Nothing prepares you for finding your sister’s lifeless body covered in blood.
But when the police arrest her ex, a man I know is innocent, I can’t sit by and do nothing.
Not when I’ve been secretly in love with him for years.
Heath may not want my help, but I won’t take no for an answer.
To catch a killer, I’m forced to take a job at Saint View Prison. Maximum security. The place they send the worst of the worst.
But it’s not just Heath who doesn’t want me there.
Rowe, the sinfully sexy head guard has made it clear I don’t belong. I’d tell him where to go with my middle finger up, if my skin didn’t prickle with awareness every time he touches me.
And then there’s Liam, hotshot lawyer and my old high school enemy. All that tension and chemistry is still there, burning between us like flames. I need his help, but I’ll be damned if I beg for it.
With every lie we uncover, every secret we expose, the danger mounts.
Until there’s only one thing we know for sure.
The killer is still out there.
And I’m his next target.
Locked Up Liars is an adult, #whychoose romance, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. This book contains enemies-to-lovers and romantic suspense / dark themes that may trigger some readers. It is the first book in an ongoing trilogy.
USA Today Bestselling author Elle Thorpe is the author of over thirty romance titles, including Amazon top ten books, Start a War and Locked Up Liars. She is best known for her dark reverse harems, and sexy small town romances.
When she's not writing, she's probably out on her family's alpaca farm in rural Australia.
this was fun and good, a lot of build up for the next books but listen i’m ready for some SMUT okay? that’s what i came here for and it delivered i just needed it to deliver reverse haram smut
Omg I loved this. It's even better than the Saint View High series! It's a (slightly) dark adult RH romance set around a prison!!! It had plenty of twists and turns and was a fantastic start to the Saint View Prison series. I loved Mae and her 3 heroes, each of whom bring something unique and different to the romance: –Heath: her sisters ex from years ago who gets sent to prison for her sisters murder (he didn’t do it) –Rowe: one of the prison guards and it’s hate/lust at first sight for him and Mae (and Heath) –Liam: old high school classmate Mae hated/crushed on who’s the lawyer she hires for Heath, wears glasses!!!
I've become such a big Elle Thorpe fan now. I can't wait to read more!
Locked Up Liars is book one in the Saint View Prison series by Elle Thorpe. This is my very first book by this author. It is part of a trilogy and be prepared for cliff hangers! But, all three books are available so there is no waiting from one to the next. I read this surprisingly quickly, because I could not put it down. I love the way Elle Thorpe writes! I was completely engaged from the first page on!
Mae Donovan is twenty seven years old and is a first grade teacher in a private school. She lives with her older sister, Jayela, who is a police woman in their condo they own together. Four years earlier, Jayela had been in a fairly short relationship with Heath Michaelson. Mae had a huge crush on Heath but when they broke up, she hasn’t seen him since. Now four years later, she runs in to him at a bar and he is just as gorgeous as ever. After a night of tequila shots and giggling, Mae and Heath end up back at her place. Only to wake up the next morning to her sister murdered. And Heath is accused of the crime. Only Mae knows in her heart that he didn’t do it.
This was just the very beginning so now you know what I’m saying when I say that there is no putting this book down. A need for a good lawyer for Heath takes Mae to her high school nemesis, now successful lawyer, Liam Banks. Only he’s not the man she thought he was at all.
She also meets one of the prison guards at Saint View Prison where they are holding Heath, Rowe Pritchard. Even though their encounters start out less than enjoyable, something is growing between them, an attraction, or a respect. A pull they can’t ignore.
So now you’ve got all the players. A wrongly accused man, a lawyer with plenty of ghosts haunting him, and a prison guard who also seems to have a dark past but we haven’t learned about it yet. And the woman that will tie them all together, Mae.
This book was amazing. I can’t believe how fast I read it! I’m immediately going on to book two, Solitary Sinners, because I have to see what happens next. So off I go. I hope you might consider jumping in too. You won’t regret it!
Okay, I am so intrigued!! Mae has always had a thing for her sister's ex boyfriend, but she's never done anything about it. When she sees him at a bar, they spend time together and she invites him home. Nothing happens, but they do drink and hang out and crash at her place. When she wakes up, though, she finds him over her sister's dead body. He ends up going to jail fo the murder, but Mae knows he didn't do it. She ends up getting a job in the prison to try to talk to him and find a way out. She ends up starting a relationship with the lawyer and prison guard, as well as her sister's ex. This is a reverse harem, but since this is a series, the relationships aren't really all that developed. We only get development between Mae and the lawyer, and I was dying for more between her and the other two! I do know we get more later on, but I want more now! But I did love the plot trying to figure out who murdered her sister. Things got crazy at the end and that was one wild cliffhanger! I'm definitely picking up book two and I can't wait to see what happens next!!
Everyone is pretty dumb, I couldn’t connect with any of the characters which is kind of sad because the first chapter was very great and promising but it went downhill VERY quicky.
Mae is stupid, this book is NOT a reverse harem, the “connection” with the guys was pretty forced. No chemistry between the characters, badly written, insta-lust/love and not well done either, ugh I just HATE those kinds of books I don’t understand the point, the hype, the need…
I forced myself to not dnf this book because of all the 5 stars reviews and AGAIN I’m disappointed.
I came to the conclusion that all the books pushed by TikTok are just not for me, which I shouldn’t even be surprised considering that I’m not even on trashtok!
I’m seriously concerned about the “book community” when I see this type of books being praised and adulate whereas plenty of amazing books and authors don’t get the recognition they deserves.
I’m pissed, I’m tired of reading mediocre books and I don’t know if I’m the only one feeling this way but my 2022 reading experience wasn’t the best and I feel like it’s going to be the same for 2023. What’s going on with the latest books releases? They all lacks creativity, passion, common sense…etc
Authors are pushing out books so quicky which is probably our fault sure, but all of those books are rushed, badly written, cliche, predictable and copy/paste of popular tropes in order to be the next “TikTok sensation” or whatever.
I’m very concerned, reading is my life, my everything and I feel like there’s a huge shift in the quality/content of plenty of the newer books/authors.
4.6 stars. Such a good start to the series. I’m really enjoying this story so far. The plot is twisting and mysterious and totally gripping. The characters are all unique and likable and complex. The interactions between them so far filled with tension and heat.
I can’t wait to see where this goes. How they get their HEA.
And I am 1000% sure that cliffhanger would’ve fucking tortured me if this wasn’t a complete series now that im reading it.
I NEED to know what the fuck happens next, and how things come together with these four.
Plot Summary : Mae had a pretty plain life until the events of one night changed everything for her. She met her sisters ex and her secret crush Heath one night only to wake up next day with her sister dead and heath being charged for her murder. She knows he is innocent and she is determined to prove that.
She hires the best lawyer and that turns out to be her high school enemy Liam and there is the mysterious guard at the prison named Rowe. All of them are one hell of a team and the chemistry was off the charts hot. Things soon turn steamy and Mae realises that there is much more at work here than what she could have anticipated.
Overall Opinion : The book was pretty amazing and I am totally hooked on the series. The ending shocked me and I can't wait for the next read!
These characters had some crazy chemistry and absolutely loved Liam! Mae was amazing with all the three guys and their connection was obvious. They had a lot of enemies they needed to conquer and their own secrets threatened to destroy them all.
I would definitely recommend this series to all the RH dark romance loving people out there.
I really liked this book! It’s seems to be a book that sets up the rest of the series as not a lot happens plot wise or character wise but I still really enjoyed reading it.
There wasn’t a lot of development between Mae and two of her guys so I’m excited to see how they play out. They are all fairly different but in a more subtle way than other why-chose romances I’ve read. There’s usually the serious one, the funny one, the nice one etc. but here each guy has their own characteristics without it being their whole personality. Not saying there’s anything wrong with that since I still love those why-chose romances but it’s just something different for me. Especially since this isn’t a paranormal or fantasy romance, it makes the characters feel more real in a sense.
I’m excited to see where this series is going! Onto the next book!
Yeah, no, I have questions and need the next book now.
Yeah, that's the review I wrote last October and honestly... I still feel that way. With little romance, but so much tension, I am dying to see what will happen next with this group. Sure, I read it before... last year but I'm still here for this re-read. I also really hate cliffhangers.
The following ratings are out of 5: Romance: 🖤💙❤️💜 Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥 Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘 World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍 Character development: ☹️😮😋😄 Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙 Narration type: Duet Narration
The heroine:May - she is a twenty-sever-year-old elementary school teacher. She lives in a nice condo with her sister Jayla, who is a police detective. She has been in love with Heath, her sister’s ex boyfriend since they first got together. Even though they broke up over four years ago, and her sister was well over Heath, May is reluctant to do anything about it. Though after they meet in a bar one night, she feels a connection with him. Heath and May got drunk together and passed out in her room at the condo she shared with Jayla. Though he woke up in Jayla’s room with Jayla next to him with her throat slashed, and he had no memory of what happened or how he got there.
The Heroes: Heath - he was a stand-up guy who likes to help others, he has a bit of a reputation for rescuing damsels in distress. Heath knows he has had problems with his temper in the past but knew that he didn’t hurt Jayla. Rowe - he is a guard at Saint View Prison. He knew Jayla through work and just met May at the funeral. He is on a baseball team with Liam. Liam - he was a star baseball player in high school. He came from a wealthy family and is a well-respected lawyer now. He’d always had a crush on May and was still attracted to her. He doesn’t like the fact that he often has to defend awful criminals, but he made a lot of money doing it.
The Story: There were definitely things about this book that I didn’t like. Heath was being questioned by a cop who was beating him, and he ended up confessing to a crime he knew he didn’t commit. He was actually confessing to something else, but the cops thought he was confessing to Jayla’s murder. I have no respect for anyone so stupid, so he was hard to like after that. I did like May quite a bit though. She believed in education and when she sees a job posting for a prison teacher to help prisoners who want to get their GED, she grabbed the posting and applied for the job several nights a week.
This audiobook was told in multiple points of view via duet narration and was narrated by Jarmin Day and Stella Hunter. Stella is one of my favorite female narrators, she is so expressive and natural. She has a great voice. This is my first book narrated by Jarmin Day. He has a deep voice, but it isn’t one of my favorites. He seemed stiff and reminded me of a movie announcer at first. I almost expected him to say, “In a world…”. His voice got better as the book went on. The book was pretty good and ended in a huge cliffhanger.
I honestly did not expect that, OMG I did NOT expect that. Yes it has steamy moments, but really the small part of the story- the story that was absolutely amazing!!!!
Why not 5? I absolutely do not like cliffhangers, but heading to buy the next omg because it can’t end like that. Bravo Thorpe I will keep reading!
the writing i actually liked, plot too, but heathhhh. blehh why is he even relevantt
rhetorical, hes absolutely not needed in the story methink (or at least dont deserve to be one of the love interests). mae… is dumb. ok more so annoying. and moronic too actually. had this were only bout heath-mae/focused on em (him as her fav/the obvious main love interest, with more screentime, coz rh authors love to do that), wouldve gotten a 1 star coz while they deserve each other, those weaklings, i am following their story. spare me the dreadful passionate (not) love story yall got u sisters boyfriend piner. them vibes :
the other two however, the lawyer and the guard, has so much potential, if only they were in a better throuple. or at the very very least, a throuple where theres no heth. mae’s tiresome but so are most rh heroines, its a pattern authors love to use. however if the guys are lovable asshole anyway, attractive enough, i could feel the chem, even a story with the daftest most dense idiotic h could be enjoyable. the lawyer-mae-guard potential & writing deserves the +1stars
i call any couples w more than 2 members a throuple be it rh w 4-12 ppl coz polymarhsuhssjjsjwueudu is annoying hearing ok bye
What irritated me the most about this is that, It was. NOT. A. REVERSE. HAREM. 🙄
It was Liam and Mae's story and the author tried to shove Heath and Rowe into it....and I am not okay with it. It was weird af.
Also, the plot twists were so favourable to the characters that it FELT constructed instead of coincidental, which took away the realness of the story. Every good thing just fell into their laps. The story somehow FELT made up.
Idk if that makes sense, but that was all this story was for me.
2nd read I found it even better than I remember. So good I read it in one sitting. I flew through the book.
____
3.5 While reading this I remembered that I don‘t really like reverse harem. Especially in shorter books, I find it difficult to connect with the characters, because there is not enough input to fall in love with the male interests. It was the same in this book. We got a lot of Liam, but I don’t have a favorite. I‘m not invested in one of these men. The closest might be Rowe. Idk.
But all in all, this book was pretty great. The suspense part was really good and I enjoyed it. I‘m a bit sad that we got so less from Heath‘s POV, cuz I think especially with this book, it could have been very fitting and not boring.
Locked Up Liars is book one in the Saint View Prison series by Elle Thorpe and is a spin-off to the Saint View High series.
After seeing Heath at the bar, she invites him back to her place for cocktails and having a bit too much to drink he ends up passing out at her house. Mae wakes up to find him next to her sisters body with blood on his hands. The police assume he’s guilty of murder and forces him into confessing. Mae believes he is innocent and is on a mission to prove it. And things take off quickly from there
The book has that ‘who done it’ mystery feel to it with the possibility of several suspects which makes it hard to guess. You definitely don’t know who to trust with the lies and secrets floating around. It was so intriguing and intense. And that ending was so unexpected. I really liked the secrecy that surrounds each of the guys which has me wanting to know each of their back stories.
There’re so many parts within this story that I enjoyed but I don’t want to spoil anything. You just need to read it for yourself. I can’t wait for the next one
I really enjoyed this book. Not much happened I feel it was really laying the foundation for the rest of the series. I’m really enjoying Liam & Mae together on the outside, I’m hoping to see more of Heath in the next book since this is all centered around him being in jail to begin with.
I’m also really enjoying the suspense and hints of true crime while they try to get to the bottom of everything
I'm reading these books back-to-back so I'll review them all together at the end because I don't remember what was in each book but I am really enjoying these.
This had been on my TBR list FOREVER. So I'm grateful it was on a goodreads list for a reading challenge I was doing. Otherwise, who knows when I would have finally gotten to it. haha.
The ONE con? I wanted more smut. ;x The author did a great job with the character development overall. Each of the men in the harem bring something unique to the dynamic. And Mae is amazing.
First of all, the covers of the books in this series are so damn ugly. Who allowed them to use those pictures 😀. Anyway, I thought this book was pretty mediocre. It’s probably not the book itself, but I just wasn’t a fan of the relationship dynamics and such.
This book follows Mae, a girl who has recently taken up a job at the prison so that she can be around the supposed murderer of her sister. She believes he has been wrongly convicted and has set out to solve the case. In doing so she meets a super sexy lawyer and prison guard and things get interesting.
I personally found this book to be kind of forgettable. The story was good in theory, but I’m not sure it translated. Maybe if it had been between two love interests instead of three I would have meshed better with it, but instead it felt strangely open..? The man on man comments actually took me by surprise (not that that’s a bad thing, I just wasn’t expecting it because the men previously claimed to be straight) and so did the readiness of the men Mae is seeing to be with other men.
I think this book was meant to serve as a sort of introduction to the series and the characters in this series, but instead it jumped into the relationships too fast so it wasn’t that way. Honestly I really don’t have much to say about this book It just really didn’t butter my muffin.
The characters all seemed pretty similar with the exception of Mae. Feelings seemed to come out of nowhere and develop really fast. Not to mention, Heath is pretty in love with Mae after sharing one night together..? A lot of things didn’t really add up and I think if this book wasn’t SO set on being a polyamorous moment then it would be better.
Don’t even get me started on the random modern slang. “Spill the tea sis”? Why would anyone ever write that in a book? And the comment about Brigerton? Gag we with a spoon, that was enough to make me DNF. I gave this book a 3 star because I would recommend it to other who like this kind of stuff, but I also personally would never read it again and i’m not planning on reading the second one.
this was such an interesting start to this series! i love mae and her three heroes and how each man brings something different to the story! i also love that this book has a really decent plot line that i’m very interested in! i enjoy being able to find interesting books with both plot and smut to keep me entertained, so this book was just about perfect. i’m loving muse’s relationship with liam but i am definitely ready to see some RH action in the next book. overall, a very good first book of the series with a solid plot line and a pretty good smut. also the cliffhanger?? i barely even wanted to stop reading to write this review before i moved onto the next book to know what happens next.
“i was just casually surrounded by one man who i was harboring some real feelings for, one man who i’d shared the best kiss of my life with last night, and a third who was just sinfully hot and kinda made me want to jump his bones, even if he was a complete and utter asshole.”
This book is a dark adult romance, why-choose, and a SLOW BURN. It is book one of three in the Saint View Prison series. I was shocked to see how much this book lacked spice for a why-choose book. I did like that the author is building up the story, characters, and their connections with each other. Mae only *kind of* gets one of the three men (Liam, Health, Rowe) before the book ends. There is defiantly tension between some of the men, but we see no MM in this book.
Will I continue to book two? Yes, I will!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I really liked it, and I will recommend the book. I will most likely reread it. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Burning - Explicit open door, at least two intimate scenes, with explicit language with a variety of sexual acts.
(To see my breaking down for ratings, check out my bio)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If enjoy any of the following this is the book for you: -A smoking hot reverse harem romance. -A murder mystery to solve -Enemies-to-lovers -Friends-to-lovers -Second chance romance -Romantic suspense full of twists and turns
Book one in the new Saint View Prison Trilogy. The series is a stand-alone spin-off of Saint View High Series.
The author packs a punch with her books and Locked Up Liars is no exception. This book had me hooked, digging its claws in and holding my breath for more. Flipping through the pages wanting more but not wanting the story to end.
That ending though, brutal. It has left me desperately craving book two.