Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > The Good Liar

C. P. Harris is no stranger to stepbrother romance (see last year’s excellent Bad Wrong Things) or mixing heartbreaking angst with enough sexual chemistry to melt your dang bones (see, again, Bad Wrong Things), but The Good Liar is as bold of a move as a romance novel as I could think of, seeing as the theme of the book and the series is infidelity, which is a no-no to your average romance novel reader. So you’ve got two “forbidden” romance novel tropes: stepbrothers and cheating.

You know what that says to me? Sign me right the heck up. You might as well have waved a red flag in front of my face, because the more you tell me something’s forbidden the more I want it.

While the plotting in this book isn’t as solid as I’d like, the characterizations are. Well, for the most part. I felt Daniel was written almost cartoonishly evil. Between the short interludes featuring him and then his scheming and narcissistic behavior throughout the book, it felt like we were being given more excuses to root for Cole and Jasper when we didn’t need many excuses to root for them already. There was no need to heep more villainy upon Daniel. We knew that apple was poisoned. As a reader, it made me feel a bit insulted, like I couldn’t be trusted to draw the line from A to Z myself.

Now, Cole and Daniel? They have some issues too, but not nearly as many as Daniel. And, trust me, you’ll be far too distracted by the sexual chemistry between these two to really worry too much about it. And when the chemistry becomes a reaction and ignites, hold onto your seats because these two are the definition of “carnal knowledge”. They are beasts with one another, down to their animal selves, wanting to tear and rend one another. It’s not only hot enough to melt an e-reader, it’s also symbolic of how deep down their connection goes and how well these two know one another.

The ending has the benefit of privilege: Were the characters in this book poor, it would’ve taken longer to end for a lot of reasons. But money talks, and so the HEA comes quickly because money cuts through the reddest of tapes pretty easily. I do hate an easy out like that, but the characters can’t help they’re rich.

I was provided a copy of this book by the author. All thoughts, views, and ideas expressed in this review are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Gay Romance/LGBTQ Romance/Forbidden Romance/Contemporary Romance/Book Series/Spice Level 3