Review: Drawn by Elle Brownlee

Title: Drawn

Author: Elle Brownlee

Length: 200 Pages

Category: Urban Fantasy

At a Glance: A fascinating, beautifully written romance with an interesting mystery and paranormal twist.

Reviewed By: Lindsey

Blurb: Sebastian (Sen) Holt is an artist currently in New Orleans. He’s always been a wanderer, believing in fate and following signs to guide his destiny. Although he itches to pull up stakes, getting a painting into a gallery keeps him rooted. One morning his good friend calls him in desperate need of help with her cleaning business. Her regular cleaner flaked, she can’t lose her client, and there’s no one else.

The job is at a large and recently restored house—and the owner, Morgan Ballard, comes home unexpectedly. They are immediately drawn together, as if they know each other, but they’ve never met. As they grow closer, Morgan behaves like two people. Sometimes he’s friendly and casual, and other times intimate and demanding. Sen juggles his painting through bursts of vision-like inspiration, the cleaning job, and an unexpected commission—all while trying to unlock the growing mystery of the intense connection he feels to Morgan. He’s not sure which scares him more—the strangeness surrounding their growing bond or that he’s found someone to make him reconsider his lifelong wanderlust.

Review: This story was an unexpected treat. I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect going in, and I think I figured out, mostly, what was occurring long before either of the main characters did; even so, I still found myself enjoying the buildup to when Sen and Morgan figured it out for themselves.

The writing is beautiful, and the descriptions of the painting process Sen goes through as he tries to work out the odd visions he keeps getting are striking. To someone who has no imagination and knows diddly squat about art in general, I still found myself captivated with Sen’s process. There is a lot of time and detail dedicated to Sen when he paints, and the colors’ representations and the feelings he experiences. It is part of the process he uses to work through what is happening, but I will admit it made for a slower build.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but for me, Drawn was a romance with a mystery and a paranormal twist. Sen arrives at Greycote and immediately is filled with awe and trepidation at the home. He has a vision that sets him on his path to unravel what happened. When Sen meets Morgan they are inexplicably drawn together, and Sen’s visions continue to occur when he is around the man. Morgan is not unaffected, and his mood swings and changes in behavior only add to the puzzle.

I found myself really enjoying Sen’s character and what some would label his quirks. Sen was raised in a somewhat different manner than most—he allows himself to follow signs and is open to follow where they lead. The way he was brought up, and his intuition on following the signs, has resulted in moving around a lot. When signs start appearing, he makes note and is cognizant of the littlest things and how they all point in directions I would never have even thought about. As the signs keep pointing to Morgan and Greycote, he can’t walk away even though he has started to feel the itch to move on.

Morgan is more of a mystery through the story. As the story is told from Sen’s perspective, we only get to experience Morgan through their interactions. Even so, I felt the connection between the two characters, and their confusion as to the bond that was forming so quickly.

I’ll be honest in saying some of the story, especially near the end, didn’t go as I had been anticipating. And, in some ways, I will even admit I was a little let down, as I had been expecting something a little more climactic. As the story wrapped up, I was able to get over the disappointment and found myself content with the way Sen and Morgan’s romance and HEA was finally achieved.

Ultimately I found Drawn to be a fascinating, beautifully written romance with an interesting mystery and paranormal twist.

You can buy Drawn here:
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