REVIEWED BY CINDY
TITLE:Paint the Sky 
AUTHOR: Lily G. Blunt
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 279 Pages
Blurb:
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 fingerpaints 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.
Review:
Ben and Vinnie are frustrating and the perfect examples of people who need to work on their communication skills.
When they meet, Vinnie is all shy and wary and Ben starts off pushing too hard and too fast. But Ben learns from his mistakes and soon realizes that something worth having does take time and patience, so he backs off and learns to give Vinnie the space he needs to process the feelings he’s having and the way he feels about Ben.
Vinnie has been badly hurt before and his distrust of Ben at the beginning is understandable but it really does makes his behavior later on in the story all the more puzzling.
Ben is a man who falls in love for what’s is probably the first time in his life. He quickly realizes that winning Vinnie over is going to be different than he first thought and watching him try to figure out the best way to prove that he’s looking for more than just a hookup is endearing. He tries so hard while winning Vinnie over and his entrancement with the handsome artist made me smile.
The angst, when it comes, isn’t unexpected but I did find it a little confusing. Vinnie ended up coming across like a bit of a spoiled brat. The fact that he couldn’t seem to understand Ben’s jealousy and frustration with Vinnie’s co-worker, who comes across as someone completely unlikable to the reader, really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. At the beginning of the story, Vinnie is so judgemental about Ben’s behavior and what he thinks he’s sees and the fact that he can’t see James’ smarmy machinations made me angry. I found the inevitable explosion a little irritating and the behavior of both men made me want to smack them.
The main side characters in this story are Vinnie’s family. Once they decide they like Ben, they seem to remain firmly on his side while still supporting and loving their little brother. There is one thing about the three brothers that bothered me a little but I don’t want to say too much and give it away. It’s something that should be discovered by reading the story but I did find it a little unbelievable.
For the most part though, I liked all the characters of this story and I found them well written even if their behaviour wasn’t always easy to understand. I found it easy to connect with them all except for Finn, who I never did decide if I liked or not, and James, who I hated.
I did find that the story dragged at times, particularly at the beginning and near the end when the two men are trying to find their way back to each other. Other than that, it was an interesting story and the happily-ever-after ending is a good reason to get through the parts that bogged me down a little.
Rating: 
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