How Beauty Saved the Beast by Jax Garren (tales of the Underlight #2)
February 11, 2013
Paranormal Romance
Carina Press

I’m a sucker for an ugly hero, so when part one came out a few months ago I had to gobble it up. You can read the review here. This book picks up a few months later.  Hauk was burned badly, leaving massive scarring on his body. He is blamed for the deaths of fellow soldiers, and has now taken refuge in Austin’s Underlight, a group of people that live secretly, fighting corrupt corporations. Jolie gets dragged (literally) into the Underlight, but has found a home here. She is slowly making friends and gaining trust.

My biggest complaint about book one was the lack of world building, and I still feel frustrated after reading this installment. I want to know more about the Underlight world and their evil counterpart the Order of Ananke, This story is told in three parts, and I feel had this been one book, we could have maybe dove into the world building more. It’s lacking, which is a shame because the characters in this book are so wonderful.

Jolie is slowly becoming part of the Underlight community. She feels an attraction to Hauk, yet they have been keeping things professional for the past two months as she trains and gets accustomed to this lifestyle. Hauk is also fighting this intense attraction, still in awe that someone wants to be with him after his horrific injuries. In this book we start to explore Hauk’s blackout periods more. He black’s out when he gets severely pissed off (say when someone threatens Jolie). He becomes an extremely violent killing machine, and when all is said and done, it usually takes him 12 hours of sleeping to recover from it. We learn the Order has been filming Hauk and studying him, coming out with a new product to try to take him down. We also meet his old flame, all of this stressing out Jolie.

As I mentioned, the author does such a nice job with writing these characters. I love how ugly Hauk is on the outside but how he has such strength and tenderness on the inside. Jolie is rich and has had a sheltered life, but she makes her own decisions and is strong and independent (and stubborn, which I love about her). Hauk literally throws Jolie over his shoulder at one point and drags her back to his bedroom – so cave man! (of course he was in a weird blackout moment, so he didn’t know he was doing it). But Jolie is feisty enough that him acting like this totally works. She fights him, yet also has the compassion to stay with him to make sure he comes out of his trance.

The supporting characters add a lot to this story as well. Looking forward to their HEA in part three. I strongly suggest you read these in order.

Rating: B-

Recent Reviews:
Fiction Vixen – B-
Red Hot Books – B+
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