FILTHY LITTLE PRETTIES BY TRILINA PUCCI

4/21/2021

If you enjoy a grittier young adult romance with it's fair share of angst and debauchery then this is your book. While it wasn't a favorite of mine I do recommend it despite my average rating.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: March 25, 2020
Genre: Young Adult/New Adult Romance (High School)
Series: Hillcrest Prep #1 (can stand alone)
Pages: 376 pages
Format: eBook. Source: Purchased.

"If Gossip Girl and Cruel Intentions had a baby, Filthy little Pretties would be it!"

Grey McCallister is a brooding hero that plays a helluva villain when he so chooses. Liam Brooks is a charmer with puppy dog eyes you can't say "no" to.
They're the kind of guys that make time stand still when they walk by. And when their childhood best friend, Donovan Kennedy, comes back to New York, friendships get tested. Choices are made they can't take back. And one boy gets a taste of what it's like to want someone so bad that you'd burn down the city to have her.

Donovan Kennedy is the girl dreams are made of.

Five years ago, she was our best friend.
Our moral compass.
The girl that held our hands every where we went.

We were young. Innocent.
Nothing could touch us -- not even heartache.

That was then.

Now she's back. All grown up.
With red lips and long legs -- a challenge waiting to be accepted.
A prize that'll turn our world upside down.

Brothers turned to enemies.
Friendships decimated.
Lies told.
Hearts torn apart.

Prep school's never been so scandalous.

USA Today Bestselling author, Trilina Pucci, brings you an addictive, sexy friends-to-lovers high school romance packed with off-the-chart chemistry, competition, and raw emotional angst.

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READ MY BOOK REVIEW

My Rating: 3.5 stars
Genre Young Adult | High School Romance

Filthy Little Pretties isn’t your typical high school romance. It’s not sweet and swoony with fade to black scenes. Instead, it’s quite a bit more adult and has it’s fair of sex and debauchery. Some say it’s a mix of Gossip Girl and Cruel Intentions (both of which I love ) and I agree to a point. However, don’t expect it to be exactly like either of those because while it does share some similar themes this book isn’t a replica of either movie or show. Was I disappointed in this? Not really. I could watch both of those to get my fix. But there were a few things that fell short for me with this one which I will explain below.

First, I felt like this book lacked some depth. These characters have so many different issues (self-esteem, problems with parents, etc.) but it doesn’t get into them enough. We see snippets and are told that the problems exist, but we don’t see it enough to make it feel real or authentic to their story or actions.

Secondly, (and POSSIBLE SPOILERS ) were led to believe that the heroine is in love with both her best friends who she hasn’t seen in five years. I suppose this would make it a bit of a love triangle but in all honesty everything that would lend itself to the triangle is missing. She’s not really with either of them and she constantly says she wouldn’t choose between them (until she does). Again, it’s more telling than showing through the story. I would have LOVED to see her conflicted emotions and see where they were coming from in her head, and it just wasn’t there.

Now, this book wasn’t a total loss for me as I did give it 3 stars which means I LIKED IT but I needed a little more depth, a little more inner conflict within the characters, and a bit more of a backstory to lend itself to the characters actions.

If you enjoy an upper YA romance with a bit of angst, then this is certainly a book to try. I will give the other books in the series a try because I’d like to see what happens with some of the other characters!

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐