Upgrade by Stephen Hise

This leave you open-mouthed at the end.

It is very well written, and the author deftly manages to portray the main character, Brent, as a slightly pathetic figure: very rich and successful but lacking in the looks department, so much so he is prepared to undergo an irreversible process to make people or, more importantly, the female of the species, notice him. He is not a likeable character at first because he wants to become attractive to women merely, it seems, for sex.

However, as the story continues you warm to him as he tries to focus on doing the right thing by the woman he loves, and you almost start to feel your sympathy cords being tugged. The nearer I got to end the more I realised I had really no idea how a satisfying (for a reader) conclusion was going to be reached. With only a few pages to go, I smugly thought I had guessed the ending. In fact, I only half guessed it. What I hadn’t predicted left me speechless.

Hise’s style is sophisticated, and easy-flowing. There is certainly a very serious moral to this excellent story – be very, very careful what you wish for.