Im sorry but I just could not read all of this book, to no fault of its own it just wasn't for me, I appreciate the chance to read it and look forward to trying again.

Private Faces by Marrianne Gage.
Newbury is an artist. Among the hundreds of portraits she has painted, there are seven very special subjects who have captured her heart. Esther are 7 woman Fia, Hana, Amanda, Rosie, Ranie, Nikki and Esther. She will tell their stories. This was a really good read with good characters. Each woman's story was different. I had to read to the end. 4*. Netgalley and Endeavour press.

Private Faces was not at all what I expected. While it is advertised as having lots of plot twists, I myself did not think it did. There certainly was a lot of drama as advertised. I finished the book in entirety but feel as though it took me some time (longer than my typical read). I'm not certain how many pages it is, but feel perhaps it could've been cut down by 25-50 pages. I read on a Kindle so its hard to tell how many pages in hard copy it would've been. There was a lot of description on art and museums that I got bored with, but that's because it's not one of my major interests. It did fit in with the story line, but that's maybe where I would've cut down a few pages. Anyways, onto the review of the book!

Nat/Natalie Newberry is an artist in the Bay Area, mostly specializing in portraits and landscape paintings. She is married to Ben and they have been together since college if I remember correctly. We meet Nat in probably her mid-twenties and know her for about 30 years throughout the book. The book centralizes around Natalie's relationships with key women in her life, friends more so than family. Although beyond those friends, we know of "MawMaw," her beloved Aunt who lives in New Mexico. Nat holds her friendships very near and dear. She almost becomes infatuated with the women that she clings to. Some she has met through happenstance and others through friends. Many of the women, she convinces that she must paint their portrait. The portraits taking weeks to months, she develops relationships through their meeting times. Natalie is very focused on her art, and her friendships almost giving her husband the cold shoulder at times.

While the book is almost entirely about the female relationships that Nat has, it is also a story of Nat and Ben's marriage. Their marriage seems very solid, stable and loving. But, as time goes on, we see it wearing down. At times, we see Nat putting friendships before her marriage, her career before her marriage and even acknowledging at times what she puts before her husband. We know from the description of the book, that there seems to be an affair going on between one of Nat's favorite women and her husband. The book goes through each relationship with all seven women that Nat favors. It also hints at the relationship those women may have with Ben.

At the end of the book, Nat has a gallery show with all of the portraits she's done of the seven women. Finally, all of the women she holds so near and dear in one room. That's what she always wanted, right? Well, until she saw that note that hinted at infidelity between her husband and one of her best friends. The note was unsigned, so now Nat must piece together the last 20-30 years of interactions between her friends and her husband. Which friend has betrayed her?

While the story seemed very enthralling, a whodunit, it didn't quite have the mystery/suspense feeling that I was craving. As I said before, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I think the cover and description gave me a different idea than what I felt the book to be. I would probably throw it more in the drama category and less of the suspense/thriller category.

This was a great book for me. I read roughly 100 - 150 books a year and so far this is right up there high on that list. Recommend for anyone