Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Lie to Me
SERIES: First and Forever Stories
AUTHOR: Alexa Land
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 200 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2026
BLURB:
When Armando Cortez and I hook up, it’s supposed to be simple.
He has things he doesn’t want to talk about, and I don’t want him to know I’m on the run from my criminal past. So we agree to lie to each other and leave real life at the door—all our complications, our baggage, our regrets. We want this to be an escape, and we’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
Falling for each other was never part of the plan.
And when my past starts to close in and my secrets are about to be revealed, I have to wonder—could Armando ever love a man like me, or will the truth ruin everything?
This opposites attract gay romance is part of Alexa Land’s Firsts and Forever Stories collection, and it can be read as a stand-alone.
REVIEW:
I read this book last week and had hoped to post my review on release day, but an unexpected trip took me out of town. So here I am on R+1, finally sitting down to write it up. As with all of Ms. Land’s books, I read this one cover to cover as soon as I received the ARC. It immediately pulled me in and never let go.
In this installment, the mismatched found family in the big pink Victorian house in San Francisco takes more of a supporting role. The spotlight shifts to Armando Cortez, whom readers may remember as Kit Cortez’s father from The Bucket List, book 14 in the series.
After Kit’s wedding to Devon, Armando leaves the reception drunk and emotionally overwhelmed, feeling that he has not been able to do enough for his son. He compares his gift—an expensive coffee maker—to the lavish trip to Europe given by Kit’s new in-laws and feels he simply cannot compete. He climbs into a cab, tells the driver to take him anywhere, and breaks down in tears. Then a voice asks whether he needs help, and Armando realizes there is already another man in the cab. That moment introduces Salvatore di Pietro and sets the story in motion.
We quickly learn that Salvatore is running from his past and is being sought by dangerous people, which makes it a poor time to share his full name. Still, he assumes Armando is too drunk to remember. Armando, however, latches onto him immediately and decides he will call him Tory—a nickname Salvatore says no one else uses.
The next morning, Armando wakes in an unfamiliar room, only to find a very large man stepping out of the bathroom in a towel. After a moment of confusion, Salvatore reminds him about the night before—and Armando remembers giving him the nickname Tory. When Armando asks whether they had sex, Tory reassures him that they did not; he would never take advantage of someone who was drunk.
As they talk, Tory suggests that they meet again once both are back in Southern California. Tory lives in Los Angeles, while Armando—readers may remember—owns a diner in San Diego. Tory wants to keep things casual, and he insists that they lie to each other about their past. He already knows the truth about Armando’s diner, so he encourages him to invent a fictional background instead. The complication? Although Armando has been interested in men for years, he has never actually slept with one.
From there, the story deepens. Armando heads to the Pink Victorian for brunch, where his excitement over Tory leads him to come out to the housemates. Meanwhile, Tory visits his relatives and is revealed to be Nana Dombruso’s great-nephew and Dante’s second cousin—an especially fun connection for longtime readers of the two intertwined series.
When Armando and Salvatore meet again and agree to the rules of their arrangement, Salvatore unexpectedly tells Armando the truth about himself, reasoning that it does not matter because Armando has no one to tell. Armando, on the other hand, invents a glamorous backstory as a racing driver. As the relationship develops, we learn more about what Salvatore—called Sal by the Dombruso cousins and Tory by Armando—is running from. Along the way, Tory begins calling Armando “Arie,” and the nickname sticks.
Once Tory’s past begins to catch up with him, the story moves quickly—but I am not going to spoil how. You will have to read it for yourself to see what happens. Armando and Tory make a very mismatched pair, but Alexa Land has a talent for making unlikely relationships feel believable and satisfying, and this book is no exception.
This book works perfectly well as a standalone, but longtime fans will especially enjoy the returning characters and crossover connections. I loved seeing the Dombruso family and the Pink Victorian found family brought together in one story, and I hope future books continue to build on that overlap—because I can never get enough of Nana D.
I highly recommend this book—and really, all of Alexa Land’s stories—to readers who enjoy quirky characters, found family, and a satisfying happily-ever-after.
RATING: 
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