Name: The Lying Game
ISBN: 9781729162491

Mickey Miller

Amazon Bestselling Author Mickey Miller brings you the first book of a sexy new duet.Living with a sexy-as-sin roommate in a luxury penthouse should be a fantasy brought to life, right?Not when it's Carter Flynn--my teenage crush--who hates my guts.When I

The Lying Game

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This was more of a 2.5 or maybe a 3 star rating but I dropped it to 2 stars because it has a cliffhanger ending and I hate those with the fire of 100o suns. If this hadn't been free under Kindle Unlimited and I paid for the book, I would have been pissed. That's how much I loathe cliffhangers. Authors - please, if you care at all about your readers, stop this nonsense.

Anyway, the story.

Some elements worked for me, some really didn't. The story started off well enough - childhood friends (and now enemies) Lacy and Carter find themselves reluctant roommates when Lacy's lodging falls through at the last minute for her 8 week dance audition in Chicago. Seemed like a good set up for an enemies to lovers plot line though as some reviewers have mentioned, the author didn't really put any new spin on things (which let's face it, is not easy to do with romance tropes). 

Lacy makes friends with Lance, a gay dancer also in her audition group and at first he seemed almost like a "flamboyant gay man" caricature but he grew on me as his character developed and I got to actually like him (and his bf Joseph). 

Carter continues to have one night stands and abides by his rule of spending no more than 24 hours with any woman - why oh why do so many romance books feature men like this? Are there really this many emotional stunted men running around who can't form a relationship b/c of a relatively minor hurt in his (long ago) youth? 

Carter never got over Lacy's terrible betrayal when she was 16 and they dated in high school so he likes to keep his womens at a distance and all. And just what was this massive betrayal? The one we hear about over and over for chapters and chapters until the reveal? Turns out Lacy (view spoiler)[eavesdropped and heard her mother and Carter's mother talking. She found out that his dad wasn't dead like his mom told him his whole life. Lacy's mother then (rightfully) tells her not to say anything to Carter and that it was between him and his mother, so Lacy doesn't say anything. When Carter finds out, he's livid she didn't tell him and he cuts ties with her. (hide spoiler)] OK so I get this from a high school boy. But Lacy apologized a million times over years and still, he hated her - for like a decade. Seriously? What does 27 year old Carter think 16 year old Lacy should have done? His massive grudge-holding made him seem petty and immature to me.

The two play some games of trying to make the other one jealous while denying their attraction to each other until they finally give in to it. So after they get the hate sex out of their system, the rest of the story is really a bunch of sex while they deny their actual feelings for each other. Lacy tries to make a go of a relationship with him but he doesn't want that, so she pulls away. Then he wants her back so he's nice to her and they have more sex. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I found most of their arguments to be repetitive - sometimes almost verbatim. How many times do they need to rehash high school? Carter's hookups? Etc etc.

At some point, Carter decides he's going to track down a long lost relative (avoiding spoilers) so he does a DNA test and (view spoiler)[bam, wouldn't you know it, he not only finds his dad but his fellow NBA teammate and friend is his brother! Someone call Dr. Phil or Maury or something and get these guys on the air! At first, he thinks his dad is the same as his teammate's dad but - plot twist! - that guy has an identical twin so they are either brothers or cousins. (hide spoiler)]

Carter then hires a PI who is somehow able to uncover all sorts of info on this person (view spoiler)[who turns out to have mob connections, is filthy rich, has plans to run for Senate, and has fathered children all over the country that somehow he will keep out of the press so he can get elected. Wut. All that was missing in the PI's report was evidence of mustache twirling and a maniacal laugh. (hide spoiler)] Outlandish, to say the least.

I feel like if the story had left out the rather silly angle on Carter's relative and Carter's teammate, it would have been a whole lot better. If Lacy's "betrayal" had been a little more recent than 10 years ago or a lot less "not really her fault", that would have worked better also. The "relative" plot line falls under "jumping the shark" to me.

Carter also smirked waaaay too much. Like ever other paragraph, he was smirking. I bet it's one of those words that a writer overuses completely without realizing it but it's extremely obvious to readers.

Aside from the issues noted above, Lacy and Carter feel like real people, which not all authors manage to pull off. I also liked the "Laces" and "Cartwheel" nicknames. I felt that Lacy's feelings were far easier to understand and seemed natural under the circumstances - Carter's, as mentioned, not so much. Lacy though is a doormat lacking self-respect.

I'm struggling to get through book 2 (also free on KU and I only picked it up b/c it was free and I wanted to see where things went with this whole dad-mess). Book 2 is mostly ridiculous thus far (75% in) and the two of them are still having the same arguments and insecurities.

Amazon Bestselling Author Mickey Miller, brings you the second book of a sexy new duet.We went through all that just to be strangers again.Carter Flynn might love me.But I'm done with him.He may well be the sexiest man I've ever been with, but he has a dark side.It's a hard decision, but I say this relationship is over.Carter begs to differ.I just embrace my new life in New York as a dancer.It goes smoothly until Carter sees me walking home one morning...after I've been out all night at the club with a new man.If we have a happily ever after coming to us, I sure can't see it.The End Game is Book 2 of the Love Games Duet, Mickey Miller's newest steamy contemporary romance series.

The End Game

Oh.My.Goodness. Sadly this was a complete train wreck. The first book in this duet was decent but not without issues. Turns out the biggest issue with the first book is that the story didn't stop there and now we've been subjected to this one. Look, do yourself a favor and skip this one. If you read the first one, just assume their work their shit out and end up happy and you'll be better off saving yourself from slogging through this mess.

The blurb for this book is practically non-existent so I have some mild and major spoilers ahead and have marked this review accordingly. Read at your own risk. :)

I've already mentioned how much I despise cliff hangers but this duet is particularly an egregious offender since it would actually have been much better as a single book. If the author had focused on the relationship between Lacy and Carter, come up with some reasonable turn of events for Carter to grow the hell up and act his age, and had the HEA, that would have been a vast improvement over what readers got, which was repetitious, nonsensical, and frankly at times so unbelievable that I developed a severe case of eyeroll-itis. 

This book would have been less bad if the author had done some research - any research at all - into anything, including the basics of DNA testing, organ donation, counseling/therapy, or law enforcement. It's laughably bad in places. 

In this installment in the duet, we find Lacy in New York working on her dance career and Carter still in Chicago playing ball. Carter was able to hire The World's Best Private Investigator to find (view spoiler)[his deadbeat dad (hide spoiler)], and by that, I mean that some PI is able to uncover facts that actual law enforcement can't find and apparently has major connections and some sort of security clearance. Mm hmm. If a PI was able to find out about this person's criminal activity, there's no way none of it surfaces with them running for US Senate.

Here's Carter and Lacy chatting about what the PI found out about: (view spoiler)[
  

  “Well, according to the reports, he has mob connections and owns a chain of warehouses,” Carter says. 

“What’s so bad about owning warehouses?” 

He swallows. “He uses those warehouses to run an international drug dealing operation.” 

My eyes widen. “Holy shit. Which drugs?” 

“It’s mostly a cocaine operation.” Carter takes a deep breath. “The point is, he’s a powerful billionaire. If we ever raise a paternity suit in public, it would lead to a lot of digging around in his personal and business life that he wouldn’t want exposed. It would likely ruin his political career, and then some. So we need to tread lightly about that. He’s a shady motherfucker.” Carter stops walking and stares out into the distance. 

“But, what are you scared of? What do you think he’d actually do?” 

“When my mom finally told me the truth about him, she shared her biggest fear was that he would kill me and get away with it.” 

My eyes bulge, and I feel my stomach twisting. As shady as Jeff Doonsbury is, I have a hard time processing the fact that he could be a murderer, too. “You don’t think he’d do that for real though, do you?”

 “I don’t know what he’s capable of, honestly.”
 (hide spoiler)]

Carter tries to grow up and be a big boy and deal with his issues by seeing a therapist and man, were those scenes terrible. His therapist makes judgmental comments, displays frustration and other emotions with him, and talks to him like a friend at the bar instead of a licensed professional therapist. He later punches a tree b/c he can't have Lacy and breaks his hand, leaving him off the team for the season. Seriously what kind of pro athlete would do something that stupid? He is seriously immature.

Major spoiler-train ahead - click at your own risk. :)

(view spoiler)[He then decides to go to Costa Rica to track down his dad and asks Lacy to go with him as a friend "for support". Lacy goes from basically telling him to eff off moments before to "sure, I'll go to a foreign country with you and stay in a beach house together while you track down your deadbeat dad....but only as friends." Mmm hmm, sure. This woman needs to seriously grow a spine. Of course you know they hooked up again after like a day. I will try to ignore that it took them 5 hours to drive to the beach from the airport but only 2 hours to drive back.

So off they go. Somehow, despite his dad being a drug dealing billionaire, Carter is able to walk up to his McMansion unfettered by security and miraculously finds Pops outside his house and they have a chat. Um, yeah right. I've been to Costa Rica and I'm certainly no billionaire criminal and even the house we stayed in had security. In the mountains. Barely accessible by car. No way a guy like this is right off a public beach and has no security.

Anyhoo, as expected, his dad is a jerk but he does at least tell Carter that if he pursues things, Lacy will get hurt. So here's a guy who your PI told you had mob connections and is deep in the drug trade and might be a murderer so I think it would be wise to maybe take Pop's word on this one. At first Carter does, but then for no reason, he apparently forgets the major threat his dad made and decides that it's a great idea to go public and "out" his father, as well as reveal that his teammate is his brother. He never really says what he hopes to gain by doing this, much less why it's worth the risk to do so. It's just dumb.

Then he gets a threatening call telling him to withdraw the story about his father and his brilliant conclusion: this must be my childhood friend (Liam Blackwell from....their home town of Blackwell) pranking me. Carter is not only emotionally crippled and immature, he's dumb as a box of rocks.

So back to the US they go (earlier than planned b/c Lacy saw that a past f-buddy texted Carter and now she's all hurt and upset that other women still have his phone number). Lacy continues on alone from Chicago to New York and ends up sitting next to a woman she strikes up a conversation with. They meet up for coffee days later in the city and the woman shows her a pic of one of her clients cozied up to Carter. Lacy thinks he's cheating and breaks up (again) with him. Turns out, the woman was an operative of Carter's dad - how the hell did she just happen to be assigned in the seat next to Lacy on the plane, especially when Lacy had to reschedule her flight multiple times? Mm hmm. 

Lacy then gets a call from her family that her dad is in the hospital due to liver failure after being an alcoholic for years and is on the brink of death. According to the doc, they just need to wait for someone to die and he can get a new liver. That is SO not how this works. I mean, at a high level it is, but given that he's an alcoholic who is still drinking, the odds are about zero that he would get one. Yet I've never seen a dude get a liver faster than this guy.

This story really goes off the rails with the "grand finale". Lacy and Carter have broken up over his supposed cheating and so she is staying by herself in her friend's apartment in Chicago. 

Meanwhile. Carter and his PI have a little chat:
“The man is as shady as shady comes. It’s as though legalities don’t apply to him. He’s like the fucking mob, Carter, If he wants the Senate, he’ll smear the opposition, pay people off, whatever it takes. I don’t know how he convinced Lacy that you weren’t faithful. But he’s done crazier shit in his heyday. You don’t father seventeen kids, just because you like to fuck, and then pay people off continuously without incurring any debt. He’s got people in debt to you. Goddamnit Carter, I feel like I’m teaching you Mafia 101 here.” 

A chill spreads over my body. “I guess I just... didn’t think it was this serious. I thought he’d be a little pissed, but I can’t believe all this.”

I mean, I guess he forgot all of the other times this PI has told him the same thing and the fact that his father threatened him directly. Either that, or this is a whole new level of stupid. 
 
An assailant gets into the apartment and ties her up, then waits for Carter to show up because of course he will know to come to this place at 1am for no reason at all. But that's what he does after his chat with the PI - convenient how that plays into the bad guys' plans, eh? So now the assailant has Lacy and Carter tied up and at gun point and that's when Carter's dad shows up. This is a big nope. If you're a criminal billionaire who has political aspirations, you don't get your hands dirty. You sure don't show up to a double murder scene that you arranged.

Filed under "Additional Ridiculous Circumstances". the dad reveals another secret. He hit on Lacy's mother back in the day and when she said no, he got mad and burned down the plant where Lacy's dad worked and somehow turned him into an alcoholic. He also blocked her dad from getting another job anywhere and threatened him if he ever revealed who the real arsonist was. And he calls himself The Undertaker - IS THE AUTHOR SERIOUS WITH THIS SHIT RIGHT NOW? 

But wait, there's more. The assailant is actually yet another one of this guy's kids but somehow Carter and Lacy (which I just wanted to type Cagney and Lacy...) convince him not to kill them and they turn the tables on the dad. Carter then says this to the man who chloroformed his girlfriend, held a gun on them, and planned to kill them moments before:

“It’s over,” he says, then takes a deep breath. “It’s over. Thank you Derrick. You did the right thing.” Carter swallows, pausing. “Brother.

What.The.Hell?

But Carter's idiocy doesn't stop there. Nope. Instead of calling the cops, he decides to call his PI. For real? The FBI ends up showing up and says that they have been investigating the dad for awhile thanks to the PI bringing his criminal enterprise to their attention. Wow, the FBI must be totally incompetent then if a PI can do a better job.

Maybe in this book world, that's true because the FBI says:
“You haven’t called the police yet about this, have you?” We both shake our heads. “Good. Don’t. For now. We need some time to gather evidence for our case.” A few minutes later, another agent comes by the apartment, and tells Carter and I we are free to go.
People have been held hostage and threatened with murder, shots have been fired, and people have been hit - including the dirtbag dad who has a serious gunshot wound. There's no way in hell they would be released from the scene with no questions asked moments after the cops got there. Also no one seems to think about calling an ambulance either.

A little while after the attempted murder incident, they get this update from the PI implying that he is in the know on matters sensitive enough to involve the president (again who the HELL is this PI and how connected is this dude, anyway?)
“With the sort of criminal behavior he was engaged in— and the fact that he was running for Senate— the order for his indictment came from on high.” 
Carter’s arm wraps tight around my waist. “So what are you saying? That the president…?” 

“I didn’t say that. You said that. And I can neither confirm nor deny the president’s intervention.

Towards the end of the main story (before the epilogues and HEA),  (hide spoiler)]Carter says this and I couldn't agree with him more:
“Our relationship is like a Latin soap opera gone very, very wrong.”
I think that's an insult to Latin soap operas, personally.