Painter of the Heavens by Bart Stewart (a review)

I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for a true and fair review.

This is a story of two parts, the first being the meeting, relationship etc of the two main characters, Penny and Lyle, the second part being the aftermath of their actions. When they meet it seems in his bookshop. She falls for him straight away and they have several discreet dates but he tells her he is on the verge of "something big" so she must keep their relationship secret and tell no-one.

After several dates he lets her in on his secret - he, along with an acquaintance, has forged a letter from William Shakespeare and now he knows he can trust her he needs her help to sell it at auction, after which they will spend the future together living a much better life from the profits.

As you would expect from this kind of story things go wrong just as they are about to make good their escape to pastures new and the story turns into a hell for leather chase and that is where the story real picks up pace. The first 3/4's of the book felt like it could have been a strand for a season of Desperate Housewives and went at a much steadier pace.

The main problem for me was the lead characters - I just didn't connect with them overly. Lyle, as he needed to be, was a somewhat shady guy but Penny was just a little too wet. The way he treat her at times I would have expected her to leave him but she just kept going back to him.

The final resolution of events worked out well though. That seemed more like the Penny I would have expected her to be.

All in all, an enjoyable enough book that would make good holiday reading (and as for the Desperate Housewives comment - that was meant as a compliment, I was actually  a fan of the show)