✱✱Audio Book Review✱✱ Beautiful Distraction by Lydia Michaels

 

Beautiful Distraction

McCullough Mountain, Book 2

By: Lydia Michaels

Narrated by: Lucinda Gainey

When a small town’s hottest lumberjack falls for the full-figured, curvy girl, people take notice in this award-winning, friends-to-lovers romance from best-selling author, Lydia Michaels.

When Finnegan McCullough catches a woman trespassing on his family’s Mountain, he’s captivated by blue eyes and thick thighs. Mallory Fenton might have just moved to their small town, but she won’t be a stranger for long. Funny and sexy as hell, this beautiful distraction quickly becomes Finn’s greatest obsession.

Mallory ran to Center County to escape her past and reinvent herself. Befriending a chiseled, flannel-covered lumberjack was never part of the plan. Sexy men rarely notice her. And after years of being the "fat girl", she can’t figure out what a gorgeous man like Finn might want from her.

A realistic and heartwarming romance that proves love and beauty come in all shapes and sizes. Awarded an honorable mention for writing an exceptional contemporary romance in 2014 by the Rone Awards, best-selling author, Lydia Michaels, brings fiction to life in a beautiful novel about self-love, second chances, and acceptance.

Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

I tend to be drawn to series that surround big crazy families (probably because I have one of my own), and the McCullough family certainly falls into that category. Finn gets his HEA in this one, and it's absolutely impossible to avoid falling completely in love with Finnegan McCullough. He is the sweetest guy. and I love that he sees the whole person, inside and out, and not just the shell. Mallory needs that in the worst way, and even then, it takes a lot for her to realize that he does care. The romance is pretty low-angst - well, there is angst, but it's mostly in Mallory's head. And boy-oh-boy is she relatable to this curvy girl. It took me a really long time to get on the body positive train, so I know the ups and downs that Mallory went through. So, I would warn that a lot of Mallory's inner turmoil pulls at the heartstrings and can be hard to read or listen to. To be honest, the only drawback for me lay in Mallory's personal growth. I didn't care for so much of it relying on the number of pounds she lost. At the same time, I've been there, so those things added an element of believability.

Lucinda Gainey narrated Beautiful Distraction, and she does so very well. There were so many feels in this one, and she captures every one. She kept the different characters distinctive, and her timing was spot on whether it was wit and humor or tears or anger. 

As far as the McCullough family is concerned, there are still more siblings that need their own HEA, and I'll be looking forward to whoever is next. 

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