Is it true that when something seems too good to be true…?

Synopsis

No one can be trusted….

Amongst the wealth and glitter of St Tropez, Sky Kennedy is living her best life, with the perfect man by her side. Rich and gorgeous, Karim has shown her a world she could have barely imagined, and she doesn’t want it to end.

So when Karim suddenly sends her packing back to the UK, Sky is shocked – what could she have done to upset Karim? And will she ever see him again?

Ryan Callahan has been tracking Karim for years and will do anything to bring the man down. He knows Karim is using Sky for his own ends and can’t believe another young woman has fallen for Karim’s lies. But maybe Sky could be the perfect bait to snare Karim once and for all…

But Sky’s no fool and she won’t be played by either man. Because maybe there is a twist in this tale that no one saw coming….

My review

Sky Kennedy never expected that she would catch Karim’s eye. Karim is rich and gorgeous and takes Sky on a trip to St. Tropez where she sees how the wealthy side of the world live their lives. But when Karim sends her suddenly packing, Sky wonders if she did something wrong and if she will ever see him again.
Ryan Callahan cannot believe that another young woman, Sky, has fallen for the charms of a lowlife life Karim. And Ryan knows that Karim’s interest in Sky is only for Karim’s own benefit. But perhaps this time, with making an alliance with Sky, Ryan will be finally able to bring the man down.
Sky however won’t allow to be played by either man… 

At the start of this book, I found Sky rather gullible and perhaps even a bit desperate. With the blurb, I thought that Sky would have known Karim a little bit longer, but she doesn’t.
It doesn’t take long after getting to know each other that Sky agrees to go to St. Tropez with a man she barely knows.
Perhaps I am too suspicious, and have read and watched too many stories about how things would go terribly wrong. 

And I even got a bit frustrated with how desperate Sky was, and how eager she was just to please Karim. On several moments I actually thought that she should have some more self – respect and common sense.
But of course, like the title and even the blurb says, not everything is what it seems.   

When Sky meets Ryan, we get to know that Karim is not only a player, but he is involved in a bigger, terroristic gang. Having her eyes opened, she decides to help out Ryan and his team to bring Karim down. 

And this is where the story really starts, as we read how Sky turns from a gullible young woman, to a woman who has had enough of being played by men.
And this change also changed my opinion of Sky. 

The more Ryan and Sky work together to bring Karim down, the more unexpected twists arise.
While at some moments I couldn’t understand the importance of certain conversations, later on it would appear that every detail said previously, would be important when the bigger picture is made clear.
It’s obvious that nobody in this books doesn’t have a secret agenda somehow. Whatever is being said or done, is part of an extensively elaborated plan. But in the end who is truly pulling the strings? 

This is the first I have read from this author. And while there were bits that didn’t exactly speak to me, there were also many parts that committed me to keep on reading as all the twists just kept wanting me to see the bigger picture myself.