Review: SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL by L.J. Kennedy
Synopsis
Neither knew anything could be…so. damn. beautiful.
Studious NYU art major Annie Green is laser-focused on one day becoming a curator at the Louvre in Paris. Then she meets tortured graffiti artist Chase Adams, the hottest thing in New York’s burgeoning street scene – and also the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen. Not that such things matter to Chase. He just wants to be left alone to create.
When Annie manages to convince Chase to work with her on a major NYU art retrospective, their connection is intense and undeniable, as Chase challenges everything Annie thought she knew about art, life…and love. Slowly, he begins to trust again and reveal the truth about his past.
But when Annie is pursued by the privileged president of the fraternity – someone who clearly offers Annie much more than him – Chase begins a dangerous descent into darkness. Annie must decide between her head and her heart, and choosing wrongly could shatter them both to the very core forever…
***This is a New Adult romance novel. Recommended for 17+ due to strong language and sexual content.
Abby’s Review 4.5 stars
So Damn Beautiful is a story about a girl Annie, who goes off to art school in New York and she learns about the world of Graffiti and street art while falling for Chase Adams a street kid yet talented artist.
This book is written incredibly smart. You might think a novel about Graffiti? Well that is why I jumped right into this, not going to lie, my baby brother is a graffiti artist/young emcee/ beebop boy in his day/break-dancer, so you see there was a huge reason for me to want to dive into this. It was a leap I’d gladly take. This is a journey about beauty and coming of age. As I read this I thought about some of the underlining themes that this story had, and a thought that went through my mind was this is so well thought out.
This story is sexy! It’s filled with scenes that are paint splattered with ugly and beautiful at the same time. It makes you want to look at things in a different light and isn’t that one of the best things a book can do for you!
My teeniest criticism is that it became slightly wordy sometimes.
I asked the author to share a little bit on her inspiration for this story and here is what she had to say:
The story came about twofold – first from my love of bad boys (yowza – the more brooding, the better, I always say), and secondly with the title. I was brushing my teeth one day, when the title popped in my head and I saw my eyes widen in the mirror. I rushed to do an Amazon check and was so excited the title hadn’t been used yet. From there, the story unfolded rather organically, as I consistently tied the characters and themes back to the idea of beauty (hence the idea of contrasting the traditional art world to the gritty graffiti world). Once the plot, characters, and motivation were sound, the execution of the vision was collaborative.
For a little something interesting, just check out this youtube video, it’s pretty stinking fantastic!
And cause I’m a proud big sis, 
There is ART here!!
One final thought I really appreciate, Kennedy’s appreciation to some of the beauty in urban culture. At one point she used the words Punk Rock and I loved that she got this enough to know that spraying can be PUNK ROCK!
So read this. It’s different and it’s fresh.
♥♥♥
About L.J. Kennedy
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7558616.L_J_Kennedy