Book Review: Beautiful Stranger (Book #2 in the Beautiful series) by Christina Lauren

I’d like to start out this review by saying that while I’ve been planning to read and review the entire Beautiful series, as well as Christina Lauren’s other series, Wild Seasons, ever since I read and reviewed Beautiful Bastard back in May, the decision to read and review Beautiful Stranger at this particular point in time was very random and spontaneous on my part. That being said, I’m so glad that I decided on whim to read Beautiful Stranger now, because I absolutely loved this book, even more than I loved Beautiful Bastard.

When it comes to what motivated me to read Beautiful Bastard, the main thing that originally made me want to read it was that I had heard that much like E.L. James’ Fifty Shades trilogy, Beautiful Bastard also originally started out as a Twilight fan fic. Because the similarities to Twilight are very obvious at times in Fifty Shades of Grey, a big part of me wanted to read Beautiful Bastard to see if its Twilight fan fic origins were at all obvious in the book. I’ll admit that while I was genuinely interested in reading Beautiful Bastard, I definitely went into reading it with a certain amount of cynicism when it came to my expectations regarding Christina Lauren’s writing ability and the book as a whole.

Ultimately, I ended up absolutely loving Beautiful Bastard, and I really hope I made that clear in my review of the book. I also realized that it was definitely unfair of me to project my thoughts regarding the fact that I personally think that E.L. James is a terrible writer onto Christina Lauren in any way, simply because both Fifty Shades of Grey and Beautiful Bastard originally started out as Twilight fan fiction before I even actually read Beautiful Bastard. After reading Beautiful Bastard, I came to the conclusion that regardless of the book’s fan fiction origins, Christina Lauren are legitimately talented writers who definitely deserve to have the success that they’ve achieved with their books. While I haven’t read the original fan fic version of Beautiful Bastard, I’d say that they did a really great job of making Beautiful Bastard its own thing that’s completely separate from Twilight.

Honestly, I was very surprised by the overall quality of Christina Lauren’s writing when I read Beautiful Bastard, and Beautiful Stranger also proved to be a wonderful surprise in some very different ways. The thing that probably surprised me the most about Beautiful Stranger is the fact that while the plot of the book is pretty much about Max and Sara being in a sex with no strings attached relationship, it’s a surprisingly sweet and romantic story. I was also really surprised by the emotional depth that Max and Sara’s relationship ultimately had, which I’d say is a real testament to Christina Lauren’s talent as writers. I don’t think a writer whose writing is either rather mediocre, or just plain bad could write a book about two people who’re in a sex with no strings attached type of relationship in such a way that the relationship and the book as a whole actually has a lot of genuine emotional depth to it. Christina Lauren, on the other hand, really did a fantastic job in terms of the way the relationship between Max and Sara was written, writing them as individual characters, and the writing for the book as a whole.

One of the numerous things that I loved about Beautiful Stranger is the fact that while the book focused on Max and Sara, and their relationship, Chloe and Bennett were also featured in the book. Personally, I thought that Christina Lauren did a great job of handling their presence in Beautiful Stranger. We got a nice glimpse into what’s going on in their relationship at this point in the timeline of the Beautiful series, and it turns out that they had just gotten engaged at the start of the book. Chloe and Bennett also actually added to the plot of the book at times, both in terms of helping the plot to progress, as well as provide some entertaining bits regarding their own relationship. What I really appreciate about Chloe and Bennett’s inclusion in the plot of the book is that while I really enjoyed the fact that they were featured in the book; they weren’t in the book to the point where it felt like they were stealing the spotlight from Max and Sara, which is who the book is supposed to be about.

I should probably mention that one of several different book series that I found myself thinking about a lot as I was reading Beautiful Stranger was the Crossfire series by Sylvia Day. As I was reading Beautiful Stranger, I couldn’t help but think that despite the fact that Max and Sara’s relationship was essentially a sex with no strings attached relationship, I still think that their relationship has a lot more depth to it than the relationship between Eva and Gideon from the Crossfire series has. Personally, I think that it’s a real testament to Christina Lauren that they were able to write Max and Sara’s relationship in such a way that it has so much depth and heart to it, making it so that I could really root for them to work out as a couple. Eva and Gideon’s relationship, on the other hand, comes across as not having very much depth to it all and simply being pretty much all about sex and not much else; despite the fact that Sylvia Day had always portrayed Eva and Gideon as being in a committed relationship, with them (supposedly) being madly in love with each other, which is why I ultimately can’t bring myself to root for them as a couple.

In case anybody reading this review hasn’t read the Crossfire series, I should definitely mention that Eva and Gideon get married in the third book in the series, Entwined with You, and yet their relationship has always come across to me as less depth to it than the shallow end of a kiddie pool since their relationship really does seem to be more about sex than them actually being in love with each other. Sure, Eva and Gideon are constantly talking about how much they love each other, but the strong emphasis on the sexual aspect of their relationship, as well as their physical attraction to each other, makes it so that I honestly have an extremely difficult time believing that Eva and Gideon actually have a genuine emotional and romantic connection with each other. The strong emphasis on the sexual aspect of their relationship, and their physical attraction to each other, also makes it so that I have a really hard time believing that they’re a couple that I should ultimately be rooting for.

Honestly, I just don’t think Eva and Gideon’s relationship has enough depth and emotional substance to it for their relationship/marriage to realistically last for the rest of their lives. The next book that I’ll be posting a review for is the fifth and final book in the Crossfire series, One with You. I’ve already finished reading One with You, and I’m currently in the process of writing my review for the book. One of the things that I’ll be talking about in my review for One with You is how I just can’t help but think that all of the “love” and sexual attraction that Eva and Gideon (supposedly) feel for each other will eventually fizzle out and die, leading to them breaking up. Max and Sara’s relationship, on the other hand, is honestly a relationship that I see having what it takes for them to be together for the rest of their lives.

Maybe it’s because it wasn’t all that long ago that I read the first book in Jennifer Probst’s new The Billionaire Builders series, Everywhere and Every Way, but there were aspects of Beautiful Stranger that really reminded me of Everywhere and Every Way. The main similarity being that much like Max realized that he was falling in love with Sara before she realized that she was falling for him, Cal realized that he was falling in love with Morgan and wanted more from the relationship before she realized that she felt the same way. However, as much as I loved Everywhere and Every Way, I’d say that Christina Lauren’s writing for Beautiful Stranger is just a little bit stronger than I thought Jennifer Probst’s writing for Everywhere and Every Way ultimately was. One of the main reasons I feel this way is because Christina Lauren did a really good job of writing the character Sara in such a way that I was able to really understand why she was the way she was and how the backstory that we were given about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, who was an aspiring politician that got caught in a sex scandal, was all connected to what was going on throughout the book; and how that affected her actions in the present, especially when it came to her relationship with Max.

With Morgan from Everywhere and Every Way, I really felt like there were some gaps in her backstory, which made it kind of difficult at times to understand how her backstory was impacting her actions throughout the book. Because of that, there were times when I felt like I couldn’t truly understand Morgan’s actions, motivations, and why she is the way she is. Plus, there were times when Morgan’s attitude towards Cal made it so that I didn’t entirely enjoy the fact that Cal really seemed to be falling for Morgan before she began to reciprocate his feelings for her as much as I did at other times as I was reading the book. Morgan’s attitude towards Cal made his feelings for her and their relationship as a whole seem a tad one-sided at times, which sometimes made me question whether or not I should be rooting for Call and Morgan’s relationship to work out. However, I was ultimately able to root for Cal and Morgan as a couple, and I was happy that they ended up together at the end of the book.

Getting back to the subject of Beautiful Stranger, one thing that I really liked about this book and thought that Christina Lauren handled very well is the fact that Max loved to take pictures of Sara, but she repeatedly insisted that he not take any pictures of her where her face could be seen. For starters, I found the explanation behind Sara not wanting Max to take pictures where people would be able to see her face rather interesting. The reason Sara didn’t want her face to be shown in the pictures that Max took of her was because her previous boyfriend had been an aspiring politician who got caught up in a sex scandal; and when that happened, the media ended up taking a lot of pictures of both her and her ex-boyfriend as they were covering the news surrounding his infidelity, which was all very humiliating for her. On a more positive note regarding my thoughts on the fact that Max loved taking pictures of Sara, I thought that was one of the many things that made Max such a cute and lovable character when it came to his feelings for Sara.

While I’ve been a huge fan of the romance genre for years, there’s no denying that the genre can be rather formulaic at times. Regardless of whether it’s a romantic comedy or a book that’s a part of the romance genre, the final part of the story typically involves something happening with the couple that makes it look like the couple isn’t going to end up together for one reason or another. Given the fact that Christina Lauren really seemed to emphasize the fact that Max loved to take pictures of Sara and the fact that Sara didn’t want her face to be shown in the pictures that Max took of her throughout the book, I was pretty sure that that aspect of the plot would come into play in a significant way towards the end of the book. While I wasn’t entirely sure how it would come into play, I figured that what would most likely happen would be that somebody would gain access to all of the pictures that Max had taken of Sara and would release them to the media since Sara comes from a rich family, leaving her humiliated by that happening. However, Christina Lauren ultimately went in a slightly different direction with that whole idea that had more to do with Sara having been hurt by her ex-boyfriend’s infidelity when he got caught in a sex scandal. I honestly didn’t see that coming, and I love the fact that I ended up being surprised when it came to how the whole idea of somebody gaining access to the pictures that Max had taken of Sara and releasing them to the public actually played out in the book.

As much as I ultimately ended up loving the relationship between Chloe and Bennett in Beautiful Bastard, I actually loved Max and Sara as a couple even more; which is why I’d say that I love Beautiful Stranger even more than I loved Beautiful Bastard. I think that Christina Lauren handled the progression of Max and Sara’s relationship throughout the book perfectly. As I said earlier, I really love the fact that Max realized that he was falling in love with Sara and wanted more from the relationship before Sara did, whereas with Sara it took her a little longer to realize that she was falling in love with Max. The progression and evolution of Max and Sara’s relationship, and their feelings for each other all felt very natural, organic and true to who Max and Sara both were as individual characters. Plus, I thought the way Christina Lauren conveyed the fact that Max was falling in love with Sara to the reader was all very cute and fun to read about. Don’t get me wrong, I still really love the relationship between Chloe and Bennett, I just love the relationship between Max and Sara a little bit more.

In terms of having any complaints about Beautiful Stranger, much like Beautiful Bastard, the only genuine complaint that I have about the book is that Christina Lauren once again didn’t indicate at the start of each chapter from which character’s point of view the chapters were written. However, I’m willing to let that go this time, and not hold that against Beautiful Stranger like I did with Beautiful Bastard, since I listened to it on audiobook. Unlike the audiobook version of Beautiful Bastard, which was read entirely by Grace Grant, two people read Beautiful Stranger. Grace Grant read the chapters that were written from Sara’s point of view, and Jonathan Cole read the chapters that were written from Max’s point of view; which made it a lot easier for me to deal with the changes in point of view throughout the book.

Ordinarily, I would probably say that it shouldn’t be the job of the people who work on the production of an audiobook to do something, such as have more than one person reading the book, to help indicate from which character’s point of view the chapters of a book that’s written from the point of view of multiple characters were written. In my opinion, that’s the author’s job. However, since I really did like Beautiful Stranger even more than Beautiful Bastard from the standpoint of the writing for the book, I’m willing to let that go this time. If I gave Beautiful Stranger the same score that I gave Beautiful Bastard, which was 9.5 out of 10, simply because Christina Lauren didn’t indicate at the start of each chapter from which point of view the chapters were written; I feel like that would contradict everything I’ve said about loving Beautiful Stranger even more than I loved Beautiful Bastard.

All things considered, Beautiful Stranger is a truly awesome follow-up to Beautiful Bastard. Admittedly, I was unaware of the fact that the novella, Beautiful Bitch, is labeled as 1.5 in the Beautiful series on Goodreads, until right after I had finished reading Beautiful Stranger. If I had been aware of the actual numbering for each book and novella in the Beautiful series, I would have read Beautiful Bitch before I read Beautiful Stranger. Unless I decide to read the first book in Christina Lauren’s Wild Seasons series (Sweet Filthy Boy) the next time I read one of their books, I’ll read Beautiful Bitch next.

With that being said, as a full-length novel, I thought that Beautiful Stranger was an awesome follow-up to Beautiful Bastard, and I’m thrilled that the Beautiful series didn’t suffer from any kind of sophomore slump. As I said earlier, I definitely loved Beautiful Stranger even more than I loved Beautiful Bastard, which I really loved a lot. Max and Sara are both great characters that were both very well written. Their relationship was also very well written and definitely had a lot of heart to it; which is definitely not something that I would usually expect from a romance novel about a sex with no strings attached kind of relationship. The evolution of Max and Sara’s relationship, and the pacing of the plot in general were also handled perfectly. In my opinion, that really is a true testament to Christina Lauren’s talent as writers.

The fact that I liked Beautiful Stranger even more than I loved Beautiful Bastard has definitely caused Christina Lauren to get a little bit closer to me being comfortable enough to definitively say that they tie with Emma Chase in terms of who I consider to be my #1 favorite author in the romance genre. For the record, Lauren Blakely and Jennifer Probst have both shown that they also have potential to join Emma Chase and Christina Lauren in forming a four-way tie for who I consider to be my #1 favorite author in the romance genre. However, while I’m not quite at the point where I feel truly comfortable enough saying that I love their books as much as I love Emma Chase’s books, I can definitely say that I’ve come to consider Christina Lauren’s books to be a “Must Read”, not just for me, but for all fans of the romance genre.

That being said, my final score for Beautiful Stranger is 10 out of 10.