I got influenced. I got got by TikTok. I saw a snippet of Devious Lies by Parker S Huntington and thought well, this sounds right up my alley. And it was! I went straight to Amazon, bought the ebook, and spent five hours reading it from start to finish. Who needs sleep when hate sex exists?
The positives: I loved the undeniable attraction between Nash and Emery. It was potent from the beginning. That they didn’t realize what was happening between the two of them when we, the reader, absolutely did just made it so much more delicious. I loved Nash. Rough but smart and cold but only because he cares too much, he was someone that did the right thing but hated for anyone to know it. Yes, okay, he was also not the cleanest guy, but that’s what makes it work! That’s why you pick up an enemies-to-lovers romance.
The negatives: It seemed that the plot wasn’t extremely well thought out, or possibly it was and the author decided to add an extra 400 pages to the book. It didn’t feel long as I read it, but it did feel convoluted. Despite Nash wanting revenge, there was never any actual revenge. Despite Emery wanting penance, there was never a reason behind that. Despite everything about Gideon, there was no reason behind it.
Another criticism: Emery. I’m not sure if she was supposed to come off as neurodivergent, but she absolutely did. It was half manic pixie dream girl (wow blast from the past millennial term) and half manic episodes. I get that her one trait was supposed to make her fun and quirky, and it was nice to learn some interesting words, but it was just too much. Why speak, aloud, to yourself, in the third person? And not a single person caught it or said anything? It was just annoying.
And one last, slight criticism. There were two points in the book that just didn’t feel in character. It almost felt like the author had this scene or idea and knew they wanted to use it and crammed it in without caring if it fit the characters that the rest of the story was built up around.
With so many criticisms, why the four stars? Because despite all of that, I actually genuinely enjoyed it! Like I said, I saw a tiktok of this at 10pm, bought the book, and stayed up until 3am reading it until finished. I then skimmed it again the next morning to catch my favorite bits.
Would I recommend Devious Lies by Parker S Huntington? Yes, if you are looking for an ‘enemies’-to-lovers type romance where the characters fight against falling in love while falling in love even harder, yes, I think you would like this book.
