Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: Muse Me Only

AUTHOR: Princess S.O.

PUBLISHER: Proud Indy

LENGTH: 224 Pages

BLURB:

Xherdan Chantal is an artist still trying to find his place among the masters of color. He’s a rather independent soul, working at the New York Metropolitan Museum, who lends no time to pretending to be anything he’s not or be involved in anyway other than to stimulate his muse.

However, when a local pole dancer sneaks a shoulder-mount-to-flying-half-flag maneuver into his life, managing to seduce far more than Xherdan’s muse, he’s not sure how to put it all into perspective. Then again, painting is Xherdan’s artistic magic, not words. So, while poetic prose may have failed him, he still enjoys exploring this new sensation with loyal attention that sets Sreven above the rest of the world that’s only purpose is to feed his muse. What Xherdan was never expecting was for Sreven to become the living breath and motion of his muse.
But there’s just one fight a lover should never pick with an artist.

REVIEW:

This is a new author for me and the blurb had me so very intrigued. I loved the idea of an artist falling for a dancer and the dancer becoming his muse.

Xherdan Chantal is this really talented artist who is his own words is an ASS. I love how he has these ass-isms that he throws about. Xherdan does have asshole-ish tendencies, however, he’s also so very in tuned with art. He’s got this really good heart that he hides behind so much wit and sarcastic remarks. Xherdan has some issues with his family as he hasn’t spoken to them in 10 years. I like that Xherdan has always believed him himself and his muse.

Sreven Maque is the pole dancer who has aspirations that are bigger than just dancing in the bar. Sreven is this young man who is just so very talented and he wants to be loved for who he is, not what he looks like and how he moves his body. Sreven is just this great guy who is a bit battle hardened from his experiences. Sreven finds this wonderful guy who he just seems to fall for. They fit so well that Sreven just can’t believe the ease of it all.

This story was at first so odd to me. It took me a bit to get into the POV of Xherdan. The way his thought process worked and to be able to really get into his head. Once that was all good in my head, the pace and flow of the story went smoothly. There were references of professional dance terms that threw me and I had to re-read the sentence to kinda figure out what was meant. I even looked up some of the terms on Google to really get the feel of what the author was trying to portray. That being said, that part took me out of the story a bit, and then I had to work my way back into the correct frame of mind.

There was one real secondary character in my opinion and that was Dimitri. He worked with Xherdan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dimitri was the friend/little brother/colleague that helped Xhredan. They had this wonderful rapport that just flowed. I really liked how they got along with each other. The other characters came in and flowed out again without really causing any ripples. They were a part of the story, but the main focus was Sreven and Xherdan.

I have to say that I really liked our main characters. I liked how these two guys flowed so easily into a relationship. They were really good for each other. I liked that each character had the chance to grow not only as a couple, but as individuals. They both had to see that not only were they worthy on their own, but they were worth fighting for as a couple.

I will say that I liked how Xherdan’s Muse is almost a living thing. For him is and I liked that he treated it as such. I liked that his Muse knew what it needed and it must have it’s way, but I love the way that they co-existed together. How they needed each other and it wasn’t one of those fight the Muse stories…the Muse is present, it just needs to be fed regularly.

RATING:

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