By Courtney
The current media blitz surrounding Luigi Mangione, the accused and alleged United Health Care shooter, also known as “the adjuster,” has reawakened a kink for orange jumpsuits many of us might have forgotten that we had. If you find yourself eyeballing those handcuffs and wondering if he could ever get out – then the romance novel of the month for book club might help you exercise your imagination without becoming an actual prison groupie.
Locked Up Liars, the first book in the Saint View Prison series by Elle Thorpe features a similarly smoldering and misunderstood man with an equally steep hill to climb if he wants to fight the allegations leveraged against him. Unlike our real-life heartthrob, who is looking more and more likely to be the culprit of the crime, we can be confident that the character in this book is wrongfully convicted. In both instances, I will presume everyone is innocent until proven guilty. If you ask me, I’ll swear Luigi had an alibi for the night of the shooting he was he was with me in my apartment, and he was OCCUPIED.
If you read the book this month, you know May can offer a similar alibi for her man. If you haven’t read it, you can listen to the audiobook for free with a Spotify membership and read it for free on Kindle Unlimited. I’ll give you a spoiler-free summary. We meet our main character, May, in a bar with her sister and best friend. Her sister’s ex-boyfriend happens to be drinking there as well. May has harbored feelings for the guys since her sister dumped him years ago. This is the perfect time to make her move, as the water is clearly under the bridge for those two. But do a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks and an elementary school teacher belong together? As other characters bleed into the story, we also ask ourselves if she has a better match awaiting her or if she could have it all.
Spoiler Zone:
This series is my first voyeur into the why-choose romance novel genre. I will tell you what – Elle Thorpe was the perfect author to begin this journey with. This story revolves around a supposed criminal, the girl trying to defend him, the lawyer she procures to battle his case in court, and the corrections officer charged with keeping him behind bars. The dynamics between the female protagonist and the male leads are charged with chemistry and full of purpose. She is on a mission to solve a loved one’s murder, and the men who fall in love with her along the way are inclined to support her in every way possible.
By the end of book one, we are left on a massive cliffhanger as the prisoners overrun the facility in an attempted coup. Will our girl, May, make it out alive? More importantly, will her man on the inside be brutalized before his name gets cleared? Most importantly, will he ever have a moment alone with the correctional officer I can FEEL his attraction to?
The spicy scenes in this story are exceptionally well written. We hit every base with an eagerness and detail that reminds one how new everything feels when you’re finally with a person who is genuinely sexually compatible with you. Even the makeout sessions are steamy, but the moments escalating from that to the final act are elaborated and savored by the author. Without rushing the acts, she also avoids boring me with any notion of a slow burn. That is, with the exception of the man behind bars, who we will have to wait for – being good and patient little readers. The plot and pacing are satisfying, and the story feels believable and natural.
I must admit that recently, I’ve mainly been reading gay stories, and it has spoiled me. I did not miss the words “folds,” “mound,” or “center” used all too often to describe a woman’s “sex.” Let’s all agree on the words “pussy” or “cunt” and stop with these disgusting alternatives. Folds. I had to stop for a second when they said folds.
I love the female main character in this story and find her very relatable. She knows what she wants and doesn’t limit herself to what others expect of her. It’s lovely having a series I’m ITCHING to keep reading. It will seriously take everything in me not to jump right into volume 2 – but we must save that for February’s novel of the month! Look out for the podcast on Volume 1 on the 25th of January. Until then, join the discussion forum on our website, rate review, and subscribe to the podcast to listen to our other January episodes. Follow us on socials for more book club memes and content!
Yours in Deep Delusion,
Courtney