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The Lies We Lived
He was never mine to keep. But that didn’t stop me from falling for him anyway.
Matteo De Luca was the boy I should’ve stayed away from.
Tattooed, reckless, too damn beautiful for his own good.
He saw through my walls when no one else tried.
And for one unforgettable summer… he was mine.
Until the night everything fell apart, and loving him became the worst mistake of my life.
Three years later, I live under a different name in a town where no one knows me.
My heart is guarded. My past is buried.
And then Matteo walks back into my life like a storm I never saw coming.
He says he’s here for answers.
But the way he looks at me says he still wants more.
And my body remembers every broken promise we made.
But I’m not that girl anymore.
And he’s not the boy who once held my heart.
Loving him once destroyed me.
Loving him again might ruin everything I’ve rebuilt.
A steamy, angsty mafia romance about love, loyalty, and the cost of redemption.
Matteo De Luca was the boy I should’ve stayed away from.
Tattooed, reckless, too damn beautiful for his own good.
He saw through my walls when no one else tried.
And for one unforgettable summer… he was mine.
Until the night everything fell apart, and loving him became the worst mistake of my life.
Three years later, I live under a different name in a town where no one knows me.
My heart is guarded. My past is buried.
And then Matteo walks back into my life like a storm I never saw coming.
He says he’s here for answers.
But the way he looks at me says he still wants more.
And my body remembers every broken promise we made.
But I’m not that girl anymore.
And he’s not the boy who once held my heart.
Loving him once destroyed me.
Loving him again might ruin everything I’ve rebuilt.
A steamy, angsty mafia romance about love, loyalty, and the cost of redemption.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 19, 2025
37 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Eve Campbell
11 books47 followersI write broken boys who love too hard and f*ck it up anyway.
Come for the spice. Stay for the scars. 🖤
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Come for the spice. Stay for the scars. 🖤
Facebook Readers Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/91538...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Evecampbella...
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 4, 2025
I am left with a headache after reading this it was just too intense from start to finish. I am giving four stars because overall it was well written. It’s just the entire thing was savage and vicious and malicious and just too angst riddled.
May 30, 2025
Loved it. Loved the characters. Love all of Eve's Books.
June 5, 2025
Matteo ruined me. RUINED ME.
I don’t even know who I am anymore after this book. I started The Lies We Lived thinking I’d read a few chapters before bed. Then before I knew it it was 3:47am and I was an emotional wreck, and feral over a fictional man who kidnaps people and still made me swoon.
Matteo is the definition of toxic but in that he’d burn the world for her kinda way. And Emery? She’s not some helpless damsel, she bites back, HARD. Their chemistry?? Off the charts. I was kicking my feet, screaming, and maybe crying a little.
This book is a full-body experience. 10/10 would recommend if you're into morally grey men, emotional trauma, and tension so thick you need a cold shower after every chapter.
I don’t even know who I am anymore after this book. I started The Lies We Lived thinking I’d read a few chapters before bed. Then before I knew it it was 3:47am and I was an emotional wreck, and feral over a fictional man who kidnaps people and still made me swoon.
Matteo is the definition of toxic but in that he’d burn the world for her kinda way. And Emery? She’s not some helpless damsel, she bites back, HARD. Their chemistry?? Off the charts. I was kicking my feet, screaming, and maybe crying a little.
This book is a full-body experience. 10/10 would recommend if you're into morally grey men, emotional trauma, and tension so thick you need a cold shower after every chapter.
June 4, 2025
4 stars ⭐
Plenty of spice!
Mafia bad boy MC/Strong FMC
*Arc Review*
Matteo and Emery are straight fire! If Matteo is the gasoline, Emery is the match. The tension, angst, and chemistry were on point from chapter 1.
Matteo had a filthy mouth that just kept giving. Emery may have fallen first but Matteo fell harder. The author brings a very emotional writing style which I personally like. Even when she is describing the scenery of the world she built, she makes you feel it.
The only negative, and completely in my own taste was the dislike of the trope of how he has always loved her but had no problem plowing through any hole for a release.
Plenty of spice!
Mafia bad boy MC/Strong FMC
*Arc Review*
Matteo and Emery are straight fire! If Matteo is the gasoline, Emery is the match. The tension, angst, and chemistry were on point from chapter 1.
Matteo had a filthy mouth that just kept giving. Emery may have fallen first but Matteo fell harder. The author brings a very emotional writing style which I personally like. Even when she is describing the scenery of the world she built, she makes you feel it.
The only negative, and completely in my own taste was the dislike of the trope of how he has always loved her but had no problem plowing through any hole for a release.
June 5, 2025
Addictive. Absolutely unforgettable.
From the first chapter, The Lies We Lived had me in a chokehold. Matteo is the kind of possessive, morally gray antihero you know you shouldn’t fall for — but damn, I fell hard. And Emery? She’s fierce and broken.
Their story is messy and brutal and full of secrets, but it’s also laced with so much emotion it made my chest hurt. The tension. The betrayals. The slow, devastating unraveling of everything they once believed — it was all so intense and perfect.
I couldn’t put it down. If you love your romance dark, emotional, and filled with high-stakes angst, this one owns you.
From the first chapter, The Lies We Lived had me in a chokehold. Matteo is the kind of possessive, morally gray antihero you know you shouldn’t fall for — but damn, I fell hard. And Emery? She’s fierce and broken.
Their story is messy and brutal and full of secrets, but it’s also laced with so much emotion it made my chest hurt. The tension. The betrayals. The slow, devastating unraveling of everything they once believed — it was all so intense and perfect.
I couldn’t put it down. If you love your romance dark, emotional, and filled with high-stakes angst, this one owns you.
June 21, 2025
A rollercoaster ride of emotions. A story of redemption, lies, truths and a dash of spice. Matteo will leave you breathless and Emery will have you cheering. Always enjoy any book by Eve Campbell. She has the magic to make every character believable and make you feel everything they do.
June 21, 2025
an unexpected mafia romance
Eve’s character development is second to none in this book. Matteo has strength you only superficially see in other mafia romances and like all Eve’s other books, the angst is what holds it together.
Eve’s character development is second to none in this book. Matteo has strength you only superficially see in other mafia romances and like all Eve’s other books, the angst is what holds it together.
June 17, 2025
An amazing well written book with a beautiful storyline. Sizzling characters and a page turner. This author’s done it again and delivered the goods.
June 18, 2025
Love this story it absolutely destroyed me. And Matteo... 😍 OMG!
Eve's stories just keep getting better and better.
Eve's stories just keep getting better and better.
July 1, 2025
Loved, loved, loved this book. Was sorry it finished. All the characters were amazing. 💕
February 1, 2026
Not the best Eve Campbell book I have read. Storyline was very predictable and the characters were one dimensional.
Way too many adjectives, metaphors, and hyperbole.
Way too many adjectives, metaphors, and hyperbole.
August 28, 2025
The Lies We Lived with the premise of rewritten identities and a dangerously possessive romance sounded promising. But what I got instead was a toxic, overwrought narrative that left me more exasperated than enthralled.
The heroine’s survival (and near-anonymity) under a new name could’ve been compelling. Yet the story quickly devolves into a cliché-riddled plot: mafia boy rebuilt by borderline romance, twisty for twisty’s sake, with zero emotional payoff. Matteo De Luca is painted as a “morally grey, violent alpha” who’d burn down his world for her. However, the portrayal lacks nuance, feeling more like cartoon-level exaggeration than compelling character development. The writing leans on shock and possessiveness, but offers very little substance in return. To make matters worse, the overuse of similes constantly yanks the reader out of the story instead of drawing them deeper in.
I kept waiting for a moment of genuine tension or clever plotting, but what we get is unrelenting angst, heavy-handed trauma, and a “twisted” romance that revels in dysfunction with no real insight.
If you’re craving a romance that’s more about emotional insight than bruised bravado, this is not your book. The Lies We Lived promises dark passion but delivers only despair, melodrama, and unnecessary flourish. My advice: run, don’t slog through.
The heroine’s survival (and near-anonymity) under a new name could’ve been compelling. Yet the story quickly devolves into a cliché-riddled plot: mafia boy rebuilt by borderline romance, twisty for twisty’s sake, with zero emotional payoff. Matteo De Luca is painted as a “morally grey, violent alpha” who’d burn down his world for her. However, the portrayal lacks nuance, feeling more like cartoon-level exaggeration than compelling character development. The writing leans on shock and possessiveness, but offers very little substance in return. To make matters worse, the overuse of similes constantly yanks the reader out of the story instead of drawing them deeper in.
I kept waiting for a moment of genuine tension or clever plotting, but what we get is unrelenting angst, heavy-handed trauma, and a “twisted” romance that revels in dysfunction with no real insight.
If you’re craving a romance that’s more about emotional insight than bruised bravado, this is not your book. The Lies We Lived promises dark passion but delivers only despair, melodrama, and unnecessary flourish. My advice: run, don’t slog through.
August 12, 2025
Very dark and gritty story between 2 people caught in the mob world. They each have a past which each other until the FMC's father betrays the MMC's father and she has to go on the run.
When their paths cross again years later they pick up their romance like nothing happened. They eventually find a way through the darkness and bring people to justice.
They then also find happiness in their own lives together.
When their paths cross again years later they pick up their romance like nothing happened. They eventually find a way through the darkness and bring people to justice.
They then also find happiness in their own lives together.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews