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caitybell's review against another edition
4.0
Christina Lauren is a household name within the Contemporary Romance genre, but I bet not a lot of people remember they got the start writing this book here and posting chapters online. The Beautiful Bastard series remains my favorite books by Christina Lauren and is probably my initiation into spicy romance.
All of the books in this series are Office Romances, super smutty, and wonderfully heartfelt. Beautiful Bastard is the first, and when I say it is hate-to-love/enemies-to-lovers, I don’t mean that in the vague way so many books now-a-days use the trope. Chloe and Bennett HATE each other, give as good as they get, and use each other’s bodies in equal measure. Chloe is a ball buster and Bennett is her asshole boss. When the simmering, aggressive tension finally snaps between them, the angry sex that ensues is hot and not sweet in the least. What is sweet is how much both of them deny that their hate really isn’t hate at all, and how perfect they actually are for each other.
Beautiful Bastard is a quick, obsessive romp you won’t be able to put down, and the other books in the series are EVEN BETTER. Each book is a new couple, but they are all connected in some way through business and each book has a different singular trope played throughout.
Beautiful Bastard: Hate-to-Love
Beautiful Stranger: Voyeurism
Beautiful Player: STEM girl looks to brother’s best friend for guidance in dating
Beautiful Stranger: Business trip
Beautiful: The final culmination of all the series’s couples that go on a vacation together and the only single guy and girl are paired up
If you like Christina Lauren, Contemporary Romance, office romcoms, or Romance series’ with multiple connected couples, then definitley pick up this series.
NOTE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE AUDIOBOOKS.
All of the books in this series are Office Romances, super smutty, and wonderfully heartfelt. Beautiful Bastard is the first, and when I say it is hate-to-love/enemies-to-lovers, I don’t mean that in the vague way so many books now-a-days use the trope. Chloe and Bennett HATE each other, give as good as they get, and use each other’s bodies in equal measure. Chloe is a ball buster and Bennett is her asshole boss. When the simmering, aggressive tension finally snaps between them, the angry sex that ensues is hot and not sweet in the least. What is sweet is how much both of them deny that their hate really isn’t hate at all, and how perfect they actually are for each other.
Beautiful Bastard is a quick, obsessive romp you won’t be able to put down, and the other books in the series are EVEN BETTER. Each book is a new couple, but they are all connected in some way through business and each book has a different singular trope played throughout.
Beautiful Bastard: Hate-to-Love
Beautiful Stranger: Voyeurism
Beautiful Player: STEM girl looks to brother’s best friend for guidance in dating
Beautiful Stranger: Business trip
Beautiful: The final culmination of all the series’s couples that go on a vacation together and the only single guy and girl are paired up
If you like Christina Lauren, Contemporary Romance, office romcoms, or Romance series’ with multiple connected couples, then definitley pick up this series.
NOTE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE AUDIOBOOKS.
stacygenn's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mbfeeney's review against another edition
1.0
My mother taught me "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all", so I won't.
amandacoyne's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 but rounding down.
A very quick and light read! This was both really fun and great but also really cringy at times. It was funny, swoony at times, emotional at others, and spicy like 70-80% of them time. I loved loved loved all their banter. You really can’t go wrong with some CLo. Looking forward to continuing with the series because overall I really enjoyed myself!!
I’d personally classify this more as erotica than a general romance (which doesn’t bother me)-but if you want more of an emotional connection between the characters before they just start having sex this one probably isn’t for you. My biggest gripe was actually that sometimes the sex scenes felt repetitive like yeah they were in different locations but they all felt so similiar sometimes. I wished they changed it up occasionally. Also sometimes they had Bennett say something during a scene and it was just bad…like it would make me cringe bad.
A very quick and light read! This was both really fun and great but also really cringy at times. It was funny, swoony at times, emotional at others, and spicy like 70-80% of them time. I loved loved loved all their banter. You really can’t go wrong with some CLo. Looking forward to continuing with the series because overall I really enjoyed myself!!
I’d personally classify this more as erotica than a general romance (which doesn’t bother me)-but if you want more of an emotional connection between the characters before they just start having sex this one probably isn’t for you. My biggest gripe was actually that sometimes the sex scenes felt repetitive like yeah they were in different locations but they all felt so similiar sometimes. I wished they changed it up occasionally. Also sometimes they had Bennett say something during a scene and it was just bad…like it would make me cringe bad.
alisonhori's review against another edition
2.0
This was kind of a silly story, light on plot or even on normal-ish dialogue and comprehensible character relationships even when it was fan-fic but somehow I got curious to read this this book...SOG induced curiosity, I suppose. Weirdest part was that the sub-characters made no sense at all since they really only made sense to involve the rest of the Twilight cast...just strange here..but oh well. I am interested to read Beautiful Stranger though and see what these two come up with when they are not trying to fit a specific mold.
devansbooklife's review against another edition
3.0
This was a 5 star read for me years ago, which shows my evolution as a reader. I enjoyed this. I liked the tension, the banter, and the spice. But it escalated rapidly. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there was more build-up to the entanglement. I think this is a great starting book for readers dipping their toes into spice, as it is a spice heavy plot.
epicipec's review against another edition
3.0
I love Christina Lauren books so much but I feel like this one was more based on the “intimate” scenes rather than the actual plot. Nevertheless it was amazing!!!
therealbel's review against another edition
4.0
4.5, such a load of fun, and reminds me of our old fanfic days.