Cover Image: Paintbrush

Paintbrush

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Member Reviews

Okay read. The spiritual aspect was weird.
Overall, I wasn't too invested in the story and the characters seemed a bit unrealistic. The entire environment of the story was very odd as well. I appreciated the writing style a lot though! I would definitely be interested in reading and reviewing another book by this author!

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I can't believe this is a debut novel! It was so fantastic, to the point where I flew through the book and utterly loved it. It was such a sweet and cute read, the main characters were fantastic. It doesn't contain your typical YA tropes which I loved. It's a must read for any YA contemporary lover!

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This was, unfortunately, not very good. I didn't find it particularly interesting and it didn't pique my interest much. Some parts were kinda cute, and it was fairly short which is good (because I didn't waste much time reading it) but all in all, I could have gone without it.

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The writing style of this author can only be described as smooth. I don't normally read contemporary YA, but this was a very sweet romance. The struggles the characters, all of them, not just the main characters, experienced were real and it only helped to create a very well rounded cast and story with multiple layers.

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This is a very sweet coming-of-age book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The best way to describe Paintbrush is charming. If you are looking for an action-packed book, this is not for you. The story is based more around the characters and the romance between friends Josie and Mitchell.
The book kept me interested and I'm always a sucker for romantic YA novels. Seriously sweet!

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I quite liked this the writing and storyline was just for me. What I didn't like it when it got complicated and I couldn't helped which a certain sub plot wasn't involved.

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All in all this was a sweet story but sadly i was missing the things that would make this book unique or something that i will remember even a few months after having read it.
If you just want something nicely done and easily forgettable defiantly worth a read.
If you are looking for something more? Not the book for that.

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Paintbrush was a sweet story on young love. Although the plot was pretty straightforward, I was really invested in the characters and watching them go through day to day life. I loved seeing how Mitchell and Josie went from common childhood friends to best friends to lovers, it was very adorable.

I loved seeing the Paintbrush community and how everyone interacted within the close-knit town. While I did find the writing style engaging, I didn't find anything about the book unique to the point of standing out from other contemporaries.

All in all, a cute, sweet, summer read.

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This was cute and a sweet for the most part. However, I did not find myself completely lost in the story and put it down more than I would have liked. I like the characters and I believe I would like other works by the author. This one just did not quite hit the mark for me.

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Paintbrush by Hannah Bucchin is a sweet, charming story built around two childhood friends Mitchell and Josie that live in a small community. Their lives change just before they graduate from high school. This sweet, well written story is about choosing a path for the future, learning who we are, learning to forgive others that hurt us, and learning to embrace the differences in others.

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I started this book and tried to push myself through it in hopes that it would get better for me. Sadly I DNFed this book on page 53.

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I really enjoy this book. The contemporary its cute and I love it.

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I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review,  so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
Adorable contemporary romance with a unique setting. I really enjoyed the story of Josie and Mitchell and their interesting community of Paintbrush.
This was my first book by this author,  I absolutely enjoyed every second of it.  It was fast paced and just alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a 4 star rating!

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Adorable contemporary romance with a unique setting. I really enjoyed the story of Josie and Mitchell and their interesting community of Paintbrush. I thought the ending got a little sappy, but it sticks with the HEA theme so...

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I've started this book without big expectations, because most of the YA books these days tends to be full of tropes. However, I was pleasantly surprised: no insta love, no good girl falls for a bad boy trope. Actually, it was refreshing to read a story, were two good people, great students slowly turns their friendship to something more. Also, if you think that this book only butterflies and rainbows - don't be fooled. It's so much more: betrayal, forgiveness, choosing a life path and so on...
Besides I loved almost all of the side characters, it's even hard to choose one. What a bunch of weird, interesting and funny people we can find in this book.
So, props for the author for writing such an amazing book, and it's her debut! Hard to believe.

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I liked this book. A lot. And considering I don't really reach for contemporaries (I do try, though), this is the exceptions of all my exceptions.Jo and Mitchell were both great characters and quite perfect together. The romance had a bit more swoon than I was anticipating, but that is not a problem- I was here for it. It was light on the drama, cute with the romance and had a satisfying romance.

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I have a lot of thoughts about this one, so I’ve decided to go with a list review. Usually this means dividing things into two lists: things I liked and things I disliked but… There wasn’t much I liked and I feel like if I were to split my thoughts up things could get a bit confusing. This has gotten pretty long, and I’m sorry for that, but I have a lot to say and considering this has a lot of positive reviews on Goodreads, I find it important to get everything out. So here we go!

- Initially I thought the friendship between Josie and Mitchell was cute (like I loved that they traded books!) and that it would be a cute relationship. But, it wasn’t. I know they’ve known each other since forever and have been friends all this time, but it still felt insta-lovey to me, since both of them were suddenly in love with the other?

- My biggest problem was that I didn’t like Mitchell at all.Josie wasn’t very interesting either, but I just felt neutral about her. Mitchel though? Both of them are at a party (though they didn’t go there together) when this happens:

''When I turn around again, I see Josie and Cord face to face. Literally. Their faces are touching. My face goes hot. They don’t evenk now each other. Josie must be wasted.''

Then it switches to Josie’s POV, and it turns out Josie has had like one tiny sip of alcohol. Cord, Mitchell’s best friend, is wasted, and puts his forehead to her forehead, telling her that they need to keep an eye on Mitchell, because he’s having a rough time at home. Then Mitchell shows up:

''I lean back a little to consider this, when I feel a hand on my arm. I look up to see Mitchell. And he does not look happy. ”Come on. We’re leaving.”''

- So he just decides that Josie has to leave the party?? Look, it’s great that he wanted to take his very, very drunk friend (Cord) home. But it’s pretty obvious that Josie wasn’t drunk. It was just his jealousy talking and,, ugh.

- Rightfully Josie gets pissed too when she realises that there’s no emergency or just a solid reason for why they had to leave. Honestly I’m a little disappointed that she just didn’t ask why they had to go while they were still at the party, but I guess since they’d known each other since they were five she trusted him.

- Anyway, she wants to know why he told her they had to leave. And here it comes!!! ”It was just… too much,” I (Mitchell) say softly. ‘’I didn’t want to see you there, like that. Partying and drinking and whatever. That’s what other people do. Stupid high schoolers who don’t know anything about real life. But you’re Josie. You’re different.” Then Josie says that maybe she isn’t. But Mitchell insists that she is.

- First of all, you don’t get to decide what kind of person Josie is, and whether she should party and drink. He’s basically telling her ‘you’re not like other girls!!’ and he’s upset that she didn’t live up to his ideal of her at the party. Second, you don’t get to tell her that she’s wrong about herself, implying that you know her better?

- He even ditches her in the middle of a public dance, without explaining it, because he hates the thought of his mom (who he’s fighting with) thinking that she had anything to do with him and Josie getting together?? And then afterwards he just knocks on her window and he just grins at her like nothing happened? He doesn’t explain nor even apologise for what he did, and Josie just lets it go?

- Both Josie and Mitchell had great best friends who were far more interesting than both of them. I also wish these friendships had played a bigger part. Leah stood up for Josie without even blinking, even if she had to stand up to Josie herself when Josie is feeling insecure. Leah just loudly yells ‘unacceptable!’ in the middle of the cafeteria and tells her how great she is. My favourite part:

''As I walk past her on my way to the trashcan, she reaches out and smacks my butt.
”Leah!” I glare at her over my shoulder.
”I wouldn’t have to do stuff like that if you would just admit that you’re sexy,” she calls.
I shake my head and keep walking.
”I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave,” she calls again, even louder.''

- Seriously why couldn’t this book be about Leah. Or Cord. Seriously I loved Leah and Cord and they were so much more interesting than Josie and Mitchell what the hell.

- ”The fact that Cord’s dogs are named after one of the three stooges, an animated Disney baboon, and the star of The Sound of Music is pretty bizarre but also totally fitting for Cord. He lives in the giant mansion but dresses like he’s homeless – homeless chic, he tells me – drives a fancy sports car but volunteers as a big broher at the local elementary school, loves old musicals, smokes more weed than anyone I know, obsessively reads classic novels and comic books, and knits.”

- And Mitchell?? I dunno he hates Paintbrush?? He’s done with high school? He’s in love with Josie all of a sudden? He’s upset with his mom right now?? Oh and he’s a Golden Boy™ and Perfect Student™ with no flaws!

- But I did appreciate their friendship. Like serioulsy when Mitchell just shows up at his doorstep late at night he doesn’t ask questions and just gives him a glass of water and extra blankets.

- Why wasn’t this book about Leah and or Cord why did it have to be about such stale characters

- Josie constantly looks down on and shames other girls. She notices a girl who’s flirting with Mitchell is eating an apple: ”Of course she’s eating an apple – just an apple – for lunch.” First of all! You don’t know if that’s all she’s eating!! Second of all! So what if she is!! Don’t shame her!!

- She also loves to shame her sister, Libby, for what she’s wearing. ”I don’t really care how old she is. No one should feel the need to wear clothing that tight. Or the need to wake up a full two hours before school just to curl her hair.’ ‘It’s 2017 I’m tired please stop shaming girls

- But it gets better!! At some point she starts to describe her other sister, Mae, Libby’s twin. ‘Mae’s hair is thrown into a messy ponytail and tied back with a red bandana. She’s wearing black leggings and an oversized white t-shirt that reads Eat Local in big black letters. There are cake crumbs all down the front of this shirt, and for some reason this makes me want to lean over and hug her as hard as I can. She looks like she’s a normal fourteen-year-old girl. Libby, with her bright-red lipstick and strategically tousled hair, looks like a vampire who’s trying to be sexy.” STOP SHAMING YOUR SISTER. STOP PITTING HER AGAINST YOUR OTHER SISTER.

- There is a of course a mean girl who doesn’t add anything to the story except that she’s jealous of Josie being close to Mitchell.

- Seriously she appears like,, twice,, throughout the whole book??

- Josie’s mom was in an abusive relationship, which I wish had been more touched upon. Josie and her sisters also lived in an abusive household for a while, but this hasn’t impacted her in any way apparently. She does seem to be mad at her father, but it’s more of an afterthought. It made me wonder why this was even part of the plot, since it barely played a part. Same with Josie’s sister Libby’s ‘arc’ (it’s too stale to even call it an arc)

- The Paintbrush community also played a big part in the book (sort of? Mostly it focused on the romance), but they were barely developed and most of them were randomly introduced so I had no idea who was who. Nor could I tell them apart.In a lot of ways this read like a first draft.

All of the characters should’ve been developed more, their relationships with each other as well. I didn’t care what happened between the main characters and their families, because they barely played a part. I didn’t like Mitchell and the way he treated Josie at all, nor did I like Josie constantly shaming other girls. Again, it’s 2017. Why is this still a thing in YA.

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The first thing I have to say about it is ITS JUST SO CUTE! It brings to mind Unicorns and Rainbows and Little Puppies with cute little bows! Josie and Mitchell are really adorable characters and its just impossible not to root for them through the book. Paintbrush has characters that you can relate to. Its the kind of book that makes you miss your family, and your home and your high school days. The nostalgia really came out in me because I’m already a little homesick and Josie and Mitchell just reminded me of every single thing I miss about the days before I moved to college.

The book also captures young love exactly the way it is – confusing, full of doubts and yet somehow pure. I don’t really enjoy novels with romance much but I sure enjoyed this one!

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WATCH ME SCREAM AND RUN THROUGH THE ROOFTOPS BECAUSE THAT IS HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! Seriously, I am so incredibly stunned that this is a debut novel. Everything was so beautifully formed. Paintbrush was a beautiful creation of community, love, and togetherness. Even though the relationship between Mitchell and Josie seemed to be a bit like insta-love at first, I abandoned that thought quickly. They are obviously so perfect each other it hurts. Yes, there is that bump about Mitchell wanting to leave Paintbrush and Josie wanting to stay, but they are both so scared of the world and what is out there versus what they have that only the two of them with their unique perspectives and upbringing could possibly be right for each other. I got worried halfway through the book because there was so much of the book left for things to go wrong, and I couldn't see how they could both be happy without sacrificing their desires for the other. Hannah writes so beautifully from Mitchell's perspective when it came to watching and describing Josie that even I was falling in love with her. I mean, take this quote: "Eventually I hear her breathing, soft and slow and even, and I know she’s probably asleep. Her breathing mixes with the crickets, with the sound of rustling leaves. Like a mini symphony. A perfect forest lullaby." AND THIS WAS BEFORE HE WAS IN LOVE WITH HER. Again, I can't stress enough how impressed I am with this debut. I will read anything that Hannah Bucchin writes from now on. She makes me want to go to North Carolina (which surprised even me). There were so few things I had a problem with in this book that they honestly aren't even worth mentioning. And that is super impressive, because I love nitpicking books.

Basically, if you love anything adorable and lovely and cute and you want to squeal with delight, then PLEASE read Paintbrush. I sincerely hope you won't regret it because this book feels like my baby at this point, honestly.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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*I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This was really sweet and cute and feelsy and I liked it a lot and just yeah good vibes :)

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