Thursday 6 June 2013

Review: Beauty From Surrender


How do you move on when he’s every song you sing?

After Laurelyn Prescott walks away from the love of her life, she returns to Nashville to pursue the only dream she has left. Determined to find a distraction from the pain of losing Jack Henry, she immerses herself in her music. But with her old life comes old acquaintances and new expectations. When Laurelyn refuses her record producer’s outrageous demands, she finds herself without a career—until an unforeseen opportunity presents itself. From there it’s a rocket ride straight to the top where Laurelyn finds the success she’s always dreamed of. Will it be enough to bring her the happiness she so deserves, or will the absence of Jack Henry leave her wanting more?

Jack Henry McLachlan never expected to fall in love with Laurelyn Prescott—but he did. After he foolishly let her slip through his fingers, he spends three months searching for her, but their reunion doesn’t come easy. The woman he finds isn’t the same one who drifted away without a goodbye. No longer an insecure girl on an Australian adventure, this Laurelyn is a successful musician with a promising career. Her dreams are becoming a reality, and Jack is terrified his American girl won’t have a place for him in her new life. With only a month to convince her otherwise, will it be enough time to make her visualize a life beyond the glitz and glamour, a life that includes him?

Title: Beauty From Surrender (Beauty ~ Book 2)
Author: Georgia Cates | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: May 30 2013
Publisher: Self-Published 
Length: 277 Pages
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Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Just as stunning as the first book, absolutely beautiful.
Point of View: Alternating 1st person between both Laurelyn and Jack

My Rating: 4 Stars

“Every song I write from here on out will be about Jack Henry.  That's how our tale will go on and on forever—through my music.  He will always be every song I sing”

I have so been looking forward to the release of Beauty From Surrender, the minute I finished Beauty From Pain I was on the hunt for any information I could find about the sequel.  Thankfully, I didn't have that long a wait, that doesn't mean it wasn't painful.  Because it was, I had to find out more about their story.  The end of book one left on such a huge cliffhanger, I was in a state of perpetual need.  Now that I have finally been able to read the continuation, I am happy to say I am very much pleased.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make it up to her because I hate what me without her looks like.  I’m going to win her back, and when I do, I'm never letting go of her again.”

I adored Jack and Laurelyn's reunion, it was such a romantic scene.  I mean really, you can never go wrong with a reunion on the pouring rain.  And as always the steam factor between these two is off the charts amazing.  There are some majorly hot scenes.  Oh, and can I just mention the side characters?  They are all fantastic, but the best of the bunch has to be Jack's mother.  She is hilarious.  I completely lost count the number of times she made me laugh, she is such a sweet and caring woman.

“Son, if you stopped to answer the phone, then you weren't doing whatever well enough and you need to get back to her and do it better.   Don't answer the phone next time.”

I have always loved both of these characters for the way they are able to communicate to each other as mature adults.  Unfortunately, in book two, I found myself agitated a few times.  I loved Laurelyn in book one, loved her to bits in fact.  I understood her actions and never got frustrated with silly decisions.  That wasn't the case here.

Since it is written in dual point of view, we obviously get to see inside both of their heads, and know exactly what they are thinking.  We the readers, have no doubt of Laurelyn's love for Jack Henry, but I just feel she plays him along a bit too much.  She delays having serious talks about their future, what she wants going forward, etc...  If he would have asked her to stay with him at the end of book one, she would have said yes, no questions asked.  So why now, when he has gone to a huge amount of effort to find her, told her how much he loves her and how he sees a future with only her, does she even have to think about going back with him?  She wasn't thinking about her career three months ago, why is it so important now?  Anyway, this was my only tiny grip... this probably just stems from my love of Jack and I didn't like seeing him made to wait for answers.

“She is my everything and I'm never letting her get away again”

The author has confirmed that there will be another book, or at least a long novella that will push beyond where we left off in Beauty From Surrender.  However, she did not want to drag the series on for those that were happy with two books, so there is an ending to Jack and Laurelyn's story, one that I think everybody will be happy with.

This way, those that are happy to end it here can, but those that want to see beyond this ending, and perhaps into the future will be able to do so.  There is no date set as of yet, and the author has said it is not her next project, however if you would like to add it to your TBR, Book 3 is already showing on Goodreads.

“I knew you were the next one the second I laid my eyes on you singing in that club, but you can never imagine my surprise when I realized that you weren't just the next one—you were the last one”

MORE QUOTES FROM BEAUTY FROM SURRENDER

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