REVIEW: BEAUTY FROM SURRENDER BY GEORGIA CATES

How do you move on when he’s every song you sing?

After Laurelyn Prescott walks away from the love of her life, she returns to Nashville to pursue the only dream she has left. Determined to find a distraction from the pain of losing Jack Henry, she immerses herself in her music. But with her old life comes old acquaintances and new expectations. When Laurelyn refuses her record producer’s outrageous demands, she finds herself without a career—until an unforeseen opportunity presents itself. From there it’s a rocket ride straight to the top where Laurelyn finds the success she’s always dreamed of. Will it be enough to bring her the happiness she so deserves, or will the absence of Jack Henry leave her wanting more?

Jack Henry McLachlan never expected to fall in love with Laurelyn Prescott—but he did. After he foolishly let her slip through his fingers, he spends three months searching for her, but their reunion doesn’t come easy. The woman he finds isn’t the same one who drifted away without a goodbye. No longer an insecure girl on an Australian adventure, this Laurelyn is a successful musician with a promising career. Her dreams are becoming a reality, and Jack is terrified his American girl won’t have a place for him in her new life. With only a month to convince her otherwise, will it be enough time to make her visualize a life beyond the glitz and glamour, a life that includes him?

Where to Find Beauty From Surrender:

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Where to Find Georgia Cates

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Published May 30th 2013 by Georgia Cates

*** 5 Stars***

This little gem is the sequel to Georgia Cates's Beauty from Pain. I've been looking forward to this book coming out for a while and I was not at all disappointed with it at all. 

1) Laurelyn. This poor girl. She fell in love with a man and a relationship that did not seem to have a chance in hell to survive. She waited until the very last minute to hear the words she so desperately wanted to hear from Jack Henry and when she didn't hear them she left her heart and soul in Australia and made her way back to Nashville. She mourned the loss of her love as many women probably do--loss of appetite, lots of sleep or the inability to sleep, lots of crying, and lots of denying the true depth of the pain to friends because you won't or don't or can't talk about it. When her friend, Addison, offers Laurelyn a chance to resurrect her singing career, she hesitantly takes the opportunity and rocks it. She throws herself into the band in the hopes that she can move away from the hurt of her past. Her mother, father, and Blake (scumbag extraordinaire) create obstacles along the way but Laurelyn keeps her head on straight and begins to enjoy successes with her band. You can imagine her stunned reaction when Jack Henry appears at one of her shows. Her entire world is rocked and their love affair begins again.

2) Jack Henry. This poor guy. Somewhere along the way he accidentally fell in love with Laurelyn and when he recognizes it and goes to tell her, she's gone. POOF. Disappeared and he has no way of finding her. He pulls a typical screwed up move the week after she leaves but then gets himself together and begins the search to find her and get her back. I love how he shows up with her guitar at her gig and waits until after it to have a moment with her. So. Swoony. And then he finds her and walks away from her ...NOOOOO, don't do it Jack Henry! Well luckily crisis is averted and we get to watch him woo her and woo her he does.

 I could soooo be wooed by Jack Henry. Please? He's a good woo-er. He is wonderful and in love with her and while he doesn't have the best timing for some of his plans or things he needs to tell her, he is fan-f*cking-tastic.

3) The ensemble cast. This cast made things interesting. Laurelyn's mother and father were less than stellar parents before and not much has changed. Blake was one of the bigger scumbags I've come across in my reading. Jerk. Addison earned her stripes as a best friends and I thought her straight talking ways were much needed. Charlie and the band were awesome to Laurelyn at time when she really needed it. But the stars of the show were Jack Henry's family--his mother in particular. Jack Henry's mother is laugh out loud funny. She whipped him into shape at every opportunity and I loved her for it.

I'm not sure if it is rare that a sequel is better than the first, but I thought this one was. I loved every part of this story. It was a nice mixture of  both of their perspectives, humor, drama, and romance. It also didn't  have a cliffhanger but the writer has the possibility of more to come with these two open and that makes me a very happy reader and blogger. 

***5 stars***

I am the most thankful that while Shelley highly recommended Beauty From Pain, I didn't have to wait more than a week to find out what happened next. This makes me only a teeny bit sad that I have truly missed out for months, but again, I only had to wait a week for the next book so I'll take it! 

1) Laurelyn. I enjoyed the first part of the book in a big way because it was a well written time of heartache. Some of those are quick and then we move back on to happier times instantly, and it wasn't that way with her. She felt so much for Jack Henry that she didn't anticipate and didn't know what to do with, but I loved that she wasn't immediately trying to get back out there and forget him. (I was obviously still holding out for his rich butt to figure it out and find her!) After that whole debacle, I was proud to see her being a lot more assertive I guess in what she wanted and making him communicate better with her. Don't get me wrong, our book people truly suck at communicating but I guess we have to continue loving them anyways. I loved how much she stood up for herself with the asshole..I mean Blake..situations. Ugh...I hate that there are men out there like him that use their powerful positions to take advantage of women using blackmail and force. Just ugh! 

2) Jack Henry. Oooh baby, did he mess up and did he realize it. Might be his age at being 30 now that made him wake up and smell the roses, but I am so glad he just woke up. He was always good at the romance so he didn't disappoint in the least for round 2. He even turns the tables around with a sexy striptease number that will make you swoon hardcore. One of my absolute favorite scenes in the book, I might add. Anyways, I digress. He went all into put up or shut up mode and while things got a wee little bit angsty as they always do, I never stopped rooting for him to get his girl. And do we have. to. wait. forever. to. find. out. what's. gonna. happen. Yes, yes you do. But the journey is the best part, right? Uh...sure...I obviously get way too emotionally invested in a book, but my heart hurt for their speed bumps and not knowing how things would end. 

3) Everyone else. Yes, I loved most of them. I hurt for Laurelyn for all of the things that she went through with her mom and dad. That was just bizarro, in a crazy way, but that's just how some parents are even though they suck. Then, that Blake situation that I mentioned previously. Scum to the bag, and I hope he rots somewhere in their fantasy little world. He's awful. Like Shelley said, Jack Henry's family were the best! I loved them and their conversations and while they're wealthy, they're not that kind of wealthy people which was truly refreshing. While I loved his mother, I also loved all of the conversations with his brother. They had much more brotherly bonding this time around with each of their issues and those were some great moments.

I liked this one better because almost all of the secrets were out in the open. No more not knowing each other's names and much more getting to know each other for real and figuring out how to get to their forever. Do they? Well, read to find out, but crazy good book with crazy good writing.