Let me just start by saying that this book is neither as dark nor as erotic as it seems to sell itself as being and I found that disappointing. When I started this book I was super excited because I love me a dark/sold myself to a sexy dark man story. It seemed like that's where we were headed in this story. Frankie trades her life to Beast and the mafia in exchange for the life of her Father. Beast carries her back to his castle (well, it was more like a condo in NY but whatevs) and proceeds to possess her...sort of.
Right away there is some non-consensual sex which may really disturb you given that Frankie is a virgin. This is followed by some other pseudo humiliation you might expect in a dark romance. But it all goes wrong really fast. First of all, beyond the opening scenes which don't give us much, there is almost no sex in the book. WHAT? What happened to all the steam? The thing that irritates me is that Beast, in his inner monologue is continuously discussing how much he wants Frankie and how she turns him on. Then in real life, he refuses to have sex with her and the reason was super annoying. Beast decides very early on that he wants Frankie to admit that wants him. Frankie is stubborn as heck. So even though her body is constantly "betraying" her, she won't admit that she wants Beast.
Speaking of Frankie, I just honestly don't know what to think about her. Frankie is a strong character who does some really dumb stuff. Every time I thought I really liked her, she would do something that made me want to smack her. I think this may be a function of Frankie being really young. I think she is like 19 or 20. She hadn't really been anywhere in life or done anything and the author may have been too good at depicting her.
It is obvious that Frankie wants Beast but they spend like 60% of the book locked in this battle of wills and honestly, it's kind of tedious and exhausting. Beast seems to actually fall for Frankie very early on. This is not a good thing in a dark romance. It cast the dark actions of Beast in a particularly unfavorable light. If you're going to be the dark character, be that. You can't be the beast and the good guy at the same dang time because it makes you look mentally unstable.
Also, I appreciate the author's effort to weave some deep intrigue into Frankie's identity and the whole mafia subplot. However, I really couldn't follow the subplot. There were too many characters and family lines to keep track of. I couldn't remember who was who or who Frankie might have been. I thought the subplot could have been cleaner and clearer so that it wasn't so distracting.
This is what I can tell you, this definitely is not a great dark romance but it's not a bad book. And even with all of the issues that I've described, I'm still going to read the conclusion to the story in Beauty because I'm intrigued enough to want to see how it all ends.
**ARC Provided by Ardent PRose**
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