Review: Bargain with the Beast

Bargain with the Beast by Naima Simone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5*
Gwen works at the local community center. They will be closing their doors due to lack of funding in a few weeks unless Gwen can make something happen. It turns out she applied for a grant from a local company, but she later found out her application was "lost." It turns out she knows the head of the company and was friends with him once. She was also engaged to his brother.
It turns out Xavier was in an accident (I'm assuming car- it was never said) that left him with disfiguring injuries. He realized how superficial his life was (he lost his "friends" and fiance) and as a result he both becomes a bit of an asshole and isolates himself. When Gwen approaches him, he makes a demand of her; spend the next week with him (in his bed) and he will give her the grant money.
I was a bit leery of this, but enjoy Beauty and the Beast retellings. I was pleasantly surprised. I think this works because of Gwen and Xavier's previous history. Yes, Xavier is an asshole through most of this. Yes, life sucks and you find out people you thought were with you aren't really. He does find out who his friends are and it did wake him up to how shallow his life was. I would have liked more at the end (an epilogue would have been nice).

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