Beautiful Bastard

By Christina Lauren

Published by: Gallery Books

An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling. Discover the story that garnered more than two million reads online.

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. Originally only available online as The Office by tby789—and garnering over two million reads on fan fiction sites—Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release.

Book Savvy Babe’s Thoughts

I’m not sure that I can call this a review, and I can not rate Beautiful Bastard because I could not finish this book.  I really hoped that this book would be enjoyable, but it was not a good fit for me.  Within the first few pages, I was baffled and had to put the book down.  Bennet and Chloe hated each other, but had to work together.  All of a sudden, despite their mutual hatred, they are all over each other, while telling each other how much they hate each other.  Huge turn-off for me.

After a break from the beginning of the book (where I didn’t even make it through their first sexual encounter), I decided to give it another go.  I got farther into the book, but the attraction/hate dual nature of Chloe and Bennett’s relationship continued.  The characters still hated each other, but managed to jump each other at every opportunity, then hate themselves for it as soon as it was done.  I found Chloe and Bennett’s encounters unrealistic, superficial, and repetitive.  The pattern continues for so long, and that is just not my thing.

I need romance, affection or like at the very least.  I made it through 50% of the book, and I just could not continue.  Some readers might be okay with the lack of affection and enjoy the sexual tension simmering between Bennett and Chloe.  There was some promise that they might get over themselves eventually, but not enough to keep me reading.  I’m sure some readers will find Beautiful Bastard a very hot read, but the romance, connection, and the believability were lacking for me.

So, that is why I could not finish this book.  I normally do not write notes or thoughts on books that I don’t finish, but I felt that I needed to clarify why this book did not work for me.

*Note on Fan Fiction*  This book was apparently a huge hit in the fanfic “Twilight” world.  I have to say, I didn’t get it.  Beautiful Bastard digressed from character development and plot-lines and was driven instead by sexual encounters, repetitive encounters at that.  If I hadn’t read/heard about this book originally being a Twilight fanfic, I NEVER would have pegged the characters as a Bella and Edward, there was not enough development for me to gain that understanding.

Hopefully, some of you readers will have a better understanding of this book than I did.  Happy reading,