Wicked Beautiful (Wicked Games) - Romantic Suspense Novel for Adults - Perfect for Date Night Reading & Book Club Discussions

This was yet another great read from J. T. Geissenger. After having her heart broken as a teenager, Victoria changes her identity and reinvents herself from a mousy no one to a confident, beautiful, self-proclaimed 'B' (use your imagination for what it stands for) with the help of hackers and plastic surgery. She makes a fortune empowering other women to embrace their inner 'B' to get what they want and to make no apologies for who they are. She is anti-relationship, settling for flings. When she goes with her food blogger friend into a top notch restaurant, she's completely floored to find that Parker, her ex, is not only living in her city, but is a highly successful entrepreneur with a string of investments and charity ventures as well as still being the drop-dead gorgeous heartbreaker he was in their teens. Without recognising Victoria due to a variety of reasons, Parker is up for the challenge she presents and pursues her, knowing straight away that he wants her in his life. However, the hurt both have suffered from their past puts a wall between them that Parker wants to break through. Victoria, on the other hand, uses her unknown identity to go after something much bigger: her revenge on the man who not only broke her heart, but was the chain reaction for a wrecking ball demolishing her life.I love how Victoria embraces the 'B' word and makes no apologies for being a strong, independent woman who owns her attitude. She plays the game and has made a successful writing and public speaking career off letting other women join in, too. She's forthright and borderline mean in some of things she does and says and I loved it, especially the little doses of reality and humour she dropped. The speeches and advice Victoria gives in this book were fabulous and I love that Geissenger has written yet another confident female lead that isn't a pushover. Gems such as 'I have heels bigger that his ****', 'The word aggressive is commonly only used in reference to rabid dogs, savage dictators, or a woman with an opinion' and 'There are few things less attractive than a woman who's a turncoat to her own gender' had me firmly on Team Victoria.Parker was hot and steamy, taking an active role in chasing Victoria. He showed vulnerability, willing to take a chance on love again and determined not to let this opportunity pass him by, believing his past love to be dead and wanting to finally move on. If I wasn't familiar with this author, I might have been feeling a bit stabby towards Parker as we're given the impression that he dumped Victoria without a word, after which she found out she was pregnant. If this has your blood boiling, hang in there because there's a decent explanation and Parker was likable for me throughout the entire book. He was a nice guy who made no secret of the fact that he'd lost the love of his life. There are some moments between them that are deliciously intense with great intimacy. If you're into dominating and possessive male leads that aren't gross tools, you should like Parker. He's alpha and takes charge in the bedroom, but was happy to be a partner to Victoria in everything else without being a pushover himself. Considering her Queen B role, the author did a great job balancing the strong personalities of the main characters. The secondary characters were also good and added to the story without taking it over.The story embraced a bit of instalove with a twist as they technically had met and been in love before but was also a second chance romance with a happy ending. Due to Victoria's secret former identity there was, of course, some angst and over the top plot elements throughout the story, but this author has such a great balance of good writing, great humour (especially sarcasm), drama, romance, witty banter and dialogue that it didn't worry me, nor leave me rolling my eyes.You can pretty much guess that with a hidden identity and the two former lovers meeting there's going to be some unbelievable moments, but it wasn't cheesy and you'll be able to make your own pretty accurate predictions about where the story's going to head. There were a couple of moments where Victoria, an extremely intelligent individual, made a couple of rookie errors when carrying out her act of revenge that I thought were a bit clumsy and out of character for her, but apart from that the plot went smoothly for me. The other point I'd highlight is that Parker's backstory was a bit extreme in a couple of parts and my eyebrows starting rising up, but I'll get over it because in the scheme of things, it didn't annoy me enough to take off a star.Overall, it was an entertaining read which is why J.T. Geissenger is a favourite of mine. While the story was over the top at times, it was a solid romance that was written well and had all the things I love in a story. I need to take a leaf out of Victoria's book at start writing a 'Hate with Every Fibre of My Being' list to add people to ;)