Book Review: Beautiful Beginning

Beautiful Beginning, by Christina Lauren.

I glared at him, shaking my head at his attempted guilt trip. "I offered sex. I offered hot, sweaty, floor sex ... You want to fold paper. Who is the buzzkill here?

He picked up a program and studied it, ignoring me. "Frederick Mills," he read aloud, and I began pulling my shirt up and over my head, "together with Elliott and Susan Ryan welcome you to the wedding of their children, Chloe Caroline Mills and Bennett James Ryan."

"Yes, yes, it's so romantic," I whispered. "Come here and touch me."

Beautiful Beginning wraps up the Beautiful Bastard series - see below for my reviews on all of the books in this series - and is a light ending to the characters we have come to know in these novels. There's actually not as much sex in this book as in the others, because Bennett wants to abstain before the wedding, for some reason or another; of course, the chemistry between him and Chloe is still there, and we get quick peeks at the other couples (Max and Sara, and Will and Hanna) too, as they're all attending the wedding.

Official synopsis:
Back when not being able to stand each other also meant not being able to keep their hands off each other in Beautiful Bastard, neither Bennett nor Chloe could have seen this day coming.

An exasperated bride who just wants to elope. A determined groom whose only focus is getting to the wedding night. And—of course—a whole lot of name calling.
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First, the positives. Bennett and Chloe have always had a "unique" relationship - she originally hated him, and he was her boss at an ad agency ... until they started hooking up, and realized that in their case, there was a fine line between hate and love. We see more of this relationship here, and it drives Chloe insane that Bennett wants to abstain from having sex with her before their wedding, as sex is a big part of their relationship.

The characters that Christina Lauren (actually two authors, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) have created are fun to read, and I like that they've all made cameos in each other's novels.

I didn't think of this until I read another person's Goodreads review, but I would have liked to know more about the fate of the other couples. Sara was "very pregnant" - so, guessing 7 or 8 months - with Max's child, and Will proposes to Hanna at Chloe and Bennett's rehearsal dinner. So ... what becomes of these two couples? (and what about Chloe and Bennett's honeymoon, as well?) I would have liked more of a defined ending for them, knowing that there's no more books in the series.

This is also definitely not a stand alone book - make sure you read the others in the series and end the series by reading this one.

3.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this novel for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

All of my reviews for the Beautiful Bastard series:

• Beautiful Bastard (BB #1)
• Beautiful Stranger (BB #2)
• Beautiful Bitch (BB #1.5)
• Beautiful Bombshell (BB #2.5)
• Beautiful Player (BB #3) 
• Beautiful Beginning (BB #3.5) 
• My Q&A with the authors, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings