Review – The Artisans by: Julie Reece

THE ARTISANS
by: Julie Reece
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They say death can be beautiful. But after the death of her mother, seventeen-year-old RAVEN WEATHERSBY gives up her dream of becoming a fashion designer, barely surviving life in the South Carolina lowlands.

To make ends meet, Raven works after school as a seamstress creating stunning works of fashion that often rival the great names of the day.

Instead of making things easier on the high school senior, her stepdad’s drinking leads to a run in with the highly reclusive heir to the Maddox family fortune, Gideon Maddox.

But Raven’s stepdad’s drying out and in no condition to attend the meeting with Maddox. So Raven volunteers to take his place and offers to repay the debt in order to keep the only father she’s ever known out of jail, or worse.

Gideon Maddox agrees, outlining an outrageous demand: Raven must live in his home for a year while she designs for Maddox Industries’ clothing line, signing over her creative rights.

Her handsome young captor is arrogant and infuriating to the nth degree, and Raven can’t imagine working for him, let alone sharing the same space for more than five minutes.

But nothing is ever as it seems. Is Gideon Maddox the monster the world believes him to be? And can he stand to let the young seamstress see him as he really is?

The first thing I thought when I finished this book was ‘dang, I would love to see this as a movie’. The Artisans has such an awesome and haunting concept to it plus I just adore all of the characters. It’s truly an eerie and unforgettable book with a slightly sexy twist and I loved it.

At first when we meet Raven, I almost thought this book was a historical fiction because it came off so gothic-era-esque, but you later find out that it’s definitely not and gothic is just her style, which was a striking characteristic about her. With Rae, I feel so sorry for her throughout this book…she hasn’t had the easiest life nor does it become any easier for her. I admired her strength though and was happy for how the book ended for her.

With our lead boy, Jack or shall I say Gideon Maddox, I had an opposite feeling for him. I actually had to grow to love this boy. At first he starts out so arrogant, so mysterious, and it kind of irked me. As the story plays out though, you begin to see that he does have a heart and is put in just as bad of a situation as Raven. Plus, Jack is freaken sexy and I LOVE the fact that he has blonde curls…total win! Watching him and Raven break each other’s walls, totally made me love them.

The other characters in the book are just as awesome! My favorite probably being Cole, who I loved right off the bat. Cole is hot and French and I just really liked his role through out the book. Dane and Mags were so cute together and amazing best friends for Raven. Finally, Jenny…aka best house keeper ever!

Overall this story was one I totally loved! The concept and world building of The Artisans was just so unique and creepy that it kind of blew my mind with how different it is. Plus, with my love of photography…it easily captured my attention. What was also cool about this book is that it has paranormal, magic, romance, and basically a lot of awesome elements wrapped into one. Fantastic story line, loved it!