You Beautiful Thing You by Saffron Kent

You Beautiful Thing You by Saffron Kent

Plot Summary: In “You Beautiful Thing You,” we follow Tempest, a young woman with a not-so-secret obsession with her older brother’s nemesis, Ledger. Her infatuation leads her down a path of awkward stalking and cringe-worthy advances. Ledger, initially uninterested, reveals his true colors during a moment of intimacy—he’s just trying to get under her brother’s skin. After a 13-month hiatus to cool off his anger issues, Ledger returns, only to find Tempest’s father blackmailing her into an engagement with a wealthy, gay businessman. Determined to have a child with Ledger, Tempest concocts a plan that Ledger quickly sees through.

My Honest Opinion: I was initially drawn to “You Beautiful Thing You” by its stunning special edition cover from Fabled. Unfortunately, the beauty was only skin-deep. The story had all the ingredients for a juicy drama but ended up feeling more like a soggy soap opera. Tempest and Ledger’s interactions often devolved into petty squabbles that reminded me of middle school drama, not the mature conflicts of thirty-somethings.

The writing was a rollercoaster of exaggerated descriptions and awkward phrasing, making the intense scenes more laughable than steamy. Picture trying to read a romance novel while your grandma narrates—yeah, that kind of uncomfortable. The tone was all over the place, veering from cheesy to downright inconsistent. If the characters had been teenagers, their antics might have made more sense. But as adults, their behavior was just baffling.

Finishing this book was a Herculean task. I had to take multiple breaks to recover from the second-hand embarrassment. In the end, “You Beautiful Thing You” was more of a beautiful mess. If you’re into cringe comedy, this might just be your next guilty pleasure. Otherwise, you might want to give it a pass.

Cringeworthy Quotes:

Especially where my belly button is.
Something tight and swollen.
Something that can be called an orgasm.
Only this isn’t mild like the orgasms that I’ve given myself in the past. Or ordinary.
This is something else. A thunderstorm. A hurricane. A bright flash of falling stars.”.

The book states “Accidental Pregnancy Trope”. There was nothing accidental about the pregnancy.