REVIEWED BY: Christie
SERIES: The Pennymaker Tales, book 3
AUTHOR: Tara Lain
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 6h 5m
NARRATOR: Kale Williams
RELEASE DATE: December 8, 2016
BLURB:
Is beauty only skin deep?
Chemist Dr. Robert “Belle” Belleterre loves flowers, green trees, his best friend Judy, and “his baby”: the new face cream he developed to help put his father’s small cosmetics company on the map. Sadly he gets no help from his alcoholic, gambling-addicted father, who loses Belle in a poker game to Magnus Strong, the CEO of Beauty, Inc., the largest American cosmetics company – a man infamous for his scarred ugliness.
Belle finds himself uprooted from his home, living in a wildly crazy apartment in New York owned by Mr. Pennymaker, and completely unprepared for his mad attraction to the charismatic Strong. Feeling like a traitor, Belle fights his passion, only to see more and more of the goodness and humility hidden by Strong’s ugly face. But when Belle’s family starts manipulating his life again, the odds turn against happiness for beautiful Belle and his beloved beast.
REVIEW:
Yes, I know, the market is quite saturated as of late with modern day retellings of well known and loved fairy tales. But, when I heard that Tara Lain was going to do a modern take on Beauty and the Beast, I knew I’d be in for a treat. And, Holy Hannah, I was so right!
Robert “Belle” Belleterre is a gentle, stunningly beautiful, off the charts brilliant chemist who recently developed a revolutionary face cream that is sure to propel his father’s cosmetic company straight to the top of the proverbial heap. The problem is that his dad is a drunk and gambling addict, and his brothers are entitled coattail riders who think of Belle as something to exploit rather than an actual person and family member. And, on a trip to Las Vegas, to attend a cosmetics convention, Belle’s life ends up being changed drastically when he is gambled away by his own father in a high stakes game of poker.
Queue Magnus Strong, the man Belle’s father lost to. Permanently disfigured in an accident several years ago, the ugly yet extremely vital and powerful CEO of Beauty Inc is mesmerized and captivated by Belle’s beauty. And, Belle’s brilliant mind. After winning Belle, he sets the young chemist up in a stunning tropical apartment complex, and essentially lets him have carte blanche within Beauty Inc. Unfortunately, the massive upheaval in Belle’s life causes him to feel lonely and like an outsider at his new job.
Can Belle see past Magnus’ scarred surface to the passionate, extremely beautiful man inside? Will he ever stop feeling like an outsider? What about Belle’s father and brothers? Can they live without Belle at their company to oversee the completion of the face cream development? Or, will their machinations cause even more devastation on Belle’s life?
Tara Lain’s modern day take on the well loved fairy tale that is Beauty and the Beast is wonderful! Well written, well executed, and absolutely wonderfully acted by the fantastic Kale Williams. This is book three in Tara’s Pennymaker Tales series but can definitely be read (or listened to) as a standalone without missing any important parts from previous books. I highly recommend getting Beauty Inc. It is absolutely brilliant!
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