This book took me too long to get through. It was lovely. I loved watching the growth of Rosanna and Martin, and I was delighted they were able to have a happy ending.

If you enjoy painting or appreciate art history with a side of mystery, #theartofloveandlies by @beccawilhite is for you! This is a shorter read (200 pages, roughly), Victorian clean romance. It has some historical components that I loved! I learned about some historical paintings, what a “Peeler” was, and that men’s beards grew in popularity in the 1850’s😊🧔‍♂️).

I loved Rosanna’s interpretations of art❤️! Rosanna and Martin's story really starts to pick up halfway through, it’s a slower beginning, but an all around enjoyable read!

This great story is out tomorrow, August 8th!!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

What a truly delightful read! So refreshing to read. Absolutely adored every second of it.

Rosanna was such a good female lead for a forward thinking family with daughters who are taught and allowed to be independent women. So unique for early Victorian era. And the connection she shared with Martin right from the beginning was magical. They bantered and flirted perfectly.

I had to look up the Manchester Madonna, as I was unfamiliar with it, but I enjoyed researching a little of the artwork mentioned. I loved feeling the passion Rosanna had for art and trying to feel what she was feeling.

It really was a fantastic and entertaining addition to the Proper Romance series. I like a little intrigu and suspense to go along with my romance and it was brilliantly done!!

Art heists, forgeries, the Victorian era and a bantery (and clean!) romance. This was such a frothy, fun read steeped in a lively historical background with captivating characters. Immensely enjoyable!

Many thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

I ended up reading this book via audiobook and I think I would have liked it better if I just stuck to the print book. I switched to my print copy for the last 20% of the book and I'm SO glad I did. I ended up really liking the ending, even though the female main character drove me nuts through the whole book. I didn't like the way she let other people treat her and mold her choices. While that probably was a very true character trait for the Victorian time period, it bothered me that she let her business partner kiss her so casually while bullying her. Unfortunately, I never really did connect with her as a character, but i did really like Martin's character arc, which held more meaningful tension. Martin's character, for me, redeemed this book.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Some of my favorite parts of the book were Lottie's articles, so I'm very much looking forward to reading her book when it comes out this spring!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy to review. I was not required to post a positive review, and all opinions are my own.

Thank you Shadow Mountain Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

I absolutely loved this one! I thought it was such a unique story idea. It kept me intrigued the whole time. I was so happy with the plot and the way the characters developed. I felt like the pacing was just right to make things a bit tense an suspenseful. I enjoyed both characters though my only small thing would be that we did not see as much from Detective Martin Harrison even though the story went back and forth between their perspectives. I just wanted to hear and read more about him.

This story follows Rosanna Hawkins an artist who reproduces famous art pieces for her boss. She and Martin Harrison meet at a Art Exhibit where Detective Harrison works has head of security. Over the summer, they develop feels. However, things turn sour when Rosanna recognizes one of her art pieces on display at the art exhibit. Can they clear Rosanna's name?

Read if you enjoy:
Art
Regency Romance
Shorter novels
Dual POV

When an undercover artistic genius and a handsome, clever inspector get tangled up in an art heist involving one of the most famous paintings in history, they have to work together and learn to trust each other if they want to survive. This book is a quick, fun read, and it has all the elements of a great mystery...a smarmy criminal mastermind, a lovely setting, an encounter with royalty, a brave heroine, and an honorable hero. Hopefully we will be seeing more books for the other sisters in the heroine's family!

"I have never heard anyone describe the conflict between truth and fact in quite the way I feel it. I believe your candor surprised me, if only because I heard my thoughts in your voice."

My rating: 4 stars

The Art of Love and Lies is such a fun addition to the Proper Romance line. Full of romance, action, art, and lovely descriptions, this book has a little bit of everything that comes together in an almost seamless story.

The beginning was a bit slow for me, but once I was through those first few chapters, I was thoroughly entertained.

The meet-cute was darling, and the interactions between Rosanna and Martin were full of sweetness and banter, and I loved when they were on the page together. Their romance is sweet, especially when pitted against the horrible "relationship" Rosanna is coming from. It was a bit of a whirlwind and a bit of instalove, but it was so sweet, I couldn't find fault in it.

Both Rosanna and Martin were well-developed and lovely main characters. I'm excited to see them again in any spin-off books that may come.

Rebecca does an incredible job describing the art and the artistic techniques without coming off as pedantic or overwhelming. She paints the scenes with her words, and carries you along throughout the entire book with just the right amount of finesse.

I've become a big fan of Rebecca Anderson, and I will absolutely be reading more of her work in the future.

General notes:
Book: The Art of Love and Lies
Author: Rebecca Anderson
Genre: Historical romance
Language: None
Romance: Kisses
Violence: Very mild
Tigger/Content warnings: FMC gets slapped at one point

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the advanced copies. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rosanna is an accomplished artist- but her skill is in reproductions. This seems harmless until she encounters Inspector Martin Harrison who challenges her employment. When original paintings begin to go missing, she is thrown in the middle and accused of being an accomplice. She must work to clear her name. Overall a good story. It wasn’t amazing, but still an enjoyable read. I did enjoy looking up some of the paintings referred to in the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

*spoiler alert*

I was not expecting this much suspense but it kept me reading for sure! That, and I was totally there for the romance that slowly developed. The inspector ended up being a true hero and saving Rosanna while also stealing her heart. Great romance read! Different than others I’ve read before.

This book had so much promise, art forgeries, and mystery. Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. I didn't really care for any of the characters and the police work was terrible. I'm not an art person but I do love a good forgery. However, there was too much art history that I didn't understand. If it was a better whodunit versus it being so obvious, I probably would have looked past that.


Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and #Netgalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m loving books set in the Victorian Era lately. I like seeing women having more choices and freedoms than they do in Regency times. I thought this book was really good! I liked the flirting between Rosanna and Martin and the suspenseful ending!

Rosanna loves to paint, but is terrible at coming up with original ideas, at least according to her instructors. However, she is excellent at creating reproductions of famous artwork to be sold to people who want a taste of art but can’t afford the originals. Inspector Martin Harrison is intrigued by the lady who visits the art exhibit with pencils in her hair.

I was completely captivated by this book! I loved the premise of a young woman being tricked into doing illegal art reproductions. The love story between her and Inspector Martin was captivating and I kept coming back to the book for more.

I will say that I was disappointed that the artwork side wasn't portrayed very accurately. The main characted finishes a painting and wraps it up that same day, without giving it sufficient time to let it dry. It seems like the author didn't put enough research into the art of painting.

Thank you to Netgalley for the copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The novel is well paced in both suspense and romance. I loved the way she gave her characters the growing freedom to be themselves despite their past constraints.

There was one moment that was hard for me to suspended my disbelief, but I was so taken in by the writing, the characters and the prose that I ignored it and continued on with a smile all the way to the absolutely darling ending.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked how the author took us into the life of an artist who was trying to find her place in the world and how different people saw her talent. I loved that Martin saw her and loved her for who she was even when she did things that he couldn’t agree with. I loved watching Rosanna and Martins romance develop and seeing them grow in their trust with each other. I thought this story was very well told and enjoyable to read.

I received a complimentary book from publishers, publicists, and or authors.  A review was not required and all opinions and ideas expressed are my own.

This was a very cute book. If you enjoy a love story with some mystery then you will enjoy this book.

This is a lovely story! I enjoyed the intrigue and beauty between the characters! The setting of Manchester was perfect and loved the train scenes! What an adventure set around art and the uniqueness of a masterpiece in a persons eyes!

Thanks to NetGalley I received an advanced review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily!

The Art of Love And Lies is a genteel, well-researched novel about art forgery and true love, and all of it’s based around a real-life incident of art fraud. The end result is lovely romance, but some research issues kept it from getting a higher grade.

Rosanna Hawkins has a unique job – she painstakingly reproduces famous works of art as parlor replicas which hang in the homes of the average citizen. Her boss does not respect her, though she is the daughter of a gentleman, and does not treat her art as anything but fungible. As part of her job and at the insistence of her boss, Anton Greystone, Rosanna attends a large art showing in Manchester, trying to scout Michelangelo’s The Manchester Madonna, which she plans to replicate next. Romance unexpectedly arrives in the form of the exhibit’s head of security, Inspector Martin Harrison.

But criminality may threaten to ruin their romance; someone is stealing art from the exhibition and planting evidence there that implicates Rosanna. Determined to clear her name, Rosanna and Harrison team up to find out who the real culprit is before a priceless masterpiece is stolen forever.

The Art of Love and Lies knows its art forgery history, and does a good job when it steers into a version of the genuine heist which occurred at the very art expo Rosanna attends. But some historical wobbles popped out as quite noticeable to me.

To wit: Rosanna and her sisters are the daughter of a gentleman and are Landed Gentry. And yet their father encourages them to work instead of marrying and has no problem with Rosanna living in a boarding house.

Rosanna is a smart if slightly snobbish heroine, and I liked Harrison just fine. Their romance is very sweet and well-handled, although th mystery is initially not really mysterious, and leans heavily on their missing obvious context clues. There is an eventual plot twist, though, that makes up for this.

I do, however, have to protest that while it’s perfectly possible for Rosanna to be skilled enough to make several copies of famous paintings in quick succession, the paint on her canvas wouldn’t instantaneously dry, especially without proper curing or glazing.

And yet The Art of Love and Lies is a perfectly nice book that’s good enough for an evening’s diversion.

Not at all what I expected and a delightful read. A completely unique book about love, life, and history. You'll want stay up all night reading about this treasure.

What a fun cover and I just adore that hat!

Rosanna is an independent woman--one who finds herself painting copies of famous paintings and unknowingly ends up caught in a ring of intrigue. It was fun to imagine the replicas and the painting process. Martin is a dashing investigator and it was a treat to watch their interactions.

I felt like the story was building up for the first half of the book and I wasn't sure what twists and turns it would take, if any, so it was a surprise to watch the second half unfold. While it did take a minute to get into the story, it was a ride once I did.

The romance was a bit of a whirlwind and was fun to watch develop. I loved the Victorian art experience and it was a surprise to see an appearance by the Queen herself. The mystery, intrigue, and gradually building plot made for an amusing story.

Content: a few mild moments of peril/danger; mild romance