Good afternoon friends and a warm welcome to you. Thank you for stopping by last week. This week I’m presenting my review for Victoria Avilan’s ‘The Art of Peeling an Orange.’ This book has received some mixed reviews, but I feel after reading my review you are going to want to read this story. It has two points of view and is told from the third person perspective. Let’s meet our main players, Carly and Anna.
My life became an open book, and she was turning its pages. Through her fingers I discovered my body anew, saw it clearer than any mirror reflection would allow, from all angles, all at once.
Victoria Avilan The Art of Peeling an Orange
Carly is an artist and the author provides a lot of her lifestyle. I found it interesting what she chose as her blotting material. The way she paints is an art form in itself and I could visualize what she was working on. She likes to paint portraits and landscapes. She’s obsessed with the past and lives her world through Greek mythology, which is plentiful in the story. She is torn between two sides of her heart. One is love and the other is revenge.
Anna is the second player. She is colorblind and is very mysterious and very complex. Carly has an instant love-hate relationship with her. Anna’s vibe was smooth and calm. Never did she raise her voice. She is multilingual, and the author has her speak in these languages throughout the book. I felt that added a nice touch. Anna has the gift of being able to see through loved ones which I felt was beyond words. I learned more things about her as the story unfolded. I felt I was reading about a legend.
In addition, there are a few secondary characters I’d like to introduce, Juliette and Kyra.
Juliette is Anna’s ex-lover and is very much still into her. She does things in the story that will take your breath away as she is sneaky and sly. However, she adds good drama to the story and is a love interest for one of the secondary players.
Kyra is Carly’s sister and can’t be fooled. In fact, her presence makes anyone want to confess what they are hiding if they are indeed doing that. She is a good listener but does hold her own judgments.
The author provides scenes from Southern California and it was fun to read about places I’ve visited. It was exciting to go there in the book. Well done. It will draw you in. I was impressed with how she chose to include Monarch Butterflies in the story, as they are really magnificent insects.
It is easy reading and took me about 4 hours to read. I would recommend one sitting. The pace is moderate, and some scenes will get you tingling. Excitement rises as things unfold between Anna and Carly that you don’t want to miss. There is sex in the book, it is tasteful and hot, but not over the top. I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did.
Here is an excerpt:
Background music played during dinner, an eclectic blend of Bach, Chopin and techno. Flora was clearing the table, about to serve the second course, when Zoe admired the lasagna and asked for the recipe.
“I cook in Italian,” Flora said, gathering the dirty dishes with Zoe’s help. “Never a recipe, only a lot of love.” She winked at Zoe—an unnatural expression for her pointy, grumpy face—and said, “I’ll write it down for you.”
When strands of Anna’s hair came undone, Robert asked permission to fix it, then did something amazing. He braided a long strand from her nape, looped it up and twisted it. Then he did another. He braided those together and weaved them to hold her hair back. It took only moments. It was brilliant and stylish, and Anna enjoyed being fussed with.
“Are you the Robert who threatens women with manicure scissors?” she asked.
“For fashion atrocities,” he said.
“You’re hired.”
Robert was beside himself. He took out his cellphone and started showing Anna photos of his work, both clothing and hair. I quickly came to her rescue and took the phone away from him, pretending to scroll through the photos while changing the subject of our conversation.
Anna picked up an orange and held it up to the light. A little tremor of her bandaged left hand gave away what I knew already. She couldn’t see even a sliver of her beloved fruit. Then she did her usual sexy peel, and all of them at the table stared, fascinated, having no idea what all of it really meant.
Anna’s longing for the orange, her dead hope of seeing its color—of seeing anything—transformed her moves into a sensual act. What a waste that she couldn’t see the effect of her actions. Kyra, Zoe and Robert were all transfixed by her hands. As was I.
That was the high point of the evening, before Kyra threw a monkey wrench into a perfect, spontaneous gathering.
Five Stars
Purchase ‘The Art of Peeling an Orange‘
Thank you for stopping by and thank you Victoria for creating this great story. Stay tuned next week when I will be presenting something new.
Until Next Time,
Lynn
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Lynn Lawler's Creative Artists' Blog 