Book Review – Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren

A bombshell bookworm. A chronic Casanova. And a lesson in chemistry too scandalous for school.

When Hanna Bergstrom receives a lecture from her overprotective brother about neglecting her social life and burying herself in grad school, she’s determined to tackle his implied assignment: get out, make friends, start dating. And who better to turn her into the sultry siren every man wants than her brother’s gorgeous best friend, Will Sumner, venture capitalist and unapologetic playboy?

Will takes risks for a living, but he’s skeptical about this challenge of Hanna’s…until the wild night his innocently seductive pupil tempts him into bed- and teaches him a thing or two about being with a woman he can’t forget. Now that Hanna’s discovered the power of her own sex appeal, it’s up to Will to prove he’s the only man she’ll ever need.

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** I’m reposting this review so my Beautiful Bastard series reviews are in order! I LOVED WILL!!

Book Review:

I had so much fun reading this book! I needed a break from emotional books this week, so I decided to jump into a Christina Lauren book. I haven’t read the other books in the Beautiful Bastard series yet, but I really enjoyed this one. Beautiful Player has the right blend of scorching hot sexy times and sweet emotional connection.

I knew nothing about this book before I picked it up other than so many people love this installment of the series.  It didn’t take long for me to be completely sucked in.  Why, you ask? Well it’s a brother’s best friend type of story. I love that trope and this one was really well done! I loved Will and Hanna.

Hanna Bergstrom is twenty-four and completely married to her graduate school job in the lab. Her father and brother stage a small intervention to push her to get out and live a little, do things that normal twenty-somethings do.  Her brother, Jensen, recommends that she reach out to his friend Will Sumner, the subject of Hanna’s teenage dreams.

Seven years older than Hanna, Will had been in a different place in life when he’d lived with Hanna’s family during her teen years. But now, Hanna is at an age where they could be friends…or maybe more. Following her family’s advice, Hanna reaches out to Will and enlists his help to learn how to date and pick up guys. But before long, the man known for being a player is the one who’s falling hard.

“Hanna, I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted something more than I want you.”

I LOVED watching these two fall in love.  And I loved that Will, the player of the two of them, was the one who fell so hard first. Normally, in the player storyline, it’s the hero who puts the stops on the relationship, but here Hanna is the one throwing Will for a loop.

“It wasn’t just a physical attraction between us. Of course I’d been attracted to women before. But there was something more with Hanna, some chemistry in our blood, something between us that snapped and crackled, that made me always want just a little more than I should take. She offered her friendship, I wanted her body. She offered her body, I wanted to hijack her thoughts. She offered her thoughts, I wanted her heart”

Will was a very sweet guy (I love sweet guys) and so incredibly patient with the mixed signals Hanna was giving him. He’d always seen Ziggy, his family’s nickname for her, as Jensen’s little sister. As he gets to know this adult version of her, the more he realizes he likes her, like likes her likes her. His Tuesday and Saturday sexual appointments are no longer a priority for him as Hanna takes root in his brain.

And the sex scenes were so freaking hot! There was a lot of sexy times, but there were also a lot of Will and Hanna just spending time together. Since the reader got a lot of Hanna and Will time outside the bedroom, the number of sex scenes wasn’t irritating to me. They were full of emotions and done very tastefully. Will and Hanna are so good together!

What didn’t love so much was Hanna’s exaggerated lack of sexual knowledge. She repeatedly mentioned that she didn’t know how to do something or didn’t know how to put a condom on. I didn’t mind her lack of knowledge but repetition and exaggerated naiveté was a little distracting and could have been tamed down.

All in all, this was the perfect book for me at the time I read it. I will be reading the other books in the series too! I want to know about Max and Sarah and Chloe and Bennett.

4 stars

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