Deceiving their minds

Book: Deceiving Their Minds by Laiken Rhodes

Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy

Rating: 4/5

𝓝𝓞 𝓢𝓟𝓞𝓘𝓛𝓔𝓡𝓢
⚜️𝔻𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 𝕠𝕗- Deceiving their minds

𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 Luna Literary
𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰, 𝐢𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐢 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤.

⚜️ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤-
📚 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

🌡️ 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲🌶🌶🌶🌶 / 5 -𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑠

Which books have I also given this same rating? (𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑦𝑙𝑒𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛)

5⭐️ Fourth wing / Bound by inked flame / Anathama / The Lies of Lena / Of silver and Curses
4.5⭐️ Bitten / The Female / Quicksilver / Bride / Lights Out / A Bargain so Bloody
4⭐️ Spellcaster / One Dark Window / From Blood and Ash / Phantasma / Butcher & Blackbird
3⭐️We Who Will Die / The Wolf King / Daughter of No Worlds / The Ex Hex

⚜️𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕀𝕟𝕗𝕠:
📖 434 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀

Dual 𝗣𝗢𝗩

𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲- 10 April 2026

𝗣𝗹𝗼𝘁 or 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 driven? 𝒫𝓁ℴ𝓉 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉ℯ𝓇 𝒜 ℳ𝒾𝓍

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 & 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗻𝗼- Tactum Obscurae book 1

𝗔𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 on 𝗞𝗨? ✅𝒴ℯ𝓈

𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗲- ℱ𝒶𝓈𝓉

𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲? ✅ ℐ 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓇ℯ𝓂ℯ𝓂𝒷ℯ𝓇 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓋𝒾𝒷ℯ𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻ℯℯ𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓇ℯ𝒶𝒹 𝓁ℯ𝒻𝓉 𝓂ℯ 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽!

ℳℴℴ𝒹𝓈; 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝑪𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒚, 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒚, 𝑬𝒎𝒐𝒕𝑖𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝑺𝒂𝒅, 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒚, 𝑳𝑶𝑳 𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒓, 𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍, 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑯𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌, 𝑻𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆, 𝑻𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒚, 𝑨𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔, 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈

𝒟𝒾𝒹 𝒾 ℯ𝓃𝒿ℴ𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈?✅

𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒾 𝓇ℯ𝒶𝒹 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓃ℯ𝓍𝓉 𝒷ℴℴ𝓀 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓈ℯ𝓇𝒾ℯ𝓈?✅

𝒲ℴ𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒾 𝓇ℯ𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 ℯ𝓁𝓈ℯ 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽ℴ𝓇?✅

𝖂𝖍𝖔 𝖜𝖔𝖚𝖑𝖉 𝖎 𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖔? People who already love fantasy, multi layered plots and so many secrets you trip over yourself!

🚨🅲︎🅷︎🅴︎🅲︎🅺︎ 🆃︎🅷︎🅴︎ 🆃︎🆆︎!🚨

⚜️𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕤:
💦𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬/ 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬
🥵𝒟𝒾𝓇𝓉𝓎 𝒯𝒶𝓁𝓀
🙏𝐻𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 and harder
🎲𝕎𝕙𝕪 ℂ𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕤𝕖
⚔️𝔅𝔲𝔩𝔩𝔶 𝔯𝔬𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢
😇BDSM

⚜️𝕋ℝ𝕆ℙ𝔼𝕊
😈soooooooooo many 𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕤 & 𝔹𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕪𝕒𝕝𝕤
🔮𝔓𝔯𝔬𝔭𝔥𝔢𝔠𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔐𝔶𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰
🏆TᖇIᗩᒪՏ
🪧Pᴏʟɪᴛɪᴄᴀʟ Iɴᴛʀɪɢᴜᴇ
🧸𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦
🤩so many Side Characters
💈 ᗷᗩᑎTᗴᖇ
☠️𝕋𝕠𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕...
🏹𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐀𝐬𝐬 𝐅𝐌𝐂
⌚𝔸-𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖

✨ TᕼᗴᗰᗴՏ ✨
You should most definitely read this book if you like:
Dark Secret Society
Billionaires and Heirs
Hidden and Secret Identities
Hate to Love
Morally Grey Hero’s
Black Cat FMC

🌍 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕓𝕦𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕨𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕘:
Did you read quicksilver, close the book and wonder what you just read because you couldn’t describe more than the butterfly moment? Well this is like that but 10x worse!
It was THE. MOST. MULTI LAYERED PLOT. EVER! even part way through I couldn’t have paused to tell you what was happening because I just had no clue! Yet I couldn’t stop reading!

I loved it, there was always something going on, with about 6.25 sub plots underneath, 23 characters, each with a multitude of secrets and all moving chess pieces on a 10 player board, whilst juggling grenades and sipping whisky on the rocks… if that description confused you then this book is not for you! And the author does set this expectation early on—that not everything will be explained yet and that future books will build on it.

It won’t be for everyone, although the characters are all humans (not fae or shifters etc…) there is a lot of dark, mysterious and secretive things going on, there is a lot of characters right from the start, and those characters all have siblings and family dinasties with a pecking order and rules you will die from if you break them!

The spice is hot and heavy and jumps to 100 very quickly! Very taboo and raunchy, kinky and experimental shall we say…

The story feels intense, dark and addictive in the best way. The world of the secret society is well written leaving many questions in it wake and every chapter revealing another layer of secrets and manipulation. Good luck figuring it all out!

I also really enjoyed the Russian storyline elements—the bratva, the use of nicknames, and how that culture was woven into the story added a lot of personality and depth. It stood out in a good way.

🧝‍♂️ ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤:
This is the first book of FOUR! Which means you are presented with a LOT of characters, names and world building. There's a lot going on which can feel overwhelming and that’s before all the secrets, plots and betrayals hit!

Just like the plot, the characters are very layered. You learn who they are on the surface but each character is so much more. There are hidden and secret identities. Some of which you will see coming, others will have your jaw on the floors and then there will be other people that you will question. But this keeps you full engaged throughout the whole story. BUT again, this may cause some confusion so it's important for you pay attention.

😥 𝕎𝕙𝕪 𝕟𝕠 𝕗𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤?
Just too confusing without enough clarifications

⏳ 𝕎𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕚 𝕣𝕖-𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕠𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕕?
I would only re-read to catch up before the next book, I wouldn’t pick this back up for fun no. But I would absolutely recommend it to the right people.

🪧𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤:
Dark, spicy, hugely layered plot with more secrets than you can grasp! This secret society is full of deadly trials, mysteries and plans!

𝐹𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠;

𝕋𝕚𝕜𝕋𝕠𝕜
https://www.tiktok.com/@your_bookish_fantasy?_t=8qA9X0RTEYa&_r=1

IᑎՏTᗩ
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𝕄𝕪 ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕊𝕪𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕞𝕤:
⭐️ DNF

⭐️⭐️
I managed to finish it but it was rubbish. I won't keep a physical copy and won't recommend it, but it's a shame as the plot could have made a good book in another author's hands

⭐️⭐️.5
It was OK. I wish I didn't start this one as it didn't do it for me as I struggled to read it. It had an interesting premise that fell flat but I had to see what happened in the end.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
I don't regret reading it, and I will read the next one, but this one did have a few flaws. [These could be repetitive writing, gaps or plot holes, better character growth or world building, areas needing more detail]
Generally, the book lacked depth and became confusing. The plot resonated with me even though it annoyed me on the whole.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to the right people, but I wanted more! Sadly, it's easily forgettable with a few issues I just couldn't overlook/get past.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Good book! I loved it, but... I needed more! I really did enjoy it, but it had a few parts that needed more detail or added history/background or lore. But that's because the story or characters were memorable, and the plot was strong with brilliant twists. I would re-read if I needed to catch up for the next book and would recommend.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Great book! I truly wish the story had been thought about more, or the author had been given more time as this book is so close to brilliance! I will likely read again and will definitely be recommending it to all!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
WOW! Absolutely amazing book! Well written with great characters and a plot so memorable that it will stay with me. I will definitely read this again, I will be recommending it and sharing it with the whole world! Also- I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY!

🔥⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🔥
This is my God level tier. The book must be perfectly memorable. Even after reading 50+ more books, I will remember character names and emotions along with the plot. If there is a special edition, then I need to own it! If there is a conversation on books- I'm talking about this!

SPICE SCALE:
🌶️– segsual language and a little on-page action

🌶️🌶️– a lot of segsual language and some on-page open door action, may be occurring a couple of times

🌶️🌶️🌶️– a lot of explicit action and dirty talk, occurring frequently with 2/3 lurvers

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ – super graphic and explicit, occurring 4 or more times, can be more grey and taboo themed.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ – Kinks and Fet!shism, explicit and super graphic. It is likely to be tushy play, toys, playrooms, and more dark / taboo fantasies and realities.

Read full review on ARC Library