(Beautiful Bastard #2)
Author: Christina Lauren
Narrator:Grace Grant and Jonathan R. Cole
Release: April 16, 2013
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Escaping a cheating ex, finance whiz Sara Dillon’s moved to New York City and is looking for excitement and passion without a lot of strings attached. So meeting the irresistible, sexy Brit at a dance club should have meant nothing more than a night’s fun. But the manner—and speed—with which he melts her inhibitions turns him from a one-time hookup and into her Beautiful Stranger.
The whole city knows that Max Stella loves women, not that he’s ever found one he particularly wants to keep around. Despite pulling in plenty with his Wall Street bad boy charm, it’s not until Sara—and the wild photos she lets him take of her—that he starts wondering if there’s someone for him outside of the bedroom.
Hooking up in places where anybody could catch them, the only thing scarier for Sara than getting caught in public is having Max get too close in private.
Review:
Here's all I really need to say in this review: This is a sexy erotic romance where the man is British and the male narrator's accent is British. The narrator's accent is British. Did you just add it to your TBR pile? That's what I thought.
Beautiful Stranger is the second full-length novel in Christina Lauren's Beautiful Bastard series, which is shaping up to be a super sexy and super fun series so far. In this one we get to actually meet Max Stella, who we were briefly introduced to in the novella between books one and two when Bennet had a phone conversation with him. Max meets Chloe's good friend Sara while they are all out at a night club, and wonderful spur-of-the-moment sex ensues. You might remember that Sara was in a relationship in book one, but here some time has passed and she has since broken it off with that boyfriend - under not so great circumstances.
Sara is a good leading lady, smart and successful with a great personality but a bit of a guarded fragility at times due to her past relationship. What's really wonderful is seeing her through Max's eyes. Even when its just sex between them in the early stages of their relationship, Max sees Sara as an absolutely stunning beauty who has an inner beauty as well. His nickname for her, "Petal", rolls out of the mouth of the male narrator in the most delicious way, and Max's affection for Sara is adorable.
Max and Stella have a lot of roadblocks in the way of their relationship. Unlike Bennett and Chloe, who knew each other for a while before beginning their sexual relationship, Max and Sara meet for the first time in this book. Max is a bit of a local celebrity who the local paparazzi love to photograph and Sara wants to avoid the limelight at all costs (and for very good, understandable reasons). I also felt like the climax in this book that led to the inevitable drama toward the book's end was better and more realistic than the one in book one. Although I felt like Sara was a bit quick to jump to conclusions, her past and the situation made her reaction make sense to me.
And, OH, the sex! Both Max and Sara realize together that they are both exhibitionists that enjoy having sex in public where people might see. This leads to some creative locations for their sexual encounters. A little fooling around in a cab while a cabbie is driving, anyone? Sex on a rooftop during a fireworks show? And always, the pictures! Max likes to take pictures during sex as well! Geez, could these two have more inventive things going on during their sex? I loved them. I loved all of Max's British words and phrases and the obvious love he had for Sara. I loved how Sara was interesting and mysterious and a worthy match for Max. Beautiful Stranger was another knock out of the park for the Beautiful Bastard series!
Notes on the Narrator: Beautiful Stranger has the same female narrator as book one, Grace Grant. However a male narrator was added for Max's POV in this one, Jonathan R. Cole. His British accent was spectacular. At first it sounded like he was having difficulty deciding is Max was English or Scottish, but as the book went on his accent smoothed out. He nailed everything he said. My especially favorite words of his were when he said Sara's name and when he called her "Petal"......and everything sweet and dirty he said to Sara when they were having sex.......
Recommended for fans of: Beautiful Bastard, erotic romance with fully fleshed out characters, hot British guys, and public sex.
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