Item: Pretty Venom
Rating: 4
Author: Jessica

Pretty Venom by Ella Fields
Published by Self Published on 8/1/18
Genres: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Pages: 306
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Callum Welsh perfected the art of hating me when we were two kids who believed we’d be forced into marriage.
He thought I wanted it, but my only wish had been for him to leave me alone.
Then one afternoon, he stole my first kiss.
Despite all he’d done, everything changed after that.

As the years passed, our hearts thawed, and he no longer hated me.
In fact, he loved me enough to make me his wife.
Until I ruined everything with one stupid mistake.

That hatred returned in the form of cruel words and even crueler deeds.
But we weren’t kids anymore.
I could handle his brand of venom.
He would be mine again, even if it cost me the remains of my heart.

Warning: contains cheating and an anti-hero who might make you throw your kindle.

Good lord, where do I even begin with this book? I had never read Ella Fields before I picked up this book but as soon as I read the blurb for Pretty Venom, I knew it was my kind of read. It screamed angst and emotional turmoil and loads of push and pull, and let me just tell you, this book did not disappoint. Ella Fields delivers everything she promises with that jaw dropping blurb! Pretty Venom had my chin on the floor, my heart in my throat and knots in my stomach the entire time.

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Jessica’s Review

4 “YES. THIS” Stars!

I absolutely LOVED how this book started out. Callum and Renee quickly develop a deliciously nasty dynamic between them when they first meet. As neighbors and as peers in their prestigious private school, the two are fast enemies and a bully vibe begins to present itself. Well, I’m a glutton for a good bully romance. All that cruelty and masked heartache… I just eat that right up. I freaking LOVED these characters in high school, I loved the twists and turns their relationship took. I swooned. I was giddy. Their story of young innocent love absolutely melted my heart… when it wasn’t tying me up in knots.

Where this story goes after Callum and Renee leave high school, well, that’s an entirely different beast. Enter all the angst and heartbreak and maddening feels. This story becomes one of devastation, a story jam packed with even more drama and angst and brutal emotion than anything it’d been up to that point. (And it was pretty freaking rough before!) Hearts will shatter, kindles will be thrown, F-bombs will drop, mark my words. This book is not for readers that like to play it safe. This book is for readers like ME that live and breathe for the sort of books that pummel the soul. Pretty Venom is for the readers that desperately crave the pleasure pain of unforgivable acts, infidelity, revenge sex and scathing words all swathed together in a love story that will not be denied. I actually wish the author had pushed the bar a little further because as unapologetically brutal as this story is, I found it a bit sugary for my taste. I could’ve handled some more angst and, in hindsight, I wish I hadn’t read the blurb or the warning. I would’ve loved to have gone in blind and never seen the inevitable devastation coming until it knocked me on my ass. Yes, I said that. It’s fine, you can laugh at me later, after you’re done chugging all the vodka this book will demand you drink.

Incase it wasn’t clear, I loved the hell out of this book and I can not wait to read every single Ella Fields novel in existence. I needed a bit more grovel, a bit more… something… but if i’m being honest, I can’t even be bothered to focus on what it’s missing because it’s delicious and intoxicating just the way it is. If it were up to me, I’d read books like Pretty Venom every single day. I don’t think my heart could handle this level of angst on a daily basis, nor do I think I’d enjoy the sting of betrayal quite as much if I were treated to books like this more often. But in my angst-loving dreams, every book would infuriate me on the level Pretty Venom did only to soothe my heartache with the level of palpable romance Ella Fields just delivered!

About the Author

Ella Fields is a mother and wife who lives in the land Down Under. While her kids are in school, you might find her talking about her characters to her cat, Bert, and dog, Grub. She’s a notorious chocolate and notebook hoarder who enjoys creating hard-won happily ever afters.

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