Beautiful Bombshell

Beautiful Bombshell, by Christina Lauren.

"The smartest thing I've ever done was recruiting Max Stella to help plan your bachelor party."

I looked over at my brother, Henry, after he practically sang this. He was leaning back in his plush leather chair, fresh vodka gimlet in hand, recently returned from a private "session" in a mysterious backroom location, and wearing the biggest grin I think I'd ever seen. He wasn't looking at me when he spoke; he was watching three beautiful women onstage dance and strip to a slow, pulsing rhythm. "Gotta remember that next time," he murmured, bringing the glass to his lips.

"I plan on only having the one," I said.

I've now read three of the books in the Beautiful Bastard series, and Bombshell is the fourth, a novella. Max Stella (he of Beautiful Stranger fame), Bennett Ryan and his brother, Henry, and their friend Will all go to Vegas to celebrate Bennett's impending nuptials to Chloe, whose relationship we first saw in Beautiful Bastard, but things don't exactly go as planned ... and the girls end up in Vegas too, which of course distracts Bennett and Max.

Official synopsis:
The gentlemen from Beautiful Bastard, Beautiful Stranger, and Beautiful Player are out for a wild night on The Strip.

When Max, Henry, and Will steal Bennett away for a weekend of shenanigans and strippers in Vegas, the first stop of the night doesn’t go at all as planned. With their scheme for a Guys Weekend completely derailed anyway, Max and Bennett begin to play a wild game of stealth and secrecy in order to have their bombshells all over Sin City.
-

I loved that this was set in Vegas, because I recognized all of the landmarks and hotels that the author references - Bellagio, the Palazzo, the Strip, etcetera. We also get more "time" with Will, star of the future novel Beautiful Player (and there's an excerpt from it in the back of this book, too!) as well as Henry, Bennett's brother, who I think might have been in a few of the previous books but not in any large capacity.

Max has recruited Chloe, Bennett's fiance, to surprise Bennett when they're in Vegas, and although Bennett kind-of feels bad about ditching Henry and Will so fast, of course he invents excuses so that he can see her; they scheduled their bachelor party over Valentine's Day, too, which didn't help.

This was a super quick read and a great addition to the series. If you liked the others in the series, or are thinking about reading the series, I'd recommend reading this novella as well. Each chapter was either written from Bennett's point-of-view or Max's, too, which was interesting because we got to see a little of both men's perspectives - it was almost like a hybrid Beautiful Bastard and Beautiful Stranger novella.

Beautiful Bombshell will be in stores on September 3rd. 4 stars out of 5.

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

For your reference:

• Beautiful Bastard (BB #1)
• Beautiful Stranger (BB #2)
• Beautiful Bitch (BB #1.5)
• Beautiful Bombshell (BB #2.5) - out 9/3/13
• Beautiful Player (BB #3) - out 10/29/13
• Beautiful Beginning (BB #3.5) - out 11/18/13
• My Q&A with the authors, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings