Book Review: Beautiful Bitch (Book #1.5 in the Beautiful series) by Christina Lauren

Right off the bat, I have to say that reading Beautiful Bitch was definitely somewhat of an unusual experience for me due to the fact that I hadn’t realized that it was considered #1.5 in the Beautiful series, and that Beautiful Stranger is labeled as #2 in the series until after I had finished listening to the audiobook version of Beautiful Stranger. Putting aside the fact that it was kind of weird for me to backtrack a little bit by reading this book after reading and reviewing Beautiful Stranger, I absolutely loved this book. One of the many things that I loved about Beautiful Bitch is that we got to see the next chapter in Chloe and Bennett’s relationship after they got back together at the end of Beautiful Bastard, and embarked on an actual committed relationship. I felt like the relatively immediate aftermath of Chloe and Bennett getting back together at the end of Beautiful Bastard that we got to see in flashbacks that were featured in this book was very true to how I would imagine things playing out between Chloe and Bennett; regardless of whether Christina Lauren had written Beautiful Bitch, or if they hadn’t, and it had been left up to the reader to imagine what next chapter of Chloe and Bennett’s relationship after the events of Beautiful Bastard would be like.

As much as I ultimately grew to love Bennett as a character by the end of Beautiful Bastard, and had thought that he had undergone some pretty great character development throughout Beautiful Bastard; he definitely didn’t come across as being the kind of guy who would immediately transform into a guy who would be worthy of receiving a “Boyfriend of the Year” award by the end of Beautiful Bastard. I imagined him experiencing some growing pains as he and Chloe embarked upon being in a committed relationship with each other, and that he would struggle with it a little bit; so I was absolutely thrilled to see that Christina Lauren wrote Bennett that way to a certain degree in this book. That being said, I did think that it was kind of odd that Chloe didn’t really struggle at all in terms of dealing with the way that their relationship had evolved over time like Bennett did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset that Chloe didn’t really struggle in any way when it came to dealing with the two of them going from being in a rather casual workplace romance to being in a committed relationship, as well as the evolution of their relationship in the time that had passed between the end of Beautiful Bastard and the beginning of Beautiful Bitch. I just thought that it was a little odd that Chloe didn’t seem to really struggle at all with the shift in their relationship.

Despite the fact that Bennett did seem to struggle in some ways in terms of adjusting to being in a committed relationship with Chloe, I love that Christina Lauren really portrayed Bennett as being incredibly invested in his relationship with Chloe, and that they showed Bennett really making an effort to work on their relationship throughout the book. While I usually think that having a romance novel or any kind of book for that matter be low on conflict and angst can really make a book incredibly boring, I’m honestly really glad that Christina Lauren didn’t have anything too dramatic and angst-ridden happen between Chloe and Bennett in this book; such as have one of them cheat on the other, or have one of them almost cheat on the other. The fact that most of the problems that Chloe and Bennett had to deal with throughout the book basically had to do with their conflicting work schedules getting in the way of them being able to spend time together now that Chloe is no longer Bennett’s assistant, reminded me a lot of the simplicity of the problems that arose between Jake and Chelsea throughout Emma Chase’s Legal Briefs novella, Sidebarred. Pretty much all of the problems that Jake and Chelsea dealt with throughout Sidebarred had to do with them raising Chelsea’s nieces and nephews together, with Jake serving as a father figure to the kids now that he and Chelsea were married with a baby of their own on the way, but I digress.

Maybe people with disagree with me, but when it comes to authors in the romance genre writing novellas that serve as a follow-up to a previous book that they had written, I really don’t want a novella to be full of angst and drama between a couple that I had been rooting for when I read about them in a previous book where it looks like they might break up. Honestly, when it comes to novellas that are a part of the romance genre, I would much rather read about a couple dealing with the kind of realistic problems that I think a lot of couples can relate to in real life, rather than the plot of a novella involving a couple that’s constantly dealing with major problems, such as infidelity. I’m really glad that Emma Chase chose to take the approach of having Jake and Chelsea deal with very realistic problems without being faced with a ton of drama and angst in their relationship when she wrote Sidebarred; and I’m really glad that Christina Lauren also took the same approach when they wrote this book.

One thing that I really loved about this book is the fact that Christina Lauren included flashbacks to various moments in Chloe and Bennett’s relationship that had taken place between Beautiful Bastard and Beautiful Bitch throughout the book. I thought it was a great way to give the reader some insight into the way their relationship had progressed during the time that had passed between the end of Beautiful Bastard and the beginning of Beautiful Bitch. When it comes to the writing for Chloe and Bennett’s relationship in this book, I’m really glad to see that they’re both smart enough and have enough self-awareness to realize on their own when they have problems, or issues, in their relationship that they need to talk about and work out; which is something that they acknowledged in a flashback that, if I understood correctly, took place fairly soon after the events that took place at the end of Beautiful Bastard.

While I enjoyed getting both Chloe and Bennett’s perspectives on the events that took place throughout Beautiful Bitch, I definitely enjoyed the chapters that were written from Bennett’s point of view the most. One thing that I’ve come to realize about certain fictional characters, particularly characters in books that are a part of the romance genre, is that sometimes getting the chance to read the story, either completely or just partially written from the guy’s point of view, can ultimately make the guy come across as being even more unlikable than they might have already been coming across originally. For example, instead of E.L. James writing Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian in such a way that could have made Christian Grey come across as being more likable and a better person compared to how he was written in the original Fifty Shades trilogy, perhaps showing people that he wasn’t such a horrible guy after all; James wrote Christian Grey in such a way that he seemed even creepier and even more unlikable in Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian than he already did in the original trilogy.

When I originally saw that the fourth book in Sylvia Day’s Crossfire series, Captivated by You, was written partially from Gideon Cross’ point of view, I was really excited, because I really thought that it could potentially help give Gideon the character development that I felt he desperately needed. Unfortunately, Captivated by You didn’t really deliver in terms of finally featuring some good character development for Gideon. I still felt like I didn’t have a very good understanding of who Gideon is as a character, and why he is the way he is, even after reading Captivated by You. Plus, in a lot of ways the chapters that were written from Gideon’s point of view, not only in Captivated by You, but in One with You as well, just made him seem even more unlikable and annoying than he already did at times when I was reading the chapters that were written from Eva’s point of view.

Fortunately, Bennett has definitely ended up being a character that has really benefited a lot from Christina Lauren having written both Beautiful Bastard and Beautiful Bitch partially from his point of view. As I said in my review for Beautiful Bastard, I honestly didn’t like Bennett all that much until I read the first chapter that was written from his point of view in Beautiful Bastard. However, once I started reading the chapters that were written from Bennett’s point of view, I really started to like him, and I ultimately came to love Bennett as a character by the end of Beautiful Bastard. The chapters that were written from Bennett’s point of view in Beautiful Bitch made me love him even more than I already did, and they were definitely the biggest highlight of the book for me personally.

At the risk of sounding like a terrible person who takes a lot of pleasure in the discomfort and misfortune of others, I have to say that I really loved seeing Bennett act very awkward, insecure, vulnerable and a little heartbroken after he and Chloe had broken up in Beautiful Bastard. However, I especially enjoyed the awkwardness he displayed at times in this book, such as the scene where he goes to the floral shop, and he awkwardly tells the woman who works there that he has a girlfriend and that he’s there to buy some flowers for Chloe. It really seemed like he was afraid that the florist was going to make sexual advances towards him and that he would end up doing something wrong that could ruin his relationship with Chloe, if he didn’t make it clear to the florist that he had a girlfriend. However, I really like how Christina Lauren took a somewhat comedic approach when it came to the writing for that scene, rather than have it turn into anything angst-ridden and dramatic for Bennett and his relationship with Chloe.

As much as I loved that scene, my favorite Bennett moment, and my favorite moment in Chloe and Bennett’s relationship out of all the moments between them in Beautiful Bastard, this book, and Beautiful Stranger, would be the scene where he awkwardly asks Chloe to marry him while they were having sex in this book, only to find out that Chloe was planning to propose to him. I thought Bennett was so cute; with how awkward he acted after he basically blurted out his proposal and went on to explain that he really did want to marry her. Honestly, I just absolutely love that Christina Lauren aren’t afraid to write moments where Bennett acts really awkward and insecure with Chloe, or with other people because of his feelings for Chloe. It’s a great contrast to how he acted at the beginning of Beautiful Bastard where his behavior and overall demeanor towards Chloe before they began their romantic relationship, and other people in general, made him seem incredibly confident and authoritative.

Christina Lauren actually tweeted me on Twitter in response to my review for Beautiful Stranger, and told me that I could skip reading Beautiful Bitch and just go straight to reading Beautiful Player if I wanted to. Honestly, I’m really surprised that they viewed Beautiful Bitch as something that I could skip reading since Chloe and Bennett get engaged at the end of the book. That seems like too important of a plot detail and too important of a moment in Chloe and Bennett’s relationship for me, or anybody for that matter, to skip over. Ultimately, I obviously decided to not skip reading Beautiful Bitch, mainly because I had already bought the audiobook for Beautiful Bitch, along with the audiobook versions of all of Christina Lauren’s books and short stories. Plus, it really is a goal of mine to read and review all of their books and short stories from both the Beautiful series and their Wild Seasons series.

That being said, I’m really glad that I did read Beautiful Bitch, and that I didn’t skip ahead to Beautiful Player. I really would hate to have missed out on the fantastic writing for Bennett, and the all around great writing for the book as a whole. Plus, the scene where Bennett awkwardly proposes to Chloe, only to discover that she had been planning to propose to him is definitely my favorite Chloe and Bennett moment in the series so far. Even though I had already been feeling pretty glad that I had decided to not skip ahead to reading Beautiful Player before I even got to that scene, that scene alone really solidified my thinking that I had made the right decision to backtrack and read Beautiful Bitch.

If people who’re reading this are wondering why I’m spending so much time talking about my thoughts regarding Bennett in this review, that’s because the book was written mainly from his point of view. I didn’t keep count of how many chapters were written from Bennett’s point of view, and how many were written from Chloe’s point of view, but it definitely seemed like Beautiful Bitch was written primarily from Bennett’s point of view. However, Beautiful Bitch does feature some great writing for Chloe as well. For example, I absolutely love that rather than just sit around and wait for Bennett to ask her to marry him; she decided that she was going to propose to him. Sure, he ended up asking her to marry him before she had a chance to propose to him, but I still love that she was at least planning to ask him to marry her.

Despite being annoyed by Chloe’s immature and unprofessional attitude towards Bennett at the beginning of Beautiful Bastard, which was prompted by Bennett getting mad at her for being late for work one day; I’ve still always liked her as a character in the grand scheme of things. I think it’s great that she’s the kind of character who isn’t weak and wishy-washy. Chloe really comes across as knowing what she wants in life, and going after what she wants once she makes a decision. She even describes herself as being the kind of person who doesn’t change her mind once she makes a decision at the end of chapter seven, which is when she decides that she wants to ask Bennett to marry her.

As I said at the beginning of this review, it was definitely kind of weird for me to backtrack and read Beautiful Bitch after having read Beautiful Stranger. The main reason it was kind of weird for me to backtrack like I did in regards to my plans to read all of Christina Lauren’s books, novellas and short stories is because this book introduces Max and Sara who’re the main characters in Beautiful Stranger. Obviously, I was already pretty familiar with them as characters, having already read Beautiful Stranger. That being said, even though Max and Sara aren’t really in the book very much, it offers people who read each book and novella in the Beautiful series in the correct order a really nice introduction to Max and Sara.

The other thing that made reading Beautiful Bitch and Beautiful Stranger in the wrong order somewhat of a weird experience for me is that I knew from having already read Beautiful Stranger that Chloe and Bennett would be getting engaged at some point. However, I didn’t necessarily think that they would be getting engaged in this book until I got to the end of chapter seven. That being said, I really enjoyed the fact that Christina Lauren were still able to completely surprise me when it came to Bennett and Chloe getting engaged, and how the whole thing with the marriage proposal played out.

As I said in my reviews for both Beautiful Bastard and Beautiful Stranger, it really bothers me that Christina Lauren don’t indicate at the start of each chapter in their books, from which character’s point of the view the chapter is written. However, I’m willing to let that go when it comes to my critique of Beautiful Bitch like I did with Beautiful Stranger since I listened to the audiobook version of Beautiful Bitch, and it had two people reading the book. Grace Grant read the chapters that were written from Chloe’s point of view, and Kirby Heybourne read the chapters that were written from Bennett’s point of view. I have to say that I’m really confused as to why they didn’t have Heybourne read Bennett’s chapters in Beautiful Bastard when the audiobook for Beautiful Bastard was produced, and yet they decided to have a guy read Bennett’s chapters in Beautiful Bitch.

That being said, I thought that Kirby Heybourne did a fantastic job reading the chapters that were written from Bennett’s point of view in Beautiful Bitch, and I’m really glad that they had a guy read the chapters that were written from Bennett’s point of view in this book. For the record, I thought that Grace Grant did do a pretty good job reading the chapters that were written from Bennett’s point of view in Beautiful Bastard. I’ve definitely listened to some audiobooks that had female readers who sounded incredibly ridiculous whenever they tried to make their voice sound like a man’s voice. It’s just that when it comes to romance novels that are written entirely, or least partially, from the guy’s point of view, I personally prefer to have a guy read the chapters that are written from the male character’s point of view.

As much I love this book, I have to say that I absolutely hate the title, Beautiful Bitch. Honestly, I’ve always hated the title of this book, even before I had actually read any of Christina Lauren’s books. Every time I saw this book in stores over the years, I couldn’t help, but think that Beautiful Bitch was a terrible title for a book. I feel that way about the title Beautiful Bitch even more so after having actually read the book. To me, it’s a rather off-putting title for a book, and now that I’ve read it, I honestly don’t think it fits the story at all. Having already read Beautiful Bastard, Beautiful Stranger, and now this book, I can definitely tell that Christina Lauren clearly have a thing for having their characters say the title of their books in the actual book, and doing that multiple times throughout their books. Thankfully, I’m pretty sure that they only referenced the title being Beautiful Bitch once in the book.

It was established that the title is a reference to the fact that Bennett used to refer to Chloe as “Beautiful Bitch” before they became a couple. I really have to wonder if that was the case, why didn’t Christina Lauren establish that he used to call her that in Beautiful Bastard? Honestly, I think it’s a little contrived and ridiculous that Chloe and Bennett’s nicknames for each other are rather similar to each other, in the sense that they both consist of the word “Beautiful” and a swear word. Making “Beautiful Bitch” a thing in this book kind of made it seem like Christina Lauren were trying to make it work as a title for the book, but instead it just felt rather forced in my opinion.

Perhaps people will disagree with me, but given the fact that Bennett really grew and evolved as a character in Beautiful Bastard and this book further highlighted how much he has matured and changed for the better; I feel like Beautiful Bitch isn’t a fitting title for the book at all. After all, it’s a reference to something that he used to say before he and Chloe became a couple. Having the title of the book reference something that he used to say, but doesn’t say any more, really contradicts the character development that he underwent in both Beautiful Bastard and this book, in my opinion.

Since the emphasis on this book is on Bennett, I think a much more fitting title for the book would have been “Beautiful Mess”. It could be a reference to the effect that Chloe has on Bennett, not only in Beautiful Bastard, but in this book as well. It was obvious to me once I got to the first chapter that was written from Bennett’s point of view in Beautiful Bastard and throughout the rest of the book, that Chloe was having a profound emotional effect on Bennett; and she was really doing a number on him as he was falling in love with her. His love for Chloe is also what fueled his awkward behavior at times in this book. Plus, since the emphasis of this book is on Bennett, I really feel like the title of the book should have ultimately referenced him in some way, rather than referencing Chloe.

All things considered, Beautiful Bitch is definitely a truly fantastic to follow-up to Beautiful Bastard. Christina Lauren really delivered in terms of giving me everything that I personally was hoping for in terms of showing the evolution of Chloe and Bennett’s relationship after the events of Beautiful Bastard. I felt like the plot of Beautiful Bitch worked perfectly for a novella. While I absolutely love Chloe as a character, the writing for Bennett in Beautiful Bitch is definitely the best thing about this book, in my opinion. As much as I ultimately came to love Bennett as a character in Beautiful Bastard, this book made me love him even more.

It was great to see Christina Lauren add yet another layer to who Bennett Ryan is as a character in this book by showing that despite the fact that Bennett comes across as being very confident and a force to be reckoned with when the situation calls for it, he also has a tendency to act kind of awkward at times, too. However, I do think that he showed some vague hints of having the tendency to act hilariously awkward at times in Beautiful Bastard. It was simply much more noticeable in this book. I also loved seeing how Bennett was really invested in making his relationship with Chloe work, even though it was definitely kind of challenging for them to find time to be together at times. This book definitely made me fall even more in love with both the Beautiful series and Christina Lauren’s writing in general than I already was, and I can’t wait to read more of their books.

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