Beautiful Secret: Christina Lauren

I'm not sure there is a character out there who is more different from Bennett, Max and Will (the male leads from books 1, 2 and 3, respectively, in the Beautiful Bastard Series) than Niall.  Christina Lauren  clearly have what it takes to get into the mind of a range of personality types.

Blurb:

When Ruby Miller’s boss announces he’s sending her on an extended business trip to New York City, she’s shocked. As one of the best and brightest young engineers in London, she knows she’s professionally up to the task. The part that’s throwing her is where she’ll be spending a month up close and personal working alongside—and staying in a hotel with—Niall Stella, her firm’s top urban planning executive and The Hottest Man Alive. Despite her ongoing crush, Ruby is certain Niall barely knows she’s alive…until their flirty overnight flight makes him sit up and take notice.

Not one for letting loose and breaking rules, recently divorced Niall would describe himself as hopeless when it comes to women. But even he knows outgoing California-girl Ruby is a breath of fresh air. Once she makes it her mission to help the sexy Brit loosen his tie, there’s no turning back. Thousands of miles from London, it’s easy for the lovers to play pretend. But when the trip is over, will the relationship they’ve built up fall down?

Review:  4 Stars

In the acknowledgements, the authors say:

“Some books roll off our fingers easily, while others seem to require some combination of the following: (1) rocking in a corner, (2) cake, (3) chaining self to computer, (4) tears, (5) bloodletting, (6) hard liquor, (7) starfishing on the floor, (8) Ryan Gosling and/or, (9) virgin sacrifice.
We’re not saying Beautiful Secret required most of these strategies, but we’re not not saying it, either.”

I'm going to guess that deciding and conveying what was going on inside of Niall's head and figuring out how Ruby should react to it was a challenge.  Truth be told, of all the male leads in this series, I'm probably a Niall girl.  As hot as an alpha is, in theory, I always fall for the shy ones.  That doesn't mean he wouldn't drive me up the wall.  I wanted to yell at him on several occasions.  But, his loyalty, timidness, insecurity and vulnerability made me want to hold him and make up for the wasted years.

I enjoyed Ruby as the female lead.  I'm glad she took her time after Niall chose to go for dinner.  Niall needed a wake up call.  I was hoping for an epilogue, so the ending felt a bit quick.