I was so excited when we first got the news of this new Krista and Becca Ritchie series. I'm a fan of their writing and absolutely love their stories. Without giving too much away, this book is about best friends who've been con artists their whole lives who decide to start fresh in a small, Connecticut town after a job gone wrong. They want to break free from their life of deceit and crime and start a new and honest life, only things don't go as planned. For starters, they already start their new life with a lie, and things just spiral from there.

This has all the makings of a great Krista and Becca Ritchie story and everything I love about their books: humor, witty banter, strong friendship bonds, strong relationship bonds, flawed characters, gut wrenching moments, as well as intense, emotional moments, and soul mate love.

I love a good romance, but this book has one of the craziest slow burns I've read! I am so invested in Phoebe and Rocky's relationship and spent the majority of the book just wanting them to kiss already! The volley between will-they or won't-they was driving me mad! They have so much history and their love is messy, chaotic, heart-wrenching, debilitating, and intense! I feel like this book dragged me through a new circle of hell and back.

The story was so intriguing and I have so many questions after that ending. I couldn't put the book down and I feel like a bug caught in their web, writhing in agony, all the while the characters are looking at me ready to devour me slowly and painfully. I can't wait till the next book and the wait will feel like torture!

Thank you to Krista & Becca Ritchie, Berkeley, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a solid first book in a new series. It did feel a bit long to me at times and the back and forth drove me a bit crazy; I was honestly just ready for some movement and chemistry in the relationship instead of the tension. These characters were really interesting, but I also wish they had been fleshed out a bit more. I found the plot and idea of the book really unique and fun! I think this series has a ton of potential and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Phoebe and Hailey are leaving the family business. They’re trying to make it on their own in the real world without pulling off any scams. Family is everything, but their loyalty to each other surpasses anything else. However, their two con artist families have different ideas.

I love the idea of a book featuring con artists, but this one didn’t grab my attention right away. Once things began to become interesting, the story ended. Phoebe and Rocky’s story should have been white hot, but the chemistry felt off. This might have been due to the drawn-out interspersion of past timelines. I'll be reading the next book in the series, though. 3.5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Shelf Awareness and Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley for this complimentary ARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I fear I'll never recover from this book.

The dynamics, the settings, the love, the resolution, the CLIFFHANGER?!?!?

This is the book of the summer, and I never want to shut up about it. Seriously one of the best books I've ever read.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

Y’all, this book had me in a chokehold from the start. This is a slow-burn (in my opinion) but the plot was so interesting to me.

We follow 2 families who are all con artists. Hailey wants to be done with conning the upper class so she and Phoebe set out for Connecticut to start living a life of honesty — well, kind of. They still have to navigate not conning since it’s all they know. They can’t reveal their real identity. But they still can start over. Rocky, Hailey’s older brother, decides he has to go with them because he has to make sure they will be okay.

Once they arrive in Connecticut, they do okay… for a while. But then their parents want to know where they are, what are they doing? As free as Rocky wants to be from their parents, he knows they may never be. Phoebe and Hailey don’t think that their parents are all that bad, not like Rocky. Rocky realizes the extent of their parent’s manipulation from the time he is 15 and he voices his feelings to his father for Phoebe.

Let me just say… their parents suck on so many levels. All they know, including Phoebe’s brothers Nova and Oliver, is conning and manipulation and yet they still did not recognize the way their parents were manipulating them. They can’t even fathom that their own parents would manipulate them. But Phoebe does realize this deep down and it’s why she will never act on her feelings for Rocky until the love she has for him can no longer be denied.

Out of all the characters in this book, Phoebe had the most character growth and I’m so glad for that. Throughout the book, Phoebe reflects on some of the unsavory cons she has had to endure thanks to her parent’s plans. I think she lost the most throughout all of their cons and watching her grow and the realization of her parents deceit was both heartbreaking and relieving for me, as the reader.

So much happens in this book that made me angry, made me happy, made me sad. Ir was so well written and had me so on edges It also ends on a cliff hanger so needless to say I am highly anxious to read book 2!

I read this book in one night. I couldn’t put it down. The tension and chemistry between the two main characters? Absolute perfection. I loved reading about the life of these two con artist families, Great pacing, great storytelling, this is classic Krista and Becca Ritchie. I already can’t wait for the next book.

Picking up this book, I did not expect ANY of the things that went down. And yet I’m completely HAPPY and CONTENT and SATISFIED with every single thing this story delivered.

It felt like watching movies such as identity theft and the oceans 8 movie starring George Clooney, except make it a family busniess of doing con work with a mix of amazing romance.

I’ve read the authors other works, but for some reason this one gripped me by the throat and made me absolutely obsessed. Phobe and rocky were literally so precious and perfect and I loved the dynamic between the two. I literally cannot wait for this book to be out and about an fun my hands so I can never shut up about it.

arc review

I am so obsessed with this book! I loved the addicted series so seeing that KBR were coming out with a new series it was instantly added to my tbr.

I fell in love with Phoebe and Rocky and want nothing more to see their story continue!

This book had me feeling all the emotions (as KBR books tend to do) and had me itching to jump back in whenever I wasn’t reading.

I can’t wait for everyone to meet these characters and hopefully fall in love with them like I did!

Overall Take:
This book is a fun start to an addictive new series.

Star Rating:
4.5 Stars

Genre:
New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:
Pheobe grew up where deception and seduction are just how you get by. So when her best friend wants to take a break from the life they both know, and try to go “normal”, they do.

They end up in a small Connecticut town. The biggest flaw in their plan is Hailey’s brother Rocky found them and is along for the ride. Conning is in Rocky’s DNA and as much as the girls want out, they don’t think Rocky can let them.

Pheobe worries that Rocky will try to get them to go back to their old life and doesn’t want him to mess up the life shes trying to make. Can’t she just have a normal life with the man she loves?


Thoughts:
This book was a lot of fun. It is a slow buildup but when the hits start coming, it works out nicely. Throughout the book there were these little breadcrumbs that were left, and I ate them all up. So, being able to reflect back on them was perfection. Found family is such a fantastic trope and it really shined in this book. Two families are thick as thieves and are each other’s ride or dies. Towards the end of the book there was also some fake dating, which is another one of my favs though this one did get messy. This is a hard book to review fully because there are a lot of spoilers. Let’s just say that I did end up getting what I was looking for out of it, even though it took almost the whole book. Despite that, I wasn’t annoyed with this slow burn as I felt it was done well. This is well defined as being a new series, and I think due diligence was done to ensure the characters were all set up properly.

This book did end on a fairly large cliff hanger, so know that going in but it is still worth the read!

"Dishonestly Yours" follows Phoebe and Rocky who are from two con artist families. They've spent their lives at their parent's whim, being whoever they need to be to get the job done. In some lives their siblings, in some they are married. After all these schemes, you can imagine how blurred the line between love and hate is for them. Well, what would happen if they were to try and live an honest life at the request of the person they love more than anything, Rocky's sister? Can they untangle the web of deceit they've been spinning their whole lives?

What intrigued me most about this book was the concept. It's something that I can't say that I have ever read before. I love to find things that don't feel like they've been played out and this is just that. We get two main characters that are so down bad for each other it's insane. The angst, jealousy, and lies are what kept me reading. The side characters were also a fun addition to the book. I enjoyed the dynamic between all of the kids and how it added to the whole "family business" situation we had going on. You could tell that they would do anything for each other, even to their detriment.

That all being said, I struggled to stay interested in the story. It was a slow build and we kept getting left with breadcrumbs as to what happened to cause Hailey to want to stop conning. The entire time I was reading I was just wondering what happened on its job that left them so scarred that they wanted out. Although I enjoyed following Rocky and Phoebe's story I felt it was drawn out. After all of these cons that they have been on with each other and all of the lines that they had already crossed, the reason that they weren't together felt strange to me. There was obvious tension between them and that is something that I usually love in books. But for some reason, it didn't hit quite as hard in this one.

What I did like about the main characters' relationship was that they were each other rocks. They both knew that no matter what they had each other. Even when they were at odds with each other they never turned their backs. You could feel their connection through the page from the start. You knew these two were made for each other no matter how much they tried to deny it. Their banter was fun to read as well. It brought some levity to the make-or-break situation they were in.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a romance with higher stakes, angst, and interesting family dynamics. I would also recommend looking up trigger warnings because this book does discuss some heavy topics.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this eARC!

Well now I am on pins and needles waiting for book 2 while book 1 isn't even out yet! It's gonna be a long wait.

Although I found this book a little slow to get into I did enjoy it overall. This was my first book by these authors and I'm not sure I'll rush to read anything else by them.

There isn't anything notable to mention. It was an overall decent read, but not outstanding. The character development was somewhat boring. The characters were fine, but not super likeable.

“What are you to me now?” I whisper.
He shakes his head, uncertain, but he grips my gaze. “I’m just your Rocky”
My Rocky.

4,5 stars

*Tropes*
~best friend’s older brother
~morally grey characters
~high angst
~grumpy / grimpy
~con artists

The book left a rather bitter aftertaste after reading it as the whole story is much deeper then it seems at first sight. Although there were enough tension and spicy scenes, it is not a typical love story. I think of it more as of self-discovery and self-healing novel that will only gather pace in next books.

Phoebe, Rocky, Hailey and their brothers were raised by two families of con artists who used them for scam schemes since birth and as they grew up, they became main participants themselves. Living under parents’ control they were not given a choice not only who to become, what to like, who to be friends with and who to love, but also were not given the proper life skills to have a normal life. In every chapter I can really feel the pain of the characters as they don’t know who they really are, what they want in life, where they are going.

Our main characters Phoebe and Rocky are both complex characters. Phoebe, who has been used as a seductress all her life, had to do and endure many difficult and dirty things at “jobs”. She is aware of her beauty and has accepted this role, using it automatically in everyday life. However, at the same time, she wants to escape from it, but she doesn't know how. Rocky, despite being cold and sarcastic, feels it is his duty to protect everyone in the group. I enjoyed reading his chapters, seeing how he was torn between wanting to be a knight in shining armor for Phoebe and arguments against their relationship. He might not have become my book boyfriend, but he is definitely one of the most complex characters I've seen in romance books. Since childhood, Phoebe and Rocky have been closely connected, so even though they resist the feelings, it is clear that they are meant for each other. I enjoyed the chemistry and emotional rollercoaster between these two, and I look forward to seeing their romance develop in future books.

The action at the beginning is quite slow and I’d like to know more about their past “jobs” so hope it will be added in future books. Anyway for me, it was a great start, and I will gladly jump into this series watching how the characters find their ways and their voices.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this arc!

I had so much fun with this and was disappointed in it all the same time. It was unputdownable and I found myself drawn to the story, never forcing myself to read. But this book could have been so much better! The story was great but not well executed. The characters didn’t feel distinct and the writing reallly bothered me at times. It wasn’t polished. KBR sacrifice setting and staging in a scene for dramatics and shock. It was confusing! The book needed more attention/ editing/ something! It felt like a draft.

Either way I will be continuing with this series because I neeeeeeed to know what happens. High hopes this series will just get better and better.

Thank you, NetGalley and Berkeley for the chance to read this early!

This book put the slow in slow burn, but since it’s book one in a series, it’s more about setting up the story for later books. I overall enjoyed it, although at times it felt like there were too many storylines at once. And some of them felt like they were just delivered to the reader without much of a backstory. I am interested to continue the series to see where it goes.

3.5 stars

I was not in the mood for this story when I started reading this. The Richie sisters definitely have a great formula down. I still do not respect the Daisy and Ryke storyline due to Daisy being a minor when Ryke became sexually attracted and I have a hard time picking up other books by them as much as they have the toxic-romance storyline down.

DNF at 50%

this book fell really flat for me. i was so excited to read it and i just found myself so bored. i expected it to be more fast paced but nothing really happened. it was pitched as “twisty” and “angsty” yet i felt none of that from the half that i read. it can be argued i didn’t give the book a fair enough chance, but i made it halfway through which is further than i normally go when i’m not enjoying a book. i didn’t feel any chemistry between rocky & phoebe either which really affected how i felt. i may give this another chance later but this just wasn’t for me at this time.

— 4 stars ★

thoughts Ꮺ
— This book was SO much fun to read! I was very intrigued by the plot so I was super excited to see when I was approved for an ARC version. The writing was super easy to get into and it never felt like it was two different people writing one book (which is usually my concern when going into duo-authored novels). Krista and Becca did really well in making a cohesive book that had me wanting to learn more about these families full of con artists.

Normally I find myself always loving the female main character and then either loving or being "meh" about the male main character. So far, I LOVE Rocky way more than I even care for Phoebe. Part of the one star removal from the rating is because I really wanted Phoebe to have more depth to her. However, I do think the trauma she went through during her years contributed to her feeling nothing more than a pawn or a item. Rocky just had so many layers to him and I found myself wanting to discover ALL of it. The way I need rocky is concerning to feminism.

Nonetheless, the two main characters are soooo delicious together. They give major soulmates/fated mates vibes as well as hints of the friends to lovers to enemies to lovers kind-of-trope (but let's be real, they were never really enemies). This couple is who I CONSTANTLY think of when listening to "imgonnagetyouback" by miss Taylor Swift. There's so much angst and deeply rooted love between Phoebe and Rocky that it just made me wish I had more time with them officially together.

There's so much tension, secrets, and drama in the mid to later parts of this book that had me gagged. It was such a good start to the series and I am invested in reading the future of Phoebe and Rocky!

overall Ꮺ
— This is my favorite arc read yet. I will definitely buy the paperback version of this book and adding it to my collection, as well as going back and annotating my favorite parts.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a fun read.
It has a lot of characters to keep track of, so if you get mixed around with lots of names, keep that in mind.
Annotating would have been soooo helpful.
I really enjoy the FMC and her badass-ery
And rocky is 🤌🏻 chefs kiss.
It was an easy read, I read the whole thing in one sitting because I just didn’t want to put it down.
It’s not crazy spicy but it does have some good spice.
And the banter is everything. Good banter automatically makes a book great imo lol.
I would recommend this book.

I had a lot of fun reading this! Two families of con artists, two best friends looking for a fresh start, a love that can never be acted upon, and a past that can’t be left behind. I really loved both MCs, Phoebe and Rocky, and getting each of their POVs. They had so much chemistry and the slow burn was killer.

I was on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time waiting for the other shoe to drop and not knowing who to trust. I really enjoyed the flashbacks into their life of crime and learning what went down that caused them to leave it all behind. The cast of characters was great and I’m looking forward to learning more about them in the next book, not to mention the wild ending!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the ARC!