Series: Beautiful Mess
Series Placement: #1
Author: T.K. Leigh
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Romance, Suspense
Release Date: August 28, 2013
Format: Ebook and Paperback
Copy Provided by Author
My Goodreads Review Link
Book Blurb:
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 Olivia's 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. Recommended for ages 18 and up due to sexual situations, language, and mild violence.
Reviewers Note: A Beautiful Mess is book one in the Beautiful Mess series and is an Adult Contemporary Romance written by T.K. Leigh. I read this as a R2R with Fifty Shades Support Group. As always, a special thank you to the mods and author for allowing me to participate.
Wish I Could Have Liked This One, But Ultimately, It Fell Flat For Me!
The Review:
This book had a lot of potential. I really thought the storyline and plot idea were good. But I had a lot of trouble getting through some of the dialogue, which at times felt a bit stale or immature and I didn’t especially like the characters.
Olivia seemed weak. She couldn’t cope or function on most days, all due to the loss of her parents which happened 21 years before, when she was six. And this was even after spending years in therapy. I understand her need to distance herself but her inability to form connections with anyone, including friendships, felt impractical and it was annoying being reminded of it after the thousandth time, of all her loss. This point was hammered home to many time in my opinion.
Then there’s Alexander. This guy is in security, is top paid in the business, is well known and listed as one of the most eligible bachelors in magazines so he’s famous, he’s a billionaire, he's supposed to be a dominant alpha male and was Navy Seal. His father was CIA yet he can’t get all the information on Olivia in one phone call? He has to get her to answer questions and fit the puzzle pieces together? He’s been thinking about this girl since that tragic day when he was eight and lost her, he’s obsessed about that day, dreamed of it and has so many questions, yet when he “thinks” he’s found her, it takes him forever to fit the pieces together, even though he knows his father helped hide people, he himself has admittedly changed peoples ID’s, helped them disappear or falsified their deaths yet he finds it unbelievable at first that she’s the same girl from his childhood?
But mostly, I didn’t understand the Adel situation. Why suffer time with someone you obviously dislike on a memorial vacation for someone you just found out was still alive and needed protection. The vacation, Adel, the country club, his ignoring Olivia’s texts, allowing pictures to go to press, especially since it had happened before... all of that made little sense. He’s this badass alpha but allows an irritating “occasional fuck”, someone he openly calls a “bitch”, to pull his strings?
I also didn’t understand his reluctance to open his fathers letter, especially once he realized it could have all the answers to what happened to Olivia. He’s been obsessed with this girl his whole life! He’s distanced himself from a life and relationships because of it. He’s centered his whole life around wanting answers to what happened that day yet he ignores the one thing that will give him the answers he’s trying to whole book to figure out? That made no sense to me. He spends over half the book gathering reports, putting puzzle pieces together, over and over again, only to verify and re-verify and then.. yes, re-verify again, who Olivia is when all he’d have to do is OPEN. THE. LETTER!
My last complaint is the multiple POV switches which would happen in the same page, sometimes in the same paragraph with no sectioning off or hint it was happening. I hated going back and re-reading a paragraph just so I could figure out who was narrating in that sentence. Also, the over usage of “this girl” or “that man” was distracting.
The Wrap Up:
I wanted to like this book. It has so much potential and the idea behind the plot was a good one, but there were too many plot holes, questionable character actions and convenient events and it all just fell flat for me. I gave up reading it on page 197 and have to list this one as a DNF.
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