Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The Lies We Steal by Monty Jay

12 reviews

tonianne2788's review against another edition

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3.75

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yeahok's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’m not sure how I feel about this book.

The characters are in their late teens, but they really don’t act like it. Untouchable, violent, vigilante murders?

Plot was not very believable and the two main characters went from hating each other, to being in love and unable to function without the other, overnight. Still not sure how I feel about their first sexual encounter - did she consent? She didn’t not like it…

I did have a hard time with the descriptive violence throughout the book, but I’m sensitive like that. Curious to see if the series gets better for me, so I’ll keep going!

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madlereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

4.5

😈 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. 🤭

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libraryofjess_'s review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

✨3.75 stars ✨

🌶️2.5 spice 🌶️

‘Everyone has secrets. Everyone has a story. Even the heroes. Even the villains.’

I am pleasantly surprised by this book. This had a really interesting plot as well as really interesting male characters.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. As I mentioned before, the plot in this was really strong and holds mystery to it. We have the murder mystery and the 4 male town ‘psychos’ following leads in an…interesting fashion.

I knew from the start that I was going to like this since it gives off vibes that the devils night series by penelope douglas has which I loved.

I will say that the romance didn’t really start until maybe half way through the book but once it started it goddamn soared.

I loved the raw emotions that were exchanged between Alistair and Blair, there is so much to Alistairs character that Blair being able to pull back the layers of him to find out his true motives and emotions was really enjoyable to see.

It was a wild read, very dark and twisted but I enjoyed it and I can’t wait to read the next book!

Check TWs and CWs

Happy reading 🤍

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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.

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briochebun's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

୨୧ The Lies We Steal ୨୧

╰┈➤ [4 out of 5 ☆’s.]

❝𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭.❞

ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝

I am so glad I took the time to go back and finish this book! :)

I loved Briar + Alistair’s relationship! The tension between the pair was incredible & I cannot wait to see them appear in the other books in this series!

The side characters were also so intriguing — I can’t wait to read their stories! ♡

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samxgoldschlag's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-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

4.5

This is my first dark romance book and let me tell you, it was a ROLLERCOASTER of emotions. I was scared, I was intrigued, I was excited, I was angry. Would I read more dark romances in the future? Girl i don’t even know. But what I do know is that all the characters; Briar, Lyra, Silas, Rook, Alistair, shit even Thatcher deserved so much better than what they went through. ESPECIALLY Rosemary; my poor baby deserved to live and be happy. My heart is with this cruel and I’m excited to read the rest.

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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.

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cielosiluminado's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

2nd read:
ok so i missed them

1st read:
the beginning. sort of. it's the first book, the introduction to the hollow boys. what a story. and while i loved it in the long run, i still found some things... not right with the book.

alistair and brair. two damaged people who felt unloved and unwanted, but yet found the most beautiful match to their dark sides in each other. their love is unique.

“I’m not sure what I can give you, but whatever is left of me, whatever I have, it’s yours, for as long as you want it.”

alistair was intense, wrathful, a caveman, possessive when it came to his little thief and his boys. people fear him because he doesn't fear anything. not even death.

“I wanna know what it is that makes the shadows so great. I want you to show me.”

briar, beautiful little thief. she was so smart, strong, and sassy. her whole life she wanted to hide away and not be seen, and especially not be noticed in this new, dark town and school. that didn't quite go as... planned. when she met him, she had no option but to go into the darkness.

You don’t have to step into the light to find happiness. You just need to find the person willing to step into the grey area.

the romance was somehow both slow burn and insta-love and wanting to be together forever at the same time. they went from hating each other for most of the book to being in love almost overnight in the last quarter of the book. the sexual tension was always there, yes, but there was zero emotional connection or chemistry for most of the story.

i think my biggest gripe, and favorite part at the same time, with this book was the need to introduce everyone to understand the backstory, especially of the hollow boys. while this book was dual-POV (briar and alistair), it often felt like their friends were the main characters as well. not a bad thing but like stated earlier, a good chunk of the book was based around other people and their stories and then the last quarter of the book was solely on briar and alistair's story.

there was also so many plotlines happening at once. revenge for a girl taken too soon. golden boy's fall from grace which completely caught me off guard. and most notably, briar and alistair falling in love.

overall, what redeems it a lot was the mystery, thrill, and twists that is the story. it kept me hooked and wanting more. if you love mysteries and puzzles, this book might interest you.

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readbyjaimes's review

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dark tense medium-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

I love starting a series like this and feeling like I've made some new friends

God, I LOVED these characters. They're so fucked up but I see so much potential for growth in them and their bond is just so amazing. The boys all sticking by Silas and hearing all they've been through together was so painful, but also heartwarming.

But moving on from the boys, MY LONER GIRLS!!!! I love them so so so much. Briar and Lyra were amazing from the beginning and I'm so glad they developed a close bond so early. I feel like in a lot of books the girls are isolated from making friendships and I always love when that isn't the case. I had so much fun reading this book and I absolutely ate it up.

Something I didn't love was the pacing. I feel like the end was super rushed and I didn't get to see their feelings develop how I would've liked. That isn't to say their relationship wasn't believable to me! I know for a fact that Alistair and Briar love each other, just wish we would've gotten more moments like that besides the last 70-ish pages.

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