ROMANCE

Ruin Me

by Jamie Brenner
Griffin: St. Martin's. May 2014. 260p. ebk. ISBN 9781466862135. $3.99. NEW ADULT ROMANCE
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Anna Sterling is a legendary art dealer and discoverer of new talent. She has not only decreed that her daughter, Lulu, will follow in her footsteps by taking over her gallery, she also believes herself to be the arbiter of Lulu's taste in art and in men. But Anna's vision is locked in her own particular tastes, and she doesn't see the changes in the art world. Anna is also convinced that because her college-age daughter has a different view, she must make Lulu conform. Instead, as the vise around her life tightens, Lulu breaks away, creating a new business around her own take on art and with the street artist who embodies that vision.
VERDICT At the end of Brenner's (Now or Never) latest, Lulu makes her own world and discovers that standing up for herself is the best way to get her mother to see her as an adult. The fascination and eventual romance between Lulu and the street artist known as GoST proceed in fits and starts as the young couple work out whether they can have a relationship, coming as they do from totally different worlds. But the story of Lulu's growing independence from the smothering Anna is the one that sticks in the mind. Recommended for lovers of coming-of-age stories.
Reviewed by Marlene Harris, Seattle P.L. , May 16, 2014
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