Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

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.


I almost couldn't handle the steam in this book. Probably because every chapter just had some hanky-panky going on in it. With that said, I have to admit that I did skip some parts. Yes.

I think the hate-f*cking pretty much dragged on for quite a bit in the book. I would've loved it to be a bit shorter so that we could get on the loving a bit earlier than it did. 

Nevertheless, the rest of the book pretty much made up for it. All the sex removed (well, maybe not all), I pretty much enjoyed the story. There is something about a love-hate relationship that just hits me in the eye. 

I liked Ryan Bennett, okay? So shoot me. I also love books when *SPOILER* the I love yous come in early. And then when said:

Thank you for loving me.

I was a goner. I knew that the premise of boss-assistant is a tad (mighty!) overused but I just couldn't quit the book. The thought did come to mind because there was the sex at the start of book just kept me skippng some pages. But I was glad to stick to it and just kept reading because I loved the the later part of the book much, much more than that the first part.

I understood her fears and knew that she had put it all aside to believe in us.

With that, I just didn't get why it took Bennett time to man up about their relationship. So Chloe wanted them to be a secret for some time but with that kind of unerstanding, he could've manned up and the hulabaloo about them getting found out wouldn't have been as nasty.

But Mr Ryan pretty much redeemed himself everytime I had a "yeah, right" moment.

You're everything to me. My life is yours, everything I have...everything I am, it's yours.

*big grin* I have always mentioned in my other reviews that when a book has a good family story in it, it was going to be a winner. This is one of those. I love Bennett and his mom's scenes. All in all, I was glad I didn't quit on this book. There were saving graces, you just have to look for them.


Final verdict: 8/10. Great read.