Dirty Little Trick

Wildwood University #1

by Avery James King

A Spooky Friends to Lovers Romance that will get your heart racing.

Raven finds herself home alone on Halloween night after finding out that her boyfriend cheated on her. It's her favorite holiday, but now she has to spend it alone.

Raven's best friend, Griffin, has payback on his mind, and even though he promised to play nice, he has a few tricks up his sleeve that are sure to make it a Halloween Raven will never forget.

Previously published as The Trick.

Genres: Halloween, Romance, Novella, Friends To Lovers, College

62 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2023

About the author

Avery James King is the Bestselling author of The Rebel Prince, the first book in her Streets of Sancte Alto trilogy. She writes primarily dark, twisted romance stories, or angsty tragedies.

She is a single mom living in the Midwest with her son and dogs, and when she isn't writing, she can be found running her graphic design business: Star Child Designs.

Follow her social media accounts for a glimpse into her everyday life.

Reviews

[Darlene I read WAY to many books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a good Halloween novella.

Raven dumping her boyfriend who was cheating on her, and spending Halloween alone her fave holiday. But her plans changed when she hears stuff in her backyard and is chased and scared to death by a man in a mask, until she finds out it’s her bff Griffin who is trying to cheer her up. And things turn spicy when there feelings are finally spoken both or one has been pinning longer then the other. Now it’s there turn to go out.

Tiny om drama, no cheating, drama, sexy times, no virgins

Recommend-yes
Cover-⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spicy-🌶️🌶️

Slowinsta
Pinning
Fear play
Praise kink
Somnophilia
No condom
He’s
Epilogue

[Brittany Ferraro · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5ish
This was fun!! if you’re looking for a spicy little palette cleanser, I think this will definitely do the trick!! Perfect for lovers of Halloween and Somnophilia😮‍💨

[Devan Rustia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little novella was everything it promised to be and more. I think I finished it in about 40 mins, but loved every single second of it. Perfect for spooky season.

[April Benoit · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

this was a QUICK spicy Halloween novella! About 60 pages of just pure spice so if you want something to go quick but has that Halloween vibes then this is the novella for you!!

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This smutty little Halloween novella is a very quick read and one that is mostly spicy since I know a ton of y’all are always looking for quick spicy reads, this one is great.
Check the content warnings and get your spice on.

This is one of those short spicy reads where the little plot it does have catches my attention and I just wanted a little more. Not because the story was bad or lacking but because I liked the characters and wanted to get more into their story.

[DarkRapture · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
It's never to early too start reading Halloween themed stories; I read them all year round. This one was pretty good; I really enjoyed it. It was around 60 pages long and pretty damn spicy. I just loved the little trick Griff played on Raven! I wish it had been longer since I was really into Raven and Griff and would have loved to read more about them.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh lordy this was HOT 🥵 short, sweet, and super spicy. Usually with novellas you don't get much background/past information but I was super impressed with the amount we got in this. If you're looking for a good friends to lovers novella this is it!

[Amber Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!

I loved the Halloween vibes in the beginning, I loved the spice! it was short and right to the point. Will definitely be reading it again!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dirty Little Trick by Avery James King is a quick, suspenseful read with plenty of tension and a dark, edgy tone that pulls you in. The pacing is fast and engaging, and the unexpected twists keep the story interesting from start to finish.

However, the story falls short in a few areas. The characters feel underdeveloped, and some plot points are left unexplored, which makes the ending feel abrupt and incomplete. Additionally, the sexual elements are quite prominent — at times, it almost feels more like a soft porn than a suspense story, which may not appeal to all readers. Overall, while entertaining in parts, it lacked the depth and substance to make it truly memorable.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean this essentially tells you that it's going to be a spicy Halloween themed novella and that's exactly what it is. It's less that 70 pages, which means the plot is missing. This is basically like you've plucked the spicy parts out of another book and so you're only reading those spicy bits.

It's FINE. I'll never reread it and I don't know how I feel about the author, because this wasn't particularly well-written, but it's fine. If she had stretched this to 100 pages and fleshed out some of the "plot" then this could've been so freakin' good. But whatever.

[Shandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best erotic novella I’ve read in 2025! I read this one as another novella of the day October 2025 for Bookish Babes reading challenge. I’m normally not too impressed with heterosexual erotica; I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the characters and yes the smut in this one! I really loved the couple as well as their vibes together. I enjoyed how scared Raven was as well as how much fun it was to see her Halloween turn around from being a jilted woman to a desired one. I’d absolutely recommend this fun novella!

[Jessica Albaneso · Rating 2 out of 5]

For this being such a short story, it actually wasn’t bad. With them being best friends, the relationship was believable. However, the somnophilia is not for me. It was my first time reading that and, nope. Too r*pey. Especially once you find out what he did at his house a while back without her knowledge. 2 stars only for the spooky Halloween vibes. Those couple scenes threw the whole book off for me. (I read the trigger warnings. It wasn’t triggering. Just gross)

[Heather Roue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ummmmm what a little treat this was 😏🤣🫠🥵🥵

I was surprised at how much I loved this. Holy f*ck, y’all. Primal kink ftw. The author also did a great job of giving you a good bit of background information in a smaller amount of pages but without making it feel like just an info dump.

Loved this novella!

[Bamby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot is sprinkled in, and it was fun. I enjoyed the little bit of life sewn into the story. But really… I’m here for the Halloween smut. It was amazing!! Love, love, loved it!!

~~~

Trope(s): Romance. Contemporary. College. Halloween. Friends-to-lovers.

Trigger Warnings: Heavy kinks - check trigger warnings for specifics. Mentions of cheating (not by FMC or MMC).

[Shyanne Blankenship · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay so I loved how the two stories linked together and how we get raven & shane’s characters

Admittedly I read them out of order. Not that it matters but I preferred Shane and aria’s story so I wish I saved it for last lol

Anyways the beginning of this book was 🥵😮‍💨 but it fell a little flat for me. I still enjoyed raven and griffin’s book but it just didn’t live up to my hopes

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was this a masterpiece? No, but it gave all the Halloween, spooky vibes that I love at this time of the year. I loved the two main characters. Raven for obvious reasons 😏 and Griffin, whew that man 🥵 I’m definitely looking forward to reading the second book in this series.

[Sabs · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was the perfect halloween novella!! short, sweet, and steamy best-friends-to-lovers romance – i could feel their chemistry from miles away. i just know by the way he talks that griffin’s body (and dick) are huge. (9 inches btw 😭)
loved this one so much!! 💜

[Avery King · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Trick is LIVE early!!

[Chelsey Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a short wonderful book
Suspenseful, spicy and Griff is just delightfully perfect 😍

[Shantel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun

Quick read and sounds like I need to make a new Halloween tradition. Kinky and fun, with a little thrill factor!

[Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so unbelievably hot! I loved Griff, swoon....

[Ashley ADirtyRead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid short halloween time smutty read. Girly like to be afraid - boy makes it happen for her. What else are best friends for.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice little spicy novella! Perfect for a quick read

[Aya Blackwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quick and spicy. Pretty good for a short story and I didn't feel like anything was missing

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars!
Perfect for a little spicy Halloween novella that you can read quickly! Griffin comes in with all the kinks lmao

[Amber Fairley]

Quick read.

[Yajaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast, simple spicy novella!

[Holly LeBeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick little spicy friends to lovers Halloween themed novella.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy hot Halloweeeeen 🎃😛🙂‍↔️

[bee · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️