Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
In this follow up to Jenna Jones' popular novel Chiaroscuro, Dune Bellamy and Micah Ferguson have become best friends. Between Micah's string of boyfriends and Dune's lovers, they have plenty to talk about, especially when a trip to Europe leaves Micah alone, while back home, Dune's first love turns up again.

After a brief fling in Paris, Micah returns home to an unhappy Dune, who's trying to fend off his ex's attentions. When Micah steps in, Dune starts to see his friend as something more, which creates a whole new set of problems. Dune's not sure he wants to ruin their friendship, but he and Micah agree to give it a try.

Micah has family problems to deal with, Dune has his ex stalking him, and the pressure soon comes between them, driving Dune back into the arms of the dangerous Gavin, who wants to control his every move. Can Micah deal with his sisters, and find a way to convince Dune that they deserve another chance? Something Beautiful is all about the family we chose, as well as the one we're born with, and if they're lucky, something beautiful will come of it for Micah and Dune.

BOOK REVIEW:
Anyone who’s ever read a ‘how to write’ book knows how much emphasis is put on characters and characterization. The books stress that even the best plots will fall flat if the characters aren’t believable, if the readers aren’t sympathetic towards them.

Ms. Jones must have read these books, written them, gotten A’s in the characterization classes; because if I was forced to pick out only one great thing about this book, it’s the characters. Ms. Jones knows how to write great characters, ones which compel the reader to keep turning the page because we want to know what happens to them.

Her characters are believable. They’re imperfect, flawed, kind, loving, realistic. Their reactions to situations are what we’d expect from people; this is especially true in the case of Micah’s parents and Gavin, Dune’s ex-boyfriend. They’re not the nice, perfect characters we’re used to seeing in novels, and even at the end, they haven’t miraculously changed, having seen the error of their ways.

The plot for Something Beautiful is one of my favourites: best friends realize that the ‘one’ they’ve been looking for has been right in front of them the entire time. Before the boys become romantically entangled, the strength of their friendship is evident: after being ditched in Paris by his boyfriend, the first person that Micah thinks to turn to his Dune; while back at home Dune is finding that despite being surrounded by friends, something, or more precisely, *someone* is missing from his life; and even when Dune realizes that he finds Micah attractive, he’s reluctant to take the next step and risk ruining their friendship.

It’s because of this friendship, and the manner in which Ms. Jones writes it, that has the readers rooting for Dune and Micah to make it as a couple. We want to see them happy, we want to see them in love, and we want to see that two people with supposed commitment issues can stay true to one another.

This book was a pleasure to read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good love story.

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