Going Through The Psychological Drama Of The Masterpiecers by Olivia Wildenstein

*All reviews I write are spoiler free*

Another week, another book review!

This was actually a really unexpected read this week. Completely threw a spanner in the works when it came to my TBR for the month! But I don’t mind.

Basically, what happened was I received the review request for this book way back in February, saying that I could receive a paperback when they’re released in March. March came and went, and no book appeared, so I kind of just assumed it had been forgotten about. Bad to assume that, I know.

Well, last week a copy finally turned up! I don’t know whether it just took a really long time to be delivered or whether they were sent out later than I expected, but obviously I prioritise the books sent to me, so here we are today 😀

Let’s talk about The Masterpiecers!

Title: The Masterpiecers

Author: Olivia Wildenstein

Publisher: Self Published

Series Status: The 1st book in a series

Number of Pages: 386

(Found on Goodreads)

Nineteen-year-old Ivy Redd’s talent with a needle and thread has earned her a spot on a coveted reality TV art competition set in New York’s Metropolitan Museum. The prize: a significant amount of money and instant acceptance into the Masterpiecers, the school that ensures new artists fame and fortune. Her talent has also thrust her and her twin sister, Aster, into the spotlight.

Not that Aster needed help with becoming a media favorite. She managed that on her own by running over a wanted mobster. She told the police it was self-defense, because she couldn’t tell them the truth—the truth would make her sister look bad.

Locked in an Indiana jail to await her trial, Aster watches Ivy on the small TV hanging in the dayroom. It’s the highlight of her day, until she finds out what her sister truly thinks of her. Then, observing her sister becomes a punishment far crueler than imprisonment.

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

Well well well, this one had me intrigued from the start.

I’ve not heard of many books that are centered around an art competition. It grabbed my attention right away. I love it when books include art in some way, as long as it doesn’t end up sounded pretentious (which it didn’t, in this case).

Though there was a lot more going on with this story than just an art competition. A lot more. Behind this competition loomed a great mystery. A mystery that is far from simple.

And let me tell you, I can definitely see why this book is called a psychological drama.

I didn’t know what to believe.

With each chapter, the book changes perspective from one twin to the other – from Aster to Ivy. Sometimes dual perspectives can go wrong, with there being no difference in the voices, but that definitely wasn’t the case with this one. There was a very clear difference between each person and their situations, so it was easy to keep up with what was happening. In the beginning, I DID enjoy Ivy’s perspectives a little bit more than Aster, but it soon evened out when I got about halfway into the book.

I feel like it was this difference in perspectives that really kept the mystery going. Each person would find out another snippet of information, but because both of them don’t know it? Well then, we don’t know the entire story either. And this is what really drove me through the book.

The mystery to me was so intriguing, and I just needed an answer. Every time one thing is revealed, the plot thickens and the mystery only gets more complicated. I was scrambling for answers. Nothing is more addicting than a good mystery.

I do have to admit that for me, too many characters were introduced at once. I got a bit confused about who everyone was at one point, and it did take me a fair few chapters to catch up and get the names right in my head. And I feel like because of the amount of characters, both the main characters missed out on that little bit of extra character build up they both needed. As well as the relationships involved. I did find that romantic relationships seemed to spring up from nowhere a couple of times. Though of course, the story is about a competition, so obviously there will be a fair few characters involved.

It was interesting to see how everything played a part in this story. A lot of strong topics were mentioned in the book, however briefly, so a huge build up of drama happened through the pages. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Especially when it all started coming to an end.

I was definitely impressed by this book. I feel like it’s encouraged me to read more psychological/mystery books, which is great! I’m all for reading new genres.

And I’ll be keeping a lookout for the second book in this series, for sure.

I had a hard time trying to give this book a rating, and eventually decided on rating it out of 10 then halving it to get the star rating. So…