OK Simone--this is my first read of this story/series. Completely "de novo." I like it already. The artist Lorenz is wonderfully enigmatic--not just a portrait painter--he "sees" the woman he's painting. Not what's in front of him, but what she REALLY has deep inside of her. Jocelyne comes off as upper-middle class, neglected hyper-bourgeois wife of some wealthy schmuck who's become so absorbed with himself and with the money which will just disappear and be meaningless if he suddenly drops dead (but he thinks--as all such deluded dopes throughout history have--that he's immortal and his wife is an object, a piece of furniture--a guarantee)--that he takes her totally for granted. She is far, far more though--sensual, daring, adventurous, and pulsing with life. Sandie is even taken aback by the dark side latent within her friend, and--the best lead-in to the next part, I'm sure--is encouraging her to set out on that path! Great job here of holding your cards close to the vest, Simone. I'll catch up with the other two installments later this evening, but I already sense a very intense, life-altering storm is about to break here for your MC!
You might be being a little hard on Jocelyn (maybe not so much on Robert) but I do like to show the reader a few cards and let them guess what the character's hand is.
There is definitely a life-altering storm on the way.
I thought I was on Jocelyne's side here; she comes off as what she isn't--my implication is that she's been under Robert's thumb, living with him, a guy who's totally self-absorbed, self-cuckolded, self-castrated by greed (money and the sterile realm of business have sucked his manhood and sexual potency from him), and that pall has overshadowed her life, causing her to manifest as a lifeless, cardboard stereotype. Sandie sees the problem, is happy for her with the whole portrait, and is a success story of sorts, and given her encouragement to her friend to explore her kinks when she takes delivery of the painting, she becomes a psychopomp for Jocelyne. Just wanted to revise, extend, and clarify--Robert's a dirtbag, and deserves everything he gets...
OK Simone--this is my first read of this story/series. Completely "de novo." I like it already. The artist Lorenz is wonderfully enigmatic--not just a portrait painter--he "sees" the woman he's painting. Not what's in front of him, but what she REALLY has deep inside of her. Jocelyne comes off as upper-middle class, neglected hyper-bourgeois wife of some wealthy schmuck who's become so absorbed with himself and with the money which will just disappear and be meaningless if he suddenly drops dead (but he thinks--as all such deluded dopes throughout history have--that he's immortal and his wife is an object, a piece of furniture--a guarantee)--that he takes her totally for granted. She is far, far more though--sensual, daring, adventurous, and pulsing with life. Sandie is even taken aback by the dark side latent within her friend, and--the best lead-in to the next part, I'm sure--is encouraging her to set out on that path! Great job here of holding your cards close to the vest, Simone. I'll catch up with the other two installments later this evening, but I already sense a very intense, life-altering storm is about to break here for your MC!
You might be being a little hard on Jocelyn (maybe not so much on Robert) but I do like to show the reader a few cards and let them guess what the character's hand is.
There is definitely a life-altering storm on the way.
I thought I was on Jocelyne's side here; she comes off as what she isn't--my implication is that she's been under Robert's thumb, living with him, a guy who's totally self-absorbed, self-cuckolded, self-castrated by greed (money and the sterile realm of business have sucked his manhood and sexual potency from him), and that pall has overshadowed her life, causing her to manifest as a lifeless, cardboard stereotype. Sandie sees the problem, is happy for her with the whole portrait, and is a success story of sorts, and given her encouragement to her friend to explore her kinks when she takes delivery of the painting, she becomes a psychopomp for Jocelyne. Just wanted to revise, extend, and clarify--Robert's a dirtbag, and deserves everything he gets...
So worth reading again and taking it in.
Thank you - and it gets even stranger