Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Strokes on a Canvas
AUTHOR: H. Lewis-Foster
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 103 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2019
BLURB:
Love and art escaping the past in 1920s London.
London, 1924. Evan Calver is enjoying a quiet pint, when he notices a man smiling at him across the bar. While the Rose and Crown isn’t that kind of pub, Evan thinks his luck might be in, and he narrowly escapes humiliation when he realises the man is smiling at a friend. Eavesdropping on their conversation, Evan discovers the man is named Milo Halstead and served as an army captain during the war.
When they meet again by chance in the British Museum, artist Milo asks Evan if he would sit for a portrait. Evan is amazed that an upper-class artist wants to paint the son of a miner, and he’s just as surprised when their acquaintance blossoms into friendship. When he discovers that Milo is a man like himself, he hopes that friendship might become more. But as Evan and Milo grow ever closer, can they escape the fears of the past to find their future happiness?
REVIEW:
1920’s England is one of my favorite historical fiction settings, so I was excited to read this short novella. I was immediately drawn to Evan, a middle-class London grocery store clerk who lives a simple but often lonely life, and his recurring run-ins with Milo, a dashing WWI captain who wants Evan to sit for a portrait for him. It’s a readable, sweet love story with a lot of pining and hidden desire, and it will leave you optimistic and satisfied.
One of my favorite parts of this story is the quiet, low-key reveal of gay life for men in the 1920s. Though it did have to be kept hidden, it certainly existed, and I like how a man of Milo’s more privileged class was happy to introduce a more innocent Evan to the community. I like his group of colorful queer friends who carve spaces for themselves in a judgmental world. Evan and Milo’s relationship is portrayed as nothing but normal, even if they can’t be public about it—they’re just a regular couple in love.
Milo revealing Evan’s own beauty to him through his art is so wonderfully romantic. Evan is shy and second guesses himself a lot, but Milo’s confidence compliments him rather than overshadows him. Evan is actually the one who first initiates their romance, which is nice. Despite a pretty steamy cover, this story is more romance than erotica, save for a few tame love scenes.
This story does edge into saccharine levels, especially towards the end. The short length makes it so that many aspects of Evan and Milo’s relationship go unexamined, namely their class differences, Evan’s health, and Milo’s war history and possible PTSD. The main conflict is that Milo doesn’t want his heart broken again, but that is cleared up so easily and quickly that the actual story fizzles rather than climaxes.
This is a pretty no-drama historical romance with a squeaky-clean happy ending. Some people require a little more conflict to be satisfied, but if you want the rare sugary-sweet historical queer romance, this is a good pick.
RATING: 
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