Reviewed by Larissa

 

TITLE:  Prince of Lies

AUTHOR: Lucy Lennox

NARRATOR:  Michael Dean

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  10 hours and 26 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  February 17, 2023

BLURB:

Rowe Prince is a lying liar who windmills into my life in full color, claiming to be Sterling Chase, a quirky, eccentric billionaire…and founder of the company I created.

Two can play at the lying game, though, and I’m not about to let some burrito-delivering, floppy-haired virgin from Indiana best me at a game I was born to play.

So I do him one better and pretend to be Sterling Chase’s new assistant. I’ll teach him a lesson that will hopefully wind us both up in bed… with nothing but the truth between us.

But it turns out his shameless lies are enchanting…unintentionally hilarious…and make it all too easy to forget the truth….

Until I learn that this cutie’s intent is to defraud the company I’ve spent years building. I have to choose: Risk the company or say goodbye to the man I’m falling for. A guy who just might be….

The Prince of Lies

REVIEW:

It’s been well over a year since we’ve gotten a solo title from Lucy Lennox, but her latest, Prince of Lies, is worth the wait.  On paper, this is a feast for the eyes. Reading rich source material full of vigor, emotion, and delight *happy sigh*.  But in audiobook format, Michael Dean creates aural bliss.  Lennox and Dean are the author/narrator dream team bringing a dreamy, swoony romance to life.

Prince of Lies contains everything we love about Lennox’s writing and the vivid characters she creates here – Rowe, Bash, and his five best friends – are relatable and intriguing. The undeniable star of the show, however, is Rowe, the titular Prince of Lies.  Gah … Rowe is the most adorable, squishable, loveable, Bambi-eyed protagonist I’ve met. Lennox takes this overwhelmingly sweet, honest, and generous person and forces him into a situation where he needs to maintain a pretense and constantly lie – something he is patently horrible at.  The irony in the juxtaposition creates hilarity across the story, especially when Bash sees through the subterfuge immediately yet decides to play along.  

Everything in this story just works … Despite their differences and the implausible circumstances, this story is completely believable, and you become invested in their relationship immediately.  Then layer on it the fascinating subtextual messaging that is an ode to the creator. Coming up with an idea and then creating an implementation of it is no small feat.  Some people devote all their time, money, and focus to something meaningful on a soul-deep level. Rowe is that sweet, wide-eyed innocent who just wants to do right by his twin. He pours his whole heart and soul into Project Daisy-Chain. Hopefully, the trajectory of this storyline creates a lasting impression through its implicit message that piracy of copyrighted works (like Lennox’s own novels) causes damage and personal hurt … and is just downright unfair (and illegal).

Climbing down from my soapbox, I now need to rave about Michael Dean. I have listened to countless audiobooks narrated by Dean, and Prince of Lies is absolutely, undoubtedly, the best vocal performance I’ve heard from him.  Prince of Lies is the perfect marriage of inspired source material and superb narration, and the resulting audiobook is an experience greater than the sum of its parts. Dean’s deep familiarity with Lennox’s way of telling a story and distinct writing style comes from narrating almost all of Lennox’s dozens of titles. He clearly has an intuitive understanding of her intentions with every character, scene, line, and word. 

Prince of Lies is textured, complex, poignant, and hysterical. The layers of false personas and exaggerated presentation in Rowe’s “quirky billionaire eccentricities” gives Dean room to play.  And play he does.  You can hear in his voice the love he has for the characters he’s inhabiting and his joy in bringing the story to life.  He’s energetic, dialed in, and hits every detailed inflection, pause, intonation, emphasis, pitch, timbre – you name it, he’s got it in spades.  

Prince of Lies is an absorbing gem of an audiobook that I could easily put on repeat. Dean manages to achieve what I thought impossible: he takes what I consider Lennox’s best story and makes it into something more.  He brings to life Rowe, Bash, and the Brotherhood, as well as the hoity-toity rich snobbery of Bash’s filthy rich peers, all with an enthusiasm and attitude that is irresistible.  If you can only get one audiobook, Prince of Lies is the audiobook you need in your library.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon