Beautifully Built (Built for You #1) ~ T.H. Compton

Beautifully Built is beautifully written; an adorably sweet and steamy romance with a slight (10 years) age gap. T.H. Compton is a new author, but this book demonstrates that she will be one to look out for in the future.

Beautifully Built has a lovely cast of characters lead by Logan and Caine. Logan's body issues and resulting lack of self-confidence were sensitively written, and it seemed all the more natural that he didn’t suddenly become a gym junkie or suddenly change his diet. Instead, Logan’s journey was to learn to love himself as he was, and accept that his outside was as loveable as his inside.

“I just couldn’t believe it.”

“Believe what?”

“That I could be loved”

Through patience and understanding, Caine helped him do it, but it was really something that Logan needed to do for himself. Caine was perhaps the perfect person to help Logan in that he was already fulfilling a similar role (although platonic) for his best friend Emmett, who had his own personal burdens.

What I loved, and it's something I don't see as much of as I'd like, is that Caine, as 10yrs Logan's senior, actually acted it. Caine demonstrated his maturity versus Logan's youth. Not to say Logan was immature, but the emotional maturity of the average 25yo vs the average 35yo is quite different, primarily due to life experiences and pure biology. It was good to see Caine use his maturity to have perspective on Logan's issues and use his experience to help Logan on his path.

Beautifully Built did have a few 'new author' teething problems. For the first few chapters, the pacing felt a bit out of sync, although this smoothed out as the book progressed, and also in the first few chapters, the dialogue was sometimes a bit clunky, but again this smoothed out as the author found her stride. Overall, this book was brilliant, and I can't wait to see what this author can do with a bit more experience under her belt!

The humour in this book was used effectively, and I often found myself grinning or chuckling. It also had the best first line of a book I've read in a long time:

“Waking up is hard, especially when the first thing you see when you open your eyes is cat ass.”

Beautifully Built would have to be one of the most drama-free books I've read in a really long time. There was one dramatic moment, although it barely registered on my angst-o-meter, and it was resolved very quickly. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it never did. This was really just a sweet romance story.

However, for what it lacked in drama, it made up for in heat! This was way more sexy and steamy than I expected. It wasn't gratuitous though, the scenes were intimate and romantic and heavy on the steam. Logan may have been insecure and self-conscious to start, but once he finds his feet, watch out!

I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series. I’m assuming the next one will be Emmett’s story, and I have a suspicion (or maybe it’s wishful thinking) as to who his person of interest will be. I can’t wait to find out if I’m right!

Beautifully Built is a captivating story about loving yourself and believing that others can love you too. It is a light, feel-good read with humour and plenty of steam. It is character-driven, and those characters are well developed, very likeable, and easy to empathise with. T.H. Compton packs a rich and engaging story into a relatively small book, and I highly recommend reading it. It's almost guaranteed to brighten your day.