Grief and blame: poison that rips worlds apart. Josephine Bell arrives at Wildridge Manor as a whirlwind of optimism and light, and the delicate balance of order and control that he fights every day to maintain is tipped upside down in a way that will change William Marshall-Croft forever.Discovering that the house she now calls home is filled with well-kept secrets, Josephine tries to get to the … tries to get to the bottom of the silence that surrounds the man she has been warned to stay away from.
A stubborn need to get to know the mysterious and handsome estate owner uncovers a magnetic attraction, which the pair are powerless to ignore.
When the heartbreaking truth is finally communicated, Josephine is desperate to save the beautifully broken man with the strength of her love… even though it may be too late.
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I’m a little lost for words right now having literally just placed my kindle down after reaching the end of this fabulous story. Beauty of a Monster was recommended to me, and is the first book written by either author that I have read. Even though there is no doubt that I will be moving on to the second book in this duet to continue this story, I’m certain that I will read more books by both authors in the future.
I will admit that it took a little while for me to become totally absorbed in this story but once I was I didn’t want to stop reading. I thought that the authors wrote this book beautifully. It is not only a story that captures your heart and has you feeling all the emotions, but it is also written in the third person which was a refreshing change and I loved how their words on the whole flowed so seamlessly throughout. There were a few times when it switched from one character to another in the following paragraph and I had to pause to work out who the story was with at that time, but that was easily resolved. Beauty of a Monster is a story of love, loss, mystery, blame and forgiveness and I loved how I was drawn in as the story developed; desperate to find out the secrets being kept from Joey by those at Wildridge Manor, and to learn the reasons behind Will’s actions.
Josephine is a young woman with a heart of pure gold. She is full of compassion and has this wonderful caring nature that has her putting others before herself. I can see why so many were taken with her. She has a personality that I couldn’t help but warm to. She brought new life and hope to Wildridge and I absolutely adored her sass.
William is a complex character and if I was to say he is not the easiest person to get along with, that would be an understatement. My heart broke for him many times. He is a young man with the weight of the world on his shoulders and I so desperately wanted him to face his demons and seek the help he needed to enable him to live a life away from bad memories and guilt.
I have to mention the secondary characters in this book as they all added to the story perfectly. I particularly loved Bea with her meddling ways. She brought a smile to my face many times.
What I adored about the story is watching the development of Joey and Will’s relationship. Will is very closed off and full of hurt, anger and blame, so witnessing Joey slowly peel away Will’s layers to find the person underneath the hard exterior was gripping. The authors had a wonderful way of entwining the characters which kept the story progressing whilst continuing to make me more intrigued to find the answers to the questions going around in my mind. I wanted to know, I needed to know, but I didn’t want to get there just in case any revelations undid the progress that had been made.
I’m delighted to have read Beauty of a Monster: Seduction and it gets a well-deserved 4.5 stars from me. I am eager to see if Will and Joey can find happiness in the concluding novel titled Beauty of a Monster: Redemption. I am very invested in them finding their HEAs together, which I feel would be the perfect ending.
Joey & Will’s story is more than meets the eye, you can find healing in letting someone in but in Will’s case it opens up a whole bunch of unresolved issues from his past. Can the past and present be resolved for them to have a future?
Well that question remains in book two!
These authors will have you reaching for book two with both hands! Well done Ladies!
How does one torture a character(s) in a book, one simply makes them fall in love and and continuously rips them apart, with happiness just dangling right in front of them then turning the page and whispering just kidding! I guess that could be said on how to torture the reader as well. Well played ladies, well played.
Okay so what can I say about the story and characters of Beauty of a Monster… gorgeous book cover, Will and Joey beautiful heartbreaking couple. Danny,… oh sweet Danny. …btw I HATE SIMON.
The way the authors can describe a setting is beautiful, the emotional pull after getting to the crescendo of this story had me trying to calm my heart, since I couldn’t see the words through my blurry vision, and wanted to read what was happening next. I’m excited to know that there is a Book 2 since Book 1 does NOT have a HEA! Although how much more torture can these characters (myself/readers) go through, I really hope there’s a HUGE SILVER LINING!