The Liar by Alexa Rivers
I thought he was my happily ever after, but everything between us has been a lie.
When I discover my husband married me under false pretenses, I want nothing more to do with him. I don’t care if he claims to love me. He broke my trust. Unfortunately, divorcing him could jeopardize a massive sting operation.
Apparently, the charming liar isn’t a bartender–he’s an undercover federal agent who married me to gain access to my colleagues. He’s investigating a network of dirty cops, and if I blow his cover, all of the progress he’s made will be lost.
The fastest way to get rid of him is to help him finish his case, but doing so plunges me headfirst into danger. The trouble is, I’m not sure which I’m most worried about: the risk to my life, or to my heart.
- File Name:the-liar-by-alexa-rivers.epub
- Original Title:The Liar: A Marriage In Trouble Romantic Suspense
- Creator:A. Rivers
- Language:en
- Identifier:uuid:58698f49-e8fa-4545-8e64-30f1e87f5cf5
- Publisher:Two Roads Press Limited
- Date:2024-10-03T00:00:00+00:00
- File Size:572.788 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Copyright
- 3. Contents
- 4. Dedication
- 5. Prologue – Four Months Earlier
- 6. Chapter 1
- 7. Chapter 2
- 8. Chapter 3
- 9. Chapter 4
- 10. Chapter 5
- 11. Chapter 6
- 12. Chapter 7
- 13. Chapter 8
- 14. Chapter 9
- 15. Chapter 10
- 16. Chapter 11
- 17. Chapter 12
- 18. Chapter 13
- 19. Chapter 14
- 20. Chapter 15
- 21. Chapter 16
- 22. Chapter 17
- 23. Chapter 18
- 24. Chapter 19
- 25. Chapter 20
- 26. Chapter 21
- 27. Chapter 22
- 28. Chapter 23
- 29. Chapter 24
- 30. Epilogue – 4 Months Later
- 31. Excerpt from Fighter’s Heart
- 32. Also by A. Rivers
- 33. Acknowledgments
- 34. About the Author
The Liar, Book 4 of the King's Security series, was about "Westly/West Gallo", a pretend bartender/undercover federal agent, and Joanna Lee, a homicide detective in Chicago.
Joanna had "won" a train trip through some obscure contest. During that trip she met West, who supposedly also won a similar contest. Unknown to Joanna was the fact that West, and his FBI co-workers, had set the whole thing up in order for him to meet her so he could infiltrate her precinct that was purported to be full of dirty cops. Four months later, they were "married", although Joanna wasn't aware that it wasn't a legally binding marriage since West was using a fake identity.
When Joanna and her partner walked past a coffee shop on their way to a crime scene, she happened to glance into the window where she spotted her new husband holding hands with another woman. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to focus on her marriage possibly falling apart and turned her thoughts to her job instead.
When Joanna confronted him later that night, he continuously lied to her face...again. Then he tried to use sex to convince her of his sincerity, as he said in his own words, "...so I could comfort her the only way I knew how: by worshiping her body.". But she was still too hurt and didn't allow him to have his way.
Within the following days as her marriage slowly started unraveling, Jo learned more about West and the fact that he wasn't who he said he was. She also learned that his real name was Weston Conti, a federal agent. In the process, she was informed her marriage wasn't real either since the paperwork West filed had been under his alias and not his real name, along with the fact that the trip she supposedly won had been a lie as well. Feeling ill, she told her boss she was headed home for the day, and confronted her fake husband with what she knew. He didn't even bother to deny he had been lying. When she told him to move out, he used a touch of blackmail to force her to continue with the fake marriage. When he refused to leave, Jo packed a bag and went to her friend's house, a female bodyguard who worked in a security office. After talking with her about the situation, the two of them came up with a plan.
The more Jo and her partner investigated their homicide case, the more embroiled Jo's fake husband became in it. The more he became involved, the further he dragged Jo into his mess. It was an absolute push/pull relationship from that point on.
This story was full of the usual angst, drama, heartache, and controversy. The tropes were bountiful and overflowing to the point of being a bit overwhelming. Even the emotional rollercoaster, with its twists and turns, couldn't save this novel from being more than a little unbelievable.
Both main characters, while fully developed and somewhat mature, needed to have a bit more background information on them. The author never truly fleshed them out, so they were somewhat too one-dimensional and flat. Oh sure the FMC, being a homicide detective, was a bit of a badass mama, but even that couldn't hide the flaws the author left glaringly obvious. Not only did she appear weak where her fake hubby was concerned, but she forgave him way too fast. There was barely any focus on the relationship because everything was focused on the crime/drama/plot errors, to the point that the relationship became more of an afterthought than the focal point of the story. While the title pointed to the story being about "the liar", that wasn't the focus of the book either. Everything revolved around the crime, thereby detracting from the romance of the story. So much so, that this book could easily have been placed under the category of Crime or even Thriller. But it definitely wasn't romance.
I honestly could not give this anything higher than a three-star rating. because the author left so many things unfinished and dangling in the wind. It was a rush job that left a lot to be desired, and in that, it was quite disappointing.