A review by annica_reads_books
Unbeautifully by Madeline Sheehan

5.0

 I'm not kidding when I say that most of my friends probably will not like this series. The Undeniable series probably the most realistic MC series I have ever read, and with that comes with all the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of what I imagine an MC club hidden in the hills of small-town Montana to be like. Believe me - just like you can't stand people in real life, you're not going to be able to stand some of these characters. The characters in this series are unapologetic about their lifestyle, and it's going to offend most. I have to commend Sheehan's realism in this series because it's a hard pill to swallow for many readers who look to reading as a method of euphoric escapism. Be warned, you're not going to find that here.

This story follows Danny, the daughter of Deuce (the anti-hero in Undeniable), and her relationship with Ripper. Ripper is one of Deuce's right hand men, and his self-esteem took a nose dive in Undeniable when he was brutally tortured by the hands of psychotic Frankie. With scars riddling his body and a newly missing eye, Ripper feels anything but beautiful. He's angry at the world, and rightfully so. He's in a bad place mentally and feels very alone.

"Why couldn't you have just let me die?" he whispered to a god that obviously didn't give two fucks about him. He'd been ready to die. But God hadn't granted him peace; the fucker had given him hell on earth instead. And the face of a demon to match.

Danny has watched her father make many bad choices, and has been neglected by him for many years. She's young, but she's had to grow up quickly because she's been forced to. Life hasn't been kind or beautiful to her, so when Danny sees something worth holding onto, she clings to it like it's her life force. When her life collides with Rippers, their romance takes off like a whirlwind. Of course, it's not without its share of drama and heartache, like any good romance story worth reading will have.

And I thought . . . that's what love is. To some, the idea of violence being interpreted as love is ludicrous, but to me, it was my reality. It is my reality.

I won't spoil the story, but if you can get past the grittiness of this series, Danny and Ripper's story is one that I found a lot of meaning and beauty in. And I'll be honest - I loved their characters much more than the main characters in Undeniable.

Everything has beauty. Even the ugly. Especially the ugly. Because without ugly, there would be no beauty. Because without beauty, we would not survive our pain, our sorrow, and our suffering.