Beautiful Beloved by Christina Lauren Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Published by Simon and Schuster on Feb.2, 2015
Narrator: Grace Grant, Jonathan Cole
Genres: Chick Lit, Erotica, Romance
Purchase links: Amazon, Audible
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Source: Purchased
The seventh work in the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling series that started with the Beautiful Bastard, Beautiful Stranger, and Beautiful Player novels. Featuring all the Beautiful characters...plus one tiny new addition to the group.
In Beautiful Stranger , finance whiz Sara Dillon met the irresistibly sexy Brit, Max Stella, at a New York City club. Through the series we’ve watched them learn to balance commitment with their less than private brand of playfulness. In Beautiful Beloved, Max and Sara take it to the next step. But the question is: Will they be able to find a balance between the wild sexcapades they aren’t ready to retire, and the demands of parenthood that come along with their new Beautiful bundle of joy? Parenthood: it’s not for the weak of heart.
“Welcome back, Mr. and Mrs. Stella.”
When I heard there was going to be more Max and Sara, I was AMPED BEYOND WORDS!!! Like scream at the top of my lungs, doing a happy dance, AMPED! Max Stella is my favorite of the “beautiful men” and has always had a piece of my heart. Ever since reading Beautiful Stranger, I have been hoping that Christina Lauren would give me more of my beloved Max and they have…they have indeed!! *smirk*
Don’t you ever wonder what happens after the happily ever after in books? Well we get to find out what happens with Max and Sara’s HEA in Beautiful Beloved!! Beautiful Beloved is about the “what happens after their HEA, what happens after they got married, what happens after they have their first baby.” It’s about finding a way to keep the love (and yes lust) for each other even after their lives change dramatically with the arrival of Annabel. How do they keep their relationship the way it was before their bundle of joy arrived and is it ok to want to still have that?
We had yet to return to the club. We had yet to even pull out the camera for anything other than pictures of our daughter. We had yet to have sex that did anything more than rustle the sheets, let alone break furniture. –Max
Max and Sara struggle with balancing their outside lives with their new inside lives. They have to work to find a way back to how they were before Anna arrived and also find a way to not feel guilty for still wanting those things.
I loved that I could relate to Max and Sara in this book on so many levels! So many things about their new life as parents was easy to connect with: adjusting to now being a family of 3 versus being just Max and Sara; adjusting to the complete exhaustion and need for sleep more than sex; adjusting to the feelings of attachment Sara has for Anna and worry of abandoning Anna when she returns to work; adjusting to the worry she has about her body…does Max still love her body the way he did before?
“I still worked out when I could, but pregnancy and motherhood had left me with this new body I was only now getting used to: a slightly wider waist, but curves that had never been so full. I’d always been on the skinny side, but I felt softer now, with rounded hips and boobs that surprised even me. It didn’t hurt that sometimes I’d turn around and see Max flat-out staring at my chest, completely unable to look away. I’d be lying if I didn’t say those moments made me feel like a f*cking queen.” –Sara.
It all is so relatable for me! I am a mother of 2 beautiful daughters and I know for a fact that I was going through many, if not all, of the same emotions as Sara. She is trying to juggle being a wife (which in itself is new to her), being a mother, being a lover, and also being a working woman. Those are hard things to balance. And then there’s Max…my love *smirk*…he is seeing Sara in this new light. She is this new “fragile” being to him. In Beautiful Beloved, he is shown as this man that is tending to treat her with “kid gloves” and is worried she’ll break right in front of him. What Max is failing to see, is that Sara is silently asking for him to “take charge” and just be the Max he was before Anna arrived. They are in this “learning phase” in their relationship, trying to figure out how to get their sexual lives back all the while, still being the “perfect” parents and not missing out on anything.
And I loved seeing all of the other beautiful couples too: Bennett and Chloe; Will and Hanna. They brought the whole HILARIOUS dynamic into this book and also brought, in a sense, reality back to Max and Sara. Even though neither couple can honestly give advice on how to be parents and how to raise a baby; they can give advice on how to “get back to Max and Sara” again. Max and Sara need to be reminded that it is okay to go out on dates and be away from Anna for some alone time.
This is what we’d been missing. Max and Sara. -Sara.
And don’t let me forget to mention the newest member to the “beautiful club”: Niall Stella. *SWOON WORTHY* We finally get to meet Niall, Max’s brother and let me tell you, I CAN NOT WAIT for his book, especially now after meeting him in Beautiful Beloved. Max moved over the tiniest bit, and there was Niall: tie off and top of his shirt unbuttoned, shoeless and walking back and forth, talking softly to a bright-eyed Annabel.
“That’s it, baby girl,” he murmured, kissing her softly on one of her puffy cheeks. (Sara watching Niall with Anna) *awe melts my heart*
And the humor!! There was so much humor peppered into this book that I caught myself covering my mouth, so I wouldn’t laugh out loud while I was reading at night in my bed. I love Max and Sara’s sense of humor!
Oh man, I can’t forget the sex scenes!!! One word…HAWT!! Max and Sara are back to their kinky ways 😉
“She missed seeing me like this, I knew. She’d missed seeing me obsessed and hungry to claim, seeing me overcome and wild.” –Max
There were tons of steamy scenes in this book! Max and Sara sure know how to “put on a show”…if you know what I mean tehe (read the book and you will) 😉
And…well just plain and simple…Beautiful Beloved was BLOODY AMAZING! I LOVED every minute of it!!
5 Beloved Stars!
Book Review and Collage by Vivian
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