Reading in the Mountains

All the Lies doesn’t begin with answers — it begins with smoke, fractured memories, and the suffocating feeling that something horrifying is buried just beneath the surface. Reina Ellis wakes up trapped inside a life she can’t remember, engaged to a man who looks at her like she’s both a punishment and an obsession waiting to happen.

And Asher Carson?

That man does not feel like a savior.  

He feels like the type of man who would stand in the middle of a burning world with his hands in his pockets just to see if you’d survive the flames.

A dead girl. A fire. A past stitched together with lies.  

And somehow the truth feels far more dangerous than the missing memories.

Now listen… I was INVESTED in this mess immediately.

The mystery aspect completely carried me through the first part of the book because I needed answers like oxygen. Reina’s memory loss actually worked for me here because it made everything feel paranoid and off-balance in the best way possible. Everyone knows something. Everyone is hiding something. And poor girl is walking around with a destroyed memory, dead parents, police breathing down her neck, and somehow they’re all convinced she started the fire because of a switched bracelet? Absolutely suspicious behavior from everybody involved.

But honestly? I’m way more interested in the sister storyline because there is NO way that’s the full truth.

And Asher… God.  

That man is such an asshole but unfortunately he’s MY asshole now.

I adored him. Cold, obsessive, emotionally constipated, dramatic for absolutely no reason — exactly the kind of Rina Kent man designed in a laboratory to ruin my peace. The mob aspect added such a good layer to the story too. It gave the whole book this darker atmosphere that worked perfectly with the mystery.

What shocked me the most though was OLD Reina.

Because why was she genuinely awful???

Like ma’am… Ash starts looking emotionally stable and saint-like compared to whatever pre-amnesia Reina had going on. I actually caught myself hoping the memory loss came with a personality transplant because old Reina sounded exhausting to survive.

The chemistry between them isn’t fully THERE yet for me emotionally — the attraction is obvious, the tension is tensioning, but I still want a stronger connection between them. I’m hoping that develops more either by the end or in the second book because YES, this is a duet and Rina Kent absolutely knew what she was doing ending it like that.

Also Ash being friends with Aiden?  

I’m sorry but that tiny detail made me ridiculously happy. Royal Elite crumbs will always work on me.

I gave this 4⭐ because it felt different from the Royal Elite series in a way I actually needed. Same dark obsession energy, but with fresher drama and a more mystery-heavy plot. I did predict most of what happened pretty early on, but honestly? I was still fully entertained.

And Ash? Perfection. No notes.

I’m still desperately hoping Reina was somehow switched with her sister because I refuse to emotionally recover from the existence of old Reina.

Anyway… catch me immediately running to the second book right after I finish the new H. D. Carlton release because apparently peace is not an option anymore.