Book Review: Beautiful Stranger by Christina Lauren

Title: Beautiful Stranger
Series: Beautiful Bastard, Book2
Author: Christina Lauren
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: library
Published: April 16, 2013 by Gallery Books

Escaping a cheating ex, finance whiz Sara Dillon’s moved to New York City and is looking for excitement and passion without a lot of strings attached. So meeting the irresistible, sexy Brit at a dance club should have meant nothing more than a night’s fun. But the manner—and speed—with which he melts her inhibitions turns him from a one-time hookup and into her Beautiful Stranger.

The whole city knows that Max Stella loves women, not that he’s ever found one he particularly wants to keep around. Despite pulling in plenty with his Wall Street bad boy charm, it’s not until Sara—and the wild photos she lets him take of her—that he starts wondering if there’s someone for him outside of the bedroom.

Hooking up in places where anybody could catch them, the only thing scarier for Sara than getting caught in public is having Max get too close in private.

Reviewed By: Laura

Why I Read This Book: I read Beautiful Bastard (my review), the first book in this loosely tied series (each book can stand on its own, but you’ll have better context for the other relationships if you read them in order), and really enjoyed the way the characters were written and how they couldn’t keep their hands off one another. So naturally I wanted to move on to the next book in the series and was pleasantly surprised to see that it has a exhibitionism/voyeurism theme. Score!

What I Liked: Max Stella. Mmmm. You may have noticed (or possibly not) that I tend enjoy European men in my books. Not sure if it’s the language, the accent, or the personalities that are usually attributed to them, but suffice it to say that Max hits all the right buttons in these categories! And Sara’s pretty kick-ass too. The right kind of gal with the wrong kind of guy, she gains her freedom from a sad engagement and the first thing she sets her eyes on is Max. Their brief encounter is just a minor taste of what comes later, but enough to really give you a feel for whether you’ll enjoy the rest of the story.

I also really enjoyed the playing with exhibitionism and voyeurism. They both enjoyed the thrill of being caught or being watched in general (hello 360 mirrors, incredible!) and even manage to participate in a club catering to those preferences without the possibility of being arrested. Personally, I truly enjoyed the voyeurism that Max participated in by taking photos of them together. While normally a voyeur is outside of the activity, I think this term still applies to his photos since he actively viewed them even when they were apart.

Also, nicknames are kind of thing in this series and I loved his for her!

What I Didn’t Like: The issue that broke them apart was a bit fluffy for my tastes. Considering what all Sara has been through and what she and Max started together, I just think it was something that got blown out of proportion and wasn’t all that “fulfilling” as a breaking point for such an awesome couple! Their reconciliation made up for it though.

Overall Impression: A nice continuation of a series, I recommend this if you’re up for some public fun and photographic shenanigans. Chloe & Bennett from Beautiful Bastard make regular appearances, so it’s nice to see familiar faces and interactions continuing throughout the series.

Laura’s Rating:

Add to Goodreads  |  Buy on Amazon