This was a disappointing romance novel. Both characters lacked chemistry and Emily's sexual exploration seemed forced. Emily is divorced and lives with her special needs sister.. while at her new job she meets Andi and begins to experience sexual feelings her. They go on a few friendly outings and Andi begins to really like Emily but she seems to think Emily only likes her as a friend. Then Emily does a 380 and begins to date other women. This abrupt change of pace takes us away from the budding romance between the main characters.

Eventually Emily realizes her feelings for Andi and pursues her. I was unconvinced that they really cared for each other. The story lacked depth and characterization.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is enjoyable on several fronts. For me the top one is the inclusion of a woman with Downs Syndrome, Mindy, a younger sister of one of the main characters, Emily. Emily is an artist and art teacher who made major changes in her life. She left a loveless heterosexual marriage, moved to a new town for a teaching job, then her mother died leaving custody of Mindy to Emily. With all these changes she meets Alex a teacher at the same school.
Alex and Emily becomes close friends. While Alex is very attracted to Emily, nothing could develop further because Emily is straight. One weekend while Emily and Mindy are in their hometown visiting their father, Emily meets a woman who strikes her and when this woman kisses. Emily, Emily realizes she is a lesbian. Emily can't wait to get home and tell Alex about her new realization and she asked Alex to help her meet women to date and give her advice about dating women.

How is Alex going to for fill this favor that Emily asked while longing to be the one that Emily chooses as a love interest. How will Mindy except the news that Emily is a lesbian, and how her father except that news and her as a lesbian. When Emily ever be able to come to the realization that what she is looking for has always been right there for her and Alex.

This is a terrific read made all the more interesting having a supporting character be a person with down syndrome, this is a different twist in lesfic stories and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

This was a fun read. The characters are rich and very likeable. The dialog is very funny and very natural. You are drawn to the two main characters immediately. I was surprised that the romance developed so early in the story but then I realized it was necessary to experience Emily's new found self. A nice warm romance.

As others have mentioned, 'Emily's Art and Soul' is a light, sweet read, full of fun banter between MCs Andi and Emily. This is my first read of a Joy Argento novel, and it left me smiling. Even though Emily's sister, Mindy, has Down Syndrome, this isn't an overly dramatic book, and won't leave you down in the dumps. There's really no serious angst, only a small bit of drama towards the end.

I would put this one more in the category of coming out / exploring sexuality later in life. Emily's dating escapades had me smiling and rooting for her to figure things out as she journeyed through discovering her true sexuality. Andi's support and friendship was refreshing to see as well, and of course, I was rooting for them to get together fairly quickly.

This one likely won't stick with me in the long run, but it was well worth the time to give it a read. I enjoyed the lighthearted coming out story and a change of pace. 3.5 stars.

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.**

Emily Sanders, high school art teacher, dealing with a divorce, move to a new city for a new job, the death of her mother, and taking in her younger sister. She is also questioning her sexuality with gusto. Andi Marino, high school math teacher, looking for a loving partner to share her life with. I really appreciated the humor and self-talk as the ladies work through their feelings for each other. Emily's sister Mindy offered a character not often a part of lesbian fiction. What a breath of fresh air. Other than the abrupt ending (in my opinion), it was an entertaining coming out story.

This is light, sweet and filled with humorous dialogue. Emily Sanders' divorce is just about finalized. She's moved from Rochester to Syracuse, has a new job teaching art at the local school and is settling in to living with her sister who has down syndrome. On her first day at work she meets Andi, the maths teacher. The immediately hit it off and their exchanges are witty and funny. Andi finds Emily sexy and is attracted to her but knows better than to harbour feelings for straight friends and they are quickly becoming good friends. Until Emily has a revelation, that is.

I loved the banter throughout and thoroughly enjoyed Emily's journey of discovery. Her dating trail is a good laugh. Andi is a great character too.

I haven't read anything by Argento and this was a really a lovely surprise. Even the storm in a teacup didn't detract too much.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

This is the first book by this author that I have read. I thought it was an easy flowing light read that can easily be read in one sitting.

Emily is an Art Teacher who has recently moved to a new area with her sister Mindy who has downs syndrome. She has recently lost her mother and decided to take care of her sister. Andi is a Maths teacher at the same school as Emily. When the two first meet there is an attraction by both Emily and Andi. I really enjoyed the banter from them. From the moment they met, they hit it off.

Emily was finding out that she was actually gay at the age of 35 and wanted to play the field a bit and explore her newfound sexuality, even though she had strong feelings for Andi. Andi on the other hand had totally fallen for Emily practically from the moment they met but as she thought she was straight, she kept them feelings to herself. The story line flowed well for me and before I knew it, I was finished the book.

I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

This was a cute romance about discovering your true sexuality later in life.

Emily has to take in her special needs sister, Mindy, when their mother passes away. They are starting over in a new town after Emily relocates once her divorce is finalized. She meets math teacher, Andi, and they become fast friends.

The rest is a story of discovery for Emily as she realizes that she is attracted to women.

There is quite a bit of humor in this one. Between the two main characters and also as Emily tries to play the field a bit.

Not a lot of angst. Just a little bit of drama toward the end. Sometimes I was a little frustrated with Emily and how clueless she was. But she was admittedly so.

The sister who has Down Syndrome was cute. I loved that she considered everyone her best friend.

I would recommend if looking for a light read . 3.5 rounded up.

The most interesting aspect about this book is that it is actually a sexually-coming-of-age story of thirty-five-year-old Emily. We think this is so true and so, so possible. It is great to see that an author has actually written about this and treated it as coming of age instead of a meteor-hit realisation.

Emily Sanders, an art teacher, is divorced and has moved to a new city to make a fresh start. She has recently lost her mother. Her father is unable to cope with the loss and turns to the bottle to cope with his grief. Emily has a younger sister, Mindy, with Down Syndrome, and since her father is incapable of being a parent to Mindy, Emily brings her over.

Andi Marino is a math teacher in the same school as Emily. She is not closeted, but doesn’t particularly announce her sexuality either.

Emily and Andi meet on Emily’s first day in school and develop a friendship. There is a latent attraction between them, which Emily cannot quite recognise completely, but starts questioning her sexuality. During a weekend home, Emily meets Sarah and experiences her first kiss from a woman. Her body’s reaction to Sarah is what makes her realise that she is gay. Things don’t work out between Emily and Sarah (Sarah is married) but Emily wants to explore the lesbian world. She turns to her friend, Andi, to help her. While Andi knows of her own attraction to Emily, she doesn’t want to lose the friendship and sticks to being a friend.

Almost half the book deals with Emily’s foray and experiments in the new world before she realises that Andi is the person she is really looking for.

The characters are likeable and relatable. The story is nicely paced. Not an emotional rollercoaster, but a warm read.

Emily’s Art and Soul was a sweet romance. Emily, 35, recently discovered she was gay and wanted to explore this new experience. Her colleague and friend, Andi, who unbeknownst to Emily, had feelings for her but nevertheless agreed to help Emily meet women. After a few dates and some soul searching, Emily came to the conclusion that Andi was the one she wanted. The romance then took off with a minor setback along the way.

I enjoyed the banter between Emily and Andi throughout the story. It added to their connection. It was also nice to experience the world through the eyes of Emily’s sister,Mindy, who had Down syndrome. She was the real deal-what you saw was what you got-no pretensions. She also had great answers, especially with regard to discovering Emily’s sexuality. It was nicely tied together with all Mindy’s “best friends” in her life.
Overall, this was an entertaining read.

I ARC received via NetGalley and in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute romance.

Emily is art teacher who mother recently died and she has to take on the responsibility of her sister Mindy who has Down syndrome.

When Emily start her new job she meets Andi who is a math teacher and they become fast friends.

Andi is gay and she start to feel more Emily then a friend should so she decide to keep her feelings to herself because when she was younger she had a bestfriend that she had feelings for but when she confess she was gay to her and about her feelings her friend Mary turn her back on her.

Emily never thought about being attracted to women before until she met Andi as she realize she been gay her whole life and that she been hiding it from herself she decide to explore her sexuality and play the field but what she really want to do is confess her feelings to her best friend Andi but are afraid Andi doesn't feel the same way so she tries to date a few women but doesn't turn out great.

Emily decide to be brave and tell Andi how she feels and to her surprise Andi feels the same way so they decide to be together but take it slow because Andi want to make sure Emily is ready for this.

We do learn about Andi family I wish we got to meet them in this book but we did get to meet Emily father who had a drinking problem because he was still mourning her mother but is doing better she tells him that she gay and he doesn't take it well and she shut herself off and this cause some conflict with Andi because she was worried about her but they work it out and Emily father who had time to think tell Emily he love her and that she still the same person.

I love Mindy she was funny and I love her bond with Emily.