Romance Novel Review: Beautiful Mess by Lucy V. Morgan
Genre: Contemporary romantic comedy
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.46 stars
My rating: 5 stars
Life looks down on Bailey when her boyfriend Craig dumps her. Not even her three best friends, Tom, Olly and Linc, can cheer her up. Not for lack of trying on her part. She bought him a Jagermeister and wrote him a song comparing Craig to a horny werewolf.
It doesn’t help that Bailey is making wedding cakes for a living, or that Valentine’s Day is coming up.
But her friend Linc knows what she needs to cheer up and is fully willing to give it to her.
It’s finally done: a romance novel with a nerdy love interest. Hallelujah.
He’s not a pseudo-nerd who’s introverted but still a charismatic billionaire, but a genuine awkwardly sweet nerd who plays video games, makes YouTube videos.
“Anyone would think you’re trying to seduce me, Linc.”
“I think… I think maybe I am.” She gently pushed my shoulder. “It’s fine?”
He is the best. Linc’s shyness and awkwardness are adorable, and he always has Bailey’s best interests in mind, even above his own. Despite having been in love with her for five years, Linc was not pleased to learn of Bailey’s breakup with Craig. Instead, he was worried about her and wanted to make her happy. The seduction did not come until later.
And this could be a short romance novel, it took me about three hours to read it, but it’s very well done and it’s fun.
Bailey’s personality is great. She is witty, relatable, and comes up with the best descriptions, such as:
It had been a week since I broke up with a guy who not only chewed up my heart and spit it out, but slowly re-ingested it so he could (poop) on cookies and feed it to parrots with attachment issues.
Crazy and yet accurate, right?
The book is full of great images like that. There’s also a very real chemistry between Bailey and her friends. Their relationships don’t feel forced at all and I love that Olly and Linc are YouTube celebrities with supernatural parody songs.
Not only does it remind me of Danny and Aaron from Starbomb, which I’m a fan of, but it also allows for songs like “Slutty Werewolf” which I really wish was a real song. I can’t post the lyrics here due to language, but Lucy V. Morgan, if you end up reading this, please record and make a video of the song Slutty Werewolf. I need it. Internet needs it. Tea world you need it
The only thing I didn’t like was Bailey’s pet rats. Yes, they add to their quirkiness, but they are rats. I just got rid of an infestation of rats in my house a couple of months ago, so every time I hugged one of those rodents I kept thinking uillew (It took me ten minutes to hear the noise it was making in my head so I could spell it correctly. You’re welcome.)
But this isn’t really a story or a writing flaw. It’s just me being a specialist. So I won’t take any partial stars off the rats. beautiful mess it is a rare five star book for me.