The Pretty One-Books On Tour (Review)-Psychological Thriller-Available Now

This book went in completely different directions than I thought it was going to go. Frankly, even though I enjoyed the whole thing, it left me a little confused.

From the very beginning, I could tell that there was going to be an emphasis on the psychological aspect between Bay and Nell. A situation like theirs is the stuff that psych thrillers are made from.

Add in that they are both teenagers and it multiplies the interest (in my opinion).

As I read further, I could tell that Bay would be the lynchpin in all of it, but I became less certain about who the other part of the equation would be. Would it still be Nell? Anna, the stepmother? Iris, the younger stepsister? Or Dom, the dad who walked out on Bay?

I don’t want to give anything away, but let’s just say that nobody is really left untouched in this story.

That being said, there is also more to it than just blended family drama. The author relays a searing account of the modeling industry (which, from what I know is pretty accurate). These were extremely interesting passages.

Less successful were the sections about Anna’s marriage and a past love. I felt like these were thrown in as justification for Anna to not see the bigger picture of what was going on with Bay. But they didn’t all work for me.

There were also parts that seemed to drag for a long time. I know that the author was building the tension and that was mostly successful. But there were times that I wish the action would have kicked in a little bit sooner.

The last third of the book really went fast though. Everything came to a head and each character’s motivations became clear. I did think that the extent of a few things were staggering and would have liked a few more hints to them early on.

But the flashback to when Bay and Nell were younger were well-done and laid enough groundwork for the bigger revelations to be plausible.

It all did seem to wrap up rather quickly – almost as if the author decided it just needed to be finished. The prologue served as a “here’s what happened,” when I would have liked a little bit more of that to be action.

But no matter, it was still an enjoyable book. It certainly kept me guessing as to the extent of the psychological games, and I definitely didn’t guess the ultimate reveal. Jealousy can be a real bitch, that’s for sure.

I’d recommend this one – stick with it, because it’s a good look at how easy it is for people to be irreparably broken.

Author Bio:

Clare lives with her husband and their two daughters in Surrey, where her little green shed at the bottom of the garden provides a haven for her writing life. Before becoming a writer, she enjoyed a career in television, as a researcher in documentaries and then as a script editor in drama at the BBC and Channel Four, where her love of storytelling took hold.