
Lauren, Christina. Beautiful Player (Beautiful Bastard #3). Gallery Books, 2013. ISBN 978-1476751405 432 pp. $16.99
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Hanna, known to her close family and friends as Ziggy, is a scientist and self-proclaimed nerd who doesn’t get out much. Her older brother and dad descend upon her and challenge her to get a life and have some fun, and her brother Jensen tells her she should call Will–the friend from high school that he doesn’t know Hanna had a massive crush on. Will was always a stud (her last recollection of him is disappearing with not one but TWO bridesmaids at her sister Liv’s wedding. Liv, the sister Will made out with on another occasion.
Game for getting out of her rut, Hanna calls Will, who agrees to meet her for a run. She doesn’t run. He introduces her to two women in his circle of friends (Sarah and Chloe from books 1 & 2) who help her get not only a sports bra, but some lingerie that actually fits. Will finds Hanna, with her naivete and lack of guile and fascination with sex, refreshing; she realizes her crush never went away, even knowing that Will has scheduled sex dates with two different women once a week. Will enjoys being her tutor in all things running, and eventually, all things sexual.
The sex is detailed, consensual, safe, and hot, and when they opt to go to her family’s home for the weekend and have to hide their love away, humor ensues.
I’m a little late to this series and have unfortunately read them a bit out of order because they’re hard to get via public library–even in ebook format– because the books are deliciously smutty.