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Elle Pierson

Artistic License Kindle Edition

by Elle Pierson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 798 ratings

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"Picasso would have loved his face."

When one of the world’s prestigious art collections comes to the resort town of Queenstown, New Zealand, shy art student Sophy James is immediately drawn to the pieces on display – and to the massive, silent, sexy presence keeping watch over them. She’s completely fascinated and attracted by the striking planes and angles of his unusual face, and can’t resist sneaking out her pencil when he’s not looking.

Security consultant Mick Hollister is used to women looking at his ugly mug – but not with the genuine pleasure he sees in the face of the girl with the charcoal-smudged fingers and terrible skills at covert surveillance. A security breach brings the two into fast and furious collision, and an unlikely friendship begins to blossom. And an even more unlikely – and very reluctant – love.

Introvert Sophy is content with her independence and solitude. She’s never looked for a long-term relationship, and isn’t sure she wants one now. Mick, apparently born with a face that not even a mother could love, has given up all hope of having one.

They have nothing in common. They shouldn’t even like each other. And they can’t stay away from one another.

Print length

157 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

March 1, 2014
File size

752 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lucy Parker (also writing as Elle Pierson) is a contemporary romance writer, aspiring paranormal romance writer, and pretty-much-all-romance reader. You can find her on Twitter @_lucyparker or on her website: lucyparkerfiction.com.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00IQXRKIS
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 1, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 752 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 157 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #119,472 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #18,405 in Romance (Kindle Store)
- #19,185 in Contemporary Romance (Kindle Store)
- #25,556 in Contemporary Romance (Books)

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4.3 798 ratings

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4.3 out of 5

798 global ratings

5 star		49%
4 star		33%
3 star		15%
2 star		3%
1 star		1%

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Skye Kilaen

Fantastic romance novel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 8, 2020

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Low angst, feel-good romance that begins when Sophy James, a graduate art student who values her independence and alone time, meets "ugly" security consultant Mick Hollister by having a near-fatal asthma attack. That wasn't her plan or anything. She was just sketching him, totally engrossed in his artistically beautiful face (Picasso would have loved it!). And then there was a terrorist with a smoke bomb, and she, uh, got in his way and he knocked her over? Totally humiliating. And let's not even TALK about what came out of her mouth when he showed up in her hospital room.

This isn't quite a romantic comedy, but the narration is profoundly funny, and each character has their own distinct voice. Sophy's narration is rich and vibrant. Instead of "She felt shy around him" we get "She wasn't sure what it was about the man, but he reduced her from a shy person with manners to the walking personification of a blush. On her personal scale of social terror, he was more intimidating than the senior art lecturer, a man who drove most of his students to drink or copious amounts of cake."

Mick's dry style is best reflected by his first lines, describing Sophy: "The girl had the reflexes of a suicidal turtle and some serious art chops. She had captured his ugly mug with a stick of charcoal - and the worst attempt at covert surveillance he had witnessed since his days of pubescent Army training."

I kept wanting to highlight my favorite passages until I realized that would be half the book.

The conflict in their budding romance is fairly straightforward: Sophy is wary of surrendering her independence to a relationship, and Mick is insecure about his appearance but able to get over it if Sophy would just get on board. They essentially end up dating without Sophy being willing to admit it, pushed together even more closely when they realizes she's possibly being stalked, but it takes some unscrambling in her head for them to achieve Happily Ever After. I was so glad they did, because patient, generous, loyal Mick totally deserved it. And I was glad for Sophy too, haha. (She just didn't need it as much as he did, you know?)

One person found this helpful

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Peggy M

You don't need a handsome man to write a great story!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 12, 2017

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When I recently discovered that this book was writing by Lucy Parker but under another penname, I really wanted to read it because I just love Lucy Parker’s books. And although this book was a little different then her Lucy Parker’s books, I still enjoyed it very much. One of the things that I liked very much in this story was that it wasn’t about a good looking man. No! On the contrary, his face was the complete opposite of beautiful. And after reading so many stories about handsome men it felt like a wind of fresh air to read a story about a man who wasn’t all handsome and hot.

Who would have ever thought that visiting an art collection could have such an impact on your life?!? Sophie James never could have predicted that. Not only did she meet a man there whose unusual face fascinated her artistic soul but then you also had the crazy man and herself being taken to the hospital because of a severe asthma attack. Sophie never thought that such a nice day out could go so wrong. And when the security consultant with the fascinating face comes to visit her in the hospital with her sketchbook filled with sketches of his face in it, Sophie doesn’t know how to act or what to do. For a shy and not so social girl, this is just too much.
Mick Hollister is used to being stared at, with an ugly face like him, it’s a daily occurrence but the way Sophie is staring at him?! That’s a new experience for him because she’s looking at him with fascination and delight. And when she asks him if he would like to model for her, he’s really shocked. Mick has no idea why he says yes to this girl but he does.

Slowly something is growing between Sophie and Mick, it’s a fragile friendship at first but slowly it grows into something more. But both aren’t used to long term relationships and both have their own scars on the inside. Is a relationship really worth it all? Isn’t it sometimes better to just live alone but safe from hurt? Soon, both will have to decide this for their own. Is love worth it all?
I really enjoyed this story. It had humor, a little bit of suspense, a shy girl with no social skills and a ‘normal’ looking guy. You got both POV’s in this story. There weren’t many sex scenes in this book but the story didn’t need that and I knew from experience that there aren’t many in the books of Lucy Parker’s either. One of things that I like about her stories is that the writer writes about friendship and about looking further than appearances. Because appearances can be very misleading and that certainly is the case here. I liked both characters very much and their friends too. It wasn’t all moon and sunshine but I liked that about this story.

I’m very happy that I decided to read this story.

8 people found this helpful

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Stephanie Burgis Samphire

I loved how different this contemporary romance felt

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 21, 2016

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I loved how different this contemporary romance felt! The hero was the one in the relationship who was insecure about his appearance; he was the more emotionally open and physically affectionate one, too; and (and this is the first time I've ever seen this in a romance hero!) he was coealiac (and had to deal with his own mother thinking that he was making up the food allergy and should just get over it). The heroine was painfully shy, asthmatic, and so introverted that the idea of a real relationship terrified her, and prone to shutting down emotionally when she got overwhelmed...

...And together, they were funny, awkward, and genuinely *wonderful!* Their relationship was so much fun to read about, from their stumbling first conversation to the moment they started making each other laugh, through becoming best friends and then much more. This was such a sweet, gentle romance for adults, full of humor, and it was also very realistic, with the kinds of awkward moments that made it feel like it was really happening, as well as lines like this that made me laugh (when the heroine was deciding, after an injury, to take her pain meds before having an important conversation with the hero):

"The more she hurt, the more irritating she found the people around her. It wouldn't bode well for making heartfelt declarations if he started to grate on her nerves because he was breathing too loudly or she decided she didn't like the colour of his shirt."

I picked this one up in the first place because it was written (under a different pen name) by the same author, Lucy Parker, who wrote ACT LIKE IT (which I ADORED), and while this book is pretty different, it confirmed for me that she is a new auto-buy author for me.

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Goddess of Blah Book Reviews

sweet romance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

Sweet romance - nothing exciting but very very sweet.

Hero: a 34 year old security consultant who suffers a poor relationship with his stuck-up family and issues with women who have treated him bad. He's a very big (barrel-chest) tall guy with an extremely ugly face .

Basically he has all the Tall, Dark, Rich characters BUT sans the Handsome.

--------------------------------

Heroine: 24 year old postgraduate Art Student, shy, asthma-suffering, anxiety-ridden, very pretty (cute), petite, very feminine and a bit of a chick-lit cliché (hates all things practical like Business and Commerce - loves art).

Rather pathetic, weepy and TSTL at times but in her own way she's brave and strong considering what she would go through for the man she loves. There were times I found her annoying BUT I also liked that she didn't go out of her way to be social - she knew her limitations and worked with them.

She's a commitment-phob (which is different in that it's usually the men who love em leave em) and gets claustrophobic if she doesn't have her own space.

--------------------------------

Positives:

1. Older hero, younger heroine romance

2. Hero isn't the usual playboy billionaire Hottie manw*hore

3. Some insta-lust and swooning but it wasn't OTT

4. They build a friendship

5. The epilogue was awesome

--------------------------------

Negatives:

1. Heroine comes across quite COLD at times in a PATHETIC whiny way. Like she dumps guys every so often after she's satisfied her physical needs. If she was a player who made it clear from the outset than that's fine - but this was just cold.

2. Heroine is really judgemental, particularly of the guys around her

3. The hero and heroine fall in love way too soon from the point of meeting.

4. The romance lacked any sort of intense chemistry

--------------------------------

Overall a nice sweet romance but not something I'd read again or probably remember.

I

Intelligent Romance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

I was so happy to have found this book after reading a couple of standard, boring, handsome millionaire finding love with beautiful, but she doesn't know it, young women.
Reading reviews I found that Elle Pierson also writes under the name Lucy Porter and I immediately had to read it.
It was a pleasure to read. Mick an interesting/ugly man with a real background and Sophie a talented/reserved, sometimes irritating woman. I would have been happy to read more about them, their families and friends.

Emese Csikai

Freaking adorable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was short and sweet but so worth the time! I really loved the connection between the characters and how being an introvert wasn't a character flaw to fix in the story.

Christine

Agradable sorpresa...

Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on February 18, 2016

Verified Purchase

Un libro contemporáneo romántico que va de un protagonista masculino "nada agraciado" físicamente y de una mujer que se refugia en el arte. Debido al carácter introvertido de ella y la baja autoestima de él, la relación de ambos se vuelve tierna. Primero se consolida como una amistad en la que ambos van descubriéndose como personas y en última instancia, reconocen que más allá del afecto que pueda haber entre estos dos amigos, existe algo más. Algo que podría ser amor.
Una lectura fresca y recomendable para todos los amantes del género romántico.
Nota: Esta autora escribe también bajo el nombre de Lucy Parker. Su libro publicado Act Like It, ha sido no solo una delicia de leer sino una consolidación para la autora como una nueva voz en el mundo del género romántico.

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Blanca

A Kiwi Beauty and the Beast Love Story

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on April 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

A very enjoyable read, a beauty and the beast love story of sorts, between the introverted artist, Sophy and the hulky, security consultant, Mick.
I enjoyed the writing and the story, albeit a few missing words here and there, which normally irritate me a great deal. (I should have highlighted them on my kindle, but then again, it's not my job to edit the books). But it was refreshing to have main characters who weren't perfect physically. More of those are needed.

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