Category Archives: Books

Review: Beautiful Stranger

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I haven’t had the privilege of reviewing a book in a while seeing as I haven’t had the time to properly sit down and read one. Eventually my passion for reading “smut” returned and I found myself reading Beautiful Stranger, a close relative to Beautiful Bastard and Beautiful Bitch.

RELATED LINKS: Solstice Satisfaction reviews Beautiful Bastard
Solstice Satisfaction reviews Beautiful Bitch

Just can't get enough of Christina Lauren.

Just can’t get enough of Christina Lauren.


Beautiful Stranger follows the antics of Sara Dillon, who you may (or may not) know as Chloe’s best friend from Bastard and Bitch. She is newly single after leaving her scum of an ex-fiancee. Enter Max Stella, who you may (or may not) recognise as Bennett’s friend who lent him the house in France in which Chloe and Bennett became engaged. Sara and Max meet at a nightclub and eventually agree to a very no strings attached arrangement filled with raunchy fantasies and head-sized burgers.

First of all, I’d like to commend the efforts on intertwining characters from previous books that I thought were simply going to be sidekicks or characters with no real purpose. That was the first thing I found really intriguing and my mind was a bit blown when I realised who Max Stella was. Nice work, ladies.

This novel followed the style of writing of Bastard and Bitch in which different fonts represented the point of view of the main protagonists, Sara and Max. Again, it made it easier to understand and shift gears so to speak when you went from the overthinking mind of Sara to the wondering thoughts of Max Stella. If I had to nitpick on anything, it would’ve been to give Sara and Max different fonts to Chloe and Bennett respectively, just to give them their own flare. I’m not complaining, however.

The storyline of this novel, although it may have seemed a bit predictable, was captivating nevertheless.  I don’t usually find things “Oh golly, this is rather racy” as I’m very open minded but some of the things that Sara and Max participated in within the novel was, dare I say, racy. The interactions between the two characters were always entertaining and I found their blunt sexual talk quite refreshing, not gonna lie.

I found the characters to be very different to Chloe and Bennett and it was nice to begin with. The clear difference between business Sara and slutty Sara was fun to read and the horny-gentleman known as Max Stella was also made clear. I truly liked both characters as they were but I didn’t have the same connection I had with Chloe and Bennett, maybe just because Sara and Max came second. Maybe not. Although, not gonna lie, Max got me at the ending – will not spoil but let’s just say it was cute and something a man generally wouldn’t say.

Solst-o-meter
Storyline: 7.6/10
Style of writing: 8.2/10
Overall: 8.0/10

This book was a very good read that I definitely recommend to other readers, casual or intense, male or female. It’s fun, kinky and sexy and one should not be ashamed to read it openly on public transport like me. I can’t wait to delve into Beautiful Bombshell because, quite frankly, I miss Bennett Ryan.

– by The Black Widow

Review: Walking Disaster

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If you think having your heart broken over a fictitious novel is outrageous, then having your heart broken over the same fictitious novel written from two different perspectives is downright bizarre. With Walking Disaster, the sequel to Beautiful Disaster also written by Jamie McGuire, it’s true. It’s damn true.

RELATED LINKS: Beautiful Disaster review on SolSat

Walking Disaster - every story has two sides.

Walking Disaster – every story has two sides.

In Walking Disaster, the reader takes the perspective of Travis Maddox, the badboy hearthrob from Beautiful Disaster. The novel travels through the events written in Beautiful, except from Travis’ perspective, making the story more interesting and intriguing as a whole.

The world of Travis and Abby was much more clear in Walking, not just because you saw the second half of the story but just because Travis as a character had a much more clear head than Abby and knew what he wanted from the beginning. It is because of this clarity that I was glued to this book. It tied up all the loose ends created in Beautiful and did it in such a succinct manner that Jamie McGuire needs to be given some sort of medal for it. Seeing all the “skipped scenes” in Beautiful being written in Walking was very fulfilling to those like myself who were thirsty for some more of Travis and Abby shenanigans.

In regards to Travis knowing what he wanted from the beginning – that being Abby – the relationship between the two protagonists was much more beautiful from Travis’ opinion. While Abby was in denial about her feelings for Travis in Beautiful, Travis knew he was head over heels for the fiesty girl from the get go and it was so beautiful seeing this troubled heartbreaker go through such a dramatic change. I empathised with this book so well that I had my heart broken again – in the same parts as last time – even though I was reading as Travis.

Walking Disaster was written in the same manner as Beautiful Disaster but the way the words fell onto the page clearly illustrated the difference in minds between Abby and Travis which, ta da, made this book so great! The language used was grabbing and sophisticated and made the book all the more enjoyable to read. McGuire captured the mind of a young male very well and I have to say that I thought the inner workings of Travis’ mind was much more entertaining than Abby’s.

The storyline was the same as Beautiful Disaster, obviously, but even saying that I still found it interesting just because I was going through the other half of the story, especially with the little tidbits not touched upon in Beautiful. Travis and Abby’s love story is addictive and as dangerously obsessive as they the characters find it. Seeing what was going through Travis’ mind when he made some of his (foolish) decisions made me empathise with him and not mentally throw a shoe at him for bringing home two girls from the Red.

Solst-o-meter
Storyline: 8.6/10
Style of writing: 8.2/10
Overall: 8.4/10

I’m hooked on Travis and Abby and I can’t get over it. I even have a couple of songs on my playlist that remind me of their relationship and I get emotional when I listen to them just because I think of their love story. Walking Disaster is just as great as Beautiful Disaster, if not, greater. I’m hanging out for some kind of third book in the series to fill this void in my life but if that doesn’t happen, I’ll happily go back and read through Beautiful and Walking again – and let Travis break my heart another two times.

Absolutely excellent read and I recommend this to everyone, no matter what your preference in read is!

– by The Black Widow

My Take on the Fifty Shades Movie

Posted in Books, Entertainment, Movies by

If you’ve been living under a rock or your mind has been too smothered by the whole political vote in Straya, then you wouldn’t know that the roles of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey have officially been cast for the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey movie. As a Fifty Shades enthusiast and overall lover, I have my own opinion on the cast and what I like and don’t like about them.

Anastasia Steele
Who they’ve cast: Dakota Johnson

I would imagine her locks would be dyed brown for the role.

I would imagine her locks would be dyed brown for the role.

Who I think they should’ve cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead

This was (the closest I could get to) my Anastasia.

This was (the closest I could get to) my Anastasia.

I didn’t have a very high opinion of Anastasia to begin with and because, as a reader, you take her perspective, I couldn’t really get a clear image of what she looked like. What I pictured was a somewhat beautiful brunette who bit her lip way too much. Now, this isn’t a knock on Mary Elizabeth because the woman is stunning, no questions asked, but she is the closest I could get to what I thought Anastasia looked like. Now, when Dakota Johnson eventually dyes her hair brown for the role, I can actually see a bit of Anastasia in her, but I’m going to be perfectly honest – I couldn’t care less about the casting of Anastasia because the character is as dull as white walls.

Could Johnson play a good Anastasia? Maybe. I haven’t seen her in anything that I can remember but she has the look to be a “self-conscious and really annoying” character. You can bet your bottom dollar I will be critiquing everything when the movie comes out, and if she doesn’t step up to the plate as Ana, manure will be hitting the ceiling.

Now onto the more important role of the movie…

Christian Grey
Who they’ve cast: Charlie Hunnam

Known from his role as Jax on Sons of Anarchy.

Known from his role as Jax on Sons of Anarchy.

Who I think they should’ve cast: Jessie Pavelka

jessie_pavelka_interview_b

This is “my Fifty Shades”, as Ana would say.

While Jessie isn’t really known for his acting chops, I quite frankly do not give a damn. Buy the man some acting lessons if you must because when I pictured Christian in my head, he looked exactly like Jessie Pavelka – albeit a little less happy. So needless to say I was almost outraged when I saw Charlie Hunnam cast in the role because he is not what I had in mind. At all. Ask my parents how outraged I was because they got the brunt of my anger.

In Hunnam’s defense, he is an exceptional actor as I have witnessed on Sons of Anarchy and it’d be interesting for him to shift into the role of the calm and mysterious Christian Grey. If he lets me down, however… manure. Ceiling.

Christian is the main thing I like about the series and I will be absolutely devastated if they don’t get it up to my – and a lot of other readers – standards. So, Hunnam, you have got some VERY big shoes to fill. At the end of the day, I am anxiously waiting for the movie to come out because I am ecstatic to see the world of Anastasia and Christian come to life!

– by The Black Widow

Review: Beautiful Disaster

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Seeing as I’m on trimester break and would rather delve into an imaginary world as opposed to face my reality, it’s time to review another romance novel. I love being a Dymocks member.

Beautiful Disaster, a New York Times best seller by Jamie McGuire.

Beautiful Disaster, a New York Times best seller by Jamie McGuire.

Beautiful Disaster is a romance novel written by Jamie McGuire – which is in no relation to the Beautiful Bastard series previously covered on SolSat. Disaster puts you into the perspective of good girl Abby Abernathy as it explores her life and its relationships, in particularly with loveable bad boy, Travis Maddox.

This novel was so well written it’s #craycray. The language used was easy to comprehend for the casual reader and the imagery was so spot on, it was so easy to imagine what was going on – even if my picture of Travis changed every 5 pages because I couldn’t quite picture what he looked like. The one minor issue that I had with the writing was how it just threw you into the action straight away in the beginning. I’m used to being slowly eased into the fictitious world created in the novel and Beautiful Disaster literally just threw you into it. It was a change, but not necessarily an unwelcome one.

When it came to the characters, my levels of empathy were through the roof. When Abby experienced love, I felt that love. When Abby experienced heartbreak, I literally felt as if my heart was just broken. By a fictitious book character. This all boils back to the writing of the author which was, may I point out once again, amazing. I built such a strong rapport with the troubled Travis; he was just so damn likeable. Abby wasn’t the usual annoying self-conscious book heroine you find in most romance novels so that was definitely a nice change.

The storyline started out somewhat predictable, which gave me as a reader a false sense of security. I kept guessing what was going to happen next and I was wrong time and time again. The storyline kept changing and it had me on my toes. The ups and downs of Abby and Travis’ relationship were so intriguing that I just could not for the life of me put the book down. Not to mention the changing dynamics between the two protagonists.

Solst-o-meter
Storyline: 8.2/10
Style of writing: 8.0/10
Overall: 8.2/10

Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with this book and I definitely understand why it earned its title as New York Times bestseller. I was so encapsulated in the story that I genuinely miss it. Tis the troubles of finishing such a fantastic novel. Fortunately for me, I have Walking Disaster to look forward to, which tells the story from Travis’ perspective.

– by The Black Widow