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Hostile Beauty (2013)

by Vanessa North(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Musa Publishing

review 1: 2.5 stars. I was prepared for lots of angst and some good hurt/comfort. I didn't get much of either. Andrew was badly scarred in an accident, and hasn't had any close relationships in 20 years. Levi comes to work for him. Andrew knows he's different because Levi looks him in the eye when they meet.I couldn't tell you what the plot was about: Something about a company doing bad things to the environment (I think), and Levi is hired as the PR guy to do something. I can tell you there was too much sex in a book this short, but luckily the scenes didn't go on and on. Not long after their first meeting, Levi is professing his love to Andrew, and it seems almost entirely based on the fact that Andrew volunteers at a hospital to help other burn victims. There's no real getting to... more know you between these MCs. Did they ever even have real conversation about something other than finding the other hot?Andrew volunteers. Levi realizes there more to him than his "hostile" exterior. They have sex; Levi confesses his love and they get into a fight that makes no sense. That's about it. And in the background something was going on about the evil company/man. (It obviously didn't hold my attention.)I liked both MCs, but this relationship needed more time for maturity. Andrew falls for Levi pretty easily for someone who has kept people at arm's length for decades. If ever a book called for more angst, it's this one.
review 2: This is very much a darker play on Beauty and the Beast, but the comparison only extends so far. For one, Levi is way hotter than Belle, and Levi and Andrew do a hell of a lot more than dance and kiss chastely (I can't see the Beast using a purple vibrator, hard as I try). There's no talking teacups either. Instead, we get political corruption, family grudges, and long-buried emotions. We get two men who are quite different in age and outlook on life and yet are inexplicably and passionately drawn together. Striking 26-year-old Levi works PR in non-profits; his boss is David, whose brother-in-law happens to be Andrew, the reclusive business tycoon with a scarred face. When Andrew decides to take on a corrupt politician, David sends Levi to help Andrew manage the PR side of things. Levi manages that, and more. Andrew comes across as arrogant and aloof; he pushes people away. But he's a good guy, just scared to fully live or love. Levi lights up a room; he sees the good in people, and he begins to break through Andrew's shell. I thought that for a novella, the story was quite well developed. There was some meat to the plot, but it didn't get dragged down with unnecessary details, which only serve to muddle things. Both the MCs had a fairly well-developed backstory, especially Andrew, and even though the lust was pretty much on-sight, the love came later and there was tension in the relationship that felt real.I was bummed to see the story end. I literally came to the 99 percent mark without realizing it having read the book pretty much straight through, and when my Kindle flashed the "rate this book" screen, I thought, no, what?, wait a fucking minute. Granted, there is some resolution, a hint of a HEA for sure, but I'm an epilogue-slut, and I wanted more closure. I wanted to know what had happened to Andrew's sister, and I wanted to see what would happen with Andrew and his BIL, David, and I definitely wanted a wrap-up to the corruption/blackmailing plot, and, most of all, I wanted more Andrew and Levi. I just wanted more, damn it. What can I say? I'm selfish that way. Pick this one up; it's a quick, slightly angsty (in a good way), smutsy read. I really enjoyed it. less

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