<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44430783-love-s-portrait" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Love’s Portrait" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1552586744m/44430783.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44430783-love-s-portrait">Love’s Portrait</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15515390.Anna_Larner">Anna Larner</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2795830890">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
No synopsis necessary.<br />Peanut butter, the cure-all for peanut lovers! I loved quirky Molly and stiff-upper lip Georgina. Set in the world of art and museums, I was slowly but surely pulled into the storyline. The romance, angst and supporting characters (and beautifully interwoven secondary plot) made me laugh and weep. I savoured each page in the book which ended too soon.<br />Kudos Ms. Larner. I have no hesitation in recommending this with 5 stars.<br />I rec'd an ARC from NetGalley/Bold Stroked Books for a voluntary review.
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This book was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. In a good way.

The romance between the two main characters was very sweet and slow burn. I enjoy when there's some build up not straight to jumping into bed together and this one definitely delivered that. These characters go through a great deal emotionally together. The larger story happening alongside their budding feelings was both interesting and believable. I became very emotionally invested in it. Many times I felt both sad for one aspect of the story and happy for another. I don't think I've dealt with such conflict while reading in a while.

In terms of the individual characters, I felt they had great personality. They stayed true to what we knew about them throughout the story. Georgina was both brooding and insecure, yet sweet, and Molly was just precious. They are they driving factor that kept me reading hands down.

Love portrait tells the story of two couples, Jo and Edith and Molly and Georgina. M & G's story takes place in present day while J&E's story takes place in the 1830s . Interspersed between romance the reader also gets a picture of life for women in the 1830s, a little bit of art and British history. Once you begin reading the story becomes a part of you.
You will cheer for the love these women share, the friendships explored along the way and will share their frustration when they face hardships. This is a great read.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

This is the first book I read of this author and it was a good read.

I really enjoy the character of Molly she was very passionate about her work. I like how she continue to dive deeper into the painting of Josephine and the woman who painted it Edith even when she could have lost her job.

Georgina comes off a bit cold that because of things that happen in her life mainly her mother not being in her life her father dying then finding out not everything is what it seems.

When Molly and Georgina grow closer over the painting you get to see Georgina thaw out a bit. I like there romance even though it was slow burn you got to invested and root for them.

I love Fran she was the comedy that was needed when Molly be a bit down on herself. I didn't care for their boss because she didn't give Molly chances to expand on things that can help the museum and the only way she will let Molly ideas come to life if someone of importance pointed it out to her.

I didn't care for the flashbacks don't get me wrong I like learner about Josephine and Edith lives and everything they accomplish and also get at that time you couldn't be together but I was mad that Edith died and didn't get a chance to love again because Josephine was kinda piss me off with the way she treated Edith that I wanted Edith to let her go.

I haven't read any of Larner's previous novels to compare, but can definitely agree with other reviewers that this read has a cerebral vibe to it. Even though it's not heavy, this isn't a light and fluffy beach / vacation read.

The writing is solid, and packed with substance instead of pure fluff. It was a bit on the slow side at times, with the in depth art analysis, and the slow, slow, slow burn romance between MCs, but I quite enjoyed it. MC Molly is very likeable right off the bat, she's the innocent, cute, charming girl who everyone adores. MC Georgina is the more straight laced banker who's distant and takes a while to thaw out and grow on you. The first half of this one took a bit of willpower to push through due to pacing, but I'm glad I stuck it out. It really picked up in the second half. Flashback scenes tend to irritate me, but I did enjoy the secondary storyline and love story surrounding the painting just as much as the main story. I do wish that Larner had spent more time on the primary storyline and character building though. It felt like quite a bit more time was spent in the past than in the present with this read.

All in all, I rate this at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. For those of you into very slow paced romances, art themed books, or more cerebral reads, this will be right up your alley.

**Many thanks to Bold Strokes Books for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.**

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First time reading from this author and I can't wait for her future stories. This one has Molly, an art curator at a museum and Georgina, a banker, as main characters. Without wanting to spoil anything, these two obsess over a painting that belongs to Georgina’s father’s collection (Georgina lost her father recently) and they try to uncover the identity of the painter . This leads to the narration of the second love story between Edith and Josephine.

I really liked both MCs they are both such sweethearts. The relationship is a slow burn and the way it unfolds feels organic and not rushed or forced. In general I like to read more explicit rated stories when it comes to intimate scenes but here I was not bothered at all (there are intimate scenes but not as explicit).

The only con is that I found the story and the flashbacks of Edith and Josephine a little bit boring and since I was only interested in the main couple, this continuous switch between stories got me a little bit annoyed.

‘Love;’s Portrait’ is a perfect mixture of love, romance and belonging. Molly Goode is a fine art curator in Leicester, wishing to bring more diversity to the museum where she works. Georgina Wright is an important benefactor, albeit a reluctant one. She comes across as a bit of an Ice Queen but spending time with Molly begins to thaw her cool exterior. When Georgina needs help to research a painting in her collection, Molly is instructed by her boss to take on the task.

I liked Molly from the start. She was sweet, a bit ditsy and completely unaware of how wonderful she is. She worries about saying and doing the wrong thing and I found her completely adorable. Georgina was a woman in pain, dealing with grief and hurt, and I had high hopes that Molly would be the woman to see her through that. I felt compelled to follow their story. The mystery behind the painting drew me further into the story and I loved the historical aspect of it in regard to the research on the painting. Anna Larner’s writing has a gentle beauty to it, an engaging tone throughout. Her characters feel real to me and she makes me want to know more about them. This is the second book I have read by this author and I must admit she has become a favourite of mine. A lovely story.

I was given this ARC for review by Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley.

3.75 Stars. This was better than I expected. I actually had forgotten I had read Larner before. I thought her debut was pretty good, but this book was even better. It’s always nice to see a new author that improves with each book.

This book is on the longer side and can be a little cerebral at times with the art. It’s not fluffy beach read, it has more substance. I was impressed with the writing since most of the time if felt well done. The book does slow a little in places. I read the first third, than put the book down. Nothing was making me pick it back up. I finally did start reading again and after that and I could not put the book back down. The book got more and more interesting as it went on and I was hooked.

This is a slow burn romance, a slow, slow burn romance. I personally really enjoy that. I felt like there was believable chemistry between the mains, it wasn’t really intense chemistry but it was there and they made a sweet couple. The sex scenes are not very explicit but I honestly didn’t mind this time.

This book does have flashbacks which I’m not often a fan about, but they didn’t really bother me. The two mains are doing research about a painting trying to figure out two people’s lives. The main characters have their guesses, than the flashbacks tell you what really happened in the past. It was actually an interesting way to do it.

Besides the romance I liked that there was a lot going on to keep my attention. There is some family drama, some relationship drama, work issues, while this was a slower paced book, there always was something happening which I appreciate. Just be prepared that you might want a tissue handy. I cried twice. I love a book that gets my emotions going.

This was definitely better than I expected and I have to put Larner on my list to keep my eye on. This book wasn’t perfect and it did slow down at times especially in the beginning. But overall I was happy with this read and would recommend this to romance fans that don’t mind a slightly more cerebral read.

This book pulled me in so amazingly fast I'm pretty sure I got reading whiplash. It was awesome (except for Evelyn, I would like to flatten her nose a couple of times in rapid succession, although, I think that that was the purpose of the character).

It's the story of Molly and Georgina. Molly is an art curator who is passionate about her job and about diversifying the museum where she works for's collection.

And when Georgina's father dies she is put in charge of a foundation that sometimes supports the museum. Also, she has to pack up her father's house, which is near the museum. She comes to a painting that is neither going to the museum with her father's other art, or willed to her, and so she enlist's Molly's help (through the entirely unpleasent director of the museum, Evelyn) to find out who painted the portrait of Georgina's ancestor and why.

Needless to say, they get closer as they work together to solve the painting's mystery, but, they both have issues (of different sorts) and so the question is, can they overcome their pasts to enjoy their present and future?

What was most impressive about this novel was the emotion throughout the book, the whole novel seemed to vibrate with all sorts of different emotions. Especially the stuff that was set in the 1800s, which I loved.

It was an amazing book, complex and compelling.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is another new author for me. This story features MC Molly, who is an art curator at a museum and MC Georgina, who is a banker from London who has recently lost her father and is involved with the mueseum through his bequest. Their shared interest in a painting that forms part of Georgina’s father’s collection has the two embarking on a quest to uncover the identity of the painter, which allows for a second love story to be told (Edith/Josephine).

I’m finding it hard to rate this, because while there were things I liked, there were things that also annoyed me. Pros first: Molly is an absolute sweetheart, and Georgina is nowhere near as stuffy as first presented, and their romance is sweet and charming. Fran’s character adds humour and perspective, and the relationship itself is not rushed, so it feels somewhat organic in how it unfolds. I also liked the message of trying to uncover all of the histories (that is, any that don’t involve white men) that have been hidden/forgotten.

The cons: I found the mueseum stuff/the tracking of Edith’s history to be a boring a times, and honestly, how the relationship between Molly and Georgina was portrayed suffered due to this, because it felt like they (and therefore the reader) spent more time on the Josephine and Edith realtionship than Molly and Georgina’s because so many of the M/G scenes focussed on E/J. I was also annoyed by the flashbacks to the E/J relationship, because while I get that the author wanted to provide the backstory, there was no context to <i> how</i> this information was known. While M/G do find Edith’s papers, these do not contain the story, the flashbacks just <i> appear </i> but no one is telling this part of the story. As a device, it did nothing for me. I also found it terribly convenient that all the information they needed to find about Edith was available to them eventually. The drama in the last 25% of the book is also fairly well telegraphed and pretty cliche.

So, I was about 50/50 on this one, I did like the love story between the leads, and was intrigued but Edith/Jospehine’s story, but wish there had been more focus on the actually love story than the secondary one. I did like this enough to try more by this author though. 3 stars.

What an interesting book this has been! I really did not expect that I liked it so much. The synopsis already hints that there is going to be something in the plot about a love story from the past but not that I was going to be such an important part of it, because although not very developed, the story between Edith and Josephine is as relevant as Molly and Georgina's.

I found the character of Molly very charming, with her innocence and passion, she spreads her optimism to everyone around her, even to the least predisposed. And Georgina is genuine in her position as a high-level woman dealing with her family's past, the distant one and the nearer one, with her traumatic childhood marked by her parents’s divorce.

There is a passion that flows throughout the whole story and that surrounds you completely and although it is not a perfect story, as a whole it is really interesting and very, very recommendable.