Whether he can be trusted or not, August is a fascinating character. It’s riveting to wonder along with Myra, whether or not August can be trusted. As much as August is there to help, Myra, and the readers, know that August is still a suspect in this case. Olson excels a keeping the tension of trust right where it needs to be. What type of haunting thriller would this be without a little love? One of my favorite plotlines within this novel was the blossoming relationship between Myra and August. Myra absolutely needs the money August’s mother has promised to get her sister to a doctor, so she’s quickly consumed by the mysteries held within the corpse she’s painting. There’s a mystery afoot, and with the help of August, the oft-forgotten older son of the Governor, Myra tries to uncover what happened to Will. When Myra arrives at Rose Manor, she soon discovers Will’s death is a far more complicated incident than she could have imagined. So how can she do that when no one is sure of the circumstances that led to Will’s death? For one thing, a Prodigy must understand how a person is injured in order to make a repair. Myra has little choice but to accept the task, though she’s not even sure her magic is capable of such power.

If she can do it, Myra is guaranteed a fortune, money she desperately needs to get her sister, who is wasting away, to a doctor. Later that night, Myra is ambushed and quasi-blackmailed by the governor’s wife to do the impossible: paint Will, her deceased youngest son, back to life. But this is a novel so, of course, someone notices! It’s so small she’s sure no one will notice. The magic heals a tiny cut on the dog’s leg when Myra paints his injury away on the canvas. The Governor of Lalverton is a man known for his utter hatred of Prodigies, but Myra’s magic just can’t control itself while she’s painting the small dog. Myra’s luck gets worse when the Governor’s wife walks into the art studio Myra’s employed at and demands a painting of her dog.

Myra, left alone as the sole caretaker to her chronically ill 13-year-old sister, works her fingers to the bone in an art studio, hiding her magic, just to keep a roof over their head. But after a stranger started asking too many questions, Myra’s mother went missing, and her father disappeared as well in the search to find his wife. Myra knew another Prodigy besides herself, and that woman was her mother.

It’s so rare, so infrequently passed on, that it’s almost the stuff of legend. Unfortunately, where she lives, being a Prodigy is a dangerous thing to be. Myra is a Prodigy a person who wields magic through the power of a paintbrush. Olson, Myra Whitlock doesn’t have to wonder, she knows. What would you do if you had the ability to change your physical features through the power of art? To even paint someone well again? In A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Review of A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S.

A forgery of roses by jessica s olson