Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Beautiful Bastard

This story was definitely all about the romance. I don't typically gravitate towards contemporary romance novels, but this was a quick and efficient read. There was not a lot of world or character building which I didn't mind, and it didn't affect my enjoyability of this book. I've decided that if this is the way these books are going to read, they will make great filler books when I'm waiting for my next reads to become available. :-) I was pleasantly surprised.

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osangelv's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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amateur_bookworm's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

My summary:

Chloe Mills is close to finishing her MBA while working at Ryan Media. And her boss, Bennet Ryan, is a complete asshole. But Bennet has been completely obsessed with her for months and sparks fly when he acts on it.

My thoughts:

If you’re looking for average smut, no plot, unlikeable characters, and a single female narrator despite being a dual POV book, then buckle up, I’ve got just the audiobook for you.

The spice comes early and out of left field, and then really doesn’t let up for the rest of the book. There is no tension or buildup. Just smut that’s not even very good. At first, I thought the hate sex would be nice. But it got so cringey. And, let me guess: They don’t care if someone sees them. (Insert repeated eye rolls).

I really didn’t like Bennett Ryan’s character. The audacity of things he says! And her responses! Yikes. Also, we get it. He’s an asshole. (Insert more eye rolls).

The narrator is Grace Grant. I already wasn’t really enjoying her narration, but I basically completely lost interest as soon as I realized she is doing Bennett’s chapters too. Would it have been that hard to get a male narrator for his chapters? I’m not sure I’ve had a single female narrator for a romance book with dual female and male POV chapters before and I don’t like it.

Welp. Overall, this was not worth the audible credit.

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feralforestgoblin's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

Dnf. 0/10. I would like those minutes of my life back

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kshertz's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

It’s a very interesting twist to have somebody be such a jerk upfront and then you get to know him and he still never really opens up until the very end. It has a plot but really, it’s a lot of smut. Lovely and fun. Very well written. I enjoyed it as a great distraction ❤️

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cmaree88's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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fairytales's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This book was an oof yikes (and I have rated another one of these authors’ books 5 stars). I skimmed and should have DNF’ed this. This dynamic is just hugely problematic and I couldn't put that aside when reading. I know they were going for an enemies to lovers work romance but a) it felt unrealistic with the way it jumps from 0 to 100 on the lust side at work and was clearly breaking a million rules and b) the beginning feels like a sexual harassment case not a romance.

He is literally her boss, it’s a huge power dynamic issue and he just touches her in a conference room without permission and no conversation from her indicating that she’s interested. Also so brazen—they seem remarkably unconcerned about being caught having sex multiple times on company property during the work day. Maybe this is fantasy fulfillment for some folks but I felt the plot didn't work. They could have considered having them at a bar with coworkers and made him be at the company but not her direct boss and it would have at least felt less like such a blatant violation of multiple workplace rules.

I think they should have done more to transition this from a fanfic to a book. This is showing me I am much more of a slow/medium burn romance gal and this much smut without feelings first is not for me.

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princessdana36's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I like a little more plot with my spiciness. The characters weren’t really developed. The sex scenes sure were spicy though!

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