To-be-published February 12, 2013
Publisher: Gallery Books
Format: e-ARC - Netgalley
Genre: Adult Romance/Erotica
Rating: 3 STARS
(From Goodreads) 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.
I was really hoping that lighting would strike twice. I loved The Fifty Shades series, even with all its imperfections. And, when I saw Beautiful Bastard on Netgalley and then saw it was another Twilight fan fict, I had to give it a go. How could I not??
Fifty Shades, it was not.
First of all, Bennett really is a bastard. He's rich, beautiful and a total jerk. Why any woman would want him to come within 10 feet of her is beyond me. And, as a boss? UGH. Horrible. The weird thing is, he seems to change on a dime about halfway through the book. Why is that? There is no major thing that happens - no big epiphany. He just goes from calling her a shrew one day to sweet the next.
Then there's Chloe. She is everything I find irritating in a female character. She despises her boss. Fantasizes about quitting her job to get away from him. Yet, the first time he sticks his hand up her skirts, she's kind of forgotten all about that. Well... not really. She remembers that she hates him. But, she does the deed anyway. Again and again and again. But, she hates him. With a passion. It seriously made me crazy.
After they get over their hatred of each other, the book improves a lot. It follows a very formulaic pattern, but the ending is no less satisfying. It redeemed itself a little bit.
One good thing about Beautiful Bastard is that, even though it was originally posted on a Twilight fan fict site, I see no correlation to the popular book series. This is one area where Beautiful Bastard has a leg up on Fifty Shades of Grey. I kept looking for the similarities, and other than the fact that the leading guy has lots of money, there really weren't any.
I expected more, but wasn't totally disappointed. It was a quick read, so if you have time, give it a try and let me know what you thought.
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