Gen had found the perfect man, and moments before her perfect wedding, she bolts out of the window in her perfect wedding dress because she is too afraid to go through with it. As it is her best friend Wolfe, who was almost late for the ceremony, is close by and goes to her rescue. Wolfe had never liked David, Gen's fiancรฉ; he always felt something was off, but still he is a taken aback when Gen asks Wolfe to take her far away. Now.
And I thought Jennifer Probst had reached the apex of her talent with Searching for Perfect, the second instalment in the Searching for series, but boy, was I wrong: SEARCHING FOR BEAUTIFUL is simply astonishing! Heart-wrenching, emotional, with extraordinary insight into the human psyche and relationships, with SEARCHING FOR BEAUTIFUL, the author has crafted an exceptionally compelling read. Ms. Probst is particularly adept at fleshing out mesmerizing characters, and Gen and Wolfe are beyond compare, especially the latter.
Wolfe is charismatic and a bit mysterious; he is a prism of emotions; he is a survivor and as we come to learn more of his past, my heart broke and soared; I completely fell in love with him, and this is what an author should aim to achieve: not tell us that we should love the character but write him in such a way that we simply do. How can you not love a man who is afraid of spiders? The author's skills at depicting relationships have never been sharper: whether the touching family interaction between Gen and her father or the intertwining relationships of David, Gen and Wolfe, which provide as much drama as the best thriller as secrets from their pasts are revealed.
SEARCHING FOR BEAUTIFUL is a thick-ish book and Ms. Probst's smooth and elegant prose and spot-on dialogues make it a very quick read because the author invites the reader as a friend to be privy to the story of those characters. SEARCHING FOR BEAUTIFUL is spellbinding: I had chills, I had lumps in my throat, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. SEARCHING FOR BEAUTIFUL touched my heart and my soul as few books ever have before. Jennifer Probst writes life, love and sex, with all its ups and downs, in all its beauty and ugliness, better than reality does. There are some spectacularly touching and beautiful sentences I will never forget. Nothing prepared me for the magnificent SEARCHING FOR BEAUTIFUL; I dare anyone not to cry.
The highly anticipated third novel in the Searching For
series from Jennifer Probst, โone of the most exciting
breakout novelistsโ (USA TODAY), featuring a
runaway
bride and the man who wants to be more than just her best
friendโฆ
Genevieve MacKenzie has her life completely under
control.
About to wed the charming Chief doctor at the local
hospital, sheโs an up-and-coming surgeon with everything
she
could ever want. Until an escape through the church
window
on the day of her wedding sends her life into a tailspinโฆ
and
flings her right into her best friendโs arms.
When Wolfe catches his best friend falling out a window
on
her wedding day, he doesnโt ask questions. He whisks her
away, determined to watch over her and discover the truth
behind her desperate escape. But when his feelings turn
more
than platonic, he realizes he may risk his most important
relationship in order to protect his damaged heart, and
the
woman he loves.
Can Genevieve and Wolfeโs friendship turn into something
deeperโor is it already too late for true love?
EXCERPT
โToo bad. I was hoping for some awesome sex secret.
Like telling me you really are into dominatrix
stuff.โ
โSex again, huh?โ
โMust be the alcohol.โ She finished up the fifth or
sixth beer, and enjoyed the heat coursing through her
veins. The fake happiness would soon turn to depression,
but she didnโt care for now. It had been so long
she let go of control and did something reckless.
โDavid said I sucked at sex.โ
This time, he rolled over. Those stinging blue eyes
pierced into hers and his jaw tightened. โDavid was
an asshole and thatโs why you left. You donโt suck at
sex.โ
The giggles overtook her. โHow do you know? We
never had sex. I probably do. Iโm too in my head, always
waiting to see if Iโm good enough until faking
orgasms became my art.โ
Fury laced his words. โLet me repeat. He was an
asshole, and lousy in bed if he had you faking orgasms.
He messed with your head, babe. Donโt let him get
in.โ
She waved a hand in the air and tried not to giggle
again. Oh yeah, she was drunk. It wasnโt so funny
before, but now it seemed kind of lame not to be able
to rock the bedroom with your fiancรฉ. โSโokay. Iโm
not the sexy type, you know? Iโm vanilla. Boring. He
even said my kissing was like missionary sex every
night. But I know he didnโt mean to hurt my feelings.
He was just saying it to make me better, so I got some
books, but it still didnโt really work.โ
His teeth clenched. She was fascinated by the
naked rage flickering over his face, the way he held
his body tight like he was about to explode like some
badass superhero. โIโm going to kill him.โ
She almost laughed, but then he looked a bit too
serious. Gen frowned and reached out. She got lucky
and hit vision number one, which was real and not the
duplicate dancing in front of her. Her fingers stroked
his stubbled jaw in an effort to soothe his temper.
Damn, she used to be able to knock back five beers
in a night. Maybe because she had nothing in her
stomach and it had been a hell of a day. Why did he
look so mad again? Oh yeah, because she sucked at
kissing and he was gonna kill David. โNot his fault.
He never wanted to hurt me, told me that all the time.
I kinda made him do it by not listening.โ
โYou really believe this shit, Gen?โ
โItโll be okay. Iโll get a vibrator or something, or
maybe take lessons. Kateโs mom is a sex therapist, you
know. Maybe she can help.โ
He grabbed her hand and squeezed tight. โIโm
gonna rip him apart piece by piece. You are good at
sex. You are good at kissing. Are you listening?โ
She nodded hard. Ooooh, cool. Three faces now.
He was so nice to look at, she could stare at him all
day. So much better than evil Kermits. โUh-huh.
Youโre a good friend. My fault though. You donโt
know how bad I am at it.โ
โFuck.โ The vicious curse emitted from his sexy
mouth. His warm breath hit her cheek. She hated
when he got pissy. โYou better remember this tomorrow.โ
โHuh?โ
Suddenly, he loomed over her, pressing her back
into the ground, his hips cradling hers. Oh wow. His
body heat scorched through wet clothes and her bare
legs automatically opened in a primeval urge to
surrender.
He planted both hands on either side of her
head and lowered his mouth. What was he doing? His
delicious scent rose to her nostrils, and her hands
found their way to grip his hips, his damp skin sleek
and muscled beneath her touch.
Another curse escaped. He seemed grumpy and
torn as he stared at her, inches away from her mouth,
and Gen blinked a few times because his head kind
of floated around, and her body screamed for more
contact, please, just a bit more, and then he muttered,
โIโm gonna prove youโre good at this kissing thing,
okay?โ and his mouth took hers.
She whimpered, literally whimpered, at the amazing
feel of those ultrasoft, smooth lips coasting over
hers with an expert grace and blistering heat that
made her toes curl. Oh, alcoholic visions were so
yummy! Wolfe, her best friend and and confidant, was
kissing her, and it was too good to be real, so it had
to be some sort of psychedelic mirage from too much
Sam Adams.
Her mind spun, tried to make sense of it, and
gave up.
Her body roared forward and seized control.
Hips arched, nails digging into his lower back, she
surrendered to the sensations rocketing in her core
and spreading like fire through her veins. He kissed
her for a while, until she was a soft, gooey mess beneath
him, and then his tongue parted her lips and
surged in.
She opened her mouth and met him halfway,
crazed for the full taste and essence of him. His
tongue pushed, stroked, and explored, taking her
deep. She moaned and reached for more. God she
wanted more, the taste of citrusy lemon and male
hunger pulling her under. He grew hard between her
thighs and she nipped at his bottom lip, sucking gently,
and he muttered something foul, deflowering her
mouth like she was a virgin asking to be ravished and
taken and f**ked.
Time stood still. It was too short, it was endless, it
was everything. Her head spun, her breasts grew achy
and tight, and she was so wet he couldโve slipped between
her thighs and slid home without a protest. She
made a sound deep in her throat when he slowly
pulled away, the wet slide of his tongue over hers
bestowing
one final taste.
She blinked. Blistering heat and fury and lust mingled
in those blue eyes. She felt eaten alive, scoured
raw, and Gen shook as the solid foundation underneath
her shifted and broke open.
โAre you listening, Gen?โ
She couldnโt speak, so she managed a nod.
โYouโre an amazing kisser. I couldโve f**ked you
right here and now and been the happiest guy in the
world. A guy has to be dead not to want you. David
is a piece of shit. Understood?โ
She swallowed. Nodded again.
โGood.โ He slid off her and she almost cried out
at the loss of his heat and pressure. The sky opened
and swallowed her up as utter exhaustion suddenly
hit her. Turned on, spent, emotions ripped and bleeding,
she grabbed for his hand not to lose physical contact,
and he interwove his fingers with hers and lay
back on the dock. Slowly, she relaxed, his presence a
bone-deep comfort and something else, something
she refused to examine.
Gen gave up and let the blackness take her. But
first she said the words.
โI love you, Wolfe.โ
She slid toward sleep. His response drifted in the
sultry air among the chirp of crickets.
โI love you too, babe.โ
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