Beautiful (The Beautiful Series Book 10)

If, like me, you have been reading a lot of deep, dark, books recently, this series is absolutely what you need in your life. It is a fun, lighthearted contemporary romance with characters that are easy to love. Pippa: While Will was easily my favorite male character in this series, I can easily say without a doubt that Pippa is my favorite female character. Everything about her, from her zany clothes, to her propensity for saying whatever is on her mind, no matter the situation, was fantastic. She had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. I would send my bestie a copy of this book to read with instructions to be more like Pippa if I was’t positive I’d get punched. Jensen: While I liked Jensen, and felt that he and Pippa were a great match, I did find myself speeding through his chapters to read more from Pippa’s perspective – he was more of a reserved and quiet character while she was really out there. He was just overshadowed by her big personality, in my opinion. The Sex: Fellow fans of Christina Lauren know how incredible her sex scenes can be. Something I have really enjoyed about this series is that every couple has different sex scenes – some romance authors kind of copy and paste their sex scenes in each of their books. But each character in the Beautiful series has different kinks (dirty talkers, public sex, hate sex, etc). This book’s sex scenes definitely delivered on steaminess (I had to turn my AC down to 67 at one point because fanning myself just wasn’t working- I will bill you for the difference in my electric bill Christina Lauren). The Ending: As promised, we got to see all of our favorite characters return in this book. As a final book, it did a phenomenal job of wrapping up each couple’s story. I will miss all of these characters – I have been following them for years. My Takeaway: Pippa was my favorite female character to date, and while I felt that she did out shadow Jensen a bit in this book, I loved them as a couple. I’m going to miss the Beautiful Series characters but really look forward to reading Lauren’s next series. This was the perfect light, funny, sweet read.

This was a great way to wrap up the series! I was t expecting to like Jensen and Pippa so much (in the beginning it felt like just another version of Niall and Ruby) but they quickly grew on me! Things I loved: ✔️ vacation fling ✔️ fake relationship ✔️ grumpy(ish)/sunshine ✔️ a blend of new and familiar characters

FINAL DECISION: A satisfying conclusion to the Beautiful series with a new couple who made me laugh and smile. Jensen and Pippa are perfect together despite their differences but Jensen and Hanna definitely have similar work obsession problems! THE STORY: Times are changing for the Beautiful crew with the addition of a number of children and a group have decided to take a wine tasting tour. Included is one of Ruby's friends, Pippa and Hanna's brother, Jensen. As the unmarried couple in the group, the two are naturally matched together. Both are recovering from failed relationships and the lure of a holiday romance is irresistible. But what happens when the holiday is over. OPINION: This book is elevated by the appearances of the Beautiful crew. The story is good, but it doesn't compare to the first three couples in the series. On the other hand, I enjoyed this story more than Niall and Ruby's. Pippa and Jensen made me laugh. The two are such opposites and it was wonderful to see how these two end up melding so well together. There was something really beautiful about how Pippa expects Jensen to be judgmental about her, but he truly falls for her for herself. I also really liked the symmetry of this story (won't give spoilers here). Even if the events are a bit unlikely, there was something in how it came together that made my heart warm. What I didn't like as much is how these two are a bit stupid with miscommunication, or more accurately, lack of communication. The troubles between Jensen and Pippa is all about not talking to one another. I'm not a person that hates that plot device, but the excuses here made me roll my eyes at times. But ultimately, the strength of the connection between Jensen and Pippa made up for the plot device keeping them apart. And the ending of this book was simply wonderful and a great treat for anyone who has followed the entire series. WORTH MENTIONING: There are appearances here from Bennett and Chloe, Max and Sara, Will and Hanna, and Niall and Ruby. I love the relationship between these characters and this book feels like a big homecoming for everyone. CONNECTED BOOKS: BEAUTIFUL is the fifth and final book in the Beautiful series. The romance here is self-contained and can be read as a standalone, but this book is filled with the other couples in the series and serves as a conclusion for the series so it is better after reading the other books in the series. STAR RATING: I give this book 4.5 stars.

The Beautiful Bastard series comes to a fitting and heart-warming conclusion with Jensen and Pippa's story. It is evident from the beginning that these two will hit it off (no spoilers here)! Ahhhh but what a fun-filled ride it is through wine country in the Northeast US. If you have read this series you will get more of what you have come to expect from this author; strong and smart women, sexy, lovable men, romance, humor, well-developed characters and a story you will slow down reading because you absolutely do not want it to end. The amusing banter and interaction of this group of friends is charming and refreshing, as always. One of the best adjective's to describe this book and series is "Satisfying". The conclusion of this series is bittersweet for me but Christiana Lauren is my go to author when I need to escape to a happy, fun and sexy place. I will read anything they write. Bennett, Chloe, Max, Sara, Will, Hannah, Niall, Ruby, Jensen and Pippa have earned a loving place on my bookshelf and I will continue to reread your charming stories Thank you CLo for giving me countless hours of beautifully written characters that I feel have become my friends, have made me cry, made me laugh and have made me happy beyond measure. If you are like me and a hopeless romantic, this series is a must read!

How to review this is hard for me, so Ill try in 2 parts. The H and h first. I liked Jensen a lot in prior books, I have read the entire series just recently so all the books were fresh on my mind. For some reason I thought he was a bit more fun in other books, I had some laugh out loud moments with him before, so this was a surprise. But alas, hes got issues. Ill start with a little waiver, that Bennett and Chloe's book, was steamy, hot, fast and electric, and I usually gravitate to those kind of stories. I like a lot of steam in my books and sometimes my reviews reflect that. This is not like that, not close, IMO. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the characters. I really enjoyed Pippa, she was hilarious. I was somewhat bothered by the closure of Becky, Jensen's ex wife who seemed to think she needed to give all kinds of frigen reasons for leaving 6 yrs later, it was a bit stalker-ish to me and I would of loved some of that story to have been focused back on the main couple. It was filler for me. I enjoyed the road trip, but I was hoping for a bit of Ruby. I knew she was on the trip, I just never heard her speak, lol. She's a chatterbox in her book, so how does that work? I enjoyed the realistic moments of Will and Hanna. In essense, this is a book about 2 broken people from relationships, combined with 2 workaholics and finding something fun and easy for it, of which Pippa is the energy behind that for Jensen. He's a bit stuffy and controlled. Opposites attract, etc. So if you like those stories you'll like this. Frankly I wanted more passion, but like I said above, that's my problem, lol. Now, aside from all that, I loved the epilogues they left for all of us. It seemed a bit of a love letter for me, especially since BB was my favorite book. So that alone was worth it. We saw Max and Sara too, Hanna and Will make a huge step in their marriage, etc. If for anything, even though I found the romance somewhat lacking for this main couple, I loved the roadtrip, thought that more steam would of been good, but eh, and the endings and wrap up were amazing, so for that alone I would of raced out and got it. Well written. BTW, if you are reading this review let me tell you, that the entire series was worth reading, so go back to the start if you are cheat looking, lol, like I sometimes do, and start at the beginning. :)

I remember when Beautiful Bastard released and so many reviewers /readers ripped it to shreds. So I did what many readers with limited reading time do...I passed it up. Big mistake, Huge mistake. Each story was as good or better than the one before it. I'm so glad I finally came around and entered their world. Beautiful is no exception and shines through with its simplicity. Some things just are, such as Pippa and Jensen. Did Pippa "chase" after Jensen, maybe a little. But in the end it was redeemed. Jensen wasn't an a**, he was a typical thirty something year old lost in the mundane everyday life of succeeding at work. He and Pippa were so easy , what they found together was easy -Jensen just didn't understand it...yet. It took Pippa's bad experience to realize what was true and worth while, and that she was selling herself short with Mark. Jensen's last crack at love was six years ago making him a little numb when it was staring him in the face. In the end he did chase the girl. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the chemistry of Christina Lauren is simple perfection. The stories they write may not be filled with twists and turns, have heavy plots , or are even unpredictable. They just are. Romance filled stories with lovable H's and h's and steam...lots of steam. Some of their stories may not be for everybody but most are. That's the appeal. They are everyday people , or at least they make us believe they are, looking for love and finding their happily ever after. Isn't that what we all want ? I will miss this series but I know there are plenty more stories ahead from this fantastic duo, and I can't wait to read them all.

This was one of those books that I stalked on social media always counting down the days until it came out, I rarely order a book on pre-order, but this one I did. It was the blurb, it got me, the idea of meeting someone on a plane, having a weird encounter and then suddenly being on a road trip with them, yeah that just screams fun times. I was not wrong, it was such a fun read for me. Pippa was just so fantastically almost lost in a way, trying to figure out where to go from here, but also kind of amazingly self-assured. She had this great kind of quirkiness about her, she's incredibly kind and generous, she has good family background story that just makes her more interesting, and then of course there is her dating life. She gets home one day from work to find her live-in boyfriend cheating on her, so her solution to just get the heck out of dodge. I have to say the opening of this book totally proved to me that I did the right thing with my pre-order, the scene with her on the fight to Boston is just amazing, it's awkward and funny and uncomfortable in spots, it just perfect, everything I wanted. Jensen is almost inherently less likable than Pippa, because while Pippa is so open he is so closed off. I mean you have some scenes with him when he is in his home, and he might as well be in a hotel room. Whatever personality is inside Jensen, he keeps it super locked down. His whole life is work and then like 10% his family in the form of his sister. But when this vacation starts and suddenly he is the odd guy out with Pippa, and the two of them start to really interact with each other, he almost has no other option then to start to open up. She pushed him in just the right ways to really let himself outside of the box and to imagine what his life would be if it wasn't so work all the time. Of course there was a catalyst to why he is the way he is, and it's definitely something that is confronted in the book, but without a doubt watching Jensen evolve was how I fell in love with him. Jensen and Pippa had great chemistry for being so different, it was great to watch them come alive together and how they play off each other. These two are great in the bedroom as well, I mean they could really heat up the page. But for me the thing I love about this book is how much Pippa was able to pull on my heartstrings so amazingly well. This book was just so enjoyable for me, their little road trip was the perfect escape from my everyday life for me.

I laughed so hard I was crying! Christina and Lauren have an incredible gift for conveying humor and sex. I enjoyed this series so much that I purchased them all. Please don’t stop writing these laugh out loud books they are by far some of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever read I can’t wait for more! I am now reading the Wild Series I will be in touch with that review.❤️