Content warning: lots of detailed discussions about weight, anorexia, and eating disorders.

Bailey Weggins is a true crime writer and journalist for Buzz, a celebrity gossip magazine. Her love life is currently a bit uncertain - she loves her boyfriend, Beau, but suspects he only agreed to a committed relationship because he thought he'd lose her otherwise - so she deals with it by escaping to a house party in the country. Sparks fly between several of the guests, culminating in the shocking death of Devon Barr, an extremely thin supermodel. Bailey immediately suspects that an eating disorder played a part in Devon's death, but additional events cause her to wonder if Devon's death was helped along by one of the other guests.

Yeesh, I got this ARC almost a decade ago and am just now reading it. This is the sixth book in a series I haven't previously read, but it wasn't at all hard to jump into. I could tell there were references to previous events, but it didn't feel like I'd missed out on anything vital.

I was not a fan of Bailey at the start. She introduced herself by saying she was the sort of person who'd bite off her nose to spite her face, but that she rarely regretted the results of her actions in the heat of the moment, because the look on the other person's face was generally worth it. Her boyfriend had, out of the blue, gone on a week-long trip to shoot a documentary and then later texted her to tell her that he might be back early. She didn't like how he worded his text, like maybe he expected her to keep her schedule free just in case, so when she was given a chance to attend a house party that overlapped with when Beau might be back, she agreed just because she was irked at him.

That, combined with the light and conversational first-person writing, made Bailey come across as a twentysomething rather than thirtysomething. Her fellow house party guests were even worse. Devon appeared to be trying to win back Tommy, her rockstar ex-boyfriend, who was now dating another model, Tory, who was also at the party and very unhappy about Devon's heavy flirting (Devon literally engineered a wardrobe malfunction to flash her breasts at him, so "heavy flirting" is an understatement). Bailey had reason to believe that Devon might be sleeping with Cap, her agent, whose wife was also at the party, so the character relationships were a mess.

I started to like Bailey more after Devon's death, however. Since she worked for a celebrity gossip magazine, I had assumed that she'd zero in on any shiny garbage she could play up in an article, but instead she handled things surprisingly professionally. She made sure people at the party didn't disturb Devon's body and the room more than they already had, talked to the cops before sending info on to her boss, and actually kept her word when she told people she'd keep certain things off the record. All the maturity she lacked in her romantic life she had in spades in her professional life.

Things got pretty tense at the house after Devon's death - things disappearing, weird occurrences, etc. - and I fully expected the snow to keep them all trapped there until things finally came to a head and the murderer was identified. Instead, Bailey headed back to work a little over a third of the way through the book, and the story shifted more into "meh" territory as Bailey interviewed people and fretted over Beau and issues with her job.

A couple clues made the murderer's identity pretty easy to guess, and I figured out their motive about 20 pages early. On the whole, things wrapped up in a lukewarm sort of way. This didn't leave me feeling an immediate need to read more in the series, but I could see myself trying another book one day, maybe.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

This was an entertaining read. The main character, Bailey, was likable. The mystery itself was interesting, a supermodel dies under mysterious circumstances. I liked that the book was set in the world of tabloid journalists, and the modeling industry, but I don't feel we got much information as to how the industries work. The reasons for the murder were a little convoluted, but still made sense in the end. I was a little annoyed at the ending. Considering this is the 6th mystery starring Bailey, you would think she would have learned not to confront the killer by herself. Yet off she goes, not even telling anyone where she is going. Overall, this was a good book, and I would be happy to read more of the series in the future.

I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book through goodreads first reads program. ( )

Kate White books are a perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon when you don't want a lot on your mind, but still want a good read. I can so picture this glossy mystery series being made into a basic cable tv program that would become a mild hit on maybe a Monday night after "The Closer" leaves TNT. ( )

I thought this was a great mystery novel. I read this book in two days and would have been done sooner, but I work an eight-hour day too. The plethora of suspects in the death of a super model kept me guessing all the way to the end. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to wade through a sea of sex to read this book. However, there were some sexy moments that actually added to the drama of the story. Even though there was some question as to the cause of death, one had to suspect that it was not from natural causes. The characters in this novel were so interesting that more could have been written about each one. I had to stay up late to finish this one. Congratulations Kate White on a wonderful novel. ( )

So Pretty It Hurts had all of the ingredients of a good mystery in the making but unfortunately I found it to be lacking. Part of this may be my fault as I'm jumping in to the middle of a series (which I absolutely hate) but I didn't realize when I picked it up that it was part of a series. The story begins when Bailey Weggins goes on a weekend away with a close friend of hers to a house in the country. Bailey finds herself closed in with a bunch of strangers including a famous model named Devin Barr while a snowstorm brews outside. When Devin is found dead the real mystery begins...

Like I said previously, this book had all of the ingredients for a really good thriller or mystery. An isolated house in the country, a snowstorm that cuts off contact with the rest of the world, a dead body....what more could you ask for? For whatever reasons though, this book just didn't quite work for me. One of my main problems that I had was that I never connected with Bailey. I'm not sure that if I had read the previous books in this series if it would be an issue but I just never quite figured Bailey out. Her actions and need to "figure out" the mystery just rang a bit false. And I just didn't connect which took away from my enjoyment of the book. On a more positive note, I really enjoyed the creepy setting that the author created with this book. I loved the tense atmosphere during the time of the snowstorm and after Devin's body had been found. The author has a knack for creating really great settings as I felt similarly when I read The Sixes by her. I just wish that I had been more interested in the mystery and characters in this book.

Overall, I found that this just wasn't the book that I had been expecting. I didn't hate it by any means but found it to only be an okay read. If you are thinking about trying this author, I would recommend The Sixes instead which I found to be a much better read. As for me, I think that I'll go back and start with book one in this series at some point. Because I'm hoping that it will help with my lack of connection to Bailey and because the author has such a knack for great settings. Recommended with reservations (unless you are already a fan of this series...then I'm sure that you will enjoy it more than I did).

Bottom Line: A mystery that could have been so much more...

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book from the publisher. The thoughts are my own. ( )