Beauty and Her Beast

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Synopsis

Dan "Mince" Mincini bravely served his country in the army, but after being captured and tortured by the enemy, he's been left with extensive scarring, including a wicked one on his face that usually makes people give him a wide berth. His fiancee even broke up with him, leaving him all but certain no woman could ever love him. Instead, Dan gives all his efforts to running a personal security company with his former brothers-in-arms. He's currently guarding a woman whose husband has enemies, but when her friend comes to visit, she doesn't look at him with the same revulsion most women do. If anything, she seems to trust him, so when Dan notices that she doesn't sleep well, he visits with her often at night, building a deeper connection. At first, she won't tell him who haunts her nightmares, but when she finally confides in him about her past and about the disturbing phone calls she's been receiving, Dan makes it his top priority to keep her safe. He's willing to do anything for her even take a bullet if he has to.

Because of abuse she suffered in the past, Ljuba is wary of most men and doesn't even date. Every time she tries to sleep, the nightmares invade her dreams, but it's the phone calls she begins to receive from a stalker that really put her on edge. She decides to stay with her friend who has round-the-clock security for a while. When she meets Dan, she doesn't really feel afraid of him in spite of his huge frame and fearsome scars. As they talk during the long nights, she comes to realize that he's actually a very thoughtful and kind man, which only makes her trust and care for him more. Eventually she opens up about her past, and when he sets himself up as her protector, she feels like she couldn't be in better hands. But when her stalker takes things to a whole other level, Dan will have his work cut out for him, keeping Ljuba safe.

Review

Beauty and Her Beast is a contemporary, erotic romance with light touches of mystery and suspense from L. P. Guleva that's written in dual-first-person POV. It appears to be the first in a series about a trio of sisters. However, there is only one site I could find, Kobo, that has a series title listed as Romancing Wounded Heart (no, that's not a typo on my part). In any case, this one is about Ljuba (which according to Google is pronounced Loo-bah), who, along with her two older sisters, was orphaned and later adopted, but her stepfather sexually abused all of them, leaving them with emotional scars. Lately Ljuba has been receiving anonymous phone calls from a mouth breather, which have left her rather fearful. Her friend, Gulya, is married to a wealthy man who has enemies. Therefore, she has a state-of-the-art security system and a 24/7 bodyguard detail, so she suggests that Ljuba come stay with her. At her friend's house, Ljuba meets Dan, a huge guy covered in scars, who is the head of Gulya's security and co-owner of the company. Ljuba has always had a hard time warming up to men, but despite his fearsome appearance, she never feels afraid of Dan. Something about him immediately puts her at ease, and when he starts doing little things for her like making her a bracelet to cover her own scars and taking her book shopping, her heart begins to melt. They quickly fall for one another and start thinking about a future together. But when Ljuba's stalker steps up his efforts, Dan will have to save her from a terrifying fate.

Ljuba's parents died when she was young, so she and her sisters spent some time in an orphanage. They were later adopted, but her stepfather father abused them. Eventually her oldest sister was able to escape and come back to save the two younger ones, but the story is a bit short on details of how that happened. In any case, Ljuba has been wary of men ever since and has trouble sleeping indoors. She works as a cook at a diner, but lately she's been receiving sexually harassing phone calls that have put her on edge. Therefore, she happily accepts her friend's offer to come stay at her "fortress." From the moment Ljuba meets Dan, she feels safe around him. When he treats a stray kitten on the property gently and makes her a pretty bracelet, she just knows she can trust him. Sometimes Dan sees her awake late at night on the security cameras and comes by to visit, and when he finds out about the stalker, Dan makes arrangements to take some time away from guarding Ljuba's friend to look after her instead, leading to a rapid deepening of their relationship. He even puts his own life at risk to protect her, but when the stalker comes after her, Ljuba fears Dan might not save her in time. Ljuba is a very sweet woman who has been through a lot. I like that she's so accepting of Dan, scars and all, and I was glad that she'd finally found someone with whom she could feel safe. However, her reasons for trusting him so quickly perhaps weren't as strong as they could have been. Yes, he's a nice guy and all, but I couldn't help feeling like Ljuba's past trauma was a little too easily overcome.

Dan served in the army and spent time in some sort of war zone, though it isn't specified where. He and his buddies were captured and tortured, leaving him with significant scarring on his face and body. He'd been engaged, but his fiancee left him, unable to deal with his scars, and he hasn't been close to any of his family for a long time. After leaving the service, he and his former military friends banded together to start a security company. Their business is thriving, so Dan is doing well financially, though he still lives in a crummy apartment and hasn't yet made a move to do something with the money he's making beyond reinvesting in the company. When he meets Ljuba, he's instantly smitten, but he recognizes the haunted look in her eyes. Dan quickly gains her trust and decides to appoint himself as her guardian when he learns about the phone stalker. As he gets to know Ljuba better, he sees a strong woman who is a survivor but who hasn't lost her gentle spirit. She's everything he's been looking for in a woman and the fact that she isn't the least bit bothered by his scars only makes him love her more. He doesn't hesitate to put his own life on the line to keep her safe, but when the stalker kidnaps Ljuba, he finds himself in a race against time to save her. Dan is tough as nails to have survived all that he did, but despite that, he's not really the hardened warrior one might expect. He may look scary on the outside, but he has a gooey center that's all sweetness and kindness, treating Ljuba very gently. For that reason, I did very much like him, even though he's perhaps a bit underdeveloped as a character.

I'm a total sucker for romances inspired by fairy tales, with Beauty and the Beast being a particular favorite, so it's not the least bit surprising that Beauty and Her Beast would end up on my TBR list. I did enjoy that aspect of the story. I love that Ljuba could look past Dan's scars to see the kind man underneath, and Dan is totally committed to protecting Ljuba and doing everything he can to make her feel safe. I also love all the thoughtful little things he does for her. However, despite my appreciation for all those parts of the story, I came away from reading it feeling like something was missing. At just over 200 pages, the book is on the shorter side, barely qualifying as a novel. There's just enough to the characterizations to be reasonably satisfying, but they're a little short on the details, which could have really brought Dan and Ljuba fully to life. By a similar token, their relationship is basically an insta-love story, developing so rapidly that's it's rather lacking in depth. They go from meeting, to friendship, to sleeping together, to talking about moving in together within maybe a week or two, which was just too fast to be entirely believable, especially after all that Ljuba had been through. She's honest with him from the start about not being sure if she can even have sex without freaking out, but then they actually succeed on only their second try with her having little trouble with it beyond not being able to do it in a bed. Then she turns into an instant sex kitten. And don't get me started on them having anal sex twice in a row without lube. Ouch! There's a little excitement when assassins come after Ljuba's friend when they're together, and of course, when the stalker makes his move on Ljuba. But even those events were pretty predictable and over rather quickly. There are also a lot of typos and grammatical errors that could be somewhat distracting and that should have been caught by a good proofreader.

Bottom line, the sweetness of the characters and the story combined with the Beauty and the Beast theme are the main reasons I still gave the book four stars. I also saw a lot of potential in the story, and if it had been developed more fully into a longer book, I think it probably would have gotten keeper status from me. Still, it was good enough to make me curious about Ljuba's sisters' stories. Her oldest sister, Vera, is in a fake dating relationship with Dan's friend and business partner, Sean, so I might pick up their book, Dangerously Fake Engagement, at some point.

Note: While the love scenes in this book don't overwhelm the story like they typically might in an erotic romance and detail-wise are more on par with traditionally steamy romances, I'm still categorizing it as such, because it does contain anal sex, which could be objectionable to sensitive readers.

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Themes

Book Lovers
Light Mystery
Men in Uniform - Military
Physically Imperfect Heroes
Tortured Heroines