Cruel and Beautiful by A.M. Hargrove & Terri E. Laine **Release Day Launch & Review**

Goodreads reviewers love Cruel and Beautiful:

"a romance that will break your heart and melt it at the same time"

"heart-breakingly good"

"This book is about love, the truest and purest kind there is."

"heartwarming and gut wrenching"

"I haven't cried so hard over a book in a good while."

"Beautiful. Simply beautiful."

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Cate Forbes, a dedicated college student with a carefully plotted future, doesn’t know the first thing about love. When she accepts a blind date with a rumored tasty piece of eye candy, she thinks she can get by with a night of fun. Cate’s plans quickly unravel when she gets one look at the sexy…

Drew McKnight. The relentless hockey-playing medical resident knows what he wants—a career in Oncology and Cate. Although he’s heard the gorgeous brunette is a little relationship skittish, a single night out isn’t what he has in mind. Determined to have her—in every way possible—he shows her just what a future with him would hold.

Only life has other plans. The unthinkable happens and everything begins to shatter. Both in too deep, they will have to fight the cruel and hang onto the beautiful. 

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4.5 beautiful stars

Since Drew met Cate he couldn't get her out of his mind. Determined to make her his, he's trying to convince her to go out on a date with him. Cate is a dedicated student and she's working hard for it, but eventually she accepts to go out with Drew. She's quickly enchanted by him and Drew wants a future with her, but sometimes life has other plans..

"This is yours for as long as there are beats within it. Everything I have is yours. My love, my heart, my soul, and my life, for however short or long it may be."

Did you check out the title of this book? Good. Because this book is exactly that. It was cruel and it was beautiful. It's one of the greatest reads I had for this year and it's one of the books that will stay with me for a very long time. It's really unforgettable and I would recommend it to anyone.

It's been a few days that I finished this book and I still can't get over it. I don't know how to describe this or talk about it without spoiling it for you, but I'll try my best.

I got into this book knowing that it would be a tear jerker, but it wasn't just emotional, it was also funny, romantic and sexy as hell. The sex scenes were scorching. The chemistry and built up between the hero & the heroine was wonderful. And even though it was love at the first sight, their relationship moved in a slow pace and worked really well for me.

"Don't you laugh at me, Drew McKnight. I'm scared to pee in the woods and I hate snakes. Louise does too."

"Louise loves my snake, Cate."

"I punch him in the arm. "That's not fair. This is real. I have to pee and I'm afraid."

"Right. I'll go with you and ward off any wayward snakes that might be jumping up and biting Louise. How's that?"

The reasons I'm not giving this a 5, even though it now belongs to my favorite reads for this year, is because of the length, it seemed a little too long for me and it was confusing for most of the part. Also, the book was going from present to past chapters and even though it wasn't an issue for me at first, at some point it got a little tiring. Yes, all my answers were answered at the last part of the book, but can't hide that I was curious for a long time before I got to my answers and therefore minus the half star.

I cried hard at the last part of the book, thinking that this was one of the stories that will stick with me and that I won't forget it. I loved everything about it. The humor, the heroine was funny and quirky, the hero was swoon worthy and just unbelievable. I want to say that I liked the past chapters more than the present ones. I loved past Drew much more than present Drew and I don't mean I didn't like present Drew, but he didn't steal my heart like past Drew. I hope I'm making sense, otherwise you have to read this to be able to understand me.

Nonetheless, don't go skipping chapters or trying to read all the present/past chapters together, because this would ruin it for you. The book is like that because it serves a purpose and just enjoy the ride. I know I did.

And after hearing that this is based on a true love story, all I have to say to the authors & their team is.. Thank you for sharing this story with us!

ARC was kindly provided by Badass Marketing in exchange for an honest review.

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Listen to the Cruel and Beautiful soundtrack on Spotify!

ABOUT A. M. HARGROVE

One day, on her way home from work as a sales manager A. M. Hargrove realized her life was on fast forward and if she didn't do something soon, it would be too late to write that work of fiction she had been dreaming of her whole life. So she rolled down the passenger window of her fabulous (not) company car and tossed out her leather briefcase. Luckily, the pedestrian in the direct line of fire was a dodge ball pro and had über quick reflexes enabling him to avoid getting bashed in the head. Feeling a tad guilty about the near miss, A. M. made a speedy turn down a deserted side street before tossing her crummy, outdated piece-of-you-know-what laptop out the window. She breathed a liberating sigh of relief, picked up her cell phone, called her boss, and quit her job. Grinning, she made another call to her hubs and told him of her new adventure (after making sure his heart was beating properly again).

So began A. M. Hargrove's career as a Naughty and Nice Romance Author.

Her books include Adult, New Adult and Young Adult Romances, including, The Guardians of Vesturon Series (Survival, Resurrection, Determinant, reEmergent, and the novella Beginnings); Dark Waltz and Death Waltz (The Praestani Novels); The Edge Series (Edge of Disaster, Shattered Edge, and Kissing Fire); The Tragic Series (Tragically Flawed and Tragic Desires); Exquisite Betrayal; Dirty Nights: The Novel; and The Hart Brothers Novels (Freeing Her, Freeing Him, and Kestrel).

Please find her at www.amhargrove.com.

ABOUT TERRI E. LAINE

Wife and mother of three, I've always been an avid reader. In my early years, my best friend and I would tell each other stories over the phone when we were bored. We called them our "soap operas" and generally revolved around whatever boy we liked at the time.

Over five years ago, I got this crazy idea to write a novel and try to publish it. And the rest is history. This journey has been a blessing, and a dream realized. I look forward to many more memories to come.

Find more about me and social media links at www.terrielaine.com.