I received a free copy of this book from Accent Press in exchange for an honest review.

Diana is an ex-model used to being stared at for her beauty. But she’s finding it hard to make her way in the world of art and as an artist. While at a party one night, Diana meets a young boy called Cal who was born with severe facial disfigurements. Cal becomes Diana’s muse but while she feels like she’s helping him as he helps her with her work, she might actually be destroying him.

This book ended up being a lot more enjoyable than I thought, and really well written. I liked the gritty setting of Hulme in Manchester and felt like the 90s college vibe, drugs, drinks and grunge vibe near the start of the book really suited the tone of the type of art world Diana seemed to be involved with.

This book has a way of making you feel really uncomfortable because while Diana does seem to have good intentions with Cal and she genuinely cares for him, her main motive is using him as her muse. And it just feels wrong. But this is one of the reasons why I enjoyed reading the book - I kind of wanted to put it down but at the same time I couldn’t.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more progress when it came to Cal’s mental health I think, as he did really struggle with it for a while as a teenager and it could be quite worrisome. We don’t really know if he got the help he needed or not and I feel it’s important that getting help like that is addressed in books that have characters suffering from depression.

I did quite enjoy this book and liked getting a peek into the world of art through it as well.