This book had a nice premise and the first couple of chapters were actually promising but the whole plot went down hill so fast, it left my head spinning. I cannot stress this enough, authors need to stop romanticising serious issues in books. When authors write about Rape, Kidnapping, Domestic Violence, Pedophilia et al and label perpetrators of these acts "Anti-Heroes" it stresses me out, when they paint it in a romantic way, it really really does my head in. Real Life is messy and frankly if you're going to bring the ugly that is part of life into books, you owe it to your readers and yourself to tackle that issue with respect. If it's too much then just write normal romance books where the biggest complication is probably lack of communication. How, i mean HOW can you write what i can only classify as total B.S on domestic violence? People die from this, people's lives are practically destroyed from this. and i think it's very appaling that this author decided to write a book about this very gritty issue but never really addresses domestic violence head on. So you expect me, the reader to believe that a woman who has been abused for 3 BLOODY years to the point that her face has been disfigured (this brings me to how unrealistic the book cover is but i'll talk about that later),who hasn't spoken to any human being apart from her abuser for those three years agrees to go and live with a MAN who from the descriptions has an almost similar build to her abuser??? You expect me to believe that the hospital let her go without any referrals to theraphy? you expect me to believe that all through the book she didn't completely lose her shit once?? Not once did she lose her shit living in a strange man's house? are fucking kidding me? How is it even acceptable to tell someone that has gone through such gruesome abuse less than a week ago according to the timeline of the book to stop feeling sorry for herself? Brian goes to Nicole in this scene: "Stop. Now you're just feeling sorry for yourself...you're not going to mop around here all day and night, feeling sorry for yourself. This house is a pity party free zone". How is that okay? Then lets talk about the cover. I've come to the conclusion that whatever authors say in their book, they are the shallowest people ever. You'll read a book where the MC is supposedly disfigured and ugly but instead the book cover has a cover model that looks like he could walk the New York fashion show. Nicole is described as horribly deformed and her eyes are the only thing that has remained beautiful from her previous life, which, granted, is what can be seen from the cover. But can you really picture a horribly disfigured character from the cover? Because i sure as heck can't. Shouldn't something have shown? On the cover she just does look sad, yes, but otherwise perfect. This book completely fails to deliver. It's like the author goes don't think about domestic violence too much, here's two people falling in insta love, think about that instead.

✮✮✮✮✮ 5 Beautifully Damaged Stars ✮✮✮✮✮ "She stares out the window as the late afternoon sun tries to make it's way through the window. Those gauzy curtains would make it almost impossible for her to see what’s going on inside her house, if she were ever standing on the lawn or the sidewalk looking in. But that never happens. She never leaves the house. Not even at night. Well, once she did. But then never again. The aftermath was not worth the brief taste of freedom." Don't Make Me Beautiful by Elle Casey was beautiful, touching, inspiring, heart-breaking, motivational, romantic, and everything else that you could possible want in a book. It has a wonderful message about inner beauty and the strength of survival as well as the healing powers of love. This book touched my heart and it will stay with me for a long time to come. "There would be no happy ending to this little story. She's not foolish enough to even dream otherwise. Life will never be a fairtale for a girl like her." Nicole " No one knew a woman lived there or that she even existed. A monster, living in darkness..." She's just 25 years old, but hasn't stepped foot outside in almost 3 years. She doesn't even look human anymore. Her face is so terribly disfigured from having the bones in her face broken repeatedly by The Monster. Nicole feels that her life is over, she has no hope and she wants to die. Is waiting for death to set her free. "She could see one of the neighbor’s pools out the back window. It was such a bright azure, so inviting. She dreamed of going over and drowning herself in it many times, but then she’d look down at Kitten’s spot in the yard and know that she couldn't. Then she’d be leaving Kitten behind and that never seemed right." Then her world is irrevocably changed forever when her "superhero" Brian Jensen's baseball breaks her window and forever changes her life as she knew it by culminating events that ultimately bring them together. Brian, oh how I loved Brian! He truly is the perfect guy. Perfect in every way because Nicole needed that and I was so happy that she found that guy for her. He stood by her through thick and thin, and I couldn't adore him more for it! Brian is a single dad who is raising his son with the help of his ex-wife whom he is still best friends with. Brian is a goofy and sweet guy who would love to meet the right person to spend the rest of his life with. I loved how sweet Brian was with Nicole. He was sweet but he still knew how to rile her up and bring out her inner tough girl that's been waiting to come out. I loved that side of their relationship. "You're my heart, babe. My heart. Without you I don't know what I'd do." Don't Make Me Beautiful is such an inspiring story. When I closed the book I almost felt guilty for all the times that I complained about things. It made me realize how lucky most of us are and how bad some people have it. This story is probably right now someone's life, and that breaks my heart. I hope wherever she is, she finds her Brian.. *****I would recommend this novel to others***** If you or your loved one is suffering from domestic violence call this number now! U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224 UK Women’s Aid Women’s Aid at 0808 2000 247 Australia Domestic Violence Helpline 1800RESPECT at 1800 737 732 International Directory of Domestic Violence Agencies http://www.hotpeachpages.net/

★Book Basics★ Genre : - Contemporary Romance Series : - Stand Alone Love triangle? - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] Cheating? - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] HEA? - (view spoiler)[Yes (hide spoiler)] Would I read more by this author? - Maybe Rating - 2 ★Review★ At first this started off well, even though I am not a fan of present tense. The switching of the chapters from Brian's life to Nicole's life was done very well. Offering some relief while serving to highlight the awfulness of Nicole's life. And I liked the last couple of chapters. But the middle for me, was not good. I expected a heartbreaking, but beautiful, heart warming tale of a woman overcoming abuse and an awful past to find love again. Plot wise, it had the potential to be beautiful tale of strength, recovery and love. Execution wise - it just was not pulled off for me. I found myself questioning a lot of what happened and how and if that would happen in real life. Within a couple of weeks of Brian having found Nicole, they are "in love" and involved in a physical relationship. This is a woman, who has suffered years of abuse, has horrific injuries, missing damaged teeth, a nasal passage so messed up she cannot breath through it. Yet the author has Brian flirting with her almost straight away. He makes her a huge part of his life, brings her into his home after a matter of days, a home he shares with his young son, yet, he lives just around the corner from her abuser, and the only contact Nicole had had with anyone other than her abusive boyfriend in years, was with Brian and his son, and the very next day she is saved. And Brian thinks that her abuser is not going to be suspicious about who exactly saved her and where she could be? Nicole is in hospital, in ITU, with supposedly one of the worst cases of abuse the doctors have ever seen. Yet after a day, some woman is barging in all "ITU care is expensive, it needs to be paid for" Now, I do not claim to have a knowledge of the US health system or exactly how it works - but that is not right surely. What would they have done if Brian was not there, pretending to be her brother? Chucked her out? So she gets discharged, even though her injuries are pretty terrible, but she has no insurance, but apparently she can have some rehab as an outpatient (which never happens) No support is offered, no links to appropriate charities, help etc. Just off you go, you have no money. But off she goes with super hero Brian, a perfect specimen of a man. Who seems to have some need to be needed. At some point her abuser finds her, they both end up back in hospital and she is all of a sudden waiting on the DA to make a decision as to if she should be charged with a crime - "luckily" she does not get charged with a crime that could lead to jail time, but a lesser charge. Now, again, not an expert on US law, but I find it really hard to believe, given her situation and history, and given the donations flooding in for her, and the public sympathy she was getting at this point, that anyone would even think she should be charged with anything. She was being charged with being a helpless victim as far as I can see. It just seemed totally unbelievable and quite honestly just made me angry. The police seemingly cannot do anything, even though they were at the house along with the ambulance, when she is rescued, know full well the state she was in, who's house she was found in, but seem to be completely powerless to even find the bloke let alone question him. Why put that in the book, to add more drama? More suspense? Tbh, I just feel like the author bit off more than she could chew with this storyline. If you want to write it, you have to be able to really write it. Here I just felt detached from the 2 main characters. Brian especially, it all felt a bit too "perfect" and false, far far too quick. I did like the last couple of chapters, and was pleased for the HEA. But overall, I was not impressed. I just got the impression, given how quick it all happened and the insta love thing, that she would have fallen in love with whoever "rescued" her, and Brian just has the need to be the "hero" and save her. As if 5 years down the line, she no longer needs saving, or helped, and he is not needed in that way - then they will struggle being together.