Savage Lies (Hidden Valley Elite Book 1) by Isla Vaughn – Review by Shea Gilkerson 4/7/23

Savage Lies: A High School Bully Romance by Isla Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Riley and her mom are closer than most mothers and daughters. That comes with the territory when you spend your lives on the run from a psychotic and dangerous ex. They’ve made their lives about blending in, getting their mark and getting out before he can pin down their location again. Last time he caught up with them, her dad almost killed her mom. It makes it a lot harder when they return to a place from a year ago and especially when her mom gets a boyfriend and tells her to forget everything she taught her and enjoy her senior year of high school. MUCH easier said than done.

Cole is elite amongst the rich and elite of his peers. He is king of the high school, king of the football field, king of his fights…all the girls want him and all the guys want to be him. But he can’t get his mind off the girl who invaded his life a year ago and left him with an unbearably hot kiss. That kiss was from none other than Riley, when they were in the area a year ago. She looked different then, with her hair dyed dark and her emo garb – and he was drunk at a house party. But she never left his mind.

The first day Riley walks in to school, it starts. The harassment from the elite, Cole seeking her out and being threatening. When his dad, whom he hates, calls and tells him not to worry about the rental house showing movement because he is letting a friend crash there, Cole finds Riley there and immediately wonders how things will be explained.

Before long, they find that they are even less likely to be able to avoid one another at all. They both equally hate and lust for one another, pushing and pulling and stealing moments they can’t resist.

There are a lot of layers to these characters and they play very well off of one another. The story is like dangling a carrot, you can’t stop turning the pages to see what happens next. There is a prequal that shares the experience from a year before book 1, but it isn’t necessary to read to understand this book – it just adds some extra when you see they ways they are all trying to survive. Book 1 ends on a great cliffhanger, cannot wait for book 2!

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