Beautiful Bastard

By: Christina Lauren

Narrated by: Grace Grant

Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

An ambitious intern. A perfectionist executive. And a whole lot of name calling. Discover the story that garnered more than two million reads online.

Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. He’s exacting, blunt, inconsiderate - and completely irresistible. A beautiful bastard.

Bennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family’s massive media business. He never expected that the assistant who’d been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative - completely infuriating - creature he now has to see every day. Despite the rumors, he’s never been one for a workplace hookup. But Chloe’s so tempting he’s willing to bend the rules - or outright smash them - if it means he can have her. All over the office.

As their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they’re willing to lose in order to win each other.

Originally only available online as The Office by tby789 - and garnering over two million reads on fan-fiction sites - Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for rerelease.

©2013 Christina Lauren (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The perfect blend of sex, sass and heart, Beautiful Bastard is a steamy battle of wills that will get your blood pumping!" (S.C. Stephens, best-selling author of Thoughtless)

Good Story, Bad Reader

While the story was HOT and steamy, the narrator really through me off. I hated her voice, and while reading the guy's part it just seemed like a old woman with a slur. I'll buy the rest of the books in ebook form.

Sexy

This is a new author for me. I enjoyed the banter and they steam. This is a fun office romance with lots of spice!

Love love loveee It

Amazing story, amazing narrator. I've heard this book 3 times already. Can't get enough. The entire series is awesome. Some one needs to make this series into a tv drama....I need more of this.

Loved it!

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this story. It was, obviously, a little predictable, but I thought the story was quite well written. The narrator did a very good job switching back and forth between narrating as a male and a female, although it did take me a while to get used to it.
I would totally read it again.

Needs a male reader also

Would like to have a male reader for Bennett's dialogue. It was hard to know when it was Bennett speaking.

Got Me Grinning

An entertaining and easy listen after a long work day. Grace Grant was brilliant. The story was simple but colourful enough to have my imagination grinning, I thoroughly enjoyed

Performance better than the story

It's very hard to find reasons to like the main male lead character. The author didn't spend enough time giving us background into how he positively pushes Chloe into being better at her job as an intern, thereby giving her a better shot at a career. Instead, his influence comes off as entirely negative - she succeeds despite him, not because he does his job well as her mentor at work. There is a huge difference between a petulant, misogynistic bully and an arrogant leader who pushes for the best out of people. Bennett comes off as the former, never the latter. In short: Chloe could and should do better. Bennett, on the other hand, could never do better than her. His realizing of this doesn't alter his behavior much at all. He experiences very little character growth except the realization that he is acting out because he's attracted to her for more than her looks. Again: not exactly selling the male lead, nor why Chloe should want to be with him. This is one where you can see the 'happily ever after' lasting about two minutes after the liminence period (hot sex etc) ends. He's a manchild, not a Dom with a good heart.

Really good

The main character chloe was a bit annoying, but the fact I was pulled in to the story and annoyed at her says a lot. I love the story, really good.

Didn’t love the audio

I feel like a dual POV story needs two voice actors. I probably would’ve enjoyed this more if it was recorded that way. I’ll read the rest of the series instead of listening.

Fantastic Read

This book was wonderful. Spellbinding, I could not put this one down. The author captured the essence of what a great story is about!!