Featuring the entire BEAUTIFUL series cast for one final hurrah!
A FREE-SPIRITED GIRL IN NEED OF A BREAK.
A MAN WEIGHED DOWN BY RESPONSIBILITY.
A ROAD TRIP VACATION WHERE ALL BETS ARE OFF.
OH, AND A LOT OF WINE.
After walking in on her boyfriend shagging another girl in their place, Pippa Bay Cox ditches London for the States to go on a drunken road trip with Ruby Miller and some of her … Miller and some of her Beautiful friends.
Scaling the career ladder is the default way to deal with heartbreak—and to just deal—for Jensen Bergstrom. Absolutely buried by his drive and workload, he rarely takes time for himself. But when his sister Hanna convinces him to join the gang on a two-week wine tour, he has a rare moment of cutting loose. Of course, it’s only once he’s committed that he realizes the strange girl he met briefly on the plane is coming along, too. She might be too much for him…or he might realize his life has become too small and needs her to make it bigger, crazier.
With this circle of friends there’s always something going on: from Chloe and Sara’s unexpected personality swaps to Will’s new domestic side to Bennett’s text message barrage and George’s own happily-ever-after. In short, their adventures in love, friendship, and hilarity are nothing short of Beautiful.
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You can’t go wrong with books by Christina Lauren! I loved how we get to visit London, Boston, and several vineyards in this highly entertaining page turner. But the thing I loved most was how the romance slowly progressed between the hero and heroine. It wasn’t instalove, even though they are together for only a short time with the group of friends. The story goes beyond that, to result in a sweet and sexy and compelling read.
h: Pippa
H: Jensen
Jensen is Hannah’s (Beautiful Player)brother. Pippa is Ruby’s (Beautiful Secret) best friend. Pippa just found her boyfriend cheating on her and is in need of a holiday. On her flight to the states, Pippa sits next to a man and consumes so much alcohol she tells him all about her ex boyfriend and his ‘thrusting bum’.
Jensen comes to Sara and Max’s daughter’s birthday party and who does he happen to see there? The looney woman he was stuck next to on a plane for six hours, Pippa. Jensen is so consumed with his work and boring daily routine, Hannah convinces Jensen to come on a winery road trip with her, Will, Niall, Ruby and Pippa. Since the other people on the trip are couples, Pippa and Jensen automatically get paired off.
Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with or enjoy this story as much as I loved the others in this series. I thought Jensen was a bit bland. I did greatly enjoy the epilogues at the end of all of our favorite couples
Favorite quotes:
”I woke you,” he said, and then sucked at my neck.”I’m sorry.”
Then he paused. “No. I’m not sorry.” -Jensen pg 175
How could a man so restrained by his own rules not see how much passion he craved? Pippa pg 217
”It was an excruciatingly competitive game of chess we had going,” I said. “Neither of us was willing to give up until it was over.”
Will’s smile was sneaky. “I see, chess? Because it sounded like you were hanging pictures.”
Niall nodded. “Something was definitely getting nailed up there.” Pg 241
Great book! I am sorry that the series has come to an end. It is one of my favorites and this last installment did not disappoint. I laughed out loud, held my breath and sighed with relief throughout this book.
Jensen and Pippa are the “opposites attract” couple. He is responsible and a workaholic. She is carefree and bold. They outwardly don’t have many similarities but their chemistry makes them an adorable, unlikely couple. Watching Jensen and Pippa navigate their relationship from a rocky first encounter to becoming lovers is priceless and precious.
What is an exciting bonus to Jensen and Pippa’s story is how their ending or beginning, however you wish to look at it, includes epilogues from other characters in the Beautiful B series. It is like the gang is all here to take a final bow. Thank you and Bravo!!
I made the conscious decision to put off reading Beautiful for… well, far too long. The Beautiful Bastard series is one of my all-time favorites and, to be honest, I just couldn’t bring myself to let it go. It might sound kinda silly, but it felt like as long as there was one book out there that I hadn’t read, it wasn’t really over. Does anyone else have a really hard time letting go of their favorite characters, books and/or series? I struggle with this a lot sometimes. It finally felt like the right time a couple weeks ago, so I jumped on in. And while I don’t regret waiting to read it, I’m glad I finally did. Beautiful was exactly the book I needed/wanted it to be.
There’s just something about the characters in this series. I can’t get enough of them. I loved seeing more from my old favorites. The friendships, romances and bromances are A+. But the newer characters Jensen and Pippa were fantastic, too. I relished the chance to get to know them better and I developed a bit of a girl crush on Pippa. She’s the kind of smart, sassy and genuine character I can get behind. Jensen grew on me as the story progressed. I shipped these two hard. As hard as I shipped any pairing earlier in the series.
Beautiful is one of the most satisfying series conclusions I’ve read in a long time. I can’t think of one single thing I would change about it. I loved how the focus was on Pippa and Jensen, but how everyone came together. It punched me in the feels over and over again. I laughed and cried. I swooned and blushed. The epilogues were absolute perfection. I’m getting a little teary-eyed just thinking about them. My heart is so, so full.
Favorite Quotes:
“I’m covered in you. You’re covered in me.”
“I couldn’t decide if you ruined me, or… found me.”
“To get the best woman in the world, I had to start with the basics: Love her as she is, not as you want her to be. Become the person she can’t live without. Be her right-hand man. Learn what she needs, and she won’t give you up, not for anything in the world.”
This was the final book in the series, and I loved it. Jensen was one we’d met in the other stories, and so it was nice to see him finally get his true love. I couldn’t remember at first who Pippa was, for some reason I was thinking she was Niall’s ex-wife, but then realized that she just was best friends with his current wife, Ruby, and we did meet her before, in their book, Beautiful Secret. I fell in love with Pippa right away, the confidence she had in herself, man, did I love that about her! The way she felt about a casual relationship, I’ve said those very things to myself in past situations. So I really connected with her in that way. Although I would never be able to pull of the cool way she caught Jensen talking about her and how she turned it around and didn’t let it make her cry or feel horrible. I’d have been humiliated, and everyone would have known it. Jensen and Pippa had some of the best interactions, so kooky and sarcastic, and just perfect! I would love a relationship like that. I also wish I had some friends to go on a fun road trip like this with. Of course I’d hope they had a single guy for me to be a 5th wheel with. I did get a little cranky when the chapters stopped being alternate between both characters. I know when that happens that the one we are now hearing from more is about to get something major dropped on them. My connection to Hanna was totally reinforced in this story when they talked about just throwing out the Tupperware instead of cleaning it, partly because they don’t care for leftovers that much. I’ll end up having to just throw leftovers away that family sends home with me. No matter how good it was when I had it at their place, I often just can’t make myself want to eat the leftovers. Anyway, since this was the final book in the series, we got several short epilogues from all the characters, even George, although his was a little bit shocking at first. And then Chloe having the baby, that part was perfect. A great ending, to a great series!
I finally finished it! For some reason this one took me days to get through. Once I got through the first half, then it started moving for me. I can say that I love Pippa, she’s awesome! Jensen was just okay for me but I thought the epilogue was fantastic. I loved how it wrapped everyone up. Sad that the series is over but what a great series it is!
“Four days crashing around various breweries and small wineries, and then we would make our way to Vermont for a quiet week in a cabin.” –Jensen.
The gang is back! In BEAUTIFUL, we get our “good-bye” book. For fans of this series, you’ll understand what I mean by this. We’ve ‘watched’ these characters grow and develop through 10 books (10 BOOKS! BEAUTIFUL B*STARD, B*TCH, STRANGER, BOMBSHELL, PLAYER, BEGINNING, BELOVED, SECRET, BOSS & the BEAUTIFUL) and now we get to read about all their HEA’s and get our final “good-byes’ to our beloved beautiful gang. *tears*
***Warning: if you haven’t read any of the previous books in this series, STOP…this review will contain spoilers***
Told from dual POV (Pippa and Jensen):
But first…we have to add another couple to the group! Jensen (Hanna’s older brother) & Pippa (Ruby’s old roommate in London). BEAUTIFUL is obviously their story.
An awkward drunk first encounter on a plane, turns to a second awkward encounter at a kid’s birthday party, to a “holiday vacation” together for almost 2 weeks.
What could possibly be considered the most awkward first encounter…Jensen and Pippa meet on a flight from London to Boston. (Pippa lives in London and Jensen lives in Boston, he’s in London for work). They are seated next to each other and Pippa proceeds to drink WAY too much champagne and “spills her guts” to Jensen (who is a complete stranger) all about how she walked in on her wanker ex-boyfriend cheating on her. Pippa had made a complete fool of herself and appeared to be a complete “hot mess”. After the flight, Jensen couldn’t get away from her fast enough. This happened on a Friday, now it’s Saturday and Pippa is going to a kids birthday party for her friends, brother in laws daughter. See where I’m going with this? Pippa’s friend is Ruby and Ruby’s brother in law is Max. *hmm* “At first she was okay, but then she got drunk and wouldn’t stop talking,” I said. “It would have been a more pleasant flight if I’d been crammed into a middle coach seat. God, imagine a week with such a woman.” –Jensen. That’s what Pippa walks in to hear Jensen saying to his sister, Hanna. Now, they both come to the realization that they are going to be stuck in a van (and a cabin) for 2 weeks, together, and with two other couples, Hanna & Will and Ruby & Niall. What could possibly go wrong?
“What a weird two weeks it’s been,” I murmured.
He nodded.
“Ex-wives and pretend marriages,” I said. “
Drinking across the East Coast and macho-men ax hurling.”
“Morning yoga and terrible singing,” he added.
“I liked the terrible singing.” –Pippa and Jensen.
What began as a bumpy first encounter, developed into some “snogging” (as Pippa likes to call it lol) “The expectation that we would eventually pair off was thick in the air.” –Pippa., which then grew into a “like” for each other. But both of them knew it couldn’t go beyond this “holiday”. First of all, they live in different continents. This could only be a temporary fling. “This wasn’t what a fling should be. He wasn’t forgetful. He wasn’t flaky or flippant. He was attentive, he was considerate, and –holy f*ck—he seemed more committed to me than he was to sleeping, to eating…”–Pippa. Secondly, they both have had bad past experiences with relationships. Jensen’s not so recent divorce and Pippa’s recent break up. Neither appear to be looking for a relationship now. So the fling is the perfect solution on this holiday…until it isn’t. “It’s too bad I’m only learning my heart and you have yours rolled in bubble wrap.” –Hanna.
What a beautiful ending to an excellent series. I will not lie, I may have shed a tear or two at the end of this series. Don’t judge me! Christina and Lauren did a phenomenal job of wrapping up all the books and giving every couple their perfect HEA. What I found unique and fun about this installment was, if you’ve read BEAUTIFUL PLAYER, Jensen was portrayed as this overly protective older brother who pushed his younger sister (Hanna) to get out and live a little. Stop only doing work. Meet someone. After fighting against his suggestions, she eventually gave in and then she met Will. But now, the roles have reversed! “…you’re letting life pass you by. You’re thirty-four, Jens, not eighty.” –Hanna. It was the perfect set up for Jensen’s story! I also want to say, Jensen wasn’t my favorite ‘beautiful’ man in the series, but that was partly due to my expectations for him. I was expecting the overprotective brother angle to translate into his relationships with woman, but I didn’t get that. BUT that didn’t ruin the story for me and I am still going to give it 5 stars because when I thought about it, in the end, Jensen was exactly how he should’ve been and I’m glad that they did that angle with his character.
I am sure going to miss this group of fictional characters and their never ending shenanigans that I have grown to love over the years, but like I said, Christina and Lauren did the couples and story justice and I am extremely content with how it ended.
5 BEAUTIFUL stars!