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An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling.
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 2 million reads on fanfiction sites—Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release.
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soul mates and brain-twins, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, New York Times, USA Today, and #1 international bestselling authors of the Beautiful Bastard series. Some of their books have kissing. Some of their books have A LOT of kissing. You can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com, or at @seeCwrite and @LolaShoes on Twitter.
This book and review are intended for a mature audience. This is not a Young Adult title. Mom, you've been warned.
Rating: 3
The Low Down: Girl getting her MBA interns as assistant to gorgeous a*hole. Hate/love and hot n heavy sex ensues. Will both parties be redeemed or crash and burn?
Much like people didn’t pick up (sorry, I have to mention it) Fifty Shades of Grey to read about the life of a soon-to-graduate college student, I imagine many aren't reading this for its tips on getting an MBA. I don’t know what happened in the last year or so, but it looks like all that red wine we’re drinking isn’t going to waste. Real grown-up ladies are wanting to read something with, uh, a little more sumthin’ sumthin’, if you know what I am saying. If you don’t know what I am saying, then what I am saying is graphic sex. Red wine = red blood?
Call me a purist, but whatever graphic-ness is involved, I still want my book to be written well. It’s hard enough (stop it) to read all of the silly verbs and adjectives in erotica without rolling my eyes; I don’t want a total hot mess of a book on top of that (uh sorry). I would go to great lengths (ignore that) to keep from reading something that ultimately left me high and dry (seriously?) in the story line department.
Beautiful Bastard plants its Prada loafers right in the middle of the proverbial road. Those of you who picked it up more for the action won’t be disappointed (get it in eBook form so you can bookmark those pages that you enjoy most). For those of you who, like me, prefer a little more heft, you may want to get your favorite romance and write your own scenes (You're a naughty minx, Miss Bennet!). For those of you who have no desire to rewrite literature, I will say that the story takes over in the second half of the book. The sex parts don’t peter out (ignore that, too), but it’s clear that the authors wanted to make this a real story.
In all honesty, I don't know how to properly review a book of this nature. How seriously does the writing matter if your blood is pumping and heart rate is accelerating? I can only treat it like any other book that I review, I guess. Some people may just call this porn, but there is a difference between porn and erotica. My definition would be that erotica is much better written and is concerned with the story as well as the sex. Some may say that any graphic sex makes it porn. To-MAY-to, to-MAH-to.
The tried-and-true romance tale formula is used, you know where the two main characters hate each other at first? It works here just fine, too. The bottom line: this is a book that isn’t too big for its La Perlas; you get what you came for.
Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren was published February 12, 2013 by Gallery Books. A free copy of this book was given to Ink and Page in return for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books and the Mses. Christina and Lauren.
Genre: Adult Fiction Contemporary Romance Erotica
Ages: Adult
You Might Want to Know: In case it's not clear, there is graphic sex; profanity
41 out of 46 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I was a little apprehensive to start this book. I wasn’t sure how I would like yet another Twilight fanfic turned novel. I’m not sure why, especially since I loved Fifty. I guess my issue is that I didn’t want to see the parallels and comparisons with Twilight, I wanted something that was able to stand on it’s own. I got that and more with this book! Everything about Beautiful Bastard is a win for me. The cover is edgy, smart, sexy and screams read me (does anyone else see Adam Levine when they look at the cover?). Once I started reading, I was captivated with and enthralled by Bennett & Chloe’s story! Their chemistry leapt off the page, and had me desperately wanting more with every page that I turned.
From the minute that Chloe meets Bennett, sparks fly. Their attraction is instant but becomes buried in their overwhelming dislike and hatred for the other. She has worked at Ryan Media Group for six years, but nine months ago Bennett arrived, and things haven’t been the same since. Having to work for him directly, she soon finds out that under the amazingly sexy surface, he is arrogant, condescending and questions every decision she makes. What I found extremely refreshing about Chloe’s character is her strength and attitude. She is not meek or mild-mannered, she does not stand idly by while Bennett railroads her and she gives, just as good as she gets. She is a smart & savvy businesswoman who knows exactly what she wants, even if she won’t admit to herself that it’s Bennett.
Bennett doesn’t want to want Chloe. However, his attraction to her begins to overpower every other feeling he has. When he tries to fight it, he becomes an even bigger ***hole, which only makes it worse. Their lust is fueled by their hate and pretty soon it implodes in the conference room after work. After the explosive sex, they agree that it was a one time shot. How wrong they were!
From cover to cover this book was fantastic. While I loved the characters strong personalities, banter, arguments and altercations; the best parts of the book were when they brought down their walls and showed each other their weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It was then that their relationship started to develop and take off. Behind all that hatred was a love that needed to breathe and grow. After starting off a little sluggish, by the end of the book I was left wanting tons more of Chloe & Bennett. They are fabulous together and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.
14 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.AFwife5512
Posted Tue Feb 12 00:00:00 EST 2013
LOVE LOVE LOVE ChristinaLauren and their writing is so amazing! So happy for them both and hope EVERYONE reads this book. You will never look at lingerie the same way again, ladies!
xoxo, Deeds ;)
9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.We all know those people- gorgeous, powerful, and a complete jerk. The people that set you on edge by simply breathing your oxygen. Now imagine that you are an intern, working on your MBA and that person is your boss. Your future pretty much hinges on that person that makes your life hell. Now you know how Chloe Mills feels.
Chloe has one additional problem with her boss, Bennett Ryan- unbelievable chemistry.
Because of their mutual dislike and unbelievable chemistry sparks fly from the very beginning of the book. I loved Chloe and Bennett's verbal sparring, sexual chemistry and their eventual realization that there might be more going on than just physical chemistry.
9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sat Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2013
My new fave book!
6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This was one of the most pointless, asinine, and ridiculous books I’ve ever read in my life. Luckily for all of us that means that this review will likely be short. Most of the time in erotica, you get a story about why the main characters like each other enough that they want to have sex. Not in this one. Here, these two despise each other, yet still have sex at least once every ten pages. This is just porn, pure and simple written porn. It was a Twilight porn, and it is not suddenly better once the names have been changed. There was no plot, there was no characterization. Just two people who insult each other, screw each other, fight some more, insult some more, have more sex….and repeat for 300 of the most boring pages in all of fiction.
These two characters were the most narcissistic human beings ever and all that happens is they have sex. Then they fight and get pissy for absolutely no reason and then make up and have sex. Oh, and the panties hoarding thing is on the level of a rapist from Law & Order: SVU. I shuddered every time he indulged that particular whim. And then shuddered in greater horror when I realized we had to endure another sex scene. Horrid book with no redeeming qualities.
No wait, it has one redeeming quality. It announces right off the bat exactly what it is, a rewritten fan fiction. At least it doesn’t try to hide it.
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2013
I was very disappointed with the transition from fan fiction to published. The FF was angst and love, this was just horny and happy and not realistic at all. I had my sister read it and i told her the version from FF and she said they should have stuck with that one. This is one of the first times that i did not like the transition. I try to support all FF writers but this one was bad :(
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This one is brimming with steam. If you are offended by lots of sex in risque places between characters who hate each other, then skip this one. It is about halfway through the book when feelings finally come into play, but they are there. This is an easy book to read. I like how it is in alternating POV so we can see what both of them are thinking, because they don't actually talk unless it is to argue. Even though they hated each other, I had to keep reading to find out when/how things would change. (And I admit, I read the earlier version when it was posted online, so I pretty much knew how things were going to work out anyway.) So, while it bothered me that Chloe was hooking up with her hot boss who was a complete jerk to her, I had to keep reading and was satisfied by how things worked out. There is going to be a sequel with one of the secondary characters and I will be reading that one as well. I can't help it.*I received a copy from NetGalley for my honest review
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2013
Flipping Amazing
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.xCynyx
Posted Mon Mar 25 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I always had a little special spot for books that had the title somewhere along the book. You know, that fits into the characters thoughts? yep! So this one started with a right hand :) And also with what looks like a very good Main Character.
“Become the person the CEO can’t live without. Be their right-hand man.”
“I had become irreplaceable. And I’d definitely become the Right Hand. It just so happened that in this case, I was the right hand that most days wanted to slap the damn face.
My boss, Mr. Bennett Ryan. Beautiful Bastard.”
And wow... two lines in, and Mr. Ryan proves you that he totally deserves the title...
When I started I was really excited, the firsts chapters are good and have some really nice quotes, and because he needs a description I’ll say yes to this:
“ “Late” was a word not found in the Bennett Ryan Dickhead Dictionary. Along with “heart”, “kindness”, “compassion”, “lunch break”, or “thank you” “
Now, not many books can pull off the characters giving into the sexual tension from the start. And I’m afraid this one didn’t really did it for me.
I loved Chloe at first. She’s witty and smart
Considering she slept (more like the F-word) her boss in the conference room,left him waiting his turn for the favor and says:
“If this was someone else’s life I would be high-fiving them so hard.”
I Wanted to high five her.
And then... IT HAS DOUBLE POVS!! *cue Cyny was super happy right then*
Problem? That’s as far as my excitement got. I enjoyed reading this, is a light and quick read. But as much as I tried, I couldn’t really care for the characters, and there’s no real plot to the story.
They have sex, lots of it. And that’s it for them. He treated her like crap and we never really get a reason for it that actually makes sense. They couldn’t stay away... but I didn’t find an emotional connection for it, just sex...
So, I get the different rating this gets. Was it good? No really... Did I enjoy it? Yeah in a way. So you should maybe give it a chance.
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Beautiful Bastard is a fun, extremely Hot story... with too strong an emphasize on the sex, for my taste. All the sex scenes were done in the tone of "I hate your guts but oh my god our physical attraction is so great I'm going to have sex with you everywhere and everytime we meet, anyway!". And if you take those sex scenes off? You'll be left with maybe 20% story. However, about 60% through the story (and luckily this is a short book), when the couple started actually talking and you could see other reasons for them to fall in love other than fantastic sex, I started enjoying the story. I started laughing at things they said, I started enjoying the characters and liking them. So this wasn't completely terrible, as far as I'm concerned. If you like hot books, love/hate relationships and snark and sarcasm, and if you don't mind the excessive sex scenes, you might enjoy this book. Personally, I would have liked there to be a lot more sex, and much more story/conversations/reasons for the two to fall in love.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Thu Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Love how Chloe gives as good as she gets and puts Bennett in his place
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Feb 12 00:00:00 EST 2013
Thank you JackiesBookWorld for runing the ending for anyone reading the reviews. You probably shouldn't have put how it ends in your review. That is just not right! Haven't read this yet and not sure if I will, so I won't rate it poorly, but I wanted to comment of Jackies review.....
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Jul 17 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Sucked royal,no need to buy the others!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2013
I dont typically write reviews but this book was terrible. Dont waste yoir time reading or your money. Totally unrealistic story line, the chareacters moved to fast. The author did not build the story or the characters. Just not a good book!!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Mar 18 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Bought this book and all it is is the sample I just read......really.....for $7.99 I get 31pages, not even a full chapter.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Dia_Pelaez
Posted Wed Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2013
A love-hate relationship couldn’t get any more complicatedly right than this!
Bennett Ryan reminds of those young pre-pubescent boys who would bully the girl they like just to catch her attention – that same boy in grade school who would stick a gum on a girl’s hair, the one who would pull her pigtails and make fun of her just to make sure that he has her attention. It’s endearing to think about it but when you’re the girl who’s the object of his attention, it’s downright annoying and infuriating. And that’s exactly how Chloe Mills feels about her boss. In her very own words, “she was the right hand that most days wanted to slap the damn face”.
Plot-wise, it has no plot. Seriously, aside from the love-hate relationship between Bennett and Chloe, this book had absolutely nothing. Nada, zero, zilch. It’s an erotica romance, plain and simple. Aside from the overt antagonism, the characters have hidden intense attraction with each other. They have wild, hot sex. They realize that amidst the mind-blowing sex with each other, they actually fell in love. So then, they end up together. That’s it.
To be honest, if the scenes in this book were to happen in real life – which I’m very sure, won’t have a chance any time soon – lawyers would have a field day because it would be raining cases of sexual harassment.
Now, what do I like about this book? It’s Chloe. I love a female character who has spunk and can give back as good as she got. Abnormal attraction with Mr. Ryan aside, Chloe is pretty much a kick-ass heroine because she’s no pushover. She’s smart, confident and hard-working, and she doesn’t let her overbearing bastard of a boss to rattle her witless.
As for the writing, sometimes it’s witty and sometimes it’s just over the top that it just makes me say, “Yeah, right”. Then I laugh. I don’t know if the authors intended for the book to elicit such reaction.
Overall, I believe that there is a proper audience for this book who could better appreciate it. Personally, I was looking for a proper rising action or build-up for the story before the characters declare their undying love for each other. Then again, who am I kidding? This is an erotic romance. And I’m pretty sure that fans of the erotica genre would enjoy reading this one.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Feb 13 00:00:00 EST 2013
It's actually worse than 50 Shades of Grey - don't bore yourself - just find another way to get your jollies!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Who doesn't love a good office romance laced with random sexual romps, tension that could melt a stick of butter and a heavy dose of snark? 'Beautiful Bastard' by Christina Lauren is all that and more.
4.5 stars goes out to this novel.
Here's the thing: yes, it's a re-written 'Twilight' fanfiction that basically help start the smutty trend within that fandom. Everyone's opinions are of their own, but I was generally excited to see what Christina and Lauren were going to do with changing 'The Office' from fic to published fiction. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE EDITING. 'Beautiful Bastard' provides fans of 'The Office' fan fiction a revised set of characters, backgrounds and settings while delivering the same level of delicious smut and sexually fueled snark that we've come to love from the original fan fiction.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Tue Aug 05 00:00:00 EDT 2014
Not worth the money or time
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling.
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 ...