Book Description
Being beautiful isn’t easy – just ask Ellie Paxton.
Frustrated by a long string of empty relationships, Ellie makes a promise to God not to date for six months, a promise she’s determined to keep.
Tired of being continually misjudged because of her looks Ellie moves to Sydney for a fresh start. But when her path keeps crossing with the darkly handsome Nathaniel, that promise becomes much harder to fulfil.
As they battle with their attraction for each other, Ellie is not the only one to discover it takes more than simply looking in a mirror to find out who you truly are …
Could it be that God has a bigger plan? Could this really be one of those matches made in heaven …?
Narelle’s Thoughts
I enjoyed reading Too Pretty, despite at times wanting to sit down with Ellie, the female lead, to give her some much needed parental guidance. Ellie Paxton is a sleaze magnet. Her natural physical beauty draws a combination of admiration and lustful responses from men, and jealous and downright nasty responses from women and her extended family. Unfortunately her immediate family, including her missionary parents, are overseas and effectively absent from her life. The aunts, cousins and friends in her life inadvertently feed Ellie’s obsession with her appearance by talking about it all the time.
Ellie’s insecure despite being told she’s beautiful and, at the same time, she hates feeling like everyone is judging her by her looks. Her extended family accuse her of being self absorbed, which is a natural consequence of any obsession with self. Ellie has poor boundaries and has a history of falling into a series of unhealthy romantic relationships. She makes a promise to God that she won’t date for six months.
Enter the handsome Nathaniel (Nate), a doctor from a wealthy family who has women tripping over themselves to get his attention. He’s Ellie’s match in the beauty stakes. Nate hates all the female adoration whereas Ellie’s poor self esteem leads her to seek adoration for all the wrong reasons. Nate is the brooding, wounded hero who knows he’s not in the right place to start a relationship with Ellie or any other woman. He tries to deny and hide his attraction to Ellie, which piques her interest because he’s not hitting on her.
Ellie and Nate develop a friendship over six months that’s defined by Ellie’s no dating promise. During the story we discover why Nate is in self-protect mode and hesitant to embark on a serious relationship. His character growth was a highlight of the story and I spent the latter part of the book wondering if Ellie was worthy of him. Could she mature and learn the lesson from Proverbs 31 that true inner beauty is what really matters? When God doesn’t come through for Ellie and answer her prayers, she takes a bold step that backfires on her and threatens her relationship with Nate. I recommend Too Pretty to those looking for a fun, contemporary romance set in Australia.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author.
To learn more about Andrea and her books, please visit her website and read her interview on Inspy Romance here.