Beautiful Player
(Beautiful Bastard, #3)
By: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: Oct. 29, 2013
Genre: Erotic Romance
Rating:
A bombshell bookworm. A chronic Casanova. And a lesson in chemistry too scandalous for school.
When Hanna Bergstrom receives a lecture from her overprotective brother about neglecting her social life and burying herself in grad school, she’s determined to tackle his implied assignment: get out, make friends, start dating. And who better to turn her into the sultry siren every man wants than her brother’s gorgeous best friend, Will Sumner, venture capitalist and unapologetic playboy?
Will takes risks for a living, but he’s skeptical about this challenge of Hanna’s…until the wild night his innocently seductive pupil tempts him into bed- and teaches him a thing or two about being with a woman he can’t forget. Now that Hanna’s discovered the power of her own sex appeal, it’s up to Will to prove he’s the only man she’ll ever need.
My thoughts…
Hanna is a nerd. It’s as plain and simple as that. She has spent the majority of her young adult life in a lab or studying. She doesn’t really have a life and doesn’t get out much. Which is why her brother and father sort of do an intervention with her and tell her she has to get out and experience life. Her brother even suggests enlisting the help of his best friend who lives in the same city as Hanna. What her brother and father don’t expect is for Will to turn his teaching skills of getting out and enjoying life, into teaching Hanna how to pleasure him in bed.
You know what I love most in romances? The best friend’s little sister trope. I don’t know why but I love it! This story was no exception. You see Hanna and Will start off as friends. Well, technically they start off as Will doing a favor for his best friend by taking his baby sister under his wing to have some fun in the big city. However, what most stories don’t have is a “baby sister” with absolutely NO FILTER. I kid you not, she just spewed whatever was on her mind… and it was amazing! I mean, the two of them are out at a pub eating when she starts telling him about her theory on how hymen restoration will be the new big thing, like Botox. I laughed so hard at the whole thing because, of course, Will is horrified to be listening to her go on and on about hymens.
“Seriously though. I’m sure it’s not like that for guys. But for girls, after a while, you’re like… does the virginity grow back? Is it like moss over a cave?”
Which brings me to the awesomeness hilarity which is Christina Lauren. My god, do these ladies know how to freaking write hilarious banter. There’s a part where Hanna talks about how big boobs aren’t all that great and how they actually get in the way, which is why she had a reduction. Will asks why she would do something like that when it equates to kicking God in the nuts for a gift. To which Hanna reminds him that he’s agnostic. You know what… it’s better if I just quote it…
“I am. But if I could motorboat perfect tits like yours I might be able to find Jesus.”
“Because Jesus totally lives in my cleavage?”
“Not anymore he doesn’t. You boobs are now too small for him to be comfortable in there.”
Mind you, later on in the book, Will puts a ceramic figurine of Jesus in between her boobs when visiting her family and proceeds to explain how he found Jesus in her cleavage. Of course, her brother walks in, Will gets flustered, smacks the ceramic baby Jesus out of her boobs and has a full blown awkward spaz-attack trying to cover up what was going on. And this was just one of the many awesomely hilarious scenes in this book.
Not only does this book have a lot of hilarious parts to it but good golly Miss Molly does it have some pretty steamy scenes. I mean, there is a lot of angst and teasing leading up to the big bang. Then once they “get it on”, it’s kind of on from that point forward if you know what I mean. 😉
This book does not need to be read as part of a series. If we are being honest here, there’s talk about Will and how close he is with the characters from the previous book… but I honestly don’t remember him. 🙁 It’s been a while since I read the first two books in the series so I kind of went into this not knowing Will. However, I did remember the previous characters and they do come in quite a bit during this book. We get little updates about their lives and relationships since their book. So, for fans of the series, it’s nice to see what’s going on with our favorite characters. However, do not fear, if the other books do not interest you, you can always start with Will’s story.
Favorite quote…
“It felt like cheating; she wouldn’t give me her heart but she’d give me her body, and maybe if I took enough of her pleasure, stored it up, I could pretend it was more.”
Previous books from Beautiful Bastard
Beautiful Bastard
Beautiful Stranger
The first book ruined the series for me, DNF’d it and I lost interest on the whole series. Now this particular installment I might like. I do have a soft spot for nerds and bookworms and smartypants
Dang, I still need to read the first book. I need to get one it. This sounds good.