Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Lies We Steal

😈 bully romance
🖤 dark college romance
😱 revenge, suspense, murder mystery
🔪 bad boy x bad girl
🥺 found family
🏃‍♀️ primal

What a fabulous start to this series! I'm hooked.

Alistair and his 3 best friends, aka The Hollow Boys, were supposed to leave their affluent town. But tragedy struck when Silas's girlfriend turned up dead and the investigation was really suspicious. So they take matters into their own hands to get revenge on who's responsible and get down to the bottom of things.
In comes Briar, a former thief, aiming to make a fresh start in a new town. Being the new girl (who's also not rich) gets her all the attention and worst of all, Alistair's. It only gets even worse when she and her best friend Lyra witness the Hollow Boys committing a crime one night.
So Alistair has to make sure Briar keeps her mouth shut 😈

Such a thrilling ride! The first half is actually more plot heavy with it building up the world and the mystery/suspense behind the murder. The romance in the second half really picks up. But I ate up the banter all the way through. Alistair may have stalked and bullied Briar to keep her quiet, but she wasn't going to lay low in this fight 🤣

Their banners and quips were so heated, I was cackling and feeling a little hot under the collar 🥵 Really the banter between all the characters was GOLD. They were unhinged. I seriously love how deep the friendship bonds are too. Even between Lyra and Briar who just met. 🥺

I lovveedd the sexy suspense of Alistair messing with her (and so did Briar.) The obsession and deranged behavior just grew with time. (You bet the spice was spicing.) And I'm glad Briar was just as feral. They were an amazing couple. Alistair not only challenged her and brought her into the darkness where she truly thrives, but she challenged him to want the best of things for himself cause he does deserve them. To be her man, not a *better* man, no. But a man she could love 🥺

The character backgrounds were so well written. I got emotional so many times. With Alistair's and the snippets Slias's stories especially. How Alistair had no choice but to become cruel to survive his awful family. How Silas lost someone so dear to him. 🥺 Briar growing up poor yet being rich in familial love but still being a loner til she found fellow loner friends in Lyra and eventually the Hollow Boys.

The plot had me on the edge of my seat! The suspense of the murder plot had me guessing whodunit. I can't wait to read the rest of the books to see how it all plays out cause they've certainly opened a can of worms with their revenge. The death of their friend is connected to something much bigger.

One thing I will note though, is the glaring amounts of typos and grammatical errors. I understand books having a few but this was quite a bit throughout the book. Perhaps it needed another round of edits? 🙈 I don't think it really affected my enjoyment of the book much, but I did backtrack a few times cause something was waayy off.

I am excited for Thatcher and Lyra though and I think they'll be my favorites just going off their little interactions in this book. 🤭

Content Warnings

one_more_chapter96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Writing could use some editing mostly just for spelling mistakes though because it was written well overall and the prose flowed nicely in places. Overall a dark and twisted setting with a bit of mystery and a dark underbelly. Liked Alistair & Briar overall and how their story built up gradually but felt both their backstories could use a little more depth and the end felt a bit rushed. Spicy and a decent plot.

Content Warnings

kelly_mlg's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

amiinaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’m not too sure what to say about this book LMAO some parts that I’m guessing the author was trying to declare serious with the descriptions I couldn’t help but laugh a little
All that’s coming to mind right now is how Silas is gonna have his own book with a different love story after me reading about him here. He loved her so much how do I act like I didn’t read any of that ☹️
LYRA AND THATCHERRRR can’t wait to see how their story is gonna go I thought the next book was gonna be about them but with that teaser of rook and sage I know they gonna deliver tooo

Content Warnings

rio4ever's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

the plot beats are messy and kind of bad but i liked it 😂 💀

Content Warnings

feyresarchgf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

it wasn't until i was 70% into the book when the plot picked up and even then i was not really invested in it. the fmc was a doormat, and whilst i liked the premise of the book, it still felt bland. the only likable parts of it was the mmc, who was relatable, and the friendship between the hollow boys.

Content Warnings

readwthsam's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Content Warnings

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