“A sizzling, chemistry-filled enemies-to-lovers romance, which is both crackaliciously addictive and angst-central. I couldn’t get enough of Nash and Em. One of my favorite books of the year.” – L.J. Shen, USA Today Bestselling AuthorFrom USA Today bestselling author Parker S. Huntington comes an enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn romance full of revenge and a dash of fate.“She could enjoy her pretty, … fate.
“She could enjoy her pretty, perfect world a little longer. Soon enough, everything she owned would be mine.”
I had a plan to escape the friend zone.
Step one: sneak into Reed’s room.
Step two: sleep with him.
But when the lights turned on, it wasn’t familiar blue eyes I saw.
These were dark, angry, and full of demons.
And they belonged to Reed’s much older brother.
Four years later, Nash Prescott is no longer the help’s angry son.
I’m no longer the town’s prized princess.
At twenty-two, I’m broke, in need of a job.
At thirty-two, he’s a billionaire, in need of revenge.
Who cares if my family ruined his?
Who cares if he looks at me with pure loathing?
Who cares if every task he assigns me is designed to torture?
I need the money.
Simple as that.
I’ll suffer his cruelty in silence, knowing there’s one thing he wants more than revenge…
Me.
Note: Devious Lies is a 145,000-word standalone in the Cruel Crown series. If you love banter and angst, this book is for you! Welcome to Eastridge. Enter if you dare.
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This book was…different in a wonderful way. Not only is it long so that you’re getting your money’s worth AND the character feel properly developed, but this author has a very unique voice and way she writes. She’s witty and fresh, and I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I will read another one of her books for sure.
ALLLL the yes!!!! Love me some Parker!
‘I had no intention of suffering eternal punishment for my sins.’
Who was the devious liar, Nash or Emery? They are so good at hiding their thoughts, their secrets/feelings are not revealed until they hurt each other. This age-gap, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance is my favourite by Hunter S. Parker.
‘Girls like Emery Winthrop were the finish line, the goal you worked for, the place you strived to reach, the smile you saw when you closed your eyes and wondered why you even bothered.’
Emery Winthrop was the rich, sweet and fiery girl. Her favoured friends were the servants children, Reed, her best friend through and through and Nash, her best friends brother who was a quite person in the background but is always there to help Reed and Emery out of trouble.
‘Nash Prescott was thrift-shop beauty, threadbare and jaded, the memory of something once beautiful lingering as he looked on the world with war-torn eyes.’
Nash is the crafty brother, he has always put his families needs before him. His first impression would be he never gave a fig about anyones interest, but he has a big heart that’s hidden behind his crafty nature.
Years later the tables have turned, Emery is living in closet barely scrapping monies to tackle a day and Nash is the wealthy monster who seeks revenge on any Winthrop. Nash and Emery meet at different circumstances this time. She knew he was going to stomp her all over. He was her boss and she needed the job even if there was contempt and rage plastered on his face whenever he saw her. He was gorgeous, arrogant and insufferable. He never spared her symphathy. Emery was once the attention seeking girl now she was lonely,
tiny and insignificant. While their war raged on their bodies never forgot that one night they mistakenly slept with each other. Nash kept pushing her down and Emery fights back up, in the end she is showering in front of my boss and skipping work to fuck him.
I enjoyed almost every bit of the story. Nothing felt predictible. Their angry encounters, the hate and lust moment was my fuel to continue the book. My only complain there is less sex and more sexual tension in this huge book. Also the second best thing in this book is Nash and Delilah moments, she always throws shit on him. I like her. Highly recommend this book if you crave an enemies-to-lovers romance.
Such a great slow burn with just the right amount of angst. The characters had a depth that really made them leap off the page and made me forget I was reading a fictional story. Their HEA is hard won, and incredibly satisfying. I haven’t read a book this good in a very long time. I have a new favorite author!
******** AUDIOBOOK REVIEW ********
Parker S. Huntington has thus far only written mafia romances and I’ve LOVED all of them. However, in Devious Lies she branches out from the mafia world to enemies to lovers romance with some darker elements. I thought she transitioned flawlessly! I hope in the future, she continues to expand into different genres. I feel her writing can take that. She has skills and tells fabulous stories. Her writing and character development can’t be refrained by genres! Sky’s the limit!!!!
Anyways, Emery and Nash had this fun banter that I couldn’t get enough of. They had this way if driving each other batty, Emery in particular enjoyed finding Nash’s button and poking at it! He had this underlying anger and hostility that only seemed to amp up around Emery. I knew that once these two tumbled into bed together that it would be scorching hot and intense! Oh man, I was so very right!! The naughty times in Devious Lies was absolutely delightful!! It isn’t all anger and sex though, these two have a past and it never really stays put. There’s angst and drama. This sexy, slow burn never felt slow with all the action poured into it!!
Narration can really made or break an audiobook. I can hardly imagine any narrators bringing this story down but I’m sure it would be possible, anything is possible, right? At the same time, the story itself is so great that I doubted just a narration could make it more. But I’m a fool, Sebastian York and Desiree Ketchum made Devious Lies feel like it was real life and they were just telling me their story. These two together are seriously audio gold!!
“He looked like a god, descending upon Earth. An angel seconds before coming a demon.”
Oh my heart!! It was pulled in 50 different directions with these two. I leapt between laughing and crying, and the fire between them just couldn’t be extinguished even when trying to hate each other. The layering and backstory of the characters was amazing, they felt so real, and that this actually happened, and their journey was nothing short of surreal!! The heat, the romance, the banter, the progression from enemies to lovers was astoundingly addictive! An absolute must read!!
~~~Erika, Book Haven Book Blog
Let me tell you guys, this book it’s like nothing I’ve read before. It’s such a unique story with so many details, thoughts that only Parker could develop. She puts such effort into each of her stories that you can tell right away. She’s an amazing author and this way she has with words it’s one of the things I love the most about her.
Ugh, so Nash this guy, loyal and thoughtful, he wouldn’t hesitate to help those who love..but so much has happened to him..loss and sadness, a sense of revenge have taken his life. After a huge tragedy, that’s all he’s thinking about and Emery somehow became his main target, although he doesn’t know, he’s so wrong about this girl, and when he realizes this she’ll become his redemption.
Emery, oh, girl I feel you. She’s now one of my favorite heroines from Parker’s book next to Lucy (Asher Black). She’s so humble, open-minded, a breath of fresh air, those thoughts she has and meaning she gives to things made me question how I see things in my everyday life, and really this has never happened with another book I’ve read before. REALLY. I never expected the rollercoaster of emotion I’ve felt with this story, and for that, again, Parker, I need to thank you. Your books give me LIFE. Please, never stop writing these amazing stories.
I devoured every delicious word of Devious Lies. Parker S. Huntington is not only a gifted writer, but a brilliant storyteller. Absolutely unforgettable.
I couldn’t put the book down. It really pulls you in. I am looking forward to reading other books by Parker S Huntington.
Great anti-hero, quirky heroine story with a detailed plot and plenty of twists. It especially succeeds in building characters that are complex and not always likeable, but more like a car crash that you can’t not watch. Nash is rude and crude, but the author throws in enough good points that make you realize there is more to him than he wants us to see. Emery is a tragic, wounded warrior who thinks she knows herself and her own heart until she doesn’t even recognize herself anymore when Nash is in the room. The push/pull of their relationship keeps the pages turning because you know these two are destined for each other even though they are fighting it tooth and nail.
loved it!
This book, Devious Lies, is a slow-burn love story between a man of 32, and a woman of 22. At 700 pages in length, it is very slowly burned. The woman is quirky, is struggling to survive economically and socially after a public tragedy strikes her family. The man, Nash, is one who rose from near poverty to unbelievable wealth. He’s seeking vengeance for wrongs done to his family, and the woman, Emery, figures closely in his revenge.
Devious Lies has a plot layered with complexities and peopled by characters whose idiosyncratic qualities are on full display. For the first one or two sections of this book, I did not much care for Nash. And that’s ok. Making him appear to be a sneaky, unlikable person who is out to get the heroine and her family yields positive results later in the story, when the author gradually reveals the true Nash and turns him around into a hero of sorts. The heroine is depicted as childish and disagreeable, at times appearing to live up to Nash’s inaccurate opinion that she is spoiled, grasping and uses people. Readers glimpse the truth about her, and she is none of those things.
Emery is obsessed with words. She collects obscure words. She prints them on T-shirts which she wears (yes, she has owned a T-shirt printer since childhood). She whispers arcane words to herself like magic charms. I found this part of her adorably eccentric. Maybe that part of Emery leapt directly from the author’s head because the book itself is composed as though it is a series of interconnected word games. Mysterious, obscure words themselves become the motif in this book but I’m not certain how that motif helps develop the central theme in the story. I think the author sometimes took things a bit too far. There were too many metaphors, too many instances of verbal irony, and a spare quote or two, that were twisted and squeezed like oranges for their humorous juice. The characters’ droll internal musings, and the witty notes exchanged by Nash and Emery (as if the protagonists are 8th graders?) ceased to add to the story when they were overdone.
I am glad the book wasn’t any longer than the 700-some odd pages. If it had been, I would probably have quit reading and snuck off to the ending just to finish it. Despite the criticisms I’ve mentioned, I did enjoy the enemies-to-lovers story that lay beneath all the extraneous window dressing. Would I read it again? Probably not. I would, however, like to try another of the author’s books in the future.
Don’t get sucked in by the hot cover.
Full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3147114414?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
This was my first book by Parker. And let me say! I was HOOKED!!
Everything about this book had me craving more but drawing it out because I didn’t want it to end. When I say it legit took me like two weeks to read it. It took me two weeks. I didn’t want it to end. I had to draw it out and stop myself.
These characters even the secondary characters ! I loved them all!!
Emery is the spoiled rich girl who could give two flying shots about her mom and what she says. But she’s a Daddy’s girl through and through. But when something huge happens in her life the rug gets swept out from under her and she has to rebuild herself to the person she wants to be instead of who she was suppose to be! Reed is her best friend and her favorite person. But his brother Nash gets her in a while other level that no one else does!
Nash is the poor, bad boy who lives on the grounds of Emerys families estate. When tragedy strikes he comes back fighting 10 times harder. And seeks revenge on Emery. So ruin everything she ever stood on! But there’s something about her that calls to him. She sees him and sees through him.
Their connection. Their ruin. Their hatred. Was everything and more!!
Read it or listen to it. Whatever is your pleasure. You will not be disappointed!!
This book is something so unique. It sets itself apart from other books that I’ve read. This went way beyond my expectations.
To be very honest I was a bit skeptical after seeing the number of pages but I figured I should give it a go. And once I started there was no going back. I savourved each and every quirky, witty & astute element in this book.
This book tells the story of how Emery Winthrop & Nash Prescott’s lives are intertwined by fate & destiny. It is a slow burn but it’s, Oh so satisfying to read. Their chemistry is sweet, sassy & fiery at times. The intensity and angst captured my interest till the very end.
“Falling in love with you is like diving blindly into a book, not knowing it’s destined to be my favorite. Whatever’s more than love, I feel it for you. I am only ever going to be in love with you.”
Emery is a strong willed, quirky and smart girl with a penchant for ‘words’. She won my heart from the very beginning. And Nash, was a dream. He was the perfect blend of light & dark, good & bad and soft & harsh. I was hugely impressed by his character development throughout the book. And together, both of them, made one PERFECT couple.
I just have to talk about Parker’s writing in this one. I have read her other books before but this one was marvellous. I highlighted so many paragraphs & discovering those new words was something so exciting for me. It was a bit too long for anybody’s usual taste but I’d still ask every romance book lover out there to go in blind and give it a chance.
I had a plan to escape the friend zone. Step one: sneak into Reed’s room. Step two: sleep with him.
But when the lights turned on, it wasn’t familiar blue eyes I saw. These were dark, angry, and full of demons. And they belonged to Reed’s much older brother.
I really enjoyed this book apart from the annoying quotes and cryptic words thrown in here and there, the story line was really interesting and addictive, the sex was hot and the characters had great chemistry. All over this was a very intriguing read.
I wanted to love this book. The blurb sounded so juicy and the story was good, but it was so damn long. I liked the story: riches to rags, wrong brother, corruption, enemies to lovers. This book did have it all. Then….I turned into “that” reader.
The reader that feels the book could have been cut back by 300 pages.
You don’t want a story rushed, but when you feel the chapters are drawn out and saying the same thing you get the urge to skim (which I did), it is not a good thing.
I went from flipping the pages because I loved the story to lets go already. I think I am broken.
Amazing, amazing, amazing! Parker’s writing is phenomenal. An absolutely beautiful read. I loved everything about this book!!
So glad a sale led me to this audiobook!
This was written by a new-to-me author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Since the premise seemed interesting, I decided it would be my next doing-nails read. I ended up so engrossed in the story it became my while-I’m-cooking, while-I’m-working, until-I-finish read. Such a great enemies-to-lovers romance!
Both narrators did an amazing job! I loved how well they were able to portray Nash’s sarcasm and dry humor and Emery’s smart mouth and seriousness. One of the best character portrayals I’ve listened to in a while. I hope to hear more from these narrators in the future. And I’m definitely anxious to find out what the next book in this series will be.
Highly recommended!
This is a really good story about how lies can build and take on a whole new life. They can set someone free and send others to prison. The line between love and hate is so thin, Nash and Emory can’t decide which feeling they feel most times. They were never friends, she was his brother’s best friend, he is older than her. SO why does he feel protective of her now? Can she trust Nash to help her save her father?
This is the first time I have read this author and I enjoyed this story and will be looking for more from her.