Review: Brutally Beautiful by Christine Zolendz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Beautiful #1
Release: January 3, 2014
Length: 318 pages

A deadly game of hide and seek.

With blood still on her hands, Samantha Matthews is on the run, running from dark secrets and a man she prays to God will never find her. Running and hiding, just to stay alive. She had no choice but to run, to leave, to hide and forget about her life before. When Samantha believes she's gained enough distance from her past and her demons, she stops running, hoping to find her future in the heavily wooded area of the Adirondack Mountains, a place she never expected to encounter a man with secrets as dark and as sordid as hers.

Kade Grayson is hiding, not from the demons after him, but from himself and from the entire outside world, wishing every day he could have just died. Arrogant and domineering, he’s tormented and terrorized by his past, seeing nothing good for his future. With the ghosts of his past still haunting him, he has exiled himself to a life of solitude, only living for his words and through his stories.

Until her.

An undeniable attraction, turns into hate and then ultimately obsession, an obsession that grows into a powerful story of love and redemption.

Will the bond they have begun to build between them grow stronger than the tragedies that have scarred both of their lives? Or will they allow their demons to consume them?

Goodreads | Amazon

My Review

Whoa! Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa!!

This story was jam-packed with so many feels and I'm not talking the warm and fuzzy kind. Christine Zolendz did an incredible job of blending drama, family, friendship, chemistry, eroticism, pain, despair and trauma. She did all that and still found a way to inject a lot of humour along the way.

Samantha was a brilliant and renowned head trauma surgeon, but she was running away from her life. She was escaping a life filled with lies and was hoping to outrun and overcome her demons. My impressions of Sam were that she was strong, beautiful (inside and out), loving, generous, compassionate, intelligent, witty, and a freaking survivor with balls of steel.

Kade was equally damaged. He survived an extremely traumatic event in his youth and hasn't been the same since. He's lost all of his joy in life. He has cut himself off from society, isolating himself with his darkness. His pain has sparked a successful career as an author of horror. I for one loved getting the chance to explore Kade's mind through his POV. It was dark and twisted, as I expected, but I adored the way he viewed every thing. I especially loved how obsessive he became for Sam. LOVED IT!!

That quote right there... ^^^^^^^... That's Sam and Kade.

I enjoyed the banter these two shared. It had a life of its own. Tennis or Ping Pong-worthy banter. The humour gave some relief to the depth of the story, a bit of light in such a dark tunnel. Otherwise it really would have been too depressing for our broken (or not so broken?) heroes and no one wants that. I'm sure Cold-Blooded Beautiful will deal with Samantha's monster aka David and I cannot wait to bear witness to his destruction.

I recommend this book to any and all who love their books intense, dark, sexy and suspenseful!