***From USA Today Bestselling Authors, A.M. Hargrove and Terri E. Laine, come the next book in the Cruel and Beautiful series. This is a complete standalone, New Adult Contemporary Romance.
Womanizer, Man Whore, Player, Heartbreaker are all familiar names to Ben Rhodes. He prefers Money Man or Sex God, but he doesn’t let other people’s opinions rule him. And he’s only gotten worse without his … him. And he’s only gotten worse without his compass, his best friend, whose devastating death at a young age has taught him a valuable lesson about not getting too close to anyone … ever. Until one smart and stubborn woman with eye-catching curves throws him for a loop and refuses to be tamed.
Samantha Calhoun has her life on track even after the shattering break-up with the guy she’d thought she’d wanted to marry. With her chin held high, she focuses on her career, building her business and making a success of it all. Only a chance meeting has her lost in a set of alluring steel gray eyes that have her steps faltering and her heart leaping out of her chest. Forewarned by not-so-flattering rumors plus his no-holds-bar rules, she tries desperately to play his game while guarding her heart.
Only they have no idea of the journey they’re about to undertake when their lives collide. Ultimately they’ll tackle the biggest test of their lives because she is his game changer. The one, who through the ensuing wreckage, can domesticate the mess of a man that he is.
This is a, full-length novel that includes mature content, not suitable for younger readers.
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A Mess of a Man is Ben’s story who we met in Cruel and Beautiful. This is such an heart breaking read and it will have you laughing and crying (kleenex would be handy). I loved Ben and Samantha. I was glad she wasn’t a pushover and made Ben work at being better man. It was great to see Cate from previous book, and meet Samantha’s friends who will have you laughing off your seats, us girls have to stick together. Great Read!!
This is what we’ve all been waiting for: Ben’s story! YAY! GO and Read it!! =)
This book makes you laugh, cry and angry at how unfair life can be. It’s all about love and loss in all different kind of shades.
The story is really good and even though there were no surprises because it was all a bit predictable I really LOVED IT. You know, it’s like watching a horror movie when the girl is alone at home and it’s the middle of the night and you just know when the right kinda music starts to play that something is going to happen. Ok, that was the worst comparison ever but you get what I mean?! It’s like having that feeling in your gut that tells you where this is going and what will happen. But it didn’t lessen my enjoyment of reading this book even for a bit.
Ben did catch me by surprise closer to the end though.
The Story/main character:
Ben is like a hard shell with a soft core. He lost his best friend, his brother, and struggles to move on with his life. How can anyone move on from such a thing? When you have to watch your best friend die slowly away during days, weeks, months, it eats away on you. How can you cope with such a loss and being so helpless. Ben doesn’t want to experience anything like that ever again and keeps his heart locked up. He is a womanizer and keeps his heart out of the game out of fear of loosing another loved person in his life. People around him don’t notice how broken he is inside and he also wants to be strong for Cate, Dew’s wife and his best friend.
Ben was never one who believed in the one true love though when he saw Sam, he wishes so much to talk to Drew about her and ask him for help to not screw this up.
Thoughts:
Contrary to my first impression I wouldn’t exactly say that this is a sad story but with Ben’s sorrow it really pulled at my hear. (I had to cry every time Drew was mentioned.)
I should not compare this book to Cruel and Beautiful because that wouldn’t be fair but to be honest I always had to think about Drew.
I wonder if this would be as sad to read as it was for me without having read Cruel and Beautiful before. Because of knowing the whole story and knowing what happened to Drew, I took a trip down memory lane and the images of Drew kept filling my head. It made this so much harder to read with watery eyes.
The middle part of the book could have been a tiny bit shorter for my liking but on the other hand I still enjoyed reading all of it. It wasn’t boring or anything but I was always glancing at the percentage of how much I’ve read already because I knew that closer to the end there must be some turn of events coming.
And I was right.
Feelings:
Oh god, Drew’s letters made me cry. Ben made me cry. Reading about Cate and Mercer made me cry. This was really hard, let me tell ya. And the Epilogue really got me.
I really liked Ben in Cruel and Beautiful and I am so happy for him to have his own story. During this read I really felt for him. I love him for caring so much and putting his own feelings and needs aside to be there for his friends.
I wish I had a Jeannie to grant me a wish, I would make Drew come back.
And now I’m going to go and listen to Sinéad O’Connor.
Ben can be quite harsh, “Sam, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to connect with you. Work is crazy like that, which is one reason I don’t do the relationship thing. You came, you wanted to eff. I made time and did that . This is what eff buddies do; they don’t expect more.” Why do I just feel like he slapped me in the face?” Ben grew on me especially when he was caring and sweet, “he stares at my mouth like a starving man, which only serves to make my smile sprout wings. “It’s just Ben Jr. is so effing happy to see you…” Overall I loved Ben, I really enjoyed this book