Welcome, friend! I don’t often make time to read romance fantasy and lately, I have been trying to get more familiar with the genre. My latest read is Dan Fitzgerald’s Unpainted. I mentioned it on my queer representation TBR and it can be safely moved into favorites. Here is what it is about:
Unpainted
By Dan Fitzgerald | Goodreads
“I’m ready.”
In the hermetic society of the Painted Faces, pale, unblemished skin is rewarded with station, wealth, and power.
Tera would almost rather go unpainted than enter into an arranged marriage with a total stranger, but that would mean giving up the only life she’s ever known. Not to mention her share of her family’s Pureline fortune.
She’s always thought love was a fairy tale and sex a joyless chore, but the alternative might be worse.
Enter Aven, a soft buttercup of a man, the kindest and most considerate person she’s ever met. A tropical honeymoon awaits, and with the help of her intimacy consultant, Tera is determined to make the best of this awkward ritual. Amid the island breezes, she and her new spouse form a bond neither of them knew they were capable of.
But trouble stirs beneath the polite veneer of the Painted Faces’ society, threatening to tear them—and their entire world—apart.
Unpainted is a queer arranged marriage fantasy romance, a standalone in the Weirdwater Confluence universe. It features a dual POV, magical currency shenanigans, mind magic, and inordinate amounts of steamy, fluffy goodness with a soft femdom dynamic.
Content warnings: Unpainted contains numerous explicit, consensual sex scenes, including light bondage and sex toys, as well as drug use and minor violence. It is intended for an adult audience and should not be read by anyone under 18.
Unpainted – Review
In most books I read and relationships I am surrounded by, such marriage is the next step years after knowing someone. The uniqueness of Unpainted to focus on arranged marriage really drew me in. Though this is a fantasy world, I wanted to understand why arranged marriages happen and what does it look like to be in one?
Tera belongs to an important family, her mother being an important banker in the region. Aven’s parents have a real estate business and his marriage to Tera is a step up for him. Marriage is an alliance between families, a promise of a comfortable future through both their fortunes. But Tera and Aven are practically strangers, now wedded, and must embark on a honeymoon mandated by society.
As I read Unpainted, I noticed how an arranged marriage also had its first days of getting to know each other. Noticing who they are with others and the partner, now that two people are around each other all the time. Tera and Aven have a cute chemistry from the start and I enjoyed how their connection became more and more solid as the story progressed.
I liked the focus of the first half of the book on Tera and Aven, as they enjoyed each other’s company during an exotic honeymoon. The time they spent getting to know each, particularly in pleasure, wasn’t something I had seen done well before. Their awkwardness as well as their intentions were clearly conveyed and the open manner in which they created their bond was heartwarming to read about. It took me a little bit of adjusting to how self-assured Tera was and once I realized this was another aspect of romantic relationships that I had not read of often made me even more interested. Aven’s awe for her was pouring out of the pages and I liked how open he was to learning more about sex and sexuality.
I love the title of the book. Being with someone in a marriage is showing them all the good and bad parts of us. Unpainted offers a beautiful word for the act of taking off the paint prior to, coming to each other completely naked. The plot also peels away the challenges of living under a strong painted face society.
The second half of Unpainted reads a little bit like a court fantasy with inheritance, sabotage and secret plans. Through the experiences of the characters, their diverse backgrounds and situations in the first part, Dan builds the society of the painted faces with great care. Their culture, values, customs, prejudice are well documented and the ethereal undercurrent of magic adds a grounded feel to the book. Lila’s character arc offers some insight into the implications of being a painted face vs unpainted face but maybe I just needed a little more information around what that meant for everyday living, or I was too distracted by the love making. 😉
As a Weirdwater Confluence novel
Unpainted is set in the same world as The Living Waters from The Weirdwater Confluence series with cameos from some characters but you don’t have to read The Living Waters to read this book.
I will say if you have read it, you might enjoy this contrast: Reading The Living Waters was like being on a boat, going on a journey, but also being on the journey that is led by the current and motions of the waters (full review). I thought this book would have a similar feel as that and some similarities were indeed there. Endulian meditation and meditative magic from The Living Waters is found in Unpainted too and I was intrigued by the emergence of powers in Tera. Unpainted had its own pace with the coziness of a low fantasy where the characters and their relationships are the focus. While The Living Waters had been an adventure of two face painted nobles to explore the world, Unpainted is the story of two other face painted well-off individuals living in Anari society.
When I told Dan that I had started reading this book, they wished that it would meet my reading needs. I love that sentiment and I believe it indeed met my reading needs. I was looking for something closer to real life in fantasy and this was perfect to pick up! I enjoyed all the romantic parts as well as the reflections that Tera and Aven shared about their sexuality. I liked how they balanced each other in different things and were accepting of what the other excelled at.
If you are interested in Unpainted, add it to your TBR on Goodreads. Be sure to check out the interview with Dan, out on July 7th.
Many thanks to Dan for the review copy for my honest thoughts.
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