Where do I start? If you read my reviews, you know I’m not a big fan of the typical romance novels. But if I am going to read a romance novel, where every other page the characters are having sex… the writing needs to be magnificent. Beautiful Bastard was not magnificent but I’m still glad I had the chance to read it.
Let’s get the synopsis out of the way courtesy of Goodreads.com:
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.
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.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.
I picked up Beautiful Bastard because I saw it mentioned on the SMI BookClub Instagram. I took a screen shot and went to download it. The title, the cover, and the synopsis definitely had me intrigued. I’m still not sure what I was expecting when I started reading, but it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for.
First of all, there was no plot. I kept waiting and waiting for something to develop but no. It was the same cycle of Bennett Ryan aka Beautiful Bastard and Chloe hating each other then having sex. Arguments then sex. Rude comments and name calling, then sex with more name calling. Now, if a book is going to be 80% sex scenes… I’m going to need those scenes to be written well. The ones in this book were pretty mediocre.
Bennett had an obsession with taking Chloe’s underwear. He would rip them off and hoard them in a drawer. It was a little weird. Despite the mediocre writing I somewhat enjoyed this book. It was a really quick read, I think it took me about 4-5 hours. And I did like the characters in the book. They were easy to like, even Mr. Ryan the huge asshole of a boss. Chloe was a total bad ass. She obviously had her sexual desires, but she was a kick ass woman who knew how to get what she wanted.
I wish there was more to the Bennett & Chloe relationship or lack thereof. Towards the end they develop more feelings for each other but it almost seems unprovoked. I mean, the majority of the book they are rude to each other and kind of dislike each other. I also really hated the climax. Or the anti-climax as I see it. It didn’t feel right to me. I won’t go into too many details because I don’t want to spoil it, but it felt like the authors could have come up with something more solid than what they did.
And yes, I said authors. I didn’t realize until I was done that Beautiful Bastard was actually written by two women. One named Christina and one named Lauren, that’s where Christina Lauren comes from. These ladies were both fan fiction writer s and that is actually were the storyline for Beautiful Bastard came from. It was a Twilight fan fiction. Barf, I know. I’m kind of tired of Twilight Fan Fictions becoming these major books. I mean, c’mon! Twilight sucked. The writing was awful! I digress.
As with any fanfiction that becomes a novel… there is controversy surrounding this book. Personally, if the book is amazing, I don’t give a damn whether or not it started as a fanfic. As long as I don’t feel like I’m reading Twilight, I’m totally okay with it.
So, is Beautiful Bastard worth the read? Yes. It was entertaining despite the lack of plot. It was fun to read even though the sex scenes didn’t rank at the top of my list. And the characters were likable even though they may have started as Edward and Bella.
I also read Beautiful Stranger which is a sequel of sorts to Beautiful Bastard. It follows two characters that know Bennett and Chloe but were not the main focus of Beautiful Bastard. My review is coming very soon… and let me tell you, Beautiful Stranger was WAY better than Beautiful Bastard. Stay tuned to find out why!