Julie Carpenter

“During their months apart, he’d begun to wonder if he’d imagined how beautiful she was–how very perfect she was for his painting. But he hadn’t imagined anything, had he? Indeed, it was possible that his memory had blunted the effect of her.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“You could alter her face before you commit your preliminary sketch to canvas. That would be a way of respecting --"

"I want all of her," Teddy interrupted impatiently. "Her face. Her figure. Her silver hair. That's my star. It must be all or nothing.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“She had promised herself nearly a year past she would never consider marrying a man until she could be certain of his trustworthiness and intentions. James had proven his character over and over again, from the first moments of their acquaintance. She loved him and was far more capable of understanding and giving her affection than ever she'd been before.”
― Emily Opal, The Gentlewoman Companion

“For all Miss Corvus's progressive views, for all her insistence on looking to the future, this was a chamber firmly enshrouded in the past. A veiled room, all stale darkness and decay.
Miss Corvus had been similarly veiled the first time Effie had seen her that fateful day eighteen years ago in the London slum of St. Giles.
But Miss Corvus wasn't veiled now.
She sat in a green damask-upholstered armchair by the window, her uncovered face as white as wax. She was clad in stark black, just as Effie was-a plain, but impeccably tailored, silk dress worn over an abundance of petticoats and a formidable wire crinoline. A jet brooch gleamed at her throat, and an embroidered lace handkerchief was clutched in her pale hand.”
― Mimi Matthews, Rules for Ruin