A fine, rather benign, entry by a typically stronger author. Vali often left me shattered with the Cain Casey series and more recent works like "Romance the Vote" have been interesting diversions from the general tenor of that set of publications. I found "Beauty and the Boss" to feature the narrative tropes, including the misguided, inveterate bachelorette waiting to be tamed, that are coming to typify many books in the genre, but it lacked any incandescence that might have made it stand out. I will continue to hope for more.

Not something, I normally do, but at the 50% marked I DNF'ed this one. The beginning started off pretty well, then when they went to NOLA things completely derailed. Way too many characters introduced in rapid fire succession. Major dialogue issues, major, for the life of me there were times I could not figure out who was speaking.! No romance whatsoever, I didn't want to see them together and I could not bring myself to finish this one. I am so sorry!

This book hasn't completely been compelling to me. At the beginning, it has confused me a little till I've figured out the real plot. Then it has confused me a little the boss behaviour, since we have been thoroughly informed about her bitchiness and odd personality that it is not in line with her actions along the story. The child Sawyer, her behaviour and that Ellis' toward her, also had me confused, sometimes Sawyer seems her ten years old self even less and then appears like an adult, her suposed shyness not very well exposed. The romance between Charlotte and Ellis hasn't been very appealing to me neither, once their physicall relation starts it speeds up too much quickly. And then Brandi and the scene of their sexual encounter, odd. The story overall is not unpleasant even the nasty villains that are too obvious. At the end, this is a story about dreams coming true, a little cinderella finding her princess charming but nothing much about the beauty and the beast. The end seems open to a continuation, but as this author has done before, maybe there will not be any.

First I want to say Vali is one of my favorite authors. I think this is the 13th book I have read by her, and only one other, (her first I believe) did I ever rate this low. There are parts of this book I really enjoyed, but there were a few too many problems I just could not ignore. I thought the premise of the book was great, and this was going to be at least a 4 star book, but the execution didn't quite get there.

Ellis is at the top of the fashion world. Her success is great, and she gives back a little each year by hiring an intern. The last intern she slept with and it did not end well. This year she is more careful and picks the single mother Charlotte. Little does Ellis know, that someone is trying to take away her business. Will Ellis find out what is going on before it is too late?

At first I was really excited, this felt like classic Vali to me. Actually it reminded me a little of her Cain Casey series. I know one is a crime family and the other a fashion house, but they had a similar vibe to them. Plus, I always love the setting of New Orleans. But by the end, I was wishing Ellis was going to call Cain to have her clean up the mess the "Cain way". I'm not sold on the fact the "bad guys and gals" didn't really get their due.

There is a lot of characters in this book. You head hop not only the main characters, but the bad guys too. While I liked the way the whole "crime" part of this story unfolded, it was pretty easy to figure out who the mystery bad gal or guy was. There was one big twist I did not see coming, so I applaud Vali for that. But with all the characters this book has, led me to one of my biggest issues. So many times, I had no idea who was speaking. There was not enough dialogue tags at all. I don't ever remember having this issue in a Vali book before. There was also times it felt like whole dialog was missing. I was confused why a character said something that they did. Most of the time these two issues happened when Ellis and Charlotte were speaking together. It made the reading choppy, again not a norm for me with Vali. This almost felt like a first or second draft at times, not a book ready to be released.

My last huge issue really was the romance between Ellis and Charlotte. They went from Char not even liking Ellis, to being in love. There was almost no chemistry and I had to wonder why or how did they love each other. Both character are very likeable, but there was no sparks between them. I think back to the Cain series, Cain and Emma have so much passion, you know they would do anything for each other. Vali knows how to write chemistry, I just don't know why it was so lacking in this book.

While I did enjoy parts of this book, I was bummed overall. Some of this book was classic Vali, some was Vali not at all. I don't get it. Maybe it is me, and you will like this much more. I have so much respect for Vail, that I will always read her books, this one just wasn't any better than okay. If you are new to Vail, and want to try a crime-romance, give her Cain Casey series (book 1 The Devil Inside) a read.

An ARC was given to me from BSB, for a honest review.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35958843-beauty-and-the-boss" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Beauty and the Boss" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502150280m/35958843.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35958843-beauty-and-the-boss">Beauty and the Boss</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12884.Ali_Vali">Ali Vali</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2108105011">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Ellis and Charlotte are the leads in this angst filled romance set in the world of high fashion. The anxiety and pressure before a fashion show launch are nicely written and the supporting character of Sawyer (Charlotte's daughter) is cleverly written as the glue holding everything together. Unfortunately, for me, the interactions between the main characters seemed somewhat stilted (except for the sex scenes). Overall, Beauty and the Boss is a good read with interesting twists and turns. 3 stars.<br />I rec'd an ARC from NetGalley/Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

Ali Vali certainly knows how to grab the reader and keep the pages turning. I was always engaged and interested in what was coming next. I will be recommending this book to my students. Ali Vali is simply a good writer and has a lot to offer her readers. The characters were strong and likable. The story is well written and engaging. An enjoyable read for sure.

Being an Ali Vali fan specifically of her Cain Casey Series, I was expecting an interesting plot with good guys I care about and not so good guys that would get their due. In general, my expectations were met. Charlotte Hamner is likeable not realizing she deserves love. Ellis Renois is a player not realizing she is looking for or needs love. I thought the read was interesting and complex with the theft of the "bible" and fashion as the backdrop. There was quite a bit going on with various characters and you had to keep focus or be confused. In my opinion, the focus of the read is Charlotte's adorable daughter Sawyer as she interacts with not only her mother but Ellis. Sawyer provides a ballast many for many of the characters in the story which in my opinion is a good thing.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I don't usually pick up lesbian romances because they're largely not to my tastes, but Beauty and the Boss sounded quick and fun. Unfortunately for me, it was neither.

Ellis is a famous fashion designer and Charlotte is an single mother and aspiring designer granted an internship with Ellis. Ellis, Charlotte and Charlotte's 10 year old daughter Sawyer, already a talented artist, soon take off for New Orleans to prepare for fashion week. Almost immediately one of two copies of the all important book of designs for fashion week is stolen by Ellis' vindictive coworkers and the entire line needs to be replaced. The tension rises as Ellis and Charlotte battle their pasts and their romantic feelings for each other, all while tirelessly work towards salvaging their fashion week.

The main characters, Ellis and Charlotte, work together and fall madly in love quickly, for no real reason as far as I can tell. The emotion just wasn't there. I couldn't connect with them at all and that was a huge disappointment for me. I wanted to like them so much but they were never elevated to vibrant characters who feel real.

Stylistically, the writing didn't do much for me. There are a few things that Vali did that I find amateur-ish, like how a character is always introduced in ways that felt like high school creative writing style.

Fashion designer Ellis Renoir...
Her best friend and partner Rueben Maddox...
"Do you have everything set?" Jennifer Eymard asked Dalton Burton as they had lunch at the Clocktower restaurant.


This sort of thing always pulls me out of a story, as it's an awkward and amateurish way to introduce characters and starts to stick out the more it's used. The sentences were in a simple, almost a fanfic-style, that prevented me from ever really connecting with the characters that I really wanted to connect with. I actually had a really hard time differentiating between who was speaking at any given time, that's how similar every character's voice was. The 10 year old girl sounded the exact same as worldly journalists and international fashionistas.

The main antagonists, Jennifer and Dalton, are hollow, evil caricatures. I don't particularly expect villains to grow and change in the same way I expect the protagonists too, but there was no real explanations for their hatred of Ellis. Despite having a multitude of perspective chapters, I never felt like I understood more about them as people. They were both willing to enact horrible betrayals, ruin families and commit crimes, but their motives lacked any real emotional correlation. Why give them perspectives within the narrative at all if there's no complexities within the characters at all?

In the end, these things made what was actually a fairly short book feel like I was slogging through it, finishing more for completion's sake than enjoyment.

I was excited about this and intended to read it, but after seeing a review stating that characters I am supposed to like use the word whore, I just don't want to bother. There are other books I am more excited to read that do not have characters I am supposed to like using the word whore.

I enjoyed this book and liked all the characters (except the ones you weren’t supposed yo like ) however I did not full get the chemistry between the two main characters. They were both very likable and well portrayed but it seemed kind of odd how they got together. Charlotte didn’t like Ellis at first and kept insulting her and didn’t think very highly of her and all of a sudden she was head over heels for her. That part felt a little strange for me – there was not a lot of flirting or build up in between it was more they didn’t get along – or more Charlotte didn’t – and then they were together and in love. The story around it with all the mystery of steeling things and with Sawyer was intriguing and well written. I would recommend the book and I definitely enjoyed it but I think the love story lacked a little bit.

I found this a little hard going for the first couple of chapters but I'm glad I persevered, great characters, a twisty plot and I loved the way the ending tied up with a future conclusion.

My first Vali novel and I really like her writing style. I didn't realize this was LGBT when I requested it...didn't dawn on me to look. The story just sounded like something I would like and I did. Vali wrote strong characters and an equally strong story. Although I think Sawyer really stole my heart. Really enjoyed this and will have to look at Vali's other offerings.

This book was so cute, thank you netgalley for the arc! I don't normally read books like these, but I thought I would still check it out, hoping I would like it - and I LOVED it! This should be added on goodreads, so I can write a review there and let people know where to find the information about this book!

It was such a great read! Thank you for this!