I liked this better than Beautiful Bastard. Good book. ( )

Beautiful Stranger
3 Stars

Sara Dillon relocates to New York after learning of her fiancé's serial cheating. During a girls' night out, she meets the eponymous "beautiful stranger" and the two engage in a one-time hookup. It turns out, however, that the Big Apple isn't so big, and the two run into each other again whereupon Sara learns his name, Max Stella, and his reputation as a womanizer. Nevertheless, their attraction to each other is irresistible and ultimately they decide to take a risk. Will it be too much for them both?

Max and Stella's romance is sizzling hot at first, but eventually, the sex scenes become tedious and even mechanical without the emotional intensity that characterized Bennett and Chloe in the first book.

Sara is likable enough and her shyness is quite endearing. That said, there are two aspects of her personality that begin to irritate after a while. The first is her "woe is me" whining over her ex (yes, he cheated, but you have a hunk now so get over it!), and the second is her treatment of Max. For most of the book, she treats him as a sexual plaything with little regard for how he feels about it. Yes, he willingly accepts their "deal", but it is clear that his feelings go much deeper than hers.

Similar to Beautiful Bastard, the conflict at the end is too contrived and could have been easily resolved through a conversation. It is exceedingly annoying when authors revert to the silly misunderstanding trope!

Finally, the audiobook is narrated by Grace Grant and Jonathan Cole. While Grant's performance is solid, and her British accent for Max is simply sinful, the same cannot be said for Cole who cannot diversify his accents. Every character male or female, British or American, sounds identical.

All in all, not as good as expected but an OK listen. ( )

Sara Dillon llega a Nueva York huyendo de una relación infeliz, totalmente decidida a sacar el máximo partido a la vida en la Gran Manzana. La única regla que se ha impuesto es no establecer lazos con nada ni con nadie. Por ese motivo, cuando un playboy inglés, misterioso, sexy y juguetón se cruza en su camino en un club nocturno, no duda en olvidar todas sus inhibiciones... Pero la forma en que éste la desarma hará que pase de ser la diversión de una noche a convertirse en su desconocido encantador.

Too soon for me to decide whether I'm gonna like this author in general or not but it's definitely a step up from when I decided I'm never gonna read this author after reading so many negative reviews about Beautiful Bastard. I'm glad I read this book, it was amazing. Sara was very relatable and Max I flat out loved though I do feel that his character wasn't fully explored by the authors. ( )

Read this ages ago. Sex in public was not a relatable topic, but I couldn't help marvel at how Max nurtured Sara's desire to experience it. He revelled in it, she was new to it, and he set up opportunities - a little bit over the top, extreme stuff, like going to the exhibitionist club, but strangely, it was exactly what she wanted and he gave her those experiences - I found that profoundly loving, especially as he did it in a reasonably protective way and definitely a caring way, not pushing her past her comfort zone.

Quite a different book, but enjoyable. I agree with the person below that Max was not explored particularly well. Lots of people are comparing it with Beautiful Bastard, understandably. In terms of sheer impact, the latter scores a higher mark with me, even though of course I found it shocking and Me Too-ish as Bennett was not painted in a good light, until he seemed to have his road to Damascus moment around love when they were out of town.

Yet there was something distant about the characters and circumstances portrayed in this book ... the love affair - except for Max. It doesn't have the period of warmth that BB had, Sara grew to love Max, but because of the affair she was recovering from or whatever, her coolness made her un-empathetic for me. ( )