Beautiful Inside and Out by Larry Hammersly
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Recent Historical
Length: Short Story (43 pgs)
Heat: Sweet
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Review by SnapdragonFull-figured Bess Simpson despairs — so many men on campus are turned off by “fat chicks.” Only one has caught her eye, but he’s always with the petite drum major. Bolstered by an encouraging best friend, Bess finds her math ability comes in handy — the man of her dreams needs a tutor.
Art Fuller wants to be a metallurgical engineer, but he must pass the Differential Equations class, and math is not his strong point. To make matters worse, the help session leader is no help, and dating the daughter of the department head isn’t getting him anywhere but henpecked, especially when he turns to Bess for some assistance.
Will Bess impress him beyond the subject at hand? Or is he unable to recognize her true value?
Bess Simpson, of Larry Hammersly’s Beautiful Inside and Out, is charmingly genuine and utterly believable. She’s a smart woman, but has a familiar sense of not being quite good enough due to her weight issues, that raises reader sympathies at once. Our hero, Art, is likable. He starts off seeming not all that desirable…but he’s a decent sort, for sure. For a moment there, we can almost imagine this taking the course of a rather predictable romance. Don’t worry, this is hardly the case!
Even with the college campus setting, the ensuing competition is a bit of a surprise and is immediately intriguing. In fact, the motivations of several people are something of a mystery. I can’t go further for fear of spoilers, but this story is unpredictable and characters intriguing. It’s a quick read and fun from beginning to end.
Unfortunately, stilted and overdone descriptions slow the pace unnecessarily. Whether it was word choice or phrasing, I can’t pinpoint the issue, but it makes me give this one just a whisker below a 4.
Beautiful Inside and Out is a worthwhile read though, with a wonderfully charming overall aura.
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