Michelle Hansen

Psyche is 17 years old and about to begin her senior year in high school. She lives with her dad in Montana. Her mother Jill, however, who has never played much part in Psyche's life, had talked her into doing some modeling in Italy over the summer. Unbeknownst to Psyche, her mom left after a few weeks, leaving her alone in Italy. She was too embarrassed to tell her father what happened, and if she left before her contract was up she would have to pay back all the money she had received, including her airfare and expenses, so she worked all summer. As it turns out, she was very popular and quite a success. The only stipulation her dad had voiced before she left was that she not do any nude modeling. What she didn't expect, and told herself wouldn't count, was a photo shoot she did where she wore a long wig and a flesh colored bikini, which was then photo shopped to make her look nude. Besides, she thought no one would ever really see it. Much to her surprise and shock, when she came home, there on Main Street was a billboard with none other that the nude photo of Psyche portraying Venus in all her glory. She was mortified. Everyone ended up seeing it, including her friends, her father, her teachers, and worst of all, someone not of this world who wanted her dead for it, Aphrodite. Aphrodite had made arrangements for her to be "disposed of." On top of that, the press was hounding her, not to mention the harassment she was getting from others. With her severe fear of crowds and being touched, this did not help at all.

Then into her life walks Erik, mysterious, romantic, and oh so hot, and her chaotic world changes for ever. Erik ends up rescuing her, even though he was sent by Aphrodite to do away with her. He finds she is nothing like what he expected and he is quite taken with Psyche. The only catch is that he can veil himself, making him invisible to both Psyche and those around him. A relationship ensues, and though she has never seen his face, she falls completely and totally in love with Erik, and he with her. He ends up taking her to his kingdom and their relationship progresses, yet he always keeps his face hidden from her. She loves him blindly, until she makes a mistake that causes him to throw her out. Determined to apologize and see him again, she embarks on a quest that most immortals wouldn't be able to accomplish. With the help of friends, both mortal and immortal, she takes on a world that she never knew existed to find a love she couldn't live without.

I was completely taken by surprise by the wonderfully entertaining novel. After reading the summary, I thought the book sounded intriguing, but I had not read any other reviews when I began reading it. Actually, by looking at the cover, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Don't let the cover and summary fool you. There is so much more to this book that initially meets the eye. When I realized it was based on Greek Mythology and a retelling of the story of Psyche and Eros, I was delighted. Though not a fan of Greek Mythology until the last few years, I remembered the story somewhat, but Painted Blind actually brought it to life for me. Michelle Hansen has done an outstanding job putting her own stamp of uniqueness on this timeless story. I loved the way the characters were written. I especially loved Psyche. She was so honest and loyal, and quite the heroine. I loved Aeas and Titus also. All these immortal hotties where quite a treat. The romance aspect was amazing. Not to mention everything else than transpired. This book is action packed, fast pasted, and keeps you flipping the pages wanting more. It was absolutely amazing to read this rendering of Psyche and Eros, and of course you have Persephone, Zeus, Aphrodite, and more included. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. For all you lovers of Greek Mythology, this story is a must read, and for all romance lovers, this is something you won't want to miss either.… (mehr)

Wow! Gosh! I love how this book was original. This is my first ever retelling of Eros and Psyche~ I didn't realized this when I started reading, and was kind of glad because I won't "spoil" myself (yes I am not familiar with the myth of Eros and Psyche) #fail. The prologue immediately dragged me in. It was so mysterious that I just knew I had to read on. Hold up! Before I go any further, shall I talk about the cover? I am so sorry but the cover is not pretty. Please change it. :( I am not trying to be mean here but there are so many different way the cover can go to make it look FABULOUS! Okay, let's continue onward.

You don't know how happy I am to know that this was NOT a Hades and Persephone myth. People! Wake up! Originality! Yes, say it with me, o·rig·i·nal·i·ty. Yes, and it is a GOOD thing! It seemed like every other Greek myth YA novel was about Hades and Persephone. And speaking of Hades, Hades in this book was someone that stood out to me. He reminded me of Madara Uchiha, plus the Nine Tailed Fox, plus the pain of Nagato. Wow. He was full of ache, and hate, and everything bad. But I kind of pictured him as Baraggan Louisenbairn.

I really enjoyed reading about Psyche. I didn't dislike her. At the very beginning I could tell I would like her. She was independent but not to extent where she was unreal. She was still fun, and acted her age. When Hansan wrote her as insecure, it didn't sound like she was bragging. The readers clearly knew that Psyche was beautiful. Unlike other authors who could make Psyche sound like a girl (who we all probably encountered at least one in our life) who always shouted out publically that "oh, I hate my life" just to get attention. In fact Psyche dislike attention; I am like that (which was probably why I found her believable). I don't really know how to explain it, Psyche was a mix of everything. You know the kind of person you can't really categorize? Like not your strong girl, not your super sweet girl etc. I think that was why I liked her, balanced but not perfect. If I was in her sticky situation, lordy, I would've dug a hole and crawl in it and never return. Instead of a hole, Erik came to her rescue.

From the prologue Erik sounded like an interesting character. He sounded like your quiet, mysterious guy in class who always replied with a monotone voice. He probably has a killer glare and probably thought he was superior than most of the people in his class. Immediately I thought of Midorima:

and Uryu,

Oh and no, Erik probably didn't look like that but it was just the feeling he conveyed in the prologue that reminded me of these two lovelies.
But I reeeallly wished we couldn't know Erik better. I don't know how to explain it, but he...was mysterious. Some other characters to mention were Aeas, and Titus. If you know me, I tend to enjoy secondary characters better, and I really enjoyed reading Aeas and Titus.

Man, oh, man. The world building of this book was amazing. I totally wanted live in the kingdom. I loved the adventure Psyche had. The tasks were fun to read. I felt like the adventures provided the book a tough side and the romance between the characters provided a soft side.

Okay, one thing I didn't quite like was the romance. I don't know, I just didn't like some of the interaction between Psyche and Erik. Also I didn't like the insta-love.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Other than the insta-love and the cover, this book hit all its marks.… (mehr)

Review from my blog: http://everythingatoc.blogspot.com/2012/07/review-painted-blind-by-michelle-hans...

I have taken Classical Mythology and World Mythology courses over my semestral studies so I've been familiarized with the Greek gods and goddesses along with their myths. Once I read a passage in class about a woman who went through lot of physical and emotional turmoil over a love for a god that left me breathless and Painted Blind does not disappoint on its own delicious re-telling of Psyche and Eros's love story.

First of all, I did not expect any of what I just read at all! This book left me breathless as well. This was far.. way far from being a fluffy romance read. It's full of emotions, adventure and a beautiful view of the immortal world.

I didn't thoroughly loved this book but by reaching the end, I was satisfied. I guess you can say, I had a love and hate relationship with it. Now, after reading this book, you won't even need any convincing that Ms. Hansen has one brilliant imaginative mind. Although, there was a lot of exciting aspects to the story, the execution to some of it was rather sloppy in my opinion. There were a lot of scenes that could have been more efficient, in a way that it would have been realistic, but I get that this is fictional fantasy so I just decided to shrug it off and keep reading.

There was a lot of twists and turns, characters that you or may not be familiar with that are given a fresh personality and the love aspect of the book was crazy but beautiful all the same. This book did have the type of relationship that progressed way too fast to get a handle but it's individual characters blossomed throughout. Psyche's especially. There were a lot of faults to their characters but I liked them nonetheless. The sub-characters and their stories also warmed my heart. The villains of the story acted like so accordingly which receives a thumbs up for me!

This story is definitely a hit or miss depends on how you like your dose of happily ever after. I like mine heavy with a little bit of drama so this suited me just fine! Trust me, Painted Blind is packed with almost everything, you'd wonder if it's right for a book to be all-in-one.… (mehr)