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Pretty Innocent Girls

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Loved it! 😍

Page-turner. I finished it in TWO DAYS and couldn't put it down! If you like romantic suspense and anti-heroes, give this a read.

Wow. Amy Oppenheim is a great writer. I'm going to start this review with a big pat on the back to the writer because it is clear that she knows what she is doing.


The first time she fantasized about cheating on her husband was the day she and Craig moved into their new place by the beach in Ventura, California.


What an opening line! And right from the get-go, the author is building tension between Blake, the main character, and Hayden, a motorcycle gang member who lives next door. As the story unfolds, her husband seems less and less like a hero that deserves Blake's loyalty. Which is better, a bad man who lets you know he's bad, or a good man who pretends he isn't evil?


In this novel, there are no good guys. The heroes are bad people. The main character and her husband are bad people. While some of the characters are innocent to some of the crimes and betrayals being committed, for the most part, everyone is a bad guy.


The fact that everyone is kind of awful made me love this book. It's really hard to figure out what is going to happen next if no one is trustworthy. When I started to read this book, I just couldn't put it down. I finished it in two days.


I hate to give spoilers, so I'll tell you that if you like books with moral ambiguity and adventure, this book is it. I didn't like Blake, the main character. She was cheating on her husband, she was turned on by some pretty dangerous stuff, and wasn't really that great of a friend or wife. She wasn't the bad guy in this story, though, and it's really nice to see a novel where the victim isn't an angel themselves.


I am a pretty tough reviewer and I really don't give a lot of books four stars, but this book earned it. My number one complaint is that the book ended too soon. I believe the author ended on a cliffhanger to take us through to the next book, but I'm not a fan of that type of ending. I would have liked Blake's story to be resolved, but the book ended pretty abruptly. I'll give Oppenheim the benefit of the doubt, however, as the rest of the story was so good. I'm still going to be pre-ordering the next book, if and when it comes out.

Reviewed by

My name is Kelly Haynes and I created www.breezyafternoons.com as an outlet to express my love for books and writing. I'm an avid reader of literature, suspense, romance, fiction, and history. If I read and review your book, I will also post the review on my website once the book is released.

Chapter 1

About the author

Amy's style is a culmination of an obsession with true crime and a love of the California Central Coast. A native Southern Californian, she has lived in Santa Barbara for over a decade and holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. view profile

Published on May 13, 2021

60000 words

Contains mild explicit content ⚠️

Worked with a Reedsy professional 🏆

Genre: Romantic Suspense

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