Beast, Prince, Hero = Grady Williams

Beast: A Bad Boy Marine Romance

Alana Albertson (Author)


    Grady is wounded Marine. Most people believe that Grady is a hero, but not Grady. He risked his life for his fellow Marines. Grady spends most of his time alone in is home afraid of how people will react to his appears. He is still quite scarred even after multiple surgeries. One night Grady goes out to a college costume party down the street. He is dressed as the Hulk with a mask to cover his half scarred face. 

    Isabella is a college student working on a Psych major. Isabella is able to go to college with the money she earn as a dancer on a television program. Isabella discovered that the money, which was in a trust, had been withdrawn from the account. Isabella's friend convinced her to a costume party. She meets a very sexy looking Hulk. While they were talking, fireworks cause Grady to believe it is gunfire (has a PTSD episode/flashback). He throws Isabella to the ground and lays on top of her to protect her. When Grady realized his mistake, he quickly leaves and goes home. Isabella falls him and attempts to help Grady. 

    Isabella feels a need to help Grady, because she was unable to help her mother. Grady defense mechanism is to scare or chase people off. After Isabella learns that all her trust money is gone, stolen by her father and he still needs more money. Isabella goes to Grady to convinces him to let her dad writes his war memoir. Grady reluctantly agrees, but only if she goes with him to the Marine Corp Ball as his girlfriend. 

    In the beginning, Grady doesn't want to change or have help to change, even though he does go to therapy. He is, in my opinion, stubborn and assumes the worst. He believes that everyone will think that he is some sort of beast or freak with is not true. This causes Grady to be very unhappy in the beginning, but he wants to find someone and to be happy again. Grady doesn't believe that Isabella is attracted to him and finds him sexy. Isabella isn't willing to deal with her issues in the beginning either. She has not dealt with her father and his problems, her mother's death, or why she stopped dancing.

      I thought that it was very telling that Isabella wanted alleviate Grady's pain and hoped that he would heal her. Isabella wanted to feel loved, in my opinion. She was lonely just like Grady was. They were two people who were lost and needed someone to make them feel alive again / give them a reason to live. 

    Almost everyone has scars (damage) whether they are visible or invisible. We have to be willing to look past that to the person inside (beauty). We have to help/better/fix ourselves. We have to love ourselves first, so that we can be loved. Both Isabella and Grady wanted to better themselves, face their fears, so they could be better for the other person. Also so they could find true love. 

    I love that their first dance was to "Tale as Old as Time." This is a modern day Beauty and the Beast. This is my first book by Alana Albertson. It will not be my last. The only thing that I was left wondering was what happened with Isabella's father and what happened to her childhood home. These things are not a deal breaker for me. Beast has romance, suspense, happily ever after, interesting plot/ story and intriguing characters. i was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

4 1/2 Stars!