Book Stats
- Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from Booksprout🖤
- Series: Book 2 of the Storm Security series
- Publication Date: 01/05/26
- Format: ebook
- Chapters: 31
- Pages: 334
- Narrator POV: Told in 1st person & alternates between the 2 main characters – Zane and Sorine
Book Rating
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
Summary & Review
This is book 2 of the series. For our review of book 1, Ruthless Protector, check out this link!
I loved the first book of this series so much and I was so excited to get access to Ruthless Lies as soon as it was made available as an ARC.
I’m also happy to report that on the content warning page, it states “Please be aware that as this series progresses, subsequent books will explore even darker themes and situations”. While this is meant as a warning, I took it as THERE WILL BE MORE BOOKS!!! I was so excited when I read this because at this point, I have no idea how many books are expected to be in the series.
Alright, so from the first book, we know that Sorine and Zane are rivals who are also dating and have an uneasy professional alliance. At the end of book 1, Zane finds out for certain that Khaos is Sorine and that’s where we left off. A huge cliffhanger that kept us impatiently waiting for more.
Well at last the time has come! We get to see where Sorine and Zane’s relationship and work partnership go from here.
Karin Winter is a phenomenal writer who really brings out the tension between characters. She built up this entire relationship, just to potentially destroy it and now we get to see how she builds things back up again. I LOVE tension and longing in books and this author does such a great job with it.
In Ruthless Lies, the main characters explore their feelings about each other and the situations they’ve wound up in. They are constantly thrown into dangerous situations, while still trying to figure out how to get a dangerous weapon out of the hands of horrible people who plan to use it for evil.
They both try to fight their ever growing attraction because they’re rivals who have hurt each other, suffered betrayals, and believe they don’t deserve a normal, happy love/ life. It’s beautiful and tragic and wonderfully done.
I gave this one 4 stars because while I still absolutely loved it, but it didn’t quite stick with me the way book 1 did. However, I definitely enjoyed it and still can’t wait to devour the rest of the series once it’s written.
I gave 2 chili peppers because there’s some kissing and 2 intimate scenes. As with the first book, this one has spice, but it’s not an overly spicy book. If spice isn’t your thing, I would still suggest giving this book a try because with the plot and characters, there’s so much more going on than just the romance aspects.
Check your trigger warnings, though, because Karin Winter does give us more backstory for the characters, most of which is dark and traumatic.
Also, there’s another cliffhanger. I should’ve expected it after book 1, but dang. I have to continue to impatiently wait until she releases the next book!
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