Liars: A Dark High School Romance

by J.L. Weil

KAYLOR
I never fully understood the depth of sayings like what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger—until I nearly died.
Orphaned on a Friday night. Living in hell by Saturday.
My godfather is anything but loving, and his sons… They’re pure evil.
The most tragic night of my life turned into a living nightmare—one I couldn’t wake up from, couldn’t run from, and couldn’t escape.
Imprison me.
Torment me.
Shame me.
But they don’t realize I’m already ruined.
The Corvo boys love to use me as their punching bag, their plaything, their excuse for cruelty. But pain is a language I learned to speak long before they sharpened their knives. Nothing Raine, Kreed, Maddox, and Mason do to me can compare to what I’ve already endured.
You can’t shatter something that’s already in pieces.
And I refuse to let the Corvo boys be the ones who finally destroy me.

KREED
Kaylor Steele is everything I despise.
Looking at her, I don’t see the beauty, hurt, and innocence everyone else does.
All I see is red—blinding rage, pain, and loathing.
My father welcomes her into our home, but that isn’t enough. He wants my brothers and me to monitor her.
Oh, with pleasure.
I have plans for the little raven, the broken girl they all whisper about. She’s a target. A weakness. A game I fully intend to win.
She doesn’t know the rules. She’s a nobody at Elmwood Public. This is my school. My rules. And there’s only one way this ends.
With her on her knees.
Begging.
Broken.
Bruised.
At least that was the plan…
LIARS is a full-length 90k+ dark high-school romance novel, the first in the Crew of Elmwood Public series. Although this series contains four sexy bad boys, this is not a why choose romance and ends on a cliff-hanger. It is recommended for 17+ due to language, violence, drugs, bullying, sex trafficking, and drinking.

Genres: Enemies To Lovers, Dark Romance, High School, Fiction, Dark

384 pages, Paperback

Published May 25, 2025

About the author

USA TODAY Bestselling author J.L. Weil lives in Illinois where she writes Teen & New Adult Paranormal Romances about spunky, smart mouth girls who always wind up in dire situations. For every sassy girl, there is an equally mouthwatering, overprotective guy. Of course, there is lots of kissing. And stuff.

An admitted addict to Love Pink clothes, raspberry mochas from Starbucks, and Jensen Ackles. She loves gushing about books and Supernatural with her readers.

She is the author of the International Bestselling Raven & Divisa series.

www.jlweil.com

Reviews

[❥ KAT ❥ Kitty Kats Crazy About Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚 𝐋I𝐀R𝐒 📚 Is the first full length high school romance novel within the 'Crew of Elmwood Public' series by new to me author J.L. Weil. Spoken in dual perspectives Kaylor & Kreed.

4.5 Little Raven Stars

Whilst hunting down my next read, I stumbled across this. Read the blurb, grabbed it and jumped right in. And didn’t look back.

The very first chapter pulls you down a dark tunnel of disbelief as Kaylor’s family is out celebrating her mother’s birthday two men in masks reign down hell on her family, leaving her as the soul survivor.

Her father stipulated in a will that if anything happened to them she was to stay with her godfather until she turns eighteen. A godfather she never knew existed. Had never even met.

Thrust into a whole new world. From private school, to public school, leaving her friends behind. And the only home she knew. But what makes it worse is this man’s sons. Not one, two or three, but four devilishly handsome men.

Raine - the eldest by 2 years (is away at the University of Dalton)
Kreed
Maddox & Mason (double the trouble/twins)



'𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝙺𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍. 𝙸𝚗 𝚊 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚢.
𝙸𝚏 𝙺𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚙 𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚖𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚁𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚖𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚑, 𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗.'

'𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝙺𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚘𝚡, 𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜.'

'𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚘𝚡 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎,
𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚞𝚙𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚠𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚝.
𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚍𝚐𝚎.
𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗'𝚜 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑, 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚝𝚕𝚎.
𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎.'

But she’s drawn to one of them, Kreed..

Not gonna lie, he was my pick of the bunch too..tall, dark and broody..

These boys make up 'The Raven Crew' they are idolised, feared, untouchable.

Twists and turns, had me glued to the pages, this was pegged as dark, but I personally don’t think it is.

After reading this and diving head first down that cliffy I'm definitely keen to read the next book in this series..*Teaser used is off the authors facebook page*

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[Brblake · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the Love of Kreed!!!!

Oh lord this woman has done it again….. another cliff ive been left dangling from… Kaylor is an amazing FMC whobhas been through it and Kreed from the start seems so set… the way these two effortlessly fall into each other and the back n forth banter..!!! love it add Maddox (cant wait to figure out his angle) and an amazing bestie… ugh i could go on forever…. unmasked cant come fast enough for me..!!! and a twist you absolutely dont see coming…. jump in if you dare..!!!!

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ja mam rada tuto žánru ale prišlo mi to príliš “rýchle” nie v tom zmysle že ta kniha bola krátka ale skôr že nič sa tam poriadne ani nevysvetlilo. Celkovo ma ten štýl písania nezaujímal, s postavami bolo ťažké sa prepojiť keďže nemali veľmi silný charakter, ja som ani necítila iskru medzi Mmc a Fmc. Ani side charaktery neboli nič moc, jedine tak poppy? Aj keď realne mi pri nej chýbali dialógy. Chápete keď autor nevie čo vymyslieť aby sa ta udalosť stále tak iba dá do pozadia prečo sa to stáva ? Celkovo som počítala strany do kým sa ta kniha skončí. Myslím si že táto kniha je dobrá pre tých ktorý začínajú len s takým žánrom. MMC nie je evil takze je to lachky start do tohto žánru.

[E. C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I forgot I already read a book in this universe. Even when the characters appeared i had no idea that i should know who they were. I just don’t connect with this author’s stories.

In part that is because i don’t like the main characters in her stories. Especially the main female character. They are bratty and impulsive and don’t KNOW anything but THINK they know everything. It’s not fun to read.

And what kind of name is KREED? lol I’m sorry but that is not OK.

[feyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

- i really liked this, it was a good, quick and enjoyable read
- honestly was abt to cry at the first chapter like her parents getting shot in front of her? realising she has a “godfather”? forced to leave her school and her friends?
- did not like maddox at all - maddox and the party scene- that js went too far imo and he was completely okay w what was gonna happen?? like that’s literally almost r*pe. hated him
- liked the mmc.. at the end when he went after her and was begging for her to give him a chance *swoon*… u could js tell he ended up falling for her even tho he wasn’t meant to
- loved mason and his laid back attitude and raine (eldest brother)
- loved the friendship between poppy and kayley from the start
- author hinted at something between fmc parents death and the mmc and his dad - kinda guessed what it was and i was right

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to go back into this world and maybe see it from a different perspective as this time we have a rich girl going to the public high school in Elmwood.

I did enjoy the characters of the 3 brothers that our main character is living with, at times I just really wanted more and hope further in this series we see more of the twins. The main character Kaylor was a good lead and relatable at times which made this a quick read.

I hope some other aspects get expanded on more in this one and it has got my interest enough that I'm looking forward to book 2

[Elesha's book fun gossip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liars

This was a brilliant read,.With plenty of trauma, twists and turns, high school hierarchy. But with secrets, lies and chemistry in the mix it made it a real page turner and that ending can not wait to read the next book.

[MCrawDRKRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good dark romance/criminal read. I enjoyed the relationship building between the MCs, but a bit disappointed with the others—that’s why I couldn’t do 5 stars. I am still curious what is going to happen with the next!

[Rayanna Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

liars

I love love loves this book it had me hooked from the very beginning I suspected that Donovan her godfather had something to do with her parents death due to all the vague comments and stuff he said

[Michelle Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy !!!

Another fantastic read from this author. Full to the brim with enemies to lovers and betrayal. Knowing who to trust what decision will Kaylor make ? Kreed is broken and dangerous and all kinds of hot. Cannot wait for book 2

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read! Loved the FMC, the banter! I did not expect the twist and that cliffhanger. What a dramatic cliff. Highly recommend this!

[Alicia Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow..

This story has kept me enthralled from start to finish. Now I need the second one straight away.
The angst between the 2 love birds, the mystery..
Highly recommend.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome read

Awesome ! Kept me intrigued the whole way through!! I love the dialogue and the development of the characters can’t wait for the other book

[Ali. S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure how I made it to 40%

I didnt like kaylor.

I should have dnf'ed as soon as "little Raven" was pulled out.

[vivareads]

Dnf’ed at 46%
I can’t do this anymore, the mystery behind her parents death and godfather combo makes me want read it but the characters aren’t just it hence dropping this