review: so pretty it hurts by kate white

Bailey Weggins, who works the crime beat for a tabloid-y magazine, almost has her life on track. The magazine gig pays regularly, her book is out (although she’d like her Amazon ranking to be much higher), and things look pretty good with her boyfriend. But then her boyfriend pisses her off a bit by sending a text that sort of implies she should spend the weekend waiting around for him in case he makes it back to the city in time for them to do something. So that’s why Bailey agrees to go along with her best friend Jessie to the country estate of Jessie’s love interest who just happens to be a major record producer. There are plenty of other guests for the weekend, including dangerously thin model Devon, who wouldn’t you know it, winds up dead.

As Bailey works on the story and tries to solve the murder (which the police initially don’t believe is murder given the victim’s history with anorexia), her love life takes a hit. But Bailey never lets that stop her; she’s full speed ahead with her focus on Devon’s murder. And that’s why I loved Bailey. She never turned into a damsel in distress, even when her own life was in peril. Even better, the murder mystery actually kept me guessing. I did narrow it down to the final two before Bailey (who took forever to remember a very important detail), but I was otherwise with her until the end.
5/5
Review copy from Amazon Vine.