Review: Unbeautifully by Madeline Sheehan

by 10/05/2013 0 comments
ebook374 pages
Published May 13th 2013 
by Madeline Sheehan (first published May 12th 2013)

Warning: This is not a story about fate or destiny. This is a story about pain, sorrow, and suffering. This is an impulsive whirlwind romance between two lovers that are not meant to be together. Theirs is not a world with sunshine and roses. Instead, their love blossoms in a secret world full of crime, violence, and death. Their story is about what can be born from nightmares. 

Danielle “Danny” West is the daughter of Deuce West, President of the Hell’s Horsemen Motorcycle Club. A sweet and beautiful girl, she loses her way, searching for things that are always out of her reach. Erik “Ripper” Jacobs is the Sergeant of Arms in the Hell’s Horsemen. Once a man who always had a smile on his face, his life takes a turn for the worst when a tragedy befalls him, leaving him scarred and broken. During a midsummer night, Danny and Ripper’s paths cross, forever changing their lives. Hastily, their lust turns to love until another tragedy forces them apart. On a journey that is marred with ugliness and chaos, Danny and Ripper must discover if their unforeseen connection can find the beauty in their world. 

This is Danny and Ripper’s story. 

Everything has beauty. Even the ugly. Especially the ugly.
Because without ugly, there would be no beauty.


My Thoughts

Well, I knew going in this would be a train wreck of a book. Undeniable taught me that. But this was easier somehow, not as WTF as the first novel in the series was. Still, it made you think. It made you uncomfortable. It made you damned frustrated. But you love it just the same. 

Ripper: I thought he was very loyal. To everyone maybe but himself and Danny. And it made sense in a world that makes no sense. It was also annoying at times, but while Deuce's world was crumbling, Rippper wasn't going to mess with telling the truth. And Ripper knew Deuce would hit the roof if he found out that Ripper and Danny were...close. Unfortunately  this loyalty to a man who gave him a life when he could have ended up in jail or even killed, destroyed Ripper and Danny. But putting that aside, I loved that Ripper loved Danny. I loved that for him, Danny was his whole world when he had nothing, that Danny could make him believe in life again when he was ready to give up hope on hope. And I liked that he when he pushes Danny away, it isn't because he's being an asshole, but because he's convinced that she deserves better, that someone like him could only bring ugliness to her life--and Nikki made that fear into very real for Ripper. 

Danny: She was a little girl who grew up too fast in some ways, but also very much a young sort of character, uncertain of herself expect that she wanted Ripper. That Ripper made her feel very alive. I have to admire her for pursuing him and being up front with him to a certain degree. And I also thought it was mature of her to want to tell her father about her and Ripper since Ripper had effectively made her his old lady. I liked that she stood up to him about that fact, but sadly things went really south after that. And then Danny does some things that made me cringe. I don't blame her, but I never thought she'd fall apart quite the way she does. It's really bad. And it killed me that she starts a life with ZZ knowing full well she doesn't really love him. I felt bad for him, I really did. Was I happy she got back together with Ripper? Hell yes, but geez, I wish it had gone down differently. But in this book, it couldn't have gone any other way. 

Overall the writing was clean, the story was edge of your seat reading and I could jut not put the book down. I read it really quick with interruptions for sleep and work. Ms. Sheehan knows how to spin an engaging tale, and I thought this one was rather brilliant, if stark. Was I happy about some of the choices of the characters? No. Both Deuce and Danny do things that I was not happy with, but it being them and it being this series, it couldn't have happened any other way. And I was happy to see in the end that both Danny and Ripper come out stronger and far truer to themselves than they had ever been before. 

5 glittering stars

Jewels E

Author

I'm a thirty something girl who loves to read, write and dream. Because I'm so addicted to the written word in all its forms, I created this blog to share the books that devastate me with you.

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