“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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An enemies to lovers book with so much more than you would expect. All of the characters in this book have so much depth and blend together perfectly to the point that it’s hard to believe it’s fiction. I loved this book and the narration that came with it.
Devious Lies was a fun and exciting friends to lover, age gap, brothers best friends story all rolled into one. Growing up with an overbearing up-tight mother, Emery has always felt stifled. She is stubborn, care free, full of life and hates having to play the role of the diligent daughter. She has always felt at home with her best friends, Reed’s, family who works for her families estate. She has always been fascinated with Reed’s older brother, Nash. Nash is gorgeous, dark but has always watched out for and protected Emery. After Emery’s family is torn apart and Emery’s future plans are destroyed, she does her best to distance herself from her parents and the place she once called home. Emery is struggling and is desperate to find a job and ends up taking a position at Nash’s company. She never thought she would ever see Nash, but when he realizes Emery has been working for him, he makes his presence known as well as his hate for Emery and her family. So many twist and turns that leave both Nash and Emery rethinking their past and their future.
“Out of all the lies, my favorite was you and me.”
I’ve been intrigued by this book ever since it came out, but never got around to reading it thanks to my ever-growing TBR list. Now that I’ve read it, I’m absolutely kicking myself for not reading it sooner. Being a bookaholic means I’ve come across some great books and some not so great ones and this book falls into the GREAT books category. I was absolutely wowed by Nash & Emery’s slow burn love story.
Nash and Emery’s lives have been intertwined for over a decade. They met when the Prescott family begins working for her father and live on site. Reed, Nash’s younger brother, and Emery have been best friends since the beginning, but at some point, Emery believes her feelings evolve from friendship into love. One night, after receiving news of his and Basil’s breakup, she devises a plan to sneak into his room and seduce him. Once the deed is done and the lights come on, she quickly realizes she accidentally slept with Nash, who is significantly older. Embarrassed, she rushes out of the room and doesn’t see him again for many years.
Fast forward four years and Emery’s life is a lot different from what it was before. A recent college graduate, she’s no longer rich and is in dire need of a job. Desperate times have called for desperate measures. Against her better judgement, she allows Reed to call in a favor with Delilah, Nash’s best friend. Emery soon finds herself working for Nash’s hotel chain and squatting in the hotel she is helping design.
When Emery and Nash reunite, it’s explosive. Neither one of them has the full story to the events that destroyed their families so there’s a lot of misunderstandings and animosity between the two. Despite the time that has passed, the chemistry between them has not faded and only continues to grow the longer they are in each other’s presence. Despite Nash not typically being overly involved in the design of his hotels, he situates himself in their team so he can keep an eye on Emery. There was a nice amount of suspense interwoven throughout the story that I thoroughly enjoyed, but the best part of this book was the character development and the distinct personalities that they had. Both Nash and Emery are proud people and I enjoyed watching them both realize the errors of their ways and begin to let down their guard.
Emery was such a unique person. She’s obsessed with words and uses them as a safety net. “Tacenda. Arcane. Dern. I mouthed words I loved to calm myself, letting them form on my lips without releasing them into a universe that destroyed.” I also loved her T-shirts of the day and how they were her way of coping with the things that happened to her. I was charmed from the opening lines of the book and that didn’t stop even after reading ‘The End.’ This book stayed with me long after finishing it and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. If you haven’t read Devious Lies yet, I suggest you do so soon. You won’t regret it, it’s one of my favorites of the year.
I originally read Nash+Emery’s story in an anthology. When I saw that Parker was releasing this book, detailing their full story, I was sold. I’ve loved Nash+Emery from the absolute start!
The beginning was a touch hard for me to get into BUT I couldn’t put the book down. I loved all the magic words, the standoffs between Nash+Emery, and the swoony words. MY HEART! I loved Emery’s independent character, how badly she wanted to do right. I loved Nash’s fierce protectiveness. Let’s be real, I love all that is Nash!
If you’re wanting a swoony, age-gap, best friend’s brother, enemies to lovers romance, this is the book for you. It has all the things!
I totally fell in love with Emery and Nash. This book is long, but I love long books that I can really get into. I became completely obsessed with this book, ignoring my life and devoting all my spare time into devouring it in 2-3 days…so, you know, be prepared.
I read it over a month ago, now, and I’m still thinking about it. I will definitely read more of Parker’s books!
My heart kept pounding;
There are no truer words than the magic ones that emery silently put out the universe, this book shows growth and hell of a lot of twists – its full, of lust, gluttony, greed, anger, violence, fraud, treachery. I loved every single word.
“P.S. Out of all the lies, my favorite was you and me…”
I would give this book a million stars if I could!!! One of the most amazing stories I’ve had the honor of reading. Devious Lies is original, deep, and I have just one word for it… Trouvaille (n.) something lovely discovered by chance.
Emery is the sweet girl that has everything, her soul is pure, innocent and everything good in this world; living with her one of a kind mother and her ways, Emery has manage to stay true to what she believes. But in one moment everything changed, and her family name was being dragged to the mud and she lost everything, including her credibility; and now there’s one person who is going to collect vengeance, Nash; once the son of the help, now on top of the food chain, is going to take everything she has until there’s nothing left.
But what if… the ideas you been creating for years are now being held by a thread, and maybe, just maybe you had it all wrong from the beginning?
I am addicted to this book, the writing of Parker only made me enjoy even more this story; the way she writes transported me to a world where I got lost and I became one of the characters for once. I’ll be forever in love with this story.
HEA and no cliffhanger; this is a standalone in the Cruel Crown series.
Wow! I read “Devious Lies” and I could not put it down. It was so good I had to read it again just to make sure I did not miss anything the first time. The characters are very well developed and the story just unravel in my hands. I love the tension, hate/lust/love between Nash and Emory. I hope Parker S. H. writes another novel about Nash and Emory. I would thoroughly enjoy reading about them again in the future with their kids and etc.
Complicated, emotional, compelling. The writing is excellent. These characters are deep in my heart. This is my first read by this author and I can’t wait to read more. Five stars is not enough!
I saw this book all over my FB and didn’t realise how thicc it was until after I downloaded it through KU.
It did not read like a 700 page book. It read so fast. And I was gripped from the jump. This was such an engaging hate to love story and there was not only angst, but family drama all the way around.
This is a very, very well written enjoyable story! Definitely 5 stars!
I couldn’t put this down! Parker has such a way with words. I fell in love with this book.
Let me start off with this.
My absolute favorite part of Huntington’s books is that she doesn’t try to cram everything into one trope, and that’s all you get. It’s more so different vibes from different tropes.
So in this case, we have the enemies to lover, the brothers best friend, and a little bit of billionaire. It’s like a recipe, with a dash of this, and a pinch of this, and a spoon of this, just to make things interesting, and it’s a success.
Ok. Anyways. Onto the actual story, right guys?
So I devoured this. Like started reading last night, and then I couldn’t put it down until it was over, which was somewhere between 2-3 am for me.
I have so many feelings about this book. It’s one for the logophiles, one for the pluviophile, one for the bibliophile, and on top of that, I listened to the playlist as I was reading….
‘’ , . . ’.’
Emery, with her quirks, and her love of fashion without the outward appearance of such, and her beautiful heart hit me so deep. She now shares the #1 spot of Huntington’s heroines with Lucy(Asher Black).
And then, there was Nash. Excuse me while I swoon for this bad man with the heart of gold. The poor fighting boy, all grown up, with tons to show for this life, and still so very little happiness.
‘’ . . .‘
I mean, seriously. The men in real life are severely slacking(excuse me while I go threaten my husband to write me pretty words )
Overall: I highly recommend this read to everyone. Don’t be surprised if you see me singing it’s praises all over the place.
I want to be consumed by their flames
Emery is one of my favorite heroines. She’s quirky (a requirement for bestie status). She is fierce (also a requirement). She is loyal (total plus but also a requirement). She is beautiful (the inside is really all that matters but Nash seems to think she’s hot too). She is selfless in a weirdly selfish attempt to fix a wrong she never created. Emery gets her strength, like a power up potion, from the words she gathers, strokes, and breathes life into. She collects them like wayward strays and nutures them in her mind. It’s crazy, complicated, and unapologetically beautiful.
I spent more time googling the words (I had zero patience waiting for Parker S. Huntington to reveal their meaning even when it was literally the next sentence). Parker S. Huntington is either a logophile or the most dedicated researcher into her characters backstories. Either way she brought me to tears with her choices…
Emery and Nash are clearly an accident waiting to happen. Again and again and again. Fate. Destiny. Inevitable. Finality. Whichever word you choose, they were going to be. Coincidence is not an option.
There are so many swoon worthy situations in this book that I can’t help my liquidity. (I looked that one up myself- Emery!) I have dissolved into a puddle at the sheer intensity of their involvement.
Devious Lies break hearts. His lies cracked her’s open….and what a sight it is to see. The most beautiful geode yet.
This is the first book of Parker S. Huntington that I ever read. I can tell you guys it was amaaaazing! I devoured it within two days – because s girl still needs her sleep
Let me tell you about this book. It’s an enemies to lovers romance book and I love those. It’s about Emery and Nash. Emery was this pretty, smart, different, rich girl. Nash is her best friends brother and was Emerys helps son. After a scandal Emery leaves the town and they won’t see each other for years.
When they finally see each other again, Nash happens to hate Emery and makes her life hell. And he’s also her new boss
With them being in the same environment again, they begin to process and overcome their pasts and learn, that they were maybe destined to be together.
But before this epiphany happens Nash teats Em like dirt. He pushed and pushed some more. I thought at one point she might break and rough his beautiful face up, but Em didn’t disappoint and she pushed back harder. Her stubbornness and kindness made me love her character so much! She gave him hell!
And I truly loved her uniqueness. She has a thing for weird words with sometimes strange, unknown meanings. But I loved how she embraced it and was just always herself!
I also loved Nash. I love my heroes a little kinky and Cruel – and that just happens to suit Nash Prescott. Sometimes he was so cruel, my heart hurt for Em, but he made up for it by all the other times he was such a sweet softy
Guys, this book was absolutely amazing. One of my top reads in 2019! If you love hate to love stories – go for it
Initial thoughts? I cannot believe I read a 700 page book in one sitting. At 700 pages, this definitely was a slow-burn. Of course, it’s also enemies to lovers! I really devoured this book. I couldn’t stop reading until I found out what was going to happen and I was not disappointed in the least.
Nash hates Gideon Winthrop aka Emery’s father. His hatred stems from the fact that he believes Gideon is a bad person and the fact that his wife is like the worst person on the planet. Simply put, Nash’s family works for the Winthrop’s and the Winthrop’s are rich, so naturally they all have to be snobby…right? Nash steals something important from the Winthrop’s safe and sets forth a series of events that end with him being a billionaire and Emery being indebted to him.
I honestly felt bad for Emery, she was blamed for a lot of stuff that wasn’t even her fault and I applaud her for actually having a backbone, especially after growing up with the mother that she had. I loved when we were shown those special moments where Nash was being sweet or when he did thinks that revealed he actually care about her, like the notes, making sure she ate, or the reveal of the reason he and Reed were at odds.
Looking back on things, there definitely were some unnecessary parts included in this book, but nothing that made me not like the story as much as I did. Also, I think it is completely unbelievable that Nash didn’t know that it was Emery that night in Reed’s bed. While that scene was HOT, just seemed like it was a stretch that neither of them knew who the other was especially considering Emery was like in love with Reed. Does it seem reasonable that you just wouldn’t know who the person you were in love with was and what they sounded like?
I have no words to describe how fantastic this book was
It took me a while to leave the review after I finished reading the book which was some time ago. I would put it on my list of best reads of 2019. I knew it would be special just after I was finished with the first chapter. I loved all those fantastic words used in the book. I think it was one of the longest books I read in the year but the plot was so interesting that it was very very hard to put it down.
I quickly connected with both characters. Both troubled hearts and souls, too proud to see past their differences. I love a little bit of suspense in a book, I love twisted plots and sudden events that while reading take me completely by surprise. The main characters that are going through internal battles fighting their own demons and insecurities and trying to change their flaws. And this book gave me all of that, plus it served me one serious roller-coaster of emotions.
If you like slow burning romances, some not very lovable alpha hero and fantastic dose of sexual tension and off the charts chemistry you won’t be disappointed with that one. Must read for me!
A wonderfully written steamy enemies to lover’s page-turner romance. I loved this story from start to finish. The plot is awesome and flows really well. It’s a slow burn romance that has some wonderfully well-developed characters with witty banter going on. A must read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
: Five devious stars!
You know you are reading a great book when there is reference of Greek mythology in it! Devious Lies by Parker S. Huntington has that and so much more. If you search for EPIC in a dictionary, you will find a picture of the cover which is drool-worthy as the story inside the pages of this book. Parker is a new author to me and Oh my! She reduced me to ashes with her flawless and brilliant writing. I was drawn to this story like a bee to honey. My heart buzzed like crazy in my chest. It was like the author had put a spell on it. It pulled the right strings. I was utterly and irrevocably bewitched by it!!! Devious Lies has tons of suspense and in my opinion, it is the epitome of an enemies to lovers romance, the epitome of a bully romance, a scorching hot slow-burn romance, a truly page-turning with tempting prose and wonderful characters! This book has the three A’s: awesome, addictive and angsty.
Emery and Nash’s story is deliciously twisted, hot and sinful. Their romantic journey is temptation, flawless passion and raw sensations.
This was an unexpected and incredible read. It kept me glued to my kindle until I devoured it. The world outside was forgotten. It was basically everything. It consumed me.
Oh wow! Excuse me while I go sit in the corner and nurse my book hangover. Devious Lies is my first book by this author and I am wondering how this is possible?! I have been seriously missing out so obviously I must run off and add all of this author’s books to my TBR pile because she is a talented writer. Devious Lies is a brilliantly written enemies-to-lovers, age gap romance that pulled me in right from the first page. I found the characters to be unique, well developed, and likable and the story to be engaging and well executed.
Emery is a hard core heroine. She is self sacrificing to a fault and has a huge heart. I adored her quirky personality, her penchant for words, and how she refused to put up with other people’s nonsense, especially Nash Prescott’s. While I found her to be overly stubborn at times, it just further endeared her to me. Nash is devilishly delicious and one of my favorite types of heroes. He is arrogant and snarky, and I found his sarcastic inner musings (and some of his interactions with others) to be wildly entertaining. While this isn’t a romantic comedy, there were many times I was chuckling at his abrasiveness and various conversations with Emery and other characters in the book. Emery and Nash have an intense connection and it was interesting to see how things played out between them and I like the little twists and turns that the author cleverly incorporated into the story. Overall, this is a solid 5-star read for me and I am looking forward to reading more works by this author.