Title

Rave and Rant about Raunch

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Review by Jenn: A Beautiful Mess by T.K. Leigh

A Beautiful Mess
Beautiful Mess Series Book 1
By T.K. Leigh
Genres:
Contemporary Romance, 
Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
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Teasers
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Synopsis

RECOMMENDED FOR READERS 18 AND UP DUE TO STRONG LANGUAGE, SEXUAL SITUATIONS, AND MILD VIOLENCE. 



What happens when you lose everyone that promised they would always be there for you? How can you protect the few pieces of your shattered heart that remain? 


Olivia Adler is a woman with a troubled past. After losing her parents at the young age of six and being raised by an uncle who she lost years later, she refuses to get attached to anyone, including friends. For the past decade, she has been able to remain unattached to any man, too worried about losing someone to get too close. Until Alexander Burnham walks into her life one night and changes everything. But he has issues of his own. And he’s keeping a secret that could turn her world upside-down. Will Olivia let Alexander in enough for him to get close and protect her from a force threatening her very existence, or will she push him away, scared of letting Alexander in, in order to protect her heart? 


A Beautiful Mess is the first installment of a three part series sure to captivate the heart with a story of secrets, courage, and love.

Star Rating
(4.5 Stars)
Review
*Blogger Note: I read this series all at once and did not do my reviews before I finished the whole series (Which I hate and is not standard for me) so there is a possibility of errors in my review, mixing up books.

Before I started blogging I had no one referring books to me and I had to stumble upon books myself in my kindle store. Upon gaining entrance to the massive romance novel Facebook community, T.K. Leigh's Beautiful Mess Series was a set of books I had not yet found and saw promos for everywhere and had a number of people personally give it high praise to me. So I dove in. Now, after reading I can give Beautiful Mess my own praise, and it is much deserved. It has romance, imagery-inducing steamy sex scenes, drama, friendship and a mystery that needs solving!

During the first half of book 1, I was sitting on pins and needles. In my head I was making an outline of events and cataloging clues trying to figure out who the bad guys were and figure out the plot before it unraveled. My mom never bought me Nancy Drew as a kid and maybe she should have because most of the time I am not very good at figuring out the who done it and why, but it’s still great fun to play detective while being safely tucked away under the covers.

Lets talk about Mr. Alexander Burnham because I am not one who believes in delayed satisfaction when it comes to bringing wonderful, wonderful book boyfriends to your attention. T.K.’s whole work of this series is beautifully done but for me, she broke the mold when she thought up Alexander. Alex is a man that takes care of what he treasures; his family, friends, business, and the memory of his lost childhood friend. He’s dominant, yet not a Neanderthal. He’s a successful man, running his own security business and one of Boston’s most eligible bachelors. After reading I have definitely ranked him one of my top favorite book boyfriends.

Now, Olivia, the leading lady of A Beautiful Mess… She is great too. Rich, yet not materialistic, an animal lover, has great taste in music if I don’t say so myself, and has a set of lungs on her to belt out those tunes while she plays along on any number of instruments she can man-handle. For the most part Olivia is strong and has been through a lot, even if she herself is not fully aware of really how much torments her from her past. She’s dealing with some issues. She’s afraid of getting hurt and loosing the people she loves, so she closes herself off a bit from forming relationships.

T.K. is a fabulous writer who creates a story and characters that keeps you up at night turning the pages. There are twists and turns leaving you baffled and stunned. It’s not your typical “boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl fight, and then boy and girl make up and live happily ever after” story. It’s creative and different and there are most definitely scenes that get you hot and bothered.

Changing pace a bit, I would like to address the two reasons I gave this book 4.5 Stars instead of 5. I really, really wanted to give it 5 stars, because it is just so damn good, but I did have two problems with the book that just prevented me from doing so.  

I mentioned above that for the most part Olivia is one strong ass bitch, and re-mentioning this does bring me to the first problem I had with this book. Olivia has been through A LOT. She got dealt a shit hand and 90% of the time she is so strong it’s unbelievable. My problem is in that other 10% during her moments of weakness. It is not simply the weakness I had trouble with, we all deserve to loose it every once and a while when things become too much. My problem was the extreme disregard for the people who love her. She becomes extremely irresponsible during these times and causes her friends a lot of stress, worry, and heartache. When things are fine, her friends and she are so close and a great cast of people to read about in a story. But when she emotionally goes off the deep, her non-intentional disregard of their feelings comes off as a little cruel. This was not a deal breaker for me and it shouldn’t be for you. I gave this book 4.5 stars for a reason, because it was fantastic but this hit me in such a way I felt I had to mention it.

Okay, so the second problem I had with this book was the BIG secret. There is something HUGE that Alex knows that he is keeping from Olivia. It concerns her and their relationship together. Through out the first book, Alex is first figuring out the secret, then trying to find the right time to tell her, and then pretty much keeping the secret from her. While reading, during every chapter I was like… Okay, he’s going to tell her now…. Then nothing, he doesn’t. I read this book in an e-box set, so I wasn’t always 100% sure how far away from the ending I was and then book 1 is over and I was like, Are you kidding me?! He didn’t tell her!! I would have much preferred he told her in book 1 and then they navigate their way through this secret together in the books to come. And I stress, this is still a very minor criticism for a book that everyone must read.

Take a fictional journey to Boston and meet Olivia and Alex for yourself, especially since currently, book 1 is FREE. I can guarantee that you will be in love with Mr. Burnham from hello, I was!  So get on it, the links are below to get your copy NOW!

Purchase A Beautiful Mess Here:

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