. Then Vinnie becomes elusive about his activities and whereabouts during his painting projects. They start to bicker and snap at each other, and eventually things become too much for either of them to bear, and their relationship crumbles.

Will a sudden critical situation bring the men back together, and allow them to reaffirm their love for each other, or is what transpired just too much to be overcome? You will need to read this wonderful story to find out what happens.

 

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Lily G. Blunt writes contemporary gay romance and erotica. She loves to explore the relationship between two men and the intensity of their physical and emotional attraction. Angst often features in her stories as she feels this demonstrates the depth of the men’s feelings for each other. Lily is forever writing imaginary scenes and plots in her head, but only a few ever make it to the page—there never seems to be enough hours in the day despite having left the teaching profession to concentrate on her writing! Lily discovered the wonderful world of m/m romance novels four years ago via fan fiction and went on to write stories in her spare time. With the encouragement of her friends and readers she decided to publish some of her work.  Lily has several self-published stories available on Amazon. She is also published with Torquere Press Wayward Ink. Easily distracted from her writing, Lily makes videos using clips from gay-themed movies and posts gorgeous pictures of men kissing or making out on her Tumblr and Facebook pages. Lily is also an avid supporter of GLBTQ rights and advocates equality for all. Lily lives in central England with her rather bemused husband, two twenty-something children, and a ‘mad as a bag of frogs’ Shetland Sheepdog.

Follow Lily’s blog at: http://lilygblunt.wordpress.com

You can also like her Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LilyGBlunt?r…

Tumblr: http://lilygblunt.tumblr.com

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/BoyonBoyL…(less)

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BoyonBoyLoving

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6586037.Lily_G_Blunt