In the wake of 50 Shades of Grey and its redonkulus success, publishers have been more than eager to pick up previously self-published fanfiction (or otherwise), repackage it and sell it to wider audiences. And as poo poo as some book lovers have been on this, you can’t deny the success of EL James, Sylvia Day, Jamie McGuire etc. Guys, when these books make it into Wal-Mart and Target, we aren’t talking small potatoes anymore – that distribution is HUGE. Beautiful Bastard is one of those books (I’ve seen its face in Target) and is unapologetically upfront about its origins. Let me be clear, I’m not passing judgment one way or the other, just noting this. Now when my books end up in Target (HAH!) I can have an opinion on something.
Anyway, while I’ve read a number of adult books (not so many to fill all fingers and toes) this is my first formal adult review. Well, here we go. So, I gotta say, I laughed a lot more than I expected. Yes, I realize on the cover it does mention name-calling, but between the sniping back and forth and the pure situational humor, I was laughing out loud. And also I loved that this was a dual POV novel. All other romances I’ve usually stick to the girl’s POV. I think that’s the conventional thought of ‘well, only women read romances and women only want to read from the woman’s POV because they like love and emotions and men don’t *really* feel those things’. Sadly, I don’t really think that construct is being broken until the last year or so. But anyway, I appreciated the male POV and just liked reading Bennett, even if he’s a bit of an ass for most of the book.
It’s inevitable. We are gonna have to talk about the sexytimes. And there’s quite a bit of those. Seriously. The book starts and they go at it like rabbits in springtime. Most of these are of the quick illicit tryst types as you would expect in a professional office environment. But still, overall, quite enjoyable. Don’t even give me that arched-eyebrow look you’re giving me right now…
As much as I enjoy the humor, sexytimes, etc. this book had some small flaws. Within the first 20 pages, they hook up and Chloe gives him a fantastic case of blue balls. While that’s completely hilarious, I kinda wish I’d seen more of their ‘before’ relationship. It took a long time to get a feel of exactly how the relationship had been and how that was shifting. All I understood was that he was a bastard to her, next thing you know she’s well, letting him do what he does.
A big part of romance is the chase, or the ‘will they, won’t they?’ part of it and I never really felt that in this book. They’d resolve to stop their affair, half a page later, oops, nope. They’d have an argument over something silly and in another book it would take 50 pages to resolve the misunderstanding, but next page, fight resolved and they’re back at it. If this were real life and I was a friend and confidante to Chloe, we’d be sitting over mimosas and I’d be saying “oh, come on, girl, you gotta make him work for it a little.” That’s the kind of girl friend I am, apparently.
All of that being said, I still enjoyed it. Four-stars-solid enjoyed it and especially for romance, if it entertains me and keeps me reading, I can overlook a lot of little issues.
If you like this book, don’t miss Want by Stephanie Lawton and If You Stay by Courtney Cole.