Read Our Lips! Book Review Blog: 3 Kiss Spoiler Review: Pretty Little Things by Teresa Mummert

I was young enough not to understand that my life was different. Colin became the one person that I could count on to protect me. He suffered for the both of us by carrying the burden of our secret.
We were the lucky few that got a chance to start over. A fake family, a new home and a pretty little life built on lies. But while our lives continued to intertwine, we were put on very different paths. Now it was only a matter of time before they collide and the beast behind the beauty is exposed.

My Spoiler Review:

I’m sorry, Fellow Readers, but I truly can’t review this book without entirely spoiling it for you, so if you don’t like spoilers, this is your warning to stop reading. Smile Okay, here we go.

So one of my major complaints with Pretty Little Things is that it doesn’t take long for the plot to unravel and then similarly just as quickly wrap up at the end. It’s a real shame because not only does this book have an amazing cover, it also has a compelling and captivating story, but the pacing and rushed ending just didn’t do it for me.

The telling of the story isn’t done in a straight timeline. The backstory is revealed as you get further into the story and is told in flashbacks, because for some reason the author doesn’t think we could handle or enjoy linear storytelling.

In flashbacks, we meet Colin, who is a member of a cult named the Descendants of God. Their leader, Taylor, is a horrible, sick man who instead of helping the poor and weak, preys on them. Throughout time, Taylor’s fashioned and molded Colin to take after him.

No matter how depraved, Colin blindly does whatever Taylor tells him to do - the lashes on his back a reminder of the times when he didn't. But that all changes when Annabel joins the commune.

Unlike many of the people who found their way to Taylor amid drug abuse, prostitution and the like, Annabel and her mother came to Taylor with the thought of doing good for the community. They thought to contribute by doing charity work, never knowing the danger they had walked into.

The next day after arriving into the commune, Annabel (a young teenager at the time) is separated from her mother, who has mysteriously been taken ill with food poisoning. It was the last time Annabelle sees her alive.

Three weeks pass, and her only companion is Colin. Through this time, they bond and when Taylor asks Colin to take Annabel as his own (even though she’s underage), Colin realizes he can't bring himself to do anything to the innocent and beautiful Annabel.

Colin and Annabel gather up their courage and they escape the compound, finding refuge with a lawyer named Conner, who takes them in as his children. Colin and Annabel act as if they are brother and sister, though they both harbor feelings for one another.

Taylor, likewise, goes on the run after Colin and Annabel break the news to the police about what Taylor is really doing in his compound.

And here is where our story begins. Colin and Annabel both live under the same roof and they do their best to keep up appearances that they are indeed brother and sister.

But this is also where the story unravels for me – because in order to accomplish this ruse, Colin seems to think he needs to sleep with half the town's women. (Sidebar: The part that really grossed me out was when Annabel catches him in the act with someone else and she stays to watch them as she’s infatuated with Colin. Eww!)

Annabel also tries her best to play the sister role and decides to date. She invites the town loser and druggie, Jacob, to her 18th birthday party, which drives Colin to a rage. Things spiral downward from there as Colin desperately tries to keep his distance from Annabel – whom he desires above anything.

From reading the book, it seems as if Colin and Annabel are in hiding from Taylor, and almost fear being found by the cult leader.

But then one day, Colin can't take the temptation of being close to Annabel and he leaves the house. Annabel is desperate to find him and she somehow knows Colin is with Taylor. One snoop around Conner’s office later, she conveniently finds Taylor's hideaway address (since Taylor's been hiding from the police) amongst Colin’s papers.

What?? Why was this so easy to find? And why didn't they call the police on Taylor if they had his address just lying around?

Ugh! Anywho, Annabel goes off to the address, hoping to find Colin, but runs into Taylor.

In the meantime, Conner finds out where Annabel has gone to and easily locates Colin - who's been MIA for what seems like forever.

The story then goes into fast forward let's-wrap-this-up-already mode and I'm left wondering, "Should I go back and re-read this? Did I miss something?"

Ugh - not bothering to. This just wasn't what I was expecting, though I kept wishing with every page turn that it would turn into something else. Oh, well. Despite this, I’m giving it 3 Kisses because the story kept me entertained enough to at least make it to the end of the book. *le sigh*

I’m sorry Fellow Readers, but to sum things up, Pretty Little Things is just another book with an amazing cover and lots of potential that just didn't do it for me.