Friday, February 16, 2018

Book #Review: Beast by Pepper Pace

Book Title: Beast ( Estill County Mountain Man Series 1)
Author:  Pepper Pace|WebsiteTwitterFacebook|
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: Romance, Interracial Romance
Series/Standalone: Book 1
Format: ebook
Cost: $2.99
Pages: 401
How I got it: Purchased 
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble |
Publication Date: Sept 2012
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Synopsis:
Pepper Pace's interracial fairytale is the story of Beast; a Marine with a destroyed face and a plus sized beauty who has identity issues. A lesson learned is that beauty is not what is on the outside...In this romance that is taken from the Beauty and the Beasts' fairytale, it will leave you questioning 'who is the beauty and who is the beast?'
I haven't regretted purchasing a book in a long time but this one ??? Yeah despite all the four and five star reviews on goodreads this was a terrible experience for me.  I have stated it several times before that my life experiences make it impossible for me to let certain things slide when I read them in books, anything to do with the healthcare field, anything to do with serving/bartending and certainly anything to do with archaeology. Normally I try to be subject and give something good about the book to recommend it, but nahhhh  My Grandfather used to say"Don't pee on me & tell me it's raining" this book tried several times to do that and I was beyond annoyed.

The books writing was a bit sophomoric and excessively disjointed.  There needed to be some editing done to help the story flow better.  The change in POV was quick and wasn't always necessary when explaining a scene.  I needed her to pick a tense, and decide whether she as using colloquialisms or are we doing the clinical names of body parts. It has to be one we can't switch back and forth between them in one damn sentence.  The premise of this story sounded amazing the execution leaves so much to be desired.

For a good majority of this book, I thought the author had to be white because there were so many stereotypes about Black women & black families that no way would a Black author do us like that. Nope, I was beyond disappointed to discover the author talking about black women running on CP time as an excuse for people being late, hell even writing the black family members as all completely petty and trifling was black herself.  I mean who describes their complexion as warm toast?? What if I like to burn my toast is she that color then?? Then she had diabetes but didn't know it until she started losing weight?? The way she was eating?? Girl that's not how this disease works.

I had so many issues with this book I could completely tear it apart but I'm going to stick to the major highlights for now:

Christopher (Beast) so perfect, except he PURCHASED WOMEN Bruh what??? He went overseas and bought women to aide him in his sexual encounters. Bruh WHAT??? He even justified it by saying he 'used women trying to make their living'  Come on I know it happens but for the hero to want to use women. How do you know they aren't there because they are trafficking victims?? Then he talks about how he looked for a woman whose eyes weren't "dead" the next time he did it. Sir Dafaq??? This is the hero?? NOPE.  No matter how "ugly" he thought he was, there are women who would gladly sleep with a Marine, especially if the rest of the body looked good. So yeah I don't buy that b.s. at all. 

Ashleigh Issues She's so not a good partner for a military man. The way she broke down with him leaving even though she knew he had to leave that day???   She was causing a ruckus & running around demanding answers about a 'secret' military base and team?? It's a need to know basis bitoch and you don't need to know.  As the ex of a special forces officer in the military I can tell you a** would have been in a sling and so would his. Since she's not his wife or family they wouldn't have given her any information, maybe his CO who knew who she was but the other security officers?? NAHHHH.  She's running all over the federal building demanding information like she's a general, girl sit down and shut up. 

Ashleigh's Prejudice her "best" gay friend tells her he has a secret to share and the first thought she has is "he has AIDS". This bitch ARE. YOU. SERIOUS??? That's your first thought??  Your best friend who had only just told you that he wouldn't have any fun on the couples' trip because he would have to remain in the hotel room as to not out his partner and THAT IS YOUR FIRST THOUGHT??? Not that he broke up with his boyfriend?? Not that his boyfriend might be thinking of coming out?? Nope that he has AIDS. F*ck Off. 

Bedroom Scene Post Surgery I don't know if the author has ever had facial surgery. A root canal anything, because for her to write this scene she clearly has no idea how stitches in the face work.  Or how muscles work or swelling works.   First of all let's discuss that a Dr has to okay removing a catheter from the patient, second someone who was just in a chemically induced coma for more than two days isn't jumping out the bed and walking out of the room.  It takes time for the medication to completely metabolize out of your system so yeah hell no to that whole scene.  Then there are the several times in which he breaks the rules of not smiling and kissing and even goes down on the female characters. GIRL BYE. No way in hell he's so comfortable days after RECONSTRUCTIVE surgery.  Is she serious?? LIES and the nerve to have oral sex when you have stitches in your lips??Yeah you're definitely getting an infection because that's an open wound. 

There is a moment like three days later that they are taking out the stitches and removing the surgical mask holding his face together and she says he's perfect. I never laughed so hard, I read the scene to the doctors and the APRN at work and we all had a good belly laugh because girl BYE.  Surgical scars no matter how well done take years to fade, NOT days.  Three days post surgery they are still, raw, wounds haven't healed yet. Swelling hasn't completely gone down. NO WAY IN HELL WOULD HIS FACE BE PERFECT. It would still have black and blues.  Based on the description of the severity of his previous surgeries there would have still been scarring. I just can't with this story.  "Faint lines" yeah they take years to fade to silvery lines.  Then she compared him to Thor, bahahahhahahahha. 

 I really tried, I did find that I wanted to see how this story was going to end, but I really kept cussing out the characters because my gawd Ashleigh is terrible. Are we sure she's not the Beast in this tale??She is super codependent, this isn't a good trait in a military spouse because she doesn't take care of herself despite knowing she has a disease that almost made her ill; all because she can't get her own way. I mean really?? Then for Christopher to call her on it and she just miraculously starts eating better because you know all she needed was him to be there to make her eat better. She needed therapy but it's never discussed at all.  That's not recovery girl, are you going to end up in a coma each time he goes out on a mission??

Originally when reading this I was rooting for them both because they seemed like a couple that needed a break, and they could be each other's rock. Then as the story progressed they developed character traits and shared issues that were just unhealthy and then the story went downhill fast.  I went from rooting for them to wanting the story to finish because my gawd it got bad.  This was originally pitched as a modern fairy tale which would make it the Beauty and Beast retelling, except I'm pretty sure neither of them learned anything. 
 ★★☆
RECOMMENDATIONS
Interracial Romance :

  • Something Real by J.J. Murray (Contemporary)
  • Mr. Fix It by Crystal Hubbard (Contemporary)
  • Riveted by Jay Crownover (New Adult)
  • Honor Bound by Joey W. Hill (Erotica/BDSM)
  • Deacon by Kit Rocha (Dystopian Romance)
  • The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (Contemporary)

I can't tell what to do with your money or your time, you do you. However, I will never read this one again.  If you've read this let me know what you think in the comment box down below. Thanks for stopping by.  

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