Series: Beautiful Bastard #1
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: 2/12/13
Format: Paperback
Pages: 305
Source: Purchase
Rating: 5 stars
An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling.
Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate--and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.
Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative--completely infuriating--creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules--or outright smash them--if it means he can have her. All over the office.
As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other.
My road with
Beautiful Bastard is long and weird. I got the audiobook last summer, and spent the next five months struggling through the first fifty percent of the story. Seriously, I was hating this book. I hated Bennett and Chloe. I hated the narrator. Finally, I DNF'd it. A few days later, I received a copy of
Beautiful Player in the mail. I was very hesitant to give it a try, and went into it prepared to read one hundred pages only then DNF it as well. To my surprise, I fell in love with
Beautiful Player (Will Sumner!!). I thought it was hilarious, sweet, and sexy. An even bigger surprise? I actually liked Bennett and Chloe, a lot. The dynamic between them was aggressive and sexy and I love the way they kept each other on their toes. It's a dynamic not unlike that I share with my husband, and then I thought
"Ohhhhhhh." But that's another story for a different day.
My point is, seeing Chloe and Bennett in the future, in
Beautiful Player and
Beautiful Beginning, helped me realize that maybe I was wrong, and that I should give
Beautiful Bastard another chance. But this time, I decided to read the paperback instead of listen to the audiobook. Best choice, because that narrator was seriously not working for me. I did this series completely ass backward, but because I'm kind of random and weird, it totally worked for me.
I loved
Beautiful Bastard. I loved the enemies-in-the-workplace-turned-combatant lovers-turned-true love story. I thought the writing was fun, sexy, and really clever. I liked that Chloe was incredibly strong and uncompromising in her professional life. I love that Bennett had to bend to meet her. I loved seeing that Bastard fall flat into love.
I am so, so, so glad I was wrong.
Favorite Quotes:
"Let's call a truce for one night," I said, pressing three small kisses on her lips, one on each side and a lingering one in the middle, in the heart of her mouth. "Give me all of you for one night, no holding back. Please, Chloe, I'll leave you alone after that but I haven't seen you in almost two weeks and...I just need tonight."
"I need another night."
She sucked in a breath and stared, and only then did it occur to me that she could be feeling something very different than I was.
"Feel free to say no. I just...." I ran a hand through my hair and looked up at her. "I just would really like to be with you again tonight."
...I wanted to tell her, "This, what we have, is the most amazing thing I have felt. Do you feel it too?" But I had no words. I had only instinct and desire and the taste of her on my tongue and the memory of her laugh ringing in my ears. I wanted to keep that sound playing over and over. I wanted to be everything for her: her lover and sparring partner and friend. In this bed, I could be everything.
Series: Beautiful Bastard #1.5
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: 7/9/13
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Source: Purchase
Rating: 5 stars
Picking up where Beautiful Bastard left off, Chloe Mills and Bennett Ryan continue their steamy, combative relationship.
Just when Chloe’s career starts to take off, Bennett wishes it would all slow down long enough to spend a wild night alone with his girlfriend. But after he refuses to take no for an answer, Chloe and Bennett find themselves with two plane tickets, one French Villa, and a surprising conversation that, predictably, leaves them wrestling under the covers.
I freaking loved Beautiful Bitch. I appreciated learning what happened after the end of Beautiful Bastard, how Bennett and Chloe manage to balance love and work. These two are scarily alike, and that makes for some serious head-butting, and angry, aggressive, balancing, make-up lovin'.
What's really cool about the relationship is that the authors kept it real. Just because Chloe and Bennett are in love and in it for the long road does not mean that their life is blissful and easy. They still bicker, still have battles of wills, still struggle to balance work life, and the fact that Bennett is technically Chloe's boss, in a way.
But what really won me over with Beautiful Bastard and Beautiful Bitch? THE LOVE STORY, seeing the powerful and hard-assed Bennett Ryan brought to his knees by love. That kind of devotion and unflinching admission of love is just absolutely gorgeous. It makes this romance lover's heart feel super happy.
Favorite Quotes:
"Tell me you love me," she whispered.
My heart was racing and my blood seemed to pound through my veins. "I love you. Wildly. I'm..." I'd imagined this a thousand different times, but this moment felt way too loaded and my words came out in a breathless rush. Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I murmured, "I'm wildly in love with you."
I smiled as I thought back to my mother's advice: "Find a woman who will be your equal in every way. Don't let yourself fall for someone who'll put your world before theirs. Fall for the powerhouse who lives as fearlessly as you do. Find the woman who makes you want to be a better man."
Well, I had found her. Now all I had to do was wait for her to get here, so I could make sure she knew.
Series: Beautiful Bastard #2
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: 4/16/13
Format: Paperback
Pages: 426
Source: Purchase
Rating: 5 stars
A charming British Playboy. A girl determined to finally live. And a secret liaison revealed in all too vivid color. Book two in the NYT Bestselling series.
Escaping a cheating ex, finance whiz Sara Dillon's moved to New York City and is looking for excitement without a lot of strings attached. So meeting the irresistible, sexy Brit at a dance club should have meant nothing more than a night's fun. But the manner--and speed--with which he melts her inhibitions turns him from a one-time hookup and into her Beautiful Stranger.
The whole city knows Max Stella loves women, not that he's ever found one he particularly wants to keep around. Despite pulling in plenty with his Wall Street bad boy charm, it's not until Sara--and the wild photos she lets him take of her--that he starts wondering if there's someone for him outside of the bedroom.
Hooking up in places where anybody could catch them, the only thing scarier for Sara than getting caught in public is having Max get too close in private.
Goshdangit. (<---that's me, being eloquent) This series is making me eat my words and I freaking love it. First, I didn't like Bennett and Chloe. Then I loved them. Then, I didn't think I would love Beautiful Stranger as much as Beautiful Bastard. And then, I did. It's pretty great when you find a series that is fun and sexy and you completely enjoy each book more and more.
Max and Sara were a delight. He's a British playboy who's never ever been in love. She's been in love and burned badly. They come together in anonymity and hot sex in public places. She doesn't want to fall in love again so soon. He can't help but fall in love with the shy, beautiful woman who comes alive in his arms.
Beautiful Stranger was ridiculously sexy. I mean, WOW. Max and Sara are pretty much my new heroes. It was also fun and charming, because it appears Christina Lauren can't write anything that doesn't amuse me immensely. And best of all, I adored the characters. Max and Sara were totally likable and from the get-go, you just can't help but root for their happy ever after.
Beautiful Stranger was brilliant.
Favorite Quotes:
I was really more like an old star, out of fuel, my own gravity pulling me inward, crushing me. I ran out of energy for my too-perfect life, my too-predictable job, my loveless relationship--exhausted at only twenty-seven. Like a star, my life in Chicago collapsed under the force of its own weight, so I was leaving. Massive stars leave behind black holes. Small stars leave behind white dwarfs. I was barely leaving behind a shadow. All of my light was coming with me. I was ready to start over as a comet: refuel, reignite, and burn across the sky.
Her laughter vibrated along my neck and beneath my skin. I'd never heard her make such a goofy, indelicate sound. Another one of her walls I'd penetrated. Victory surged warm and sharp in my chest, and for a brief pulse I wanted to yell out the window that she was letting me in.
I heard the click of a shutter followed by Max's deep voice. "The way you seem nervous makes me think you don't know that I'm in love with you."
Series: Beautiful Bastard #2.5
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: 4/16/13
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Source: Gift
Rating:
A beautiful bastard of a groom-to-be. A bachelor-party-crashing bride. And one unforgettable night on the Vegas strip.
When Bennett's friends steal him away from Chloe for a weekend of shenanigans and strippers in Vegas, their first stop doesn't exactly go as planned. Their scheme for a guys' weekend completely derailed, Bennett and Max take every chance they get to rendezvous secretly with the women they love. But when the persistently single Will Sumner catches on, the pair realizes they need to team up with him instead of butting heads if they're to escape for more sexy Vegas hookups.
Beautiful Bastard's Chloe Mills and Bennett Ryan are back for one last blazing prewedding hurrah- but if what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they might not ever want to leave.
Okay, Beautiful Bombshell was so much fun! Bennett/Chloe and Max/Sara getting it on all over Las Vegas? Seriously, what's not to love. It was hot. It was hilarious. And at the heart of it, the Beautiful Bastard and his Beautiful Bitch are so completely in love.
As a bonus, this story, with Max and Bennett warning Will- that when he falls in love, it will be just as ridiculously overwhelming- really leads up well to Beautiful Player. I've already read and loved that book, but it made me want to pick up Beautiful Player and Beautiful Beginning all over again.
I'm so happy I gave this series another chance. It's been a blast.
Favorite Quote:
I felt the cool press of her engagement ring, thinking holy shit, this woman is going to be my wife, have my children, share my home and life. She'll see me grow old and most likely insane. She'll promise to love me through all of it.
I lifted myself above her, arms straight so I could watch what I was feeling, moving inside her. But her hands cupped my face, brought my attention back to her eyes.
"Hey."
I tried to catch my breath, felt sweat drop from my forehead onto her chest. "Yeah?"
She licked her lips, swallowed. "I am so in love with you."
The Beautiful Bastard Series
(covers lead to GoodReads)
Beautiful Bastard
My Reviews
Christina Hobbs & Lauren Billings write under the combined pen-name of Christina Lauren. Separated by the pesky state of Nevada, these co-author besties talk several times a day, agree that Ruby Pumps is the best nail polish color ever, and would, if given the choice, spend all day staring at the ocean from the San Clemente pier.
Series: Wild Seasons #2
