May 19, 2015

Release Day Review! Illicit Canvas by Joanna Mazurkiewicz



llicit Canvas (political romance and stand alone romance) 

Twenty year old Arwen West thinks that she has everything figured out. She moved to Brussels to study art and to find her father, who abandoned her when she was only a child. The only lead that she has is an old painting that her father carried with him many years ago, the painting that was allegedly stolen. 

She starts to visit galleries, hoping to find someone who can help her with locating that last lost piece of art, but instead runs into Ethan. Older and enigmatic, Ethan elicits raw emotions in her, something that she has never experienced with her current boyfriend, Colin. 

The instant connection is undeniable, and when Ethan offers to be her guide, she is torn between her own desires and the need to gain closure on her jaded past. Ethan opens her eyes to a new world of eccentric art dealers and old art studios, promising the most illicit affair that she’d ever live through. 

Every affair has its consequences and if exposed, Arwen might not only destroy Ethan’s political career, but also jeopardise his aspirations forever.

Illicit Canvas is a stand-alone romance with intensive, political undertones that entwine art, sexual encounters and suicide.


Illicit Canvas is the story of a girl who’s trying desperately to find the father who’d abandoned her when she was just a small child.

Coming from a small village in France, Arwen is a little bit overwhelmed when she comes to Brussels to study art but that’s what she always wanted to do, that’s her biggest passion.

But there’s another force that’s driving her. Something that’s been weighing on her soul all her life.

She wants an answer, she NEEDS and answer so she can finally move on.

Arwen is the kind of girl that draws everyone to her and she has a hard time saying no to a friendship or a relationship even when that is not what she wants.

Soon after she comes to Brussels, she finds herself in a relationship with Colin. He’s nice and sweet but he doesn’t make her feel anything special.

Then, one day, Arwen meets Ethan, a sophisticated, charming gentleman she keeps bumping into and just like that, her life will take an unexpected turn.

While following the tracks of the man she’s been trying so hard to find, inside, she fights a war with herself, a war between what her heart wants and what her brain tells her she should do.

As the story unfolds, new mysteries will arise, secrets will be unveiled, hearts will be broken and relationships torn apart.

Arwen will have to decide if she’s ready to grab what she wants and face the consequences or let it go and give up her chance at happiness.

This book will captivate you from the beginning. There’s so much going on, so many twists and turns that will keep you on your toes from beginning to end. 

I was lucky enough be read it long before it was published and it’s one of the best beta reads I’ve received so far this year.

Good job, Joanna! Loved it!




Joanna Mazurkiewicz was born in Poland. She moved to United Kingdom when she was only nineteen and just finished high school. She had aspired to be a writer upon completion of the Harry Potter series but also enjoyed reading books like ‘Gone with the Wind’, ’Animal Farm’ and ‘The doll’. She graduated from Swansea University with a bachelor degree in American Studies. While studying in the UK she made a decision to start writing fiction in English. 
The “Whispers of the Sprite” is her first debut novel and she is currently working on other projects. Joanna lives in Cowbridge, a small town in South Wales near Cardiff with her boyfriend Bruce. She enjoys cycling around Welsh countryside some of which has become the settings in her first series.



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