SYNOPSIS:
From New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren comes the final installment in the Beautiful Bastard series, BEAUTIFUL (Gallery Books; On-sale: October 4, 2016; Trade Paperback; $16.00). This 10th and final title in the series serves as the perfect send off to the group of friends readers have come to love.
After walking in on her boyfriend shagging another girl in their place, Pippa Bay Cox ditches London for the States to go on a drunken road trip with Ruby Miller and some of her Beautiful friends.
Scaling the career ladder is the default way to deal with heartbreak—and to just deal—for Jensen Bergstrom. Absolutely buried by his drive and workload, he rarely takes time for himself. But when his sister Hanna convinces him to join the gang on a two-week wine tour, he has a rare moment of cutting loose. Of course, it’s only once he’s committed that he realizes the strange girl he met briefly on the plane is coming along, too. She might be too much for him . . . or he might realize his life has become too small and needs her to make it bigger, crazier.
With this circle of friends, there’s always something going on: from Chloe and Sara’s unexpected personality swaps to Will’s new domestic side to Bennett’s text message barrage and George’s own happily-ever-after. In short, their adventures in love, friendship, and hilarity are simply Beautiful.
*****Dee’s Review*****
4.5 Holiday Love Stars*****
(ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review)
I had forgotten how much I adore Christina Lauren’s books; luckily for me, Beautiful was the perfect reminder. This new book was the perfect memento for everything I’ve always loved in these stories and more; new characters as well as all our beloved previous ones. Utterly charming and beautiful, I couldn’t get enough.
Pippa is an engineer and she works a lot! One day feeling guilty for always putting more time into her job than into her relationship she goes home for lunch to surprise her boyfriend, but she ends up being the one to be surprised when she finds him having sex in her bed, at her apartment, with another woman. Upset she runs to her mother’s house seeking comfort, both her mums; yes, Pippa is the only child of two wonderful mothers. After hearing herself talk, Pippa realizes that she’s not as heartbroken as she should be by her boyfriend’s betrayal, she’s learning that she’s not happy with her job, or how her life has turned out to be, so her mums offer her the perfect solution, a holiday to Boston.
Overwhelmed by her current life situation and the comforts of a first class plane ticket Pippa drinks too much champagne and becomes a crazy flight companion to the guy sitting next to her. Little does she know that her embarrassment will follow her into her vacation as she runs into the gorgeous guy who sat next to her in the plane, on her holiday.
Jensen is at a party telling people about the story about the crazy-drunk lady he sat next to on the plane when he sees those beautiful eyes again.
Jensen too works a lot! Ever since getting divorced six years ago from his college sweetheart, he doesn’t see the point in trying to love again, so he has thrown himself into work. He dates and hangs out with his friends and family but in reality, he lives a pretty control and contained life.
When his sister Hanna invites him to be part of the road trip that she’s planned with Pippa and other friends, he is skeptical, because everyone is paired up, which means this trip is more than a set up to get him close to Pippa and outside of his comfort zone. He agrees to go, and the three couples embark on a beautiful adventure.
Beautiful sceneries, delicious wine, romance and someone from Jensen’s past will make this trip an unforgettable event.
Can Pippa and Jensen have a holiday fling and then go back to their empty lives, or will they find something neither of them knew they were looking for?
I think of this book as a present to all of us fans of this amazing series. We get a vibrant romance with Pippa and Jensen, but we also get a juicy glimpse into the beautiful lives of all of our favorite characters from previous books, making this last novel a blissful experience.
A wonderful book NOT to miss!!!!
My Beautiful music playlist:
*Mercy by Shawn Mendes
*All Of Me by John Legend
*If you Ever Wanna Be In Love by James Bay
*You’re Beautiful by James Blunt
*Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton
*****Mel’s Review*****
4.5 Stars!
(ARC provided by author)
“She’s out there. Whoever she is.”
Pippa Cox is a 26 yr. old free spirited, flamboyant, self-assured, gorgeous woman from London. She works for an engineering firm & lives with her boyfriend until she one day walks in on him cheating on her. When some friends invite her on a holiday touring wineries across the East Coast, Pippa decides time away is just what she needs.
On her flight to Boston to meet up with her friends, Pippa sits next to a hot businessman. She has a little too much to drink & proceeds to tell him all her problems. This beautiful stranger is Jensen Bergstrom, a lawyer from Boston. Jensen is tortured throughout the flight stuck listening to this chatty, loud Brit.
Jensen is the oldest of five siblings & the responsible one. He used to be a player, but since he divorced six years ago, he’s become a workaholic. His career is his life with the exception of spending time with his best friend Will who is married to his sister Hanna. Hanna is always lecturing Jensen that he needs to be more spontaneous & social. He’s too set in his ways. He’s been single so long, he’s in a rut. He’s a homebody who acts like he’s old. He casually dates but never lets himself get too invested.
His sister invites him to take a two-week road trip touring breweries & wineries up the coast. He knows he needs more balance in his life & to have a little fun, so he agrees to go. He soon learns the eccentric drunken woman he met on the plane is also going to be on this vacation. She’s a talker who says exactly what’s on her mind. She knows how to have fun, & Jensen begins to think maybe this trip won’t be so bad after all.
Pippa has quickly developed a major crush on Jensen. They get to know each other better while traveling together, & start to open up more to one another. Soon they are acting on their intense chemistry & enjoying each other’s company on an intimate level. Jensen never puts himself out there. He over thinks everything & his whole life lately has become predictable & routine. He’s been afraid to try again emotionally & risk his heart.
Jensen can simply just have fun & be in the moment with Pippa. She’s funny, honest, genuine, has no filter, & overshares to the extreme. She’s carefree & what you see is what you get. She knows her mind & her heart, and he finds her refreshing. She’s fearless & lives her life in color.
-It felt good to touch her like this.
-I felt safe with him. I felt important.
-I wanted to touch him everywhere, not only because I liked the lines and the tension of his body but also because I sensed that no one had ever made it their mission to learn each and every bit of him.
-It was as if every bit of him needed contact. How could a man so restrained by his own rules not see how much passion he craved?
Suddenly Jensen totally let’s go with Pippa. He’s adventurous & it’s as if she’s finally unleashed the beast. He’s passionate & having the time of his life, but soon reality comes as their holiday ends. She lives in London & him in Boston, so where could this possibly go. What was to be fun & casual turned into so much more. As Jensen tries to get back to work & reins himself back into his shell, Pippa feels lost & out of sorts after falling hard for this beautiful man. Can they figure out a way to be together?
I really adored this book! Jensen was hot as hell & I thought Pippa was awesome! I really loved getting more of all the other couples in this series too!
*****Patty’s Review*****
*****4.5 STARS*****
{ARC Generously Provided by Publisher}
This wasn’t what a fling should be. He wasn’t casual, forgettable. He wasn’t flaky or flippant. He was attentive, he was considerate, and—holy fuck—he seemed more committed in spending time with me than he was to sleeping, to eating, even to finding closure with Becky. It was almost as if this was what he wanted.
But only temporarily.
Christina Lauren has delivered the PERFECT ending to one of my most beloved series of all time. They gave me a new couple to adore and brought back all of the characters that I have grown to love over the past several years. It’s kind of bittersweet as well because although I really loved this story, I know that this is the end of the line for the BEAUTIFUL BASTARD series and I don’t know that I am truly ready to say goodbye to it!! It was easy to fall for every single Hero, but my #1 guy will always and forever be Will Sumner, and we get a hefty dose of Will in this last installment!! But ladies, get ready to fall for Hanna’s older brother, Jensen Bergstrom!!
Pippa Cox finds herself at a crossroads in her life at the ripe old age of twenty-three. She’s just kicked her boyfriend out of her apartment after having caught him in the act with another woman and for quite some time her job hasn’t been all that fulfilling to her. So her best pal Ruby Stella – Niall’s wife, convinces her to come out to Boston and join her and some friends on a road trip across the East Coast where they will stop at a few wineries before ending up in a luxurious cabin in Vermont. On her plane ride over to Boston, she finds herself seated next to an extremely gorgeous American but ends up getting plastered during the flight and doesn’t leave the best impression on him. Little do they know that they have friends in common and that they’re actually being set up on a blind date since Jensen’s little sister, Hanna, invites him to come along on the road trip with them as well.
Jensen’s life has been all about work for far too long. His divorce from more than six years ago left him disillusioned since his wife just up and left without a real explanation as to why she wanted out. So Jensen has given up on the idea of love and gets his needs satisfied about once or twice a month with a casual friend who is like minded as him and isn’t looking for a serious commitment. Hanna and Will constantly worry about Jensen. They’re hoping that Pippa will be the woman to rescue Jensen from a solitary and empty life.
Awkwardness soon turns into an easy friendship between Pippa and Jensen as their trip across beautiful New England embarks. The trip starts off being loads of fun for the three couples until halfway through their itinerary they run into an old acquaintance that isn’t all that welcome but this only ends up pushing Jensen and Pippa closer to one another. Soon enough they are giving in to their smoldering attraction for each other and these scenes made me feel like the pages were burning right there within my hands!! They agree to enjoy the rest of the trip as lovers but with the understanding that at the end they will go their separate ways. But what happens when something that starts out as fun might actually end up being that one and only soul deep love that everyone dreams of finding? Will Pippa and Jensen be able to get over their individual hang-ups and can they even try their hand at a long-distance romance??!!
I don’t know if there is anyone out there who has not read any of the books in this series yet, but if you haven’t, I highly recommend that you add it to your TBRs!! You really are missing out!!!
BEAUTIFUL is available now!
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2dOszkc
iTunes: http://apple.co/2dpwzbh
Wrapped Up In Reading 