Best friends Phoebe and Hailey were raised by con artists and have been drifters for their entire lives. After their last con job in Carlsbad goes awry for unknown reasons, Hailey convinces Phoebe to make a break from their deceptive families and move to a small town in Connecticut to live an honest life, without conning. But their plans go south right from the get-go when Hailey’s brother Rocky, who has a complicated relationship with Phoebe, insists on accompanying Hailey and Phoebe to Connecticut. Will Hailey, Phoebe, and Rocky be able to stay on the straight and narrow, or will they be sucked back into their parents’ conning lifestyles?
I haven’t read Krista and Becca Ritchie’s popular Addicted or Calloway Sisters series, but I have seen them talked about a lot on social media, so I knew I had to give their newest release, the first book in the Webs We Weave series, a try!
Dishonestly Yours is a dark and suspenseful romance featuring the boy obsessed and forbidden love tropes. It would be perfect for fans of books like Dark Succession by Katee Robert, Things We Left Behind by Lucy Score, and Twisted Lies by Ana Huang. Themes and topics present in Dishonestly Yours include family and parenthood, love and heartbreak, deception and revenge, truth and lies, appearance versus reality, sense of self, grief, trust and loyalty, secrets, manipulation, found family and friendship, abuse and r*pe, mental health, and good versus evil.
Dishonestly Yours was a little slow to start and you spend the beginning of the novel waiting for Phoebe and Hailey to inevitably get caught or brought into a con. The novel wasn’t about pulling off a big high-stakes con, like in Ocean’s 8 or The Italian Job, like you might expect, although there were some brief flashbacks throughout describing previous cons that the families had pulled. I feel like it’s important to mention that some of the con flashbacks could be disturbing or graphic for some readers.
Rocky and Phoebe’s “will they/ won’t they” spicy tension was a definite plus and will keep you turning pages. Various mystery or suspense elements were enjoyable (like what happened to Phoebe and Hailey in Carlsbad that made them give up conning?) as they keep you engaged and guessing throughout. Even though it was slow to start, I got more invested in and excited about the plot around the two-thirds mark as this is when the action and suspense really started to ramp up. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Dishonestly Yours ends fairly abruptly in a cliffhanger, which was frustrating because the book was really starting to get exciting in the last few chapters. However, it will be interesting to see where the story goes in book two! Dishonestly Yours focuses on Rocky and Phoebe and I’m hoping to see more of Hailey’s story in book two as I enjoyed her “Funshine Bear” optimism and bookish personality.
Dishonestly Yours was darker in nature than what I usually read, and it was slow to start but it was still enjoyable, especially Rocky and Phoebe’s steamy slow burn romance.
Dishonestly Yours is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Starting fresh is the only way Phoebe can escape a life of crime, but her best friend’s older brother complicates honest dreams in this gripping new series from the authors of the Addicted series.
Phoebe Graves grew up in a family where deception and seduction are as commonplace as breathing. The Graves and her best friend Hailey’s family have been on the run their whole lives, but after a high-stakes con job goes south, Phoebe and Hailey decide to run away and start over. The small Connecticut town they settle in seems too good to be true.
The biggest flaw in their plan is Hailey’s frustratingly handsome brother, Rocky, who insists on coming with them. Living honestly isn’t in his DNA, and his past with Phoebe is downright messy. He’s everything she wants, but nothing she can have.
Phoebe worries that Rocky will tempt them back into their old ways, where lying is second nature. She doesn’t want Rocky to mess up the new life she’s begun for herself. The longer she stays in town, the more she realizes what it means to have a reputation—and what a normal life with the man she loves could look like.
