Saturday 26 September 2015

REVIEW; Beauty From Pain (Beauty #1), by Georgia Cates

Rating: 

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Drama

Recommend: 1000x YES


SPOILER-FREE

Summary:

Laurelyn Prescott is off on a 3month holiday with her best friend Addison, to stay with her brother Ben in Australia. After believing she had her heart broken, she is not looking to get with anyone… Enter Mr Jack Henry McLachlan. He doesn’t do relationships but he does agreements. He makes it clear from the start that each fling is solely exclusive sex with no emotional attachments and the women don’t get to know his name or anything private about him.

As soon as he sees Laurelyn he wants her. Proposing the best three months of her life, he does everything he can to get her. Going by her middle name Paige, she agrees to be his for three months and vows that if she starts to feel anything for him, she will run. But their agreement meets obstacles along the way, and as both get to know the true person behind the façade, they wonder is this just a three month agreement or is there more?


My Thoughts:

OH MY GOD THIS BOOOOOK! I AM MIND BLOWN AND ASTOUNDED AND IN SUCH A BAD BOOK MOURNING I CAN’T THINK STRAIGHT.

Where do I even begin with this fantastic piece of golden string of words?!


Laurelyn: She is brilliant! She’s 22 and not the typical shy and inexperienced scared little virgin. She’s not as experienced as Jack but she doesn’t let that intimidate her in the slightest. I do think she was a little bit brave and naïve to trust him so quickly at the start, going off alone with him before even knowing him. But then accepting their agreement, she had a new sexual confidence that she probably would’ve lacked if it had been a more emotional relationship. I got so annoyed when she believed Audrey!!! It was understandable but I HATE when people don’t just confront the person about the supposed lie. But it was integral to their story so I can forgive her! 


Jack/Lachlan: Forget book boyfriend, hello book Husband. He was unbelievable! From reading the blurb about this book I expected him to be a lot more selfish and focused on his own needs, but he was always about pleasing both of them. His immense caring for Laurelyn was so endearing, as he bought her meaningful presents (not just buying expensive crap for the fun) and remembered what she said and how she did things.


Writing: If anything, this is a masterpiece of writing. There is a great element of show not tell and we’re not spoon-fed information. It was SO CLEAR he had fallen for her in just how he spoke and treated her, but we knew that before he even realised it and it was poignant. It was good how not every single sexual encounter was documented but the important ones were. It kept it seeming more real as with every relationship certain events stand out more than others. There was no huge back story plonked in randomly for both characters, but rather a suitable flow that dropped little relevant bits here and there.


Story: I loved the whole idea of this. A girl off on holiday and meets someone and gets to have a great time but with no long term catches or contact. What happens on holiday stays on holiday…right? GAHHHHH BUT NO! At 89% I was so annoyed, upset, frustrated I wanted to whack my head off a wall. WHY WOULD SHE DO THAT TO HIM!?!?! And then the story ends at 90%! (Thankfully there is a sneakpeek of book 2 so there’s a little less of a chance of having a heart attack.) Their whole building relationship made such a captivating read. Starting off with no strings attached, and then Jack admits their friends and he enjoys her company outside of sex (swoooon) and so on until she meets his family. And what worked so well was both of them were hesitant to admit their feelings; Laurelyn wasn’t head over heels for him at the start, or probably even in the middle- it was a gradual thing and that made it so raw and beautiful. She wasn’t some naïve clingy woman; she accepted the terms and knew what it was and wasn’t and even though she did fall for him she still abided by the rules and THEN THE UNFORGIVABLE HAPPENED BUT I'LL REMAIN QUIET COS SPOILERS!




~~Sidenote: I’ve seen this novel as being labelled as BDSM, Erotica etc etc… it wasn’t though. Obviously the story is all centred around a sexual agreement so yes, there is steamy sexy time. But it’s not taboo, there are no whips and chains. Jack wants her to be his but he’s not a dominant or anything. They’re both equals and a perfect match! The title may be misleading but it all makes sense at the end. This is a beautiful story and suitable for all 18+ ~~


Overall: 


I can't recommend this enough. It had everything I want in a book. It was an original idea and the bigger main plot was obviously predictable, but the whole read was a rollercoaster of laughs and tears. It punched me at the end and I wanted to scream that I didn't have the second book - and I bought the rest of the series immediately and they jumped up on my reading list. If that doesn't convince you that you NEED to read this... then I don't know what will! 

- Oh, and this book is free so you have no excuses!


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