❤~🌟~❤ 4.5 BEAUTIFULLY BEASTLY STARS! ❤~🌟~❤
“I’m a beast, tormented by my sins...”
I have loved every standalone book in the Savages and Saints series by the gloriously talented C.M. Seabrook, but after the big climactic showdown in the third installment, I was chomping at the bit to read Abbott’s story in BEAST!
In my opinion, there’s nothing more intoxicating than a redemption story featuring a black sheep hero with a checkered past, and when said hero is hopelessly in love with his best friend’s girl it’s an embarrassment of riches. Oh, and did I mention that the heroine has a bun in the oven and that Abbott holds himself responsible for her baby daddy’s demise? Talk about angst and drama galore!
THE PREMISE:
Abbott Savage, a fighter in and out of the octagon, has always left a path of destruction in his wake. His downward spiral began with a life altering mistake that he made years ago and the guilt, self-hatred and remorse has been eating him alive ever since. As such, he has always known he’s not good enough for his childhood best friend, London McClain, who is sweet as sugar and the only bright ray of sunshine in his life. So, he made the ultimate sacrifice and set her up with his best buddy, Kyle, a man who was more worthy of her love. And while it gutted him watching the girl he loved find happiness with another man, he knew stepping aside was the right thing to do. But now his best friend is gone and London is pregnant and alone and in dire need of a hero. A PROTECTOR. A man to shelter her from the storm. Abbott knows he’s the last man she needs, but no matter how much he tries, he cannot walk away from this girl who always manages to see the best in him no matter what. Can London finally tame the beast inside of him and grant him a chance at true redemption and forever love? Or will the sins of his past destroy them both in the end?
MY MUSINGS:
C.M. Seabrook captivated me from start to finish with BEAST! Take one big, muscly, bad boy hero and mix him in with a sweet, kind-hearted damsel in distress and you get a recipe for PURE PERFECTION!
This book is chock full of many of my favorite tropes but it is FAR from a cookie cutter tale. On the contrary, the author crafted a passion-fueled, poignant story about hope, healing, forgiveness, the powerful bonds of love, friendship and family, and the beauty of second chances. I really enjoyed the way she executed this tumultuous, tender-hearted love story, and the manner in which she juxtaposed flashbacks into the present to home in on the H&h’s tumultuous history, and expose the devastating dark skeleton in Abbott’s past, added even more emotional layers into this uber provocative tale.
And Omg! I FREAKING LOVED the chemistry between Abbott and London. Their connection was undeniable, their destiny written in the stars and their love scenes were deliciously steamy, tantalizingly torrid and infused with so much depth of feeling it took my breath away! And prepare yourself for quite the adrenaline rush, because the journey these two embark on together is pulsing with heart-stopping emotion, high stakes drama , palpable sexual tension, and sizzling passionate intensity!
The character development was also stellar. Gah! I swooned so hard over this broody black sheep! Abbott’s so deliciously primal and ferociously protective...but sob....at his core he’s such a dark, tortured, broken soul. For years he’s been harboring a tragic secret from his past that has led this wild, untamed beast of a man to erect an iron fortress around his heart to keep his loved ones from getting too close.
“He carries his darkness around him like a shield, his damaged heart a sword that he uses to wound those he cares about.”
But his time for trying to drown his pain in women, booze, fighting and dangerously reckless behavior is about to end. Because London needs him to step up the plate and there’s NOTHING that he won’t do for this girl. So, for her sake, he’s determined to turn his life around and claw his way out of the darkness. But it’s easier said than done…
Meanwhile, London has been infatuated with Abbott since he rescued her from playground bullies at the tender age of ten. But even though her feelings morphed from hero worship to full-fledged love as they grew older, and the attraction was more than mutual, she reluctantly moved on with his best pal because she feared they’d never have a shot together. But deep down the dimpled, dark-haired beauty has never stopped pining for him even when she eventually found happiness with Kyle. Which turned out to be tragically short lived. London knows that playing house with the “beast of Port Clover” can end in more heartbreak. But now that Abbott’s vowed to stand by her throughout her pregnancy and beyond, she is determined to risk it all to fuse his broken pieces together and help make him whole.
I CHERISHED this heroine! Despite all the hardships she’s endured in her life, the pretty, pure-hearted nurse is a true survivor and radiates so much hope and goodness. She’s the light to Abbott’s dark and I adore how her belief in him never, ever wavers and that she refuses to give up on him even when all the other Savages have pretty much washed their hands of him. But can her love alone eradicate the dark demons from his past?
Sighhhh. While the road to HEA was not always easy for these best friends turned lovers, and they had quite a fight on their hands at times, ultimately the payoff was oh so sweetly victorious! I also thought the author did an INCREDIBLE job of weaving the Savage family and all the other secondary characters into the fabric of the story, and the Moody and Theo cameos were THE BOMB!
BOTTOM LINE:
BEAST was absolutely riveting from start to finish and proves yet again that C.M. Seabrook is a TRUE CHAMPION in my book!
Highly recommend!