Reading in the Mountains

Is anyone else here attempting the impossible challenge of reading every single Rina Kent book? Because apparently I hate myself enough to try, and that’s how I ended up with Vow of Deception.

I’m not even going to pretend—I DNF’d the entire Empire of… standalone collection because I was genuinely fighting for my life trying to get through them. They just weren’t for me. And that’s the weird thing with Rina Kent: Legacy of Godsis one of my favorite romance series ever (okay… slight correction, Edge of Darkness still owns my soul), but everything else in the Rinaverse has been very hit-or-miss. Am I alone in this, or does anyone else feel the same?

So naturally, I went into this trilogy praying the Deception wasn’t the actual deception.

Vow of Deception follows Winter Cavanaugh, a woman who’s backed into a corner after finding herself in serious legal trouble. With nowhere left to go, she’s approached by Adrian Volkov—a terrifying billionaire who basically breathes intimidation. His proposal? Pretend to be his dead wife. Simple… except absolutely nothing about Adrian Volkov is simple. As Winter is pulled deeper into his world of lies, manipulation, power plays, and dangerous secrets, the line between pretending and reality starts to disappear. And suddenly, trusting anyone becomes the most dangerous thing she can do.

Now let’s talk about my reading experience.

The first half?

I was bored out of my mind.

I kept waiting for something to happen, checking how many pages I had left every five minutes, questioning my life choices… the usual.

But then, somewhere around the halfway mark, things started clicking. I unexpectedly found myself feeling sorry for Adrian. Then for Winter. Then for both of them.

And don’t even get me started on Jeremy.

Reading this after God of Wrath completely changed the experience because all I could think was, look at this tiny marshmallow before life absolutely destroys him. Every scene with him hit differently knowing the man he’ll eventually become.

One thing I still don’t understand, though… why is this a trilogy? At least after book one, it feels like this story could’ve easily been told in fewer pages. But clearly Rina has something planned because despite my complaints… I’m intrigued.

I need answers.

I need more Adrian.

I need to know what’s really going on with Winter.

And I’m ridiculously excited to finally meet Annika, Jeremy’s little sister.

So yes… I’ll be picking up book two immediately.

If you’ve read this trilogy, let me know—without spoilers! Does it get better? Because right now I’m invested enough to continue, but I’m still waiting for that moment where everything completely blows my mind.

See you in the review for Tempted by Deception.