Today I am excited to be featuring the book What I Want You To See by Catherine Linka on the Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours! I am sharing my review of the book, as well as a giveaway, so be sure to read on. This post contains affiliate links, so if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission.
About The Book:
Title: What I Want You To See
Author: Catherine Linka
Genre: YA
Publisher: Freeform, 2/4/2020
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD
Book Description:
Winning a scholarship to California’s most prestigious art school seems like a fairy tale ending to Sabine Reyes’s awful senior year. After losing both her mother and her home, Sabine longs for a place where she belongs.
But the cutthroat world of visual arts is nothing like what Sabine had imagined. Colin Krell, the renowned faculty member whom she had hoped would mentor her, seems to take merciless delight in tearing down her best work—and warns her that she’ll lose the merit-based award if she doesn’t improve.
Desperate and humiliated, Sabine doesn’t know where to turn. Then she meets Adam, a grad student who understands better than anyone the pressures of art school. He even helps Sabine get insight on Krell by showing her the modern master’s work in progress, a portrait that’s sold for a million dollars sight unseen.
Sabine is enthralled by the portrait; within those swirling, colorful layers of paint is the key to winning her inscrutable teacher’s approval. Krell did advise her to improve her craft by copying a painting she connects with . . . but what would he think of Sabine secretly painting her own version of his masterpiece? And what should she do when she accidentally becomes party to a crime so well -plotted that no one knows about it but her?
Complex and utterly original, What I Want You to See is a gripping tale of deception, attraction, and moral ambiguity.
“Linka delivers intrigue, betrayal, and a feast for art lovers.”―Mary McCoy, author of Printz Honor Book I, Claudia
“Clear-sighted and heartbreakingly true, this is a genuine portrait of a girl in quiet crisis learning to see things as they are.”―Booklist (starred review)
“Tense, smart, and engaging . . . What I Want You to See is a stunning portrait of deception, artfully peeling back layers of secrets to reveal a meticulously crafted crime.”
―Elle Cosimano, award-winning author of Nearly Gone
“A messy, heartbreaking and very real journey of learning to let others see who you truly are.”―Carrie Arcos, author of the National Book Award Finalist Out of Reach
“A stunning page-turner that will tear your heart and paste it back together.”
―Kim Purcell, author of This is Not A Love Letter and Trafficked
About The Author:
Catherine Linka has been immersed in books her whole life, most recently as a writer and bookseller. She’s the author of the young adult novel WHAT I WANT YOU TO SEE as well as the dystopian duology A GIRL CALLED FEARLESS and A GIRL UNDONE. Catherine lives in Southern California and watches hawks and hummingbirds when she should be writing.
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads
My Review:
I enjoyed this YA book about a young woman on her own learning to make decisions and grow without her mother’s support. Sabine is an art student who is hiding her truth and struggling with what she wants to share with her new friends at school. I love that the title “What I Want You To See” refers to the ways that people hide themselves from others. Sabine creates a portrait of a homeless woman that strives to show how people see her as well as who she really is. Yet, Sabine doesn’t realize that she is hiding herself as well.
This book contains art, that while you can’t see it, you can imagine it. It also contains a mystery. Sabine does not always do the right thing and struggles with the desire for revenge versus improving herself and the way she treats others. I enjoyed the side characters including some of her art school friends and her landlady, and found that this was a quick read. Some of the deeper issues addressed in this book included crime, suicide, homelessness, and poverty. I would recommend this to older teens and adults.
What I Want You To See Giveaway:
3 winners will win a signed finished copy of WHAT I WANT YOU TO SEE, US Only.
Blog Tour Schedule:
Week One:
2/3/2020 | Texan Girl Reviews | |
2/4/2020 | What A Nerd Girl Says | |
2/5/2020 | Kait Plus Books | |
2/6/2020 | Savings in Seconds | |
2/7/2020 | Lifestyle of Me |
Week Two:
2/10/2020 | Do You Dog-ear? | |
2/11/2020 | BookHounds YA | |
2/12/2020 | fictitious.fox | |
2/13/2020 | momfluenster | |
2/14/2020 | Hurn Publications |
Week Three:
2/17/2020 | PopTheButterfly Reads | |
2/18/2020 | A Bookish Escape | |
2/19/2020 | notinjersey | |
2/20/2020 | Nerdophiles | |
2/21/2020 | Comfort Books |
Week Four:
2/24/2020 | She Just Loves Books | |
2/25/2020 | One in a Million | |
2/26/2020 | Fyrekatz | |
2/27/2020 | Two Points of Interest | |
2/28/2020 | ChristenKrumm |
Do you think you hide pieces of yourself or only share what you want people to see?