Pretty Venom

I've sat at my laptop five times...and countless hours trying to find a way to write a review that will do this book justice, and I just can't. It's amazing. My favourite read of 2018.

It's official! Ella Fields is a soul-crushing, heart destroying wench, and I love her for it! She's never afraid to take the road less traveled and doesn't shy away from subjects. She makes her characters work for their HEA, which makes me fall in love with them even more. I will literally read anything this amazing author writes...she's never going to get rid of me now.

When I first read Suddenly Forbidden, I was blown away, it was so wonderfully written, and I took a liking to Callum; he was sweet, and charming, and someone you wanted to have a HEA. I thought, this is my guy. Claimed him, licked him, whatever...mine! In fact, I think I may have even said in my review that I wanted him to have a book, and here we are. Then, of course, we got Bittersweet Always, which was wonderful, Toby is, sigh, you know, that book... each book in this series has been so special for different reasons. I think with BA it was the subject matter, it's something that still isn't talked about enough and I think including that Ella did something pretty fantastic and special. So, it was gonna be a hard act to follow with Pretty Venom, sigh, she nailed it. Seriously, I am absolutely amazed. I don't think I've swore so much at a book... at characters, in my life and that is saying something because I swear A LOT. It's enemies to lovers and then goes into second chance romance...maybe, and gah, the thing with this book is that Callum is...he's an a-hole. He's right up there, a-hole, mega a-hole material. The a-hole that you love to hate. Then he's the most sweetest, swooniest hero and I was like, OMG, I just love him so much. Is this the same person, yes, of course it is, he's been redeemed, it's marvelous, and then the $hit hits the fan and he's like, ‘oh, you thought I was an a-hole before? Well guess what? I'm gonna prove you wrong! I'm gonna be an even bigger a-hole' And he was a total dick. TOTAL! I was so mad, I swore, I shouted, I wanted to throw my Kindle. I was so aggravated with him...but, that's what makes it so freaking good. That was all great and I love having that reaction. But what lifts this book up is Renee, her character...OMG, she is so strong, she knows what she wants, and she fights for what she wants, and she knows that they belong together. And they do belong together. I kept telling Callum that, but he didn't listen...they never bloody listen to me. Of course, things transpire in the book that will have you cursing and saying no, no, no Renee what are you doing? Then it'll be like, go girl, go! You've got this! Get your man. It's also because she's so strong and I think, to be honest, it's different variations of strong, what I see as strong someone else might not, they might see it as a weakness, that she was so connected to this man that her whole life was turned upside down and her whole life was...that she let him treat her that way and some might say, oh she's a doormat, but she's not. She, to me, she is not. She is strong, she is kick-arse, she knew what she wanted, and she understood why he did the things he did, and she was willing to take it, she didn't take it because she had to, she took it because for her, that was her punishment and that's the difference. That was my interpretation anyhow, and I can understand her mentality, when you think or know you've wronged someone, and you love that person with every ounce of your being, you take what they give. Whether or not you actually deserve that treatment. And she knew she didn't, deep down she knew he was wrong, that he shouldn't have been treating her that way, but she let him. Because she loves him and because she wanted that connection with him, no matter how tenuous it was. She's just, yeah, I'm a big fan of female characters I can get behind, that I can says, yes girl, yes, you've got me. And this character did that, hell, did she do that. It's funny because this is another testament to Ella because when I first saw Renee in SF & BA I thought this is another character I was going to dislike, but, I should have known better. Because Ella does not follow anyone's guidelines about what should happen, but her own. Ella writes what she wants, and she surprises you with her characters, because characters you think, you know what I'm going to hate this character, but you end up loving. Don't get me wrong, there are some characters that you take an instant dislike to, and they turn out to be dodgy, and you do hate them, but, she also surprises you, you're like, oh, here we go, like with Renee, I thought she was going to be your typical bitch, who's getting involved and wants her guy back and will do whatever it takes, but she's not, and through it actually, it breaks your heart. When you see she's all alone, she has nobody, without Callum she's alone. So you can understand why she fights as hard as she does to keep him. And for me, it was so beautiful seeing her friendship blossom with Pippa...and with Daisy to an extent, because they were genuine, they were not like the people she'd had in her life before. They were not the people that lashed out and hurt her for their own benefit and that'll make more sense when you read the book. Because I don't want to give anything away, but, things transpire in the book with these so-called friends and it just made me want to cry. That poor girl.

The chemistry between Renee and Callum is off the freaking charts, seriously, even when they are ‘hate-getting-down' (What? It's the best description I could come up with that would be Amazon appropriate) they still, it's hot as anything, but, so is the making love, it's such a contrast, but even when they were enemies that chemistry between them was there, it was palpable, and it was going to happen – you could feel it.

I'm literally running out of things that I can say about Ella and her writing she just...she's amazing, I will literally read anything she writes. I have one book of Ella's that I haven't read, and it's already queued up on my Kindle to read next. She just nails it every freaking time. And I'm so glad for the day that she was recommended to me, and this is what I love about this book community, a person can rave about a book and it can be someone you've never read before, maybe, never even heard of, you pick up that book and it's like diving down a rabbit hole, and you just become so fascinated with a person's writing and they become a gem to you. That's what Ella is, she's a gem. She's a gem in that she writes books that I can devour, that I will stay up till gone 2.30am in the morning, because she's an author that when the book lands on my Kindle at 4.30am I'll open it and start it, because it can't just sit there, I need all the words, you have jobs that need doing during the day? Pfft, they can wait, I have a book to read. I'm willing to lose sleep because I literally cannot pull myself away from it because the words are so fantastic she makes you fall in love with these characters so much, that you cannot bear to be apart from them. It's astounding, and to have talent that can do that – it amazes me. It's just so, yeah, anything, she can write anything and I'll read it...and she has, there are subjects that I stay away from, and that's no secret, you guys know that, but, with Ella, I'll read it...and I have, because the way she writes no matter what the subject, it's more than entertainment for entertainments sake, she's doing it for a reason, whether that's to highlight something that isn't brought up very often or whether it's to bring awareness, or just because at that time it's something relevant. She just knows what it is, and it never feels like she's doing it for the sake of it. I love that, and basically, I love her and I'm going to move into her house and stalk her for the rest of our days.