BEAST

by Alana Albertson

Publication Date: June 14, 2016

Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Military Romance

Purchase (99c or #FREE with #KINDLEUNLIMITED!): Amazon

Synopsis: Love doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be true.

Isabella—Grady Williams is a national treasure, the youngest living Medal of Honor recipient, America’s scarred superhero. With tattooed arms sculpted from carrying M-16s, this bad boy has girls begging from sea to shining sea to get a piece of his action.

When my father squanders away my college fund, I make a deal with this dirty-talking Devil Dog—I will pretend to be Grady’s girlfriend for the Marine Corps Ball, and my dad will write Grady’s war memoir.

Grady is fearless. Hell, this badass jumped on a grenade to save his fellow Marines! As much as I crave him, I refuse to allow myself to become addicted to a dangerous man who will detonate my heart.

Grady—Isabella Cuesta is an angel who can see beyond my mangled skin, a pawn used to repay her father’s debt, a woman who makes me feel like a man instead of a monster.

But I no longer believe in fairy tales.

She’s mine until our contract ends. I’ll take her hard and rough, listen to all her hopes and fears, lay down my life to protect her.

This beauty will never let herself love a dangerous man like me—a man who has killed, a man who runs towards gunfire, a man who never backs down from a fight.

But without her love, I’m not a man—I’ll remain forever a beast.

I've been excited to read this book, and was stoked when it showed up on my iPad. This isn't an exceptionally long book, once I got started I finished it in a couple of hours, and for the most part it was a really good story, but I also feel like it was missing something.

You can't help but to fall for Grady, a young man who sacrificed himself in order to save his friends from certain death during a deployment. It's understandable how much his life has changed since being grievously injured, not only his physical appearance, but he now has to live with PTSD. I think the author did a good job showcasing what the triggers are and how he responds whenever there is an episode.

Isa is a former reality TV star who left abruptly a few years prior with no explanation as to why she left. All she wants is to finish college and become a psychologist, her hope being that she will be able to help a family avoid the fate that happened within her own family. Unfortunately she learns that her father has depleted her bank account and now her college career is in serious jeopardy.

Grady and Isa meet at a costume part at a local frat house, and while they get off to a shaky start, things manage to progress. What should have been a one night stand turns into something more between them, especially as Isa persuades Grady to let her father write his biography. The more time they spend together, the more feelings change between them, but of course there's always those outside factors that rear their ugly heads and cause havoc for the couple. In this case, it's an article that went national, and Isa's former dance partner.

The only drawback for me with this book is that we never learn about the biography Isa's dad wrote about Grady; that was a big factor as to why they were together and it wasn't mentioned again after Grady agreed to let it be written. I also would have liked there some type of resolution between Isa and her best friend, who was the mouth behind the article about their agreement. Even though that article was the catalyst for them splitting up, at least Isa's words finally got through to Grady enough so that he was able to take the necessary steps to getting a handle on his PTSD.

BEAST MUSIC PLAYLIST

Grenade by Bruno Mars

One by Metallica

I'm Not Giving You Up by Gloria Estefan

Tale as old as Time - by Beauty & the Beast Soundtrack

If You're Reading This by Tim McGraw

One Hell of an Amen by Brantley Gilbert

#AMERICASBRAVESTBEAST

ABOUT ALANA ALBERTSON

Alana Albertson is a multi-award winning author, current President of Romance Writers of America’s Contemporary Romance Chapter and the former President of both Romance Writers of America’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance, new adult and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time playing with her sons, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes Homeland, Devious Maids, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.