Brutally Beautiful by Christine Zolendz

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Description
A deadly game of hide and seek. 
With blood still on her hands, Samantha Matthews is on the run, running from dark secrets and a man she prays to God will never find her. Running and hiding, just to stay alive. She had no choice but to run, to leave, to hide and forget about her life before. When Samantha believes she's gained enough distance from her past and her demons, she stops running, hoping to find her future in the heavily wooded area of the Adirondack Mountains, a place she never expected to encounter a man with secrets as dark and as sordid as hers. 
Kade Grayson is hiding, not from the demons after him, but from himself and from the entire outside world, wishing every day he could have just died. Arrogant and domineering, he’s tormented and terrorized by his past, seeing nothing good for his future. With the ghosts of his past still haunting him, he has exiled himself to a life of solitude, only living for his words and through his stories. 
Until her. 
An undeniable attraction, turns into hate and then ultimately obsession, an obsession that grows into a powerful story of love and redemption. 
Will the bond they have begun to build between them grow stronger than the tragedies that have scarred both of their lives? Or will they allow their demons to consume them? 
This book is a full length Adult Contemporary Romance and is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content. 

Review
Brutally Beautiful is book 1 of a series.

LAWD LAWD!  SOMEBODY KNOWS HOW TO WRITE!!

This is a video of my brain cells while reading this book.

Honestly, I can't think of anything that I didn't love about this book.  It is full of action, mystery, humor and sexiness.  It is so not the same tired story, repackaged with garnish added.  The story is fresh. The writing style is mondo magnifico.  I was supremely entertained the entire time.  The characters are very well-developed, and the two main characters have riveting backgrounds.  I don't want to say anymore about that because you are suppose to not know and learn their past while reading.  I adore both of the main characters personalities.


Kade, oh Kade, how I love thee.  He's wealthy, self-made, damaged, gorgeous, dark...Need I go on?  No.  But I will.  Kade survived a tragedy at the age of 16.  Now he is a horror novel writer, and a pretty twisted individual, a weirdo (a sexy weirdo).

Words had always come easily to me.  Violence and hate were in my veins.  I was rage personified, and horror and malice were my only friends.  We had lived together peacefully since I came to terms with being me.

I wanted to scrape the words I've written off the white of the screen, grab them tightly in my hand and smash them against her face.  Have her feel my words against her flesh, smear them into her pores, and have them seep into her skin.

Lastly, I followed her; stalking the shit out of her.  Fuuuck, I'm twisted.  The thoughts about my behavior were even creepy to me.

"Bloody-Motherfucker-Wank-Shanking-Bugger!"

And Sam, OMG!  Someone alert the presses!  It is actually possible to write a strong female lead that doesn't beg you to jump between the stanzas to slap her!  She is one lovely badass!  Seriously this chick is fab-u-lous!

Let me translate:  small trailer, one bedroom with two single beds and I don't cherish watching live porn.  Or having threesomes, for that matter.  I would think that they took way too much coordination, way too much thought on where to put my elbows, and one more wet spot to worry about.  Oh, and I am way too competitive, because if I didn't score the winning shot, I'd be pissed off.

"That is the most arrogant, condescending, male chauvinistic and patronizing mansplaining bullshit I have ever heard."

"You know what they say, having a small dick is the leading cause of acting like a big one."

It reminded me of how easily any emotion can fade and shift into something you never believed you could feel.  In a blink of an eye, fear could turn to bravery, happiness could turn to disaster and hate could turn to love.

This book is going to be one of the top reads for 2014.  I guarantee it.  I love it, and I'm waiting on pins and needless for book 2 (there is a preview of book 2 at the end of book 1).  No, this isn't a true CH, but it does leave a whole lot unanswered while also leaving you begging for more.



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