Revisit: Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

All right back in February I read Beautiful Bastard. Click on the title and it will take you to my original thoughts on the story. If I had my star rating up at that time it would have been one star. Now you are wondering why I would re-read this book. Simple: It was HEA Book Club book of the month. I figure I should give it another go, since it's the book club selection. Maybe I judged it a bit harshly the first go round. After all, I do give books second chances. Sometimes it doesn't happen right away, but eventually it does.

Anyway, I started re-reading. You know what, I actually liked the story this go round. Maybe I'm in a different place in my life or maybe, just maybe I didn't see the characters as I should have. Granted Bennett Ryan is still an a-hole, but he does have some endearing qualities. Now you are wondering what I found endearing about him. Yes, he is a bastard in the terms of being despicable and vicious. However, as I'm reading the story he does change along with the relationship with Chloe Mills. When I first re-read the book I saw the relationship as toxic, but as I'm reading again I think kind of help each other out. In some weird kind of way they need each other.

Yes, this story will rub some people the wrong way. I happen to be one of those people at first. However, the second go around I did find some of the parts kind of funny. I think this go around I'm actually interested in pursuing the other books. Would I have given this book a second look at if it hadn't been for book club? Probably not. So, I have to thank Sara at HarlequinJunkie for suggest reading this book for book club. Now I'm not going to go all crazy and give it five stars. That would mean I can't live without the book. Who knows I might feel like re-reading again and who knows it might go up again. I can say I liked the book, which is a big jump.

Copy provided by the publisher

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