If you like books with awkward, slightly shy, completely inept and uncomfortable dudes falling in love, then Beautiful Secret by Christina Lauren is all your catnip. I’m iffy on New Adult but I loved this book because I loved Niall Stella, the seemingly arrogant and wooden hero who is secretly just super nervous around women. Think uber posh British dude who isn’t cool as shit but rather peeing in his designer undies a bit when a pretty woman talks to him.
The aforementioned hero, Niall (brother to Beautiful Stranger‘s Max), is a tall, hot urban planner at a London firm. American Ruby Miller is an intern at the same firm, and she has a horrendous crush on Niall, only he has no idea she exists. Then Niall and Ruby are sent to New York together to work on a project and suddenly Ruby goes from lusting after Niall from afar to dealing with him every day.
At first Niall seems aloof and too cool for her, but as Ruby gets to know him better she realizes he’s just shy and awkward. And Ruby has her own mortifying moments too–walking around with her skirt tucked into her underwear for example. Niall barely noticed Ruby at work before, but now that he’s working up close and personal with her every day (and now that he’s seen her thong), he finds himself entranced by her. Ruby is open and warm and friendly, and buttoned-up Niall finds that immensely appealing.
The appeal of this book (and some of Lauren’s others, notably Beautiful Bastard) is that the heroine finds out the unobtainable cool dude she’s been lusting after is human after all–and he wants her. I like that trope, maybe because I cut my teeth on Harlequin Presents where aloof, super human Greek tycoons were brought to their knees by lavender eyed virgins (true story: my eyes are green with gold flecks and in middle school a boy looked into them and said, as I waited breathlessly, “Your eyes remind me of…my pet lizard’s.”).
Niall’s awkwardness, and his hesitancy to make a move with Ruby, isn’t purely shyness though. He’s just come out of a rough divorce and he’s nursing some pretty hefty insecurities. Niall married his childhood sweetheart at nineteen. His ex, thus far, has been his only romantic partner, and as their relationship fizzled she left him feeling pretty shitty about himself. Sex was something they did for Niall’s benefit–or so she led him to believe–and she treated anything beyond basic P in V intercourse as distasteful. As a result Niall closed that part of himself off–he learned to be accommodating to her and uncomfortable with his own needs.
Ruby, in contrast, is openly, joyously sexual which scares the shit out of Niall:
He leaned in, too, small, stuttering movements that made the space between us disappear. His nose brushed the edge of mine and I could see his eyelashes, feel his breath across my lips. I closed my eyes, not sure I could be this close to him and see these and ever be the same again.
“Are you going to kiss me?” I asked, surprising myself as the words tumbled from my mouth.
His chest was pressed against mine, but he didn’t do what I thought he would. He pulled away just enough to meet my eyes.
“I fear I wouldn’t be able to stop,” he whispered.
Life Alert? This is not a drill.
“Maybe I wouldn’t want you to.” His brows lifted but he didn’t speak; instead he waited for me to continue. I wasn’t sure I could, but eventually I managed. “I’ve thought about this exact moment, and what I would do or say.”
He pulled back to better study my face. “You have?”
Closing my eyes, I admitted, “For months now.”
This time his brows disappeared into his hairline and I barreled on: “I thought it would always just be a crush. I never really expected us to interact for any significant amount of time. But we’re here and together and a lot of flirting is fun, but I’m about to completely lose my mind…” I looked up, meeting his wide eyes. My mouth had sprinted away from my brain, leaving it in the dust. I closed my eyes again, groaning. “And now I’ve made you uncomfortable.”
When I looked at him again, I found him studying my face, expression soft. “You haven’t. Not at all. I’m just unaccustomed…”
“Unaccustomed to girls admitting they have crushes on you?” I attempted a lighthearted laugh but it came out really awkward, more bark than chuckle. “I have a hard time believing that.”
“Well,” he said, stepping back and shrugging a little apologetically. “It’s true. As I mentioned, Portia is the only woman I ever…that is to say, there’s been no one else.” He ran a hand across the back of his neck. “Aside from the fact that this is a work meeting and we’ve only just met, there is that consideration. I feel a bit out of my depths here.”
I gaped at him, at Niall Stella, the unexpected flirt with a body that screamed I’ve-Had-All-of-the-Good-Sex-in-the-World , who stood before me reminding me that he’d been with one woman his entire life. I knew he’d met Portia when he was young but it hadn’t really sunk in until now that he’d only ever been with her. No high school manwhoring. No college years full of wild shagging. No early twenties with a different woman every night. Zero oats sowed.
I could practically feel my synapses reorganizing.
“So, you see,” he said, smiling a little, “if you’ve any interest in me at all, you’ll need to come into it knowing I’m driving quite blind.”
And right then, when I expected him to hold his gaze to mine, to take my hand and squeeze it, or do any other human thing to hold the moment, or at least acknowledge that a moment occurred, he blinked away, turned to his desk, and began reading a report until I mumbled something about needing to use the ladies’ room, and left.
Mmmm delicious awkward, nervous hero.
Part of the reason I really enjoyed this book is that it’s absolutely laden with UST. A lot of time in New Adult the sex happens so fast that a lot of the tension fizzles out. Beautiful Secret does a remarkable job of keeping the sexual content heavy (all Lauren’s books are pretty damn hot) while keeping the tension high. Niall is afraid to take the plunge (hurr hurr) so he and Ruby go slow, doing some very, very creative foreplay before he even touches her. I enjoy a story with a lot of sexual tension and a lot of eroticism–give me cock, pussy and clit over staff, sheath and nub any day–and this book had that in spades.
The reason I had to knock Beautiful Secret down to an A- was that the conflict wasn’t terribly strong. Niall has his issues, but the beauty of the story is how Ruby slowly works through them with him. He’s been dealing with his insecurities the whole book, so when the black moment came it felt a little weak. The book does deal with the fact that women are treated very differently in office romance scenarios than men are, but I saw that coming and it didn’t feel like enough of a hurdle for them. Also, honestly, the “Life Alert” comments in Ruby’s head gave me PTSD flashbacks to “Inner Goddess.”
Of all of Lauren’s books, I liked Beautiful Secret the best. If you like beta heroes, sexually inexperienced heroes, office romance, and hot sex–or if you’re just really, really into urban planning–then this is the book for you.
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Yup – you nailed it on this book. All the “Beautiful” books are kind of a bad habit/addiction for me as i am not generally a Contemporary Office Romance reader. I worked corporate life and there aint NOTHING romantic about that shit. Beautiful Stranger is my fav with Beautiful Stranger coming in second. But i do like the fumbling Beta hero thing in Beautiful Secret (occasionally) and Niall is deeply wounded and sort of sexually frozen (unlike the other Beautiful men) – who doesn’t love a man with a accent in need of healing. I do like the straight up “sex is good” vibe in all the books. It tends to be the healing point that strengthens the characters relationship. yeah. amen.
I liked Beautiful Player the best, largely because I liked the two characters, though the sex sadly got tedious and the ENTIRE plot literally hinged on a lack of communication… they don’t correct obvious misunderstandings even when they happen in front of one another. I HATE paper tiger conflict, and Christina Lauren do a lot of it in their books. (They also have every single female character get a nauseatingly sweet pet name, like Plum, which is a pet peeve of mine.) They do write fantastically snappy dialogue, and genuinely likable characters, though, so they’re definitely worth picking up when you have an afternoon to kill and want something light. (Though maybe not Beautiful Bastard, which I never found REMOTELY hot or romantic, and instead was alarmingly emotionally and psychologically abusive on both the hero and heroine’s part, and seemed headed for a double homicide. Guys, let’s not teach that someone insulting you, degrading you, and treating you like garbage is the gateway to true love. The stuff in Beautiful Bastard is less love/hate and more deliberately caustic and troubling.)
Both parts of mybookshame inhaled this one when it came out last month and LOVED it, big thanks for introducing me to UST. I’ll be making use of it very often.
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Your eyes remind me of…my pet lizard’s
This line so needs to be in someone’s romance novel. C’mon, all you authors out there – get to work on this!
I inhaled this one when it came out and need to put it back on the TBR for a slow savor. I love adorkably nerdy characters and really enjoyed it (and Beautiful Player’s heroine) for that reason. The UST was hoooooot and like you, I appreciated that it didn’t fizzle and ratcheted up and up through the book.
Awkward, inexperienced beta hero with a British accent? *clickety click click click*
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I felt Christina Lauren really hit their stride with Beautiful Player. I absolutely LOVE Max and now you tell me he has a brother?!!! How did I miss this? After your review I know I’m going to love his brother. Thanks for a great review. You hit on some of the things I love about Christina Lauren books. Snappy dialogue, and characters actually growing to know each other and falling in love instead of just falling in bed and deciding they’re in love.
Oh, I adored “Sweet Filthy Boy,” so I am SO checking this out. Thank you!
I really loved all the beautiful books… except this one. I understand his issues and scars but it got rather boring really fast..