BEAUTIFUL BASTARD SERIES

by Christina Lauren

 

I was excited about this. I was looking for a fluffy, easy read while I was snowed in over the past few days. This book sounded a lot like Tangled by Emma Chase, which I enjoyed recently, so I figured I'd enjoy this too. And then... I started reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unprotected sex with absolutely no conversation? The incessant panty-ripping? The whole thing was giving me a full-on sexual harassment vibe for a while. There was no story, no romance, just... fighting and f*cking. It was almost straight-up Porn Without Plot.

I was honestly planning to give this 1 or 2 stars throughout the entire first half of the book. Aside from the aforementioned issues, there was a lot of "smirking" going on. A lot. (pet peeve). And several "she hissed/he hissed" dialogue tags when the letter "S" didn't even appear in their sentences. I don't believe you can hiss without the letter "S". Every little thing was pissing me off.

And then, I decided to accept this smutty fluff for what it was. When I did that, I started to recognize some things I really liked. And... I actually began to genuinely enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chloe was a badass who didn't stand for any of Bennett's shit. Finally a strong female character who doesn't turn to mush at the sight of a hot guy. Whatever he dished out, she gave right back. And, turns out that Bennett isn't a total ass. While this book did remind me of Emma Chase's Tangled, I never quite got over the extreme manwhore douchebag-ery of that main character.  Bennett, on the other hand, actually had me feeling a little swoony by the end. I've already devoured the sequels and fallen for him even more. If you told me I'd be saying these things back when I first began reading this book, I would have laughed. Loudly. For a long time. But it's true. I ended up a little in love with these sassy people.

I've seen a lot of criticism for this because it began as fanfic which shouldn't be capitalized on since the characters belong to another author, but I think it stands alone just fine with no obvious connection to a certain teenage vampire novel. This is its own story-- although it is devoid of much depth or plot.  I like that I was able to enjoy my snowed-in weekend with these books that were initially inspired by something I would never read.

I am thoroughly entertained and I don't think I stopped smiling at all while reading Beautiful Bitch or Beautiful Beginning. (I know I read a little out of order, but I was in a Ben and Chloe mood only, and the other books focus on different people I don't care about right now.) I'm taking a break from the Beautiful books, but I'll definitely be returning to them on my next snowy day.