Heather Boustead at Reflections of a BookWorm reviewed Painted Black on her blog, on Amazon and on Goodreads and gave it four stars. Here’s a bit of what she had to say. Click the link below to read her whole review and visit her website.

Thank you, Heather. And there will be more Jo Sullivan novels. Book two, working title Bend Me Shape Me, is scheduled for release in March 2013.

This is such an interesting story, though this is not for everyone, there are moments when it is crass and takes an unforgiving look at life on the streets. That being said, this is a fantastic novel full of suspense and intrigue. Each character comes to life in these pages making it almost impossible to put it down for even a moment as you wonder what is going to happen to Chris and Jo. I think the author has come across an interesting setting for an entire series of novels featuring Jo and hopefully Chris as well, at least I hope so. The only thing I must say that it does need a bit of editing other than that the author has certainly struck gold with this novel.

via Reflections of a BookWorm:

Kim over at Wistfulskimmie’s Book Reviews gave Painted Black a 5 star review today. I’m so excited because she had such nice things to say. It is so gratifying to have reviewers applaud the very elements I tried so hard to do right.

Thank, you, Kim. I will certainly let you know when the second Street Stories novel is ready to read.

I enjoyed this immensely, but it was also quite gritty at the same time and made me think of the fates of others, especially the ‘forgotten’ homeless. Whilst on the one hand highlighting the fate these teenagers have to face, it was also a good mystery at its heart. Jo and Chris are damaged in their own ways and must put aside their mistrust of each other to work together. It is a gripping story. A real page turner but also very sad. The characters were true to life and leapt out of the page at me, at times their pain was tangible. The ending was sad but right for the book. A great mystery that highlights the problems facing the homeless more or less every day. I shall certainly look out for more by this author.

via Wistfulskimmie’s Book Reviews: