Deceptively Yours by Anise Storm
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another win in the world of the Titans, this time with book 1! I was so excited to read this. Not my first and a million percent not my last read of Ms. Storms. The prose is fantastic, the passion and anger are as red hot as ever, the decisions the characters make in their lives and how they effect the others are as angsty and grief filled and loving and electric as ever.

Gabriel and Harper are children of the Titans. As teenagers they’ve been insulated for a lot of their lives, but they have also had a lifetime to feel the magnetism and special relationship possible amongst one another. Their first kiss was at age 7 and it began to cement just how much they belonged to one another forever. Gabriel was a hot shot athlete who was waiting to make the call on where he wanted to attend college, but all that mattered to him was being where Harper was. They had their entire lives mapped out, full of hope and excitement for the future and the steps they’d be taking together as they entered adulthood…until tragedy happened and Harper was whisked away across the country with barely enough time for whispered promises between them.

Just like that, they were separated and feeling lost except for the tethers that bind them together. They were so sure nothing would ever come between them for long, but Harper is forced to endure another trauma and horror, and her shame and guilt lead to a lie in order to protect Gabriel and it begins a decade of anguish, bitterness, hatred and shame. She begins to try to reach out to Gabriel, but the only burning emotions he feels is hatred and anger for her and he denies her requests. They end up being brought together unexpectedly, and Harper takes advantage of her opportunity to get his attention, even if it only brings more pain by causing him to lash out at someone he thought he once knew. Whatever it takes to get him to take notice and listen to her…she’s willing to take the heat. Her guilt and shame for lying to Gabriel has hung over her for her entire adult life.

Gabriel has never lost his passionate heat towards Harper, but it morphed from love to hate with Harper’s decision ten years ago. He wants to burn her with his disgust, but it isn’t the only thing still burning after all these years…they are both adults now, with many life experiences and choices behind them and have become different than the young adults that were so sure love could conquer all. He wants her to feel his disgust for her, to make her feel the pain of his heartbreak as starkly as he does. Will he ever give her a chance to say what she’s been trying to tell him all this time? Will their passion and magnetism burn as brightly as it always has, or will the flames of betrayal outburn them?

Another absolute win, there are some traumatic experiences in this book as a warning.

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