What is “Founded on Deception” by Kat Singleton about?
I did what I had to do to protect someone I care about.
That sentence almost ruined my career–my life–and painted me as the villain in a story I was trying so desperately to save.
But that story wasn’t finished, and I am not someone you want to piss off.
As the manager for global pop sensation Nash Pierce, I’ve had to make some tough decisions. But when both Nash’s career and passion were threatened by his corrupt record label, the decision was easy–burn the label to the ground.
And do it before Nash’s annoying younger brother Aiden Pierce ruined everything.
No one despised me more than Aiden for what I did, and no one was able to push my buttons like he could. He was cocky, selfish, and had a temper that could blow up my entire plan.
Now, not only did I have to take down a billion-dollar corporation, but I had to do it alongside someone that hated me.
And then things got complicated.
I didn’t expect to let Aiden in–to relinquish control to him so easily. I didn’t foresee being consumed by desire for a man that I held so much animosity toward. It didn’t occur to me that while fighting a common enemy, we might just find our own common ground.
Most of all, I never thought that love and trust could stem from a relationship that had always been founded on deception.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Review:
“Founded on Deception” takes us back into the world of music. While book two in the series, “Founded on Temptation,” is somewhat music related, it doesn’t take place in the thick of things like “Founded on Goodbye” and “Founded on Deception” does. Needless to say, I was excited to jump back in. It was also great to get to see Nash, Nora, Riley, and Sebastian living their best lives in the glimpse of them we see, although we see more of Nash (and a bit of Nora) than we do of Riley and Sebastian.
I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first on how Kat was going to redeem Monica. Up until now, we haven’t gotten an explanation for her actions in “Founded on Goodbye,” even though we know that she gave one to Nash. In this book we finally get to learn the full story, along with more of Monica’s past. We don’t learn a ton more about Aiden’s past; I thought we might learn a little bit more about his affinity for cooking, but his past isn’t as interesting as Monica’s. We don’t get to see Aiden and Nash’s parents at all, or actually get to meet any of Monica’s family. It would’ve been an interesting conflict to have her, Aiden, her sister, and her sister’s husband all in a room together. While we see Nora’s sister Lennon a bit (who we first learn about in “Founded on Goodbye,”) she’s mentioned less and less as the story goes on. However, I think the final book in the series, “Founded on Rejection,” will be her and Poe’s (one of Nash’s bandmates) love story, which I’m super excited to read this fall!
We learn a lot more about Nash’s record label, and one of the higher ups, Roy. It was cool getting to see more of Monica’s responsibilities after getting to see a tour more from Nash’s point of view, and although I know it wouldn’t have been super relevant to the main plot of the story, it would’ve been interesting to see more of the different tasks that Monica is constantly juggling.
The book is definitely enemies to lovers, with an extra emphasis on the enemies. Not knowing the reasoning behind her decisions in the earlier books, Aiden takes every opportunity to be cruel to Monica, and she’s nowhere near incapable of dishing responses back out, either. When they finally start hooking up, Aiden always wants to be in control, which ends up working for the both of them – however, the first time they kiss kind of took me out of the book for a bit. As I said, I know it’s enemies to lovers, but Aiden is often described (especially earlier on) in predatory language, because that’s how he acts. When he first kisses Monica, he’s under the assumption/working with the knowledge that she’s going to resist him. That part felt assault-y of him, considering that she repeatedly makes it clear that she doesn’t want him in her personal space, yet he was continually touching her in threatening ways. We do have access to Monica’s inner dialogue to understand her conflicting feelings towards Aiden, but he doesn’t know that, so it made him feel kind of creepy. That feeling doesn’t persist throughout the book, but it felt worth mentioning. Their age gap is mentioned between them a few times, but it’s not a big point of contention.
I love that we get to see Nash and Monica interact more – it helps to show the trust and care that they have for one another, especially now that Nash isn’t partying every night and going off the deep end and needing Matt, Monica, and Sebastian to babysit him. Aiden also gets a dog, Pepper, who is a welcome addition to the ensemble cast.
Overall, the push and pull that Monica and Aiden have with each other is interesting to read, and I think this is a solid addition to the series – I can’t wait to read the final book! As with all new adult/adult books (and especially this one), I recommend this one for 18+ due to some of the sexual content. Thanks again to Kat and her team for providing me with an advanced ebook to review! The book is available now!
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Reviews of Kat Singleton’s Books:
Founded on Goodbye (Mixtape Series #1)
Founded on Temptation (Mixtape Series #2) – ARC
Founded on Deception (Mixtape Series #3) — ARC
Playlists of Kat Singleton’s Books:
Founded on Goodbye (Mixtape Series #1) ♪
Founded on Temptation (Mixtape Series #2) ♪
Founded on Deception (Mixtape Series #3) ♪
buried in a bookshelf 