Book Review: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

Beautiful Bastard (Beautiful Bastard #1)
by Christina Lauren
Genre: Adult Romance
Published: February 12th 2013 by Gallery Books
Format Acquired: ebook from Amazon
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling.

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He's exacting, blunt, inconsiderate--and completely irresistible. A Beautiful Bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family's massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who'd been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative--completely infuriating--creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he's never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe's so tempting he's willing to bend the rules--or outright smash them--if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they're willing to lose in order to win each other.

Originally only available online as The Office by tby789--and garnering over 2 million reads on fanfiction sites--Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release.

Why do I keep buying these books! WHY! I give in to peer pressure so easily. That's why. I love my friends and all that, but I'm sorry. There's nothing about this book that appealed to me. Beautiful Bastard is a repeat of my Fifty Shades of Gray episode. Although it's a little different this time because I didn't get on the bandwagon even for just a day. I knew from the moment they started going at it 5%, I wouldn't swoon over Bennett or fall in love with him and Chloe.

Oh what's that? Did I say 5%? YES, YES I DID. I love books that start out with a bang but I wasn't expecting THIS! No warm up? Not even a couple of chapters to ease us in? Nope? Okay :-<

My biggest issue is the repetitive sex scenes. Not that I wanted variety (hold on, there was variety. They did it in the office, parking lot, dressing room... see? Variety) but I think it hindered the story from moving on. It basically happened like this: Chloe would be all bitchy, Bennett gets turned on, Bennett rips Chloe's underwear, they do it, they go back to hating each other aaaaaaand repeat. I also hated the constant internal monologue! I get it, you hate how your body reacts to him/her because you hate him/her so much. Can we speed things up here? Maybe if there wasn't so much of the same scenes happening plenty of times, I would probably dislike this less. Unfortunately most of the book was about Bennett and Chloe "hating" each other that by time they woke up and smelled the fart (no, nobody farted in their sleep... although that would've been a funny side story) there weren't many pages left. I hate it when all the good parts are crammed towards the end. It's like I'm being rushed to like the characters and to be convinced of their feelings for each other.

I'm not even bothered by the fact that this used to be fanfiction. I simply do not like it. Too much angry sex and not a lot of character development. 1 star.