Beautiful by Christina Lauren Review
5 Smooches
Synopsis
A FREE-SPIRITED GIRL IN NEED OF A BREAK.
A MAN WEIGHED DOWN BY RESPONSIBILITY.
A ROAD TRIP VACATION WHERE ALL BETS ARE OFF.
OH, AND A LOT OF WINE.
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 nothing short of Beautiful.
Review
‘Jensen and . . . me. Did I want to play this game? Maybe. I mean, clearly I had a crush. Immediately, blindly, and – ,most likely – uselessly.’
First off, who else is tearing up over the end to a series that got so many of us hooked on this style of funny, sexy, and emotional style of novel. I know that this duo will continue to write novels that blow us all away but for me personally it was this series that got me reading romance again. I have always since I was a young teen read some form of romance but I would go back and forth to it. Up until I discovered this series I had taken a several year romance break and then I discovered Bennett. And then Max. And when Will came out there was no hope for me. I was gone and have not turned back since.
“Contrary to what I said, I think I like your rambles. You aren’t some crazy lady on the plane anymore. You’re Pippa.”
Now for this book. This review will probably feel like a love letter to Pippa. Don’t get confused, I did love Jensen and while he’s not my favorite man from this series I still enjoy seeing his staunch and somewhat rigid personality loosen and relax when mixed with someone who is as much of a free spirit as my beloved Pippa. But the true beauty in Beautiful was Pippa.
“You’d do this for me? “Kissing you is a hardship I’ll have to bear.”
Pippa was fun, fearless and never afraid to make a fool out of herself when the need arises. And yet despite being a tad over the top and silly at times, she read utterly real and genuine. I loved her. I want to be her. I want to be her best friend. I am sitting here trying desperately to come up with any form of critique I can for her and am coming up blank. She was the perfect girl to pull the series to a close. From the moment she goes off on her cheating ex for trying to tell her the name of the woman he was just inside, I mean for real what if she wanted to name her daughter that one day, to having to make the hard decision of how much of herself and her life she can give up for love, she was perfection.
‘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 to 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.’
The premise of the story has all of my favorite characters together on a road trip and that in itself had me over the top giddy. Any chance I get to spend more time with Will, Hannah, Ruby and Naill I am all for it. But the authors did a great job of incorporating all characters in this book but making sure the focus was on Jensen and Pippa. Not till the epilogue did we get anyone other than their POVs. I really appreciated this. I wanted the chance to fall for these two like I did all the others. And fall I did. With every embarrassing, sensual, awkward and endearing moment I fell harder and harder for Jensen and Pippa.
‘It’s too bad I’m too eccentric for you. It’s too bad you’re too busy for me. It’s too bad I’m only learning my heart and you have yours rolled in bubble wrap.’
So while the journey for a cast of characters that has over the years become so close to me personally comes to a close I sit with bated breath hoping that Christina and Lauren give us some clues as to what the future holds for them and what we can expect to see them write soon.
~miranda
