Pretty Thing

J.A. Huss

April 14, 2019

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Blurb: My best friend made damn sure I knew the rules. His sister was strictly off limits.
UNTIL NOW.

KALI
Growing up it was always the three of us. Me, my twin brother, Kyle, and our best friend, Aiden. We were inseparable all the way through high school.

Did I picture myself with Aiden from the first moment I laid eyes on him back when we were eight? Hell. Yes. I fell in love with his soul that day. But he was always more Kyle’s friend than mine. And Kyle made damn sure we both know the rules.

I was strictly off limits. Forever.

But now Kyle is gone. Dead from a freak accident. And Aiden is still here. Looking hot as hell in his grown-up body. Looking sexy AF with those tattoos all over his muscular chest. Sad and in need of comfort. Just like me.

AIDEN
Every time Kyle caught me lusting after his twin sister, Kali, he reminded me of the rule. “You were my friend first.”

If you want to get technical about it, I was Kali’s friend first, not Kyle’s. But that’s not how he saw it. One rule. That’s all we had between us. Just one. Stay away from my sister.

All these years I’ve honored that. I never broke his trust. Until now. Because he’s dead. He left us. And being with Kali is the only thing that makes the pain go away.

I want Kali. I want to marry her, and have kids with her, and keep her in my bed forever.

But I want Kyle’s blessing too. And that’s something I’ll never get.

Buy Link:

Amazon

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SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW

I have never read a J.A. Huss novel before but I understand that Pretty Thing is an atypical Huss book.

While the writing was decent, the characters were mostly unappealing with the late Kyle’s twin sister, Kali, winning the title of the most unappealing. She decided years before to leave the town where she grew up for the big city so she could live a solitary life and not a “twin” life. That’s the only reason we’re given. Years pass and she’s barely in contact with her parents or Kyle or her once best friend, Aiden, who she had a crush on. She seems to be a complete malcontent who doesn’t like anything. I couldn’t figure out why Aiden was so enamored with her except for the title; Kali is a pretty thing and is described that way throughout.

The story opens at Kyle’s funeral after which Aiden and Kali decide to get drunk. They have 11 shots of whiskey each in a very short space of time yet there’s no vomiting nor horrible hangover the next morning. The physically slight Kali even gets up early the next morning to walk to her parents’ home. It’s only later that afternoon that she realizes she might have a headache. For me, that was kind of an unfortunate beginning because I felt like I was entering unintended fairy tale territory. I mean, hey, I felt nauseated just thinking about drinking 11 shots of whiskey.

Nothing really happens in the story. Aiden and Kali talk and have lots of vanilla sex. They weigh whether they should really get involved.

The supposed great revelation was not unexpected.

I suspect that this writer is probably not for me. I’ve toyed with making this a YMMV review because it’s obvious that many readers loved this story while I just wanted to get it finished. Different strokes for different folks.

I received an ARC from Give Me Book promotions and J.A. Huss in exchange for an honest review.

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