Two Lips Reviews
In Scarred Beauty, the first book in the Imperfection series by Sam Crescent, Isaac Welch is losing his taste for the women he beds. They are all the same—thin, blonde, and after his money. His half-brother Bradley, a recovering alcoholic, gambler, and drug addict, reconnects with Isaac during this time. Bradley lives with Noelle, his best friend who was scarred in a traffic accident when she was a child. Noelle wants to know the love and touch of a man but is afraid of being rejected because of her scars. Bradley comes up with an idea that will give Noelle what she wants with no strings attached, he asks Isaac to pose as a male escort for one night with Noelle. Isaac agrees when he sees Noelle’s photo. However, Issac soon makes different plans when he meets Noelle. Will this work out as Isaac wants? Will he cause Noelle more pain than she has already had in her life? Scarred Beauty is a book that stays with you long after the covers are closed. Sam Crescent gives us deeply flawed characters that you want to see triumph over their flaws. Isaac, Noelle, and Bradley have pasts that have left them scarred. Noelle’s scars are the only physical ones. Isaac and Bradley’s are inside them. Isaac watched his father throw his mother out to bring in a young wife and family and vowed to be more successful than his father. He has had no contact with his father and his second family in 20 years outside of business. Bradley had his addictions to ruin his life. As part of Bradley’s recovery, he reestablishes contact with Isaac. Isaac trusts no woman. He believes they are all gold diggers. Falling in with Bradley’s plan for Noelle, he discovers that Noelle is as innocent and wonderful as he wants a woman to be. He becomes a different man with her. They are in their own little world with nothing outside of it to ruin the fantasy. They determine to meet once a week but Isaac cannot wait and changes their meetings to nightly. Isaac becomes so tuned in to Noelle that his sensitive side comes out. Their early scenes are so beautiful that I could not wait for night to come to see them together again. When Isaac would contrast what they had at night to how he would act in his daily world, he was two different men. I liked who he was with Noelle. He did not take her or his feelings for granted. Noelle had to ask for what she wanted but Isaac gave it to her. He pushed her boundaries from lying together to having sex finally. He did not take what she was not willing to give him. I liked that he respected her. I cannot say I liked that reality intruded in their world but when it did because Isaac had to go on a business trip, I liked how Isaac tried to deny his feelings for Noelle but in the end could not deny them and changed what he planned. Bradley has his past to clean up. He was in love with Ben and now Ben wants nothing to do with him. Bradley persists until Ben tells him their past. Bradley is shattered and wants to go off the deep end. This occurs at the same time Noelle discovers what the two brothers did to (for) her. She is deeply hurt by them and leaves. This makes her reexamine her past, and because Isaac had forced her to look at herself in a mirror, she knows she has amends she needs to make with her family. Scarred Beauty is ultimately a tale of redemption, forgiveness, and moving forward. It takes the past and makes it a building block for the future. Not all the stories have clean endings but what is left here is a path that gives hope and allows the characters to find the love for which they are all searching.
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