Cruel & Beautiful

By: A. M. Hargrove, Terri E. Laine

Narrated by: Erin Mallon, Jason Clarke

Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

A USA Today Best Seller

This is a new adult contemporary romance stand-alone, full-length novel that includes mature content, not suitable for younger listeners (rated R).

This book is based on a true story.

Cate Forbes, a dedicated college student with a carefully plotted future, doesn't know the first thing about love. When she accepts a blind date with a rumored tasty piece of eye candy, she thinks she can get by with a night of fun. Cate's plans quickly unravel when she gets one look at the sexy...

Drew McKnight.

The relentless, hockey-playing medical resident knows what he wants - a career in oncology and Cate. Although he's heard the gorgeous brunette is a little relationship skittish, a single night out isn't what he has in mind. Determined to have her - in every way possible - he shows her just what a future with him would hold.

Only life has other plans. The unthinkable happens, and everything begins to shatter. Both in too deep, they will have to fight the cruel and hang on to the beautiful.

Warning: This book will leave you in the dark with questions. That is the point. Resist the impatient urge to skip ahead, and just enjoy the ride. All questions will be answered. Promise.

©2015 Terri E. Lane & A. M. Hargrove (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Brace for the UGLY CRY with a big box of kleenex!

Okay, I am still blowing my nose and wiping tears from my face. Every once in a while, I like to read a book that will provide a good cathartic cry session and Cruel & Beautiful delivers. What an incredible tale of epic love and loss that still meets a HEA.

This book is told from the POV of Cate Forbes and narrated nearly entirely by Erin Mallon. I've listened to books performed by Erin before, and she takes some getting used to. At first, I found her voice to be a bit too breathy and her inflections tend to make many sentences sound like a question or hesitation. Once you get past that, she does a good job. I like the way she voices male characters. Jason Clarke narrates only the epilogue and handles it quite competently.

The publisher's summary warns that the book will "leave you in the dark with questions." That is no lie. The prologue will hook you, and from there you will go on a journey through the past and present alternating nearly every chapter. I spent 3/4 of the book feeling frustrated by all of the back and forth and I had nearly decided it was an unnecessary gimmick. I was very, very wrong. You'll have to be patient - this book is 14+ hours long, but so worth the time. The reveal was SPECTACULAR.

My only complaint came down to the sex scenes. Simply put, there were too many of them. After a while, the scenes felt a bit repetitive and boring. Less would have been more in this case. Fortunately, the copious sexual encounters didn't impact the plot.

This author team of A.M. Hargrove and Terri E. Laine were new to me. I would definitely read another book by this duo. Well worth my credit! This is one of my favourite books of 2016.

16 people found this helpful

Great Emotional Ride!

I've never been so confused by a book...but not in a bad way! I restarted this audiobook 3 times when I thought I had missed something because I was so confused. In the end I completely understood why I was lost. This book took me on an emotional ride from the first chapter. I fell in love, my heart broke then I fell in love all over again. It took me a day to finally write a review because I needed to wrap my head around it and decide if I loved it or hated it! In the end, I loved it! It is a story about true love, I love that the author gave us the past and present so there was nothing left up in the air in the end.

This is my first book by this author but it will not be my last, especially if they all come out on audio! I was very excited to see book 2 is about Ben <3 I hope it is narrated by the same people because they were perfect. I love Erin Mallon and this was my first Jason Clarke and I'm excited to listen to more!

19 people found this helpful

Beautifully Cruel ❤️

I write this review at 2 in the morning My head is spinning, my heart hurts, and I am exhausted... emotionally, mentally, and physically. This book was beautifully Cruel and that is how you will feel.

This book will take you on a rollercoaster of emotion! I was so freaking pissed off at the author and the characters, she had me crying, laughing, and hating the female heroine. I did get a bit lost in the flip from past to present. But now that I know the story I want to reread it and know it that much more. I want to pick up on all the little details I missed.

This book will make your heart hurt, and ugly cry, but it will also make you laugh, and fall in love deeply In Love. It was beautifully written, honest, and raw.

I'll I want to do at this moment is snuggle my husband and our babies.

I gave it 5 stars because it was so real and raw and I felt every emotion, even though my heart hurts I LOVED this book.

(Sigh) all the feels🤗

3 people found this helpful

Amazingly written!

So we'll done! the storyline was so well planned and so touching and the sex was on fire!

3 people found this helpful

worth your $

Great storyline..awesome performance. it was emotional, funny, erotic, great characters. recommended read or listen. enjoyed

3 people found this helpful

Absolutely loved it 😍

I bought this book because I'm a fan of both narrator's.
Jason didn't come in till the epilogue but Erin's proformance was so immersing I never felt cheated.
Anyone who has ever heard Erin perform knows she has the voice for portraying both genders perfectly.
Plus I was looking for something out of my comfort zone.
I listen while I work so picking a tear jerker is not something that I normally would do.

At first this book was confusing with the flash backs and flash forward I had to relisten to a couple of parts while thinking
what did I really purchase here??
but eventually I caught on the confusion dissipated.
After everything started to click onto place this book completely hit home for me.
Having lived in a similar situation 3 years ago I probably would have avoided it if I had known what it was really about.
After finishing it..I'm now so glad I didn't pass it up.

ABSOLUTELY NO SPOILERS HERE...
This book is the most accurate depiction of the rollercoaster ride someone in this situation really feels.
The weight of a relationship like this is extremely overwhelming.
But for the lucky people who love someone so beautiful and full of light it's all worth the pain.
The author's did such an amazing job capturing the emotions of the situation on paper that there's no way to listen with out a box of Kleenex.
It will be the best credit you have ever spent though.

6 people found this helpful

WOW! Cruel &amp; Beautiful indeed!

I don't even know where to start! I was hesitant to get this book because the reviews did not give anything away into what the story is about and now that I finally did it I can totally see why! I cannot say enough about how well the authors did! I though I knew where the story was going but I was definitely wrong. this story really brings out every emotion possible and you feel like you are there with them. the love and pain is so palpable.

I recommend this absolutely! take a chance on it!

1 person found this helpful

D serves ten stars

Such a fantastically written story. Took me totally by surprise. I laughed and I cried huge tears. This book is superb. The narration just enhances the story. I keep looking for more audible books by this author. Why aren't there more audible books. This story deserves ten stars.

1 person found this helpful

Lots of Tissues

This was a very good story. It struck close to home so i cried through the last 5 chapters. This is the 1st time I have ready anything from A. M. Hargrave and/or Terrie E. Laine. I enjoyed not having all of the answers until the end. It was much more impactful that way.

1 person found this helpful

Good book

Great book. Excellent narration Get out your Kleenex to mop up your tears. I'm reading it a second time.

1 person found this helpful

An emotional, heartwrenching story

Wow, just, WOW!

This story made my eyes leak, my heart break and it made me happy.

An emotional roller coaster that the authors have beautifully written, and the narrators artfully pulled off.

An ugly cry if ever there was one, but it's so worth the tears.

2 people found this helpful

excellent read

beautifully written..Well worth the wait in the end. A bit c9nfusing to start with. brilliant.

1 person found this helpful

Had potential, but failed

I have a general rule when reviewing that if there are times I’m distracted and don’t want to finish the book, the rating is capped at 2 stars. That together with the fact that the heroine is such a bore, exceptionally immature and more like a 16 year old in the ‘past’ memories (and she seems to enjoy b**tching about people - yeah I know they’re odd/easy targets, but you never know what’s going on in other people’s lives so keep your ridiculing to yourself instead of acting like a mean girl at school).

Also, I have no idea why men insta-love her because I’d probably dodge her at a party due to not wanting to be stuck talking to her. Why would a 27 year old be so infatuated with her at first sight (when she was 20 ish and acted like she was 16, if not younger)?

The story had the makings of something great. The jigsaw pieces coming together could have led to a superb story, if only you cared about the characters.

As a side note, what’s with all the oral whilst driving? Might sound sexy but please don’t romanticise this in books, and then people want to live out these fantasies in real life, and have deal with the death and destruction caused when they crash probably taking out innocent people in other cars. Would you romanticise drinking alcohol or texting whilst driving? I doubt it.