REVIEW: Living Canvas by Karla Brandenburg

Title: Living Canvas
Author: Karla Brandenburg
Genre: Romance
Price: $9.99 paperback
Publisher: Createspace
Point of Sale: Amazon
Reviewed by: Veinglory

 Audrey is facing losing her job as a sinister man takes over the company she works for. Greg, a widower with two young sons, is looking to start a new life running a scenic bed and breakfast. The reader is teased with the possibility of a holiday fling turning into a real relationship against a melange of mystery and mystical hints and clues.

Did Audrey' new boss commit murder twenty years ago? Who sent her the painting that makes a mystical connection with her? Who is the man in the silver car that follows her wherever she goes? Why is Audrey and Greg's relationship so hot-and-cold for no really good reason?

The parts of this story are strangely balanced with most of the focus on a sweet contemporary romance. But with the magical and crime elements peeking through so it is hard to work out how many of the numerous coincidences that drive the plot are meant to be accidental, magical or sinister.

Perhaps my issue with the balance is that these elements don't seem to connect. For example, Audrey has uncanny intuition and paranormal experiences but seem to have no spiritual beliefs, traditions, explanations or even curiosity about either. The police have a cavalier attitude to possible evidence for a murder, just borrowing it for a few days and then returning it.

 I found this to be an entertaining but bemusing novel, with a decent romantic core but strewn with details that never seem to quite slot together into a completely coherent story.