Review: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren #Amreading @BeautifulBastrd

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.

  (Amazon product description)

Lots of women have fantasies of taming the asshole.  Chloe Mills doesn’t necessarily want to tame Bennett Ryan--she just wants to survive the remaining months of her internship working under the brilliant and mercurial man.  What I liked best about this story is that the author told it from alternating viewpoints.  If the whole thing had only from been told first-person from Chloe’s POV, Bennett would have come across as nothing but a jackass.  But the chapters from his POV added depth to his character, redeeming his nasty comments and short temper.  The love/hate relationship developed beautifully.

Another thing that I liked about this book is how it highlighted the still-precarious position women in the business world.  Even in 2013, women are held to different professional standards than men.  If the truth of their affair were to come out, people would automatically assume any success she experienced in her career was earned on her back.  It’s just not the same for men.  If Bennett had been the intern and Chloe the boss, that element of the story would’ve been lost. 

Before purchasing this book, I did what I always do and checked out the Amazon reviews.  I try to take them all with a grain of salt and not put too much stock into what any one review thinks.  There was one review that said this book finishes with a non-ending, that it simply cuts off.  Let me assure you, this was not that case at all.  It definitely felt like a complete book.  There were also some reviewers who criticized the profanity and abundance of sex.  This is an erotic romance.  It is meant for adults who speak and act like adults.  If you don’t like that sort of thing, then this book is not for you.  Personally, I love steamy stories and have a tendency to pepper my own speech with f-bombs, so Beautiful Bastard was right up my alley. 

Lastly, I actually listened to this book in audio book format.  The narrator, Grace Grant, was fabulous!  I have already been on Audible to see what other books she has narrated, so I can hear her work again.

Overall, I give Beautiful Bastard...

Plot - 4 bookmarks

Character Development - 4 1/2 bookmarks

Love Story - 4 bookmarks

Sex Scenes - 12 bookmarks (It’s my blog, and if I don’t want to stop at 5 bookmarks, I can.)

Cover Art - 5 bookmarks

Editing Quality - 5 bookmarks

Dream Cast (Otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Robert Pattinson (Bennett Ryan), Tatiana Maslany (Chloe Mills)

Review: MYTHOLOGY by @HelenBozz #5Stars #Amreading

Mythology – Helen Boswell

5/5 stars

Hope Gentry doesn’t believe in Fate. Born with an unusual power to see the dark memories of those around her, Hope just wants to be a normal teenager. But on the first day of her senior year of high school, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to a transfer student named Micah Condie. At first glance, Micah seems like a boy that most girls would dream about. But when Hope's powers allow her to discover Micah's darkest secret, she quickly becomes entangled in the lives of mythical entities she never dreamed existed. Was this her destiny all along? And will her powers help her survive the evil of the Demon Impiorum?

Mythology isn’t just for English class anymore.

(Amazon product description)

Reviewer: Aprilelayne

Cover Art: B+ - Original artwork by Brian Hoover

Length: 418 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Quality of editing:  No noteworthy issues.

Let me introduce you to my newest BFF: Helen Boswell (okay, so not really…she doesn’t know me at all, but after reading this, we are kindred souls.)

I won’t drag this out, I have stalled long enough on how to write a valid review without spoilers.  The entire concept and imagery is downright “cool as $hit.”  We have Hope, the main character that has grown to hate her natural born powers.  She has a special ‘sense’ to see the memories of others, sadly they are the traumatic and negative memories.  Time to cue the new student, aka, the potential love interest or villain? Hmm..it takes some time to decipher which way that goes.  As we all hear from our girlfriends, it is that “if he’s too good to be true, he very well may be.”

So we have Hope with her powers and now this Micah cutie..I mean character who jumps into her world and together they end up finding out more about what really is out there.  There is good and evil, and rules? What??  How else does it all go unnoticed by us mere mortals?  The Guardians and the Demon Imporium have to keep the powers in balance and behind the curtain. 

Oh but Jonathan and Micah both can get the reader to WANT to look behind the curtain!! 

This isn’t a Team Jacob or Team Edward kind of favoritism, Boswell somehow created two men of polar extremes that both can make a girl tingly in her toes.  Because we must admit, sometimes we want the bad and edgy, and other times we can’t help but want the reliable and good.

I don’t give 5 stars often, but when I do….it definitely worth it, hands down.

PS: Once you’ve read Mythology you may end up tempted to follow @MicahCondie and/or @JG_draper on Twitter!