November’s theme prompt for Super Wendy’s #TBRChallenge 2022 was “Lies.” Here are the books we chose to tackle our TBRs this month.
Holly Read: Deception by Selena Montgomery (2009)
Faraday, Book #2
Why was this book on your TBR?
As with Reckless, which I read last month, I bought this in November of 2020 in a burst of good feelings about Stacy Abrams.
Why did you choose this book for this month’s challenge?
Well, it’s called Deception. And I read the first book in the series last month and it ended on a total cliffhanger, so I figured I’d might as well. I was hoping it would be a celebratory read for Georgia, but alas.
What are your thoughts on the book?
I am working on aggressively DNFing books if they aren’t speaking to me, so this was a DNF. Hey, the goal was to get books off my TBR one way or another.
So, when the first book ends, we know that there’s some mysterious conspiracy going on in rural Georgia run by an ominous group called Stark, and that’s why that guy was killed. But by the first third of Deception, most of the information about this group—what they do, what their goals are, why they killed the guy—have been revealed. There are still pieces to figure out, like who exactly pulled the trigger and why they want to control this big plot of land, but I felt like the wind was taken out of the sails of the mystery a bit. (I might have also flipped to the end and the bit I read was very anticlimactic and not a big reversal from what we’d already learned.)
I hated the hero. Specifically, I hated that he did that thing where he touched the heroine, could tell that his touch made her uncomfortable, and then doubled down by doing something like grabbing her wrist. Or her chin. This is the second time this very specific dynamic has shown up in a TBR challenge book this year, and yikes, do I hate it.
I did like the heroine. Fin is a professional gambler, which means she’s lived a…colorful…life. But even though she lies and bluffs her way through the world, I would hope that, as a reader, I would have a sense of her as a character after spending a hundred pages with her, and she still felt vague to me. So though I thought the pieces I saw were interesting, there wasn’t enough there to make her truly compelling and hold my attention.
Buy Now: Amazon
Ingrid Read: His Reluctant Lady by Aydra Richards (2020)
Why was this book on your TBR?
It honestly just looked cute? It had that classic, historical feel to it and I figured it might be fun.
Why did you choose this book for this month’s challenge?
Well, there are just LAYERS of lies here–Poppy is secretly a gothic novelist, her sisters secretly try to get her caught in flagrante delicto, and David and Poppy are BOTH recovering from years of deceiving themselves (in a way) because they’ve never really tried to get to know themselves as they really are.
What are your thoughts on the book?
It’s definitely cute! It’s traditional/old school though–she’s dowdy and transforms, he’s the one who “shows” her she’s beautiful, etc. If you’re looking for an enlightened read, it’s kind of a middle ground–he’s incredibly respectful of his intelligent wife and values her deeply for her mind and her abilities. But it’s strongly a “she don’t know she’s beautiful” type book.
Essentially, Poppy’s gambling addict father almost beggars them after his death, when she fortuitously sells a gothic manuscript–then another. The money from the sales is enough to get her two sisters launched into the Season, and pay for a chaperone. Poppy’s an innocent though, and needs material for the progression of her plot. So she follows David and a lover at a party and eavesdrops on their tryst, and uses all the material for her next installment.
David is livid, but also a little thrilled when he catches Poppy watching him. They have a big make out session, he releases her, and then learns that his tryst was published in a book and is titillating the Ton. Why at this point he didn’t connect the dots, but whatever–he does eventually figure it out and blackmails Poppy into spending more time with him, essentially.
Then stuff happens, they end up married against their will, and they have to figure out how to make it work.
I will say it’s a bit of a slow burn–they spend a lot of time kissing before anything of magnitude happens. But it’s an uncomplicated, sweet read with a lot of sizzle.
Buy Now: Amazon
Erin Read: If You Deceive by Kresley Cole (2007)
MacCarrick Brothers, Book #3
Why was this book on your TBR? I’d read a couple IAD books and The Game Maker trilogy and this one came up for sale, and really, why would I even try to resist histrom with a Scottie MacHottie?
Why did you choose this book for this month’s challenge? The title says it all, right?
What are your thoughts on the book?
Okay, so I hit a slump and didn’t finish because this book has a very Kresley Cole vibe, and I needed some soft and gentle romance, but in the right mood I know I’d have fun reading it, so I’ll finish it eventually.
Here’s the deal: there’s a double deception. As a young man, Ethan would sleep with married women, and the last time he followed one home, he decided to pull the plug on the encounter, she got mad at the rejection, the husband showed up, accusations were made, and Ethan was ruthlessly scarred, only for the husband to realize who he was. There’s a ten-year interval between the prologue and the first chapter, and we learn that Ethan is a cold, hard man, a ruthless spy, and a willingness to take justice into his own hands. Case in point: he ruined the family that ruined him. Now, the daughter of the family is an adult, and growing up in poverty in France for the past ten years has not only made her immune to the more shocking aspects of life, it’s also made her into a pickpocket and opportunistic criminal. Her hope for getting out of that life is marriage.
The whole tone of this book is, as I said, very Kresley Cole, so I know it’s going to be drama and angst central that will keep stressing me out more and more (even when there’s a little plateau for us readers to catch our breaths, we just KNOW there’s the other shoe about to drop) until it’s resolved at the very end. So if you like that kind of tension in your reads, and you’ve been avoiding Kresley Cole because you’re not into paranormal romance, this might be a fun book for you. If you’re looking for soft stuff, probably steer clear of this one.
Buy Now: Amazon
Want to join us in tackling your TBR? Next month’s theme is Festive.
The Smut Report 