The moment my heart had been waiting for left me reeling and begging for more! Lying, Cheating Heart, the second in Mindy Ruiz’s Game of Hearts series, was everything I wanted and did not see coming! This book is still lodged deep in my mind and I find myself trying to figure out what is next. Do not miss out on this exceptional YA series!
Lying, Cheating Heart
Game of Hearts #2
Mindy Ruiz
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publication Date: April 7, 2016
No More Lies!
Cassie Vera thought the biggest threat to her life disappeared the night her boyfriend, A.J. Vasillios, used his one-time-use power and saved her from certain death.
She was wrong.
The mythological hit list she was on is nothing compared to her freshman year at the University of Las Vegas. Rooming with Vegas’s future female royalty has pushed her estrogen tolerance to its limit. Worse, Cassie must take place in a time-honored tradition that tests her faith, while her boyfriend’s new job threatens to shatter her heart.
When age-old traditions change …
Cassie’s school year is interrupted when the future queens are ordered to represent their houses in an annual high-stakes competition. While at her ancestral home in Malaga, Spain, Cassie discovers the Greek gods have gifted her with new abilities. Cassie takes matters of righting an eighteen-year-old wrong into her hands. However, actions have consequences, and Cassie’s may very well end up costing her and the House of Hearts everything.
With her family’s future at stake and the love of her life choosing sides, Cassie must cheat death one more time.
When duty requires you to do the unthinkable, where will your loyalties lie?
Only a Cheating Heart Knows.
Make sure you grab your copy of Lying, Cheating Heart today on Amazon!
All I can say is, this book was worth the wait. Lying, Cheating Heart is the long awaited second book in the Game of Hearts series, a story that expanded the world Mindy created and left me reeling and grasping for more. This series is unique and oh so refreshing. I love everything about this YA storyline. The world created blends the world of Vegas with its flashy lights and endless parties with something more sinister and mythological. Each character and situation is true to the genre and important to the story. This book continues to follow Cass on her path of self-discovery, learning more of who she is and finding her place as the heir of the Hearts. There is quite a bit of drama and angst when it comes to her relationship with AJ, and even more drama ensues when she begins to better understand the reality of their situation and the expectations that she is forced to face. I loved watching Cass learn to embrace who she is. Not only is she the Queen of Hearts, but she is something so powerful and terrifying that people have no idea what to do with her. Her character grows leaps and bounds throughout this story, taking her from the terrified girl to a young woman who is prepared to do what needs to be done to find answers. She makes good choices and she makes terrible mistakes. She shoulders the weight of it all on her shoulders and learns to rise above.
The best part about this book, and the series as a whole, is that it is distinct. The blending of the Greek gods with royal families represented by the suits in a deck of cards is a storyline rich with opportunity and creativity. This book takes us even deeper into the danger and the drama of the houses. I loved how everything was exciting and riveting. I had no idea what to expect and the story takes numerous twist and turns, some that left me shocked. The world building is fantastic and the characters that inhabit this world are genius. There is a fine line between good and evil. Fate is perceived to determine the outcome but we also see the vague future is set up with many choices to be made. This whole storyline feels organic, allowing the ideas and situations to flow in a natural and supernatural way you did not see coming.
My fingers, toes, and arms are crossed! I am hoping that we do not have to wait as long to get the next book in the series. I am dying to know what has happened and where the many different relationships stand. I want to know more about what will happen with AJ, Cass, Beaux, and the Queens. I need to understand what is coming and how Cass will stand against the evil and their attempt to use her as a pawn. Mindy Ruiz has established herself as a mighty pen among the masses and I am ready to devour whatever she has in store for us!
Crazy had a way of becoming normal, even expected in Las Vegas. What used to have us gaping and entranced now became predictable. Which made me worry. How would all of this look in four years? How much would we have changed? And how different would we be when we were our mothers’ ages?
In front of us, Helen walked, spinning around every few steps to make sure she took in all of Freemont Street. Mesmerized by the sites and the sounds. She bumped into a girl wearing a G-string and tasseled pasties on her boobs, passing out flyers for a topless bar. Helen’s face blushed, and she couldn’t get away from the girl fast enough. Olivia kept walking, and Gia next to me barely gave the incident a second thought. The extraordinary had already bled out of those two future queens.
Gia pulled me closer to her. “The morning before I left, I did a shore run. Three miles to your house, three miles back to mine.”
“Yeah?” I already knew where this conversation was headed.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were putting the Malibu house on the market?”
“Why? You interested? I can guarantee you it doesn’t have any happy memories radiating from the walls. And the people who made it a home are gone.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek, willing the emotions to stay away.
“Maybe it’s waiting for you to make new ones.”
“And maybe you should wake up and smell reality.” I pulled in a deep breath, my nose wrinkling at the stench of the Shadows Catacombs at the end of the street. “This is our future, Gia. This and that.” I pointed at the cursed man in a black hood watching us. Even at this distance, the lack of life in his eyes made people walk around him, avoid him. “There is no going home.”
“You know I don’t believe that. My mom made a new home. She had a career in front and behind the camera. She had friends. She had people who loved her. You don’t have to follow in Carina’s footsteps, being lonely and sad.”
I tried to pull my arm from Gia’s, but she clamped down on it, refusing to let me go.
“Gia.”
“You know I’m right.”
The perky cheerleader from my past life stood toe-to-toe with me, a small muscle undulating along her jaw as she ground her teeth.
“I know everything I thought about Carina was wrong or misinterpreted. I know there are things you want me to acknowledge, emotions I have to feel.” I stomped my foot, wanting to take the stupid move back the minute it left my brain. “Carina keeps telling me to grieve, not stuff my emotions. I’ve done it. They’re gone, Sara and Steven, they’re dead . . . because of me. I accept that. Keeping a house or talking about what they meant to me isn’t going to make my future any better. The best thing I can do is leave the dead as food for the worms.” I started to leave, tears thickening in the back of my throat, but Gia wouldn’t let go that easy.
“You don’t get to steal the best line from Dead Poets Society and leave. You have to own your past, or you will repeat the mistakes. Here is where you own what happened. Here, where this all started, is where you come to terms with the fact that you’re not alone. You have us.”
“Ladies.” Olivia wrapped an arm around my waist; her eyes searched mine, looking for something. She’d probably had a talk with Carina, as well. They were all waiting for me to lose my shit and go Richter. Helen laced her fingers with mine. The chaos of Fremont Street dulled, the lights didn’t shine as bright, the noise muted—even the tourists seemed to slow down. In our own cocoon of silence, the four of us looked at each other, wondering what would happen next. What did the future hold for us?
“Great bonding exercise, Gia,” Olivia sassed. “Don’t pout, you’ll get used to my barbed love bites, but I gotta ask: why right now?”
Gia looked around our little group. “Because you can’t build a future on a foundation of lies.”
“I never lied,” I bit back.
“You did to yourself when you put your parents’ house on the market and said it didn’t matter,” Gia answered.
Check out ENCHANTED HEART, the award winning first book in the Game of Hearts series …
Enchanted Heart (Game of Hearts #1)
Goodreads | Amazon
Cassandra Vera never ever breaks the rules. Ever!
She’s also had a nonexistent social life since her best friend moved to Vegas. Armed with a new set of resolutions, the promise of a hot date, and her adoptive parents out of town, Cassandra agrees an overnight road trip to Las Vegas to celebrate her birthday is the perfect way to ring in the New Year. After all, it’s Vegas, the city where secrets are meant to stay hidden. Little does Cassandra know the secrets of her own pastare buried there, as well.
In the shadows of the glitz and gaudy lights of Vegas lies a power struggle centuries old. One wrong step and Cassandra could destroy the delicate web of secrets. Now an enemy she never knew existed is after her and the one boy who may be the missing piece to the puzzle —and her heart— is the one person she can’t afford to trust.
Mindy Ruiz lives in a sleepy Beach Town in Southern California. When she’s not writing, she spends her time chasing after three boys, making flirty eyes at her hunky husband, watching fantasy television shows, cheering for the Dallas Cowboys, and hanging out at the beach with her very large and loud Italian family.
Her career in publishing started in the 4th grade with a story about a magic, museum-hopping, chair. Now, Mindy writes young adult, new adult, and adult paranormal romance. Her books always include tormented heroes, snarky heroines, and lots of swoon-y moments that will put a smile on your face or make your heart race. Mindy is the lover of a good romance, the underdog and John Hugh’s 80′s teen movies.
When her toes aren’t in the sand or her mind isn’t in the clouds, Mindy loves hearing from readers.
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