Beautiful Bastard

Beautiful Bastard
by Christina Lauren
Published by Gallery Books
320 pages
Genre: erotica
Thanks to edelweiss for the preview
3 / 5


What must it be like for Chloe Mills, forced to work for the titular beautiful bastard Bennett Ryan? He's gorgeous, no doubt, and immensely sexually alluring. But he's a bastard. Not in the literal sense, mind you, but more of the "he's an a-hole to work for" variety. With her MBA smarts, Chloe is determined to outlast Bennett, if not outsmart him as well.

But ... there is the matter of him being so hot and all. He might just turn out to be irresistible if, say, he presses her up against the wall, inserts his fingers into her vagina, kisses her breasts, and makes her orgasm on his hands.

Just sayin'.

Bennett and Chloe cannot stand each other. Let's make this perfectly clear: they loathe each other. They may have a modicum of professional respect for one another, but their feelings are not of like or even tolerate. They HATE EACH OTHER. And so we are treated to all manner of hated-fueled sex.

They fight, they have sex. They argue, they have sex. They belittle each other, they have sex. They look at each other with hateful fuming, they have sex. In Bennett's office and elsewhere. They are insatiable for each other, even if they hate themselves afterwards.

There is some corporate intrigue type stuff going on, but that is inconsequential. What we are supposed to care about is Bennett's self-growth. He realizes that he has less than hateful feelings for Chloe, and we're supposed to be impressed by that. We're supposed to think it's lovely that he grows up. For her sake, Chloe is fairly oblivious, convinced that the two merrily continue their hate sex.

I'll be honest: I read the whole thing, and if I was never quite bored, I also was never fully invested. I really could not have cared less if Bennett and Chloe wound up together. In fact, I wanted the two to be torn asunder. I also could not have cared less if they were happy.

Having said that, I must give props for some hot sexy times. There is a lot of sex in this book, and all of it is really, really hot. Hateful, but hot.

So here is what I would do: read it, skimming the "plot" and "character development" (I can't even type that without laughing) and go straight for the sex.