The Last Grift - Subtle Deceptions Book 1 (Paperback)

3.5 Stars

ARC Review

Good start to a new series.

Gabriel is a grifter who’s last con went sideways and he is now on the run from the mob. He runs towards an inheritance his mother left him from a father he never knew. His father was an interesting development and I loved the connection.

The inheritance (a boat) is on an Island that is very similar to Piedras and the local community is filled with an interesting group of people.

I loved Elton and how he took Gabriel under his wing. Gabriel was so out of his depth here and so used to living the con that he didn’t take help easily. He was a friendly person though and as he interacted with others you could see the connections forming.

Casey is the other MC and at the moment I can’t see them getting together. They don’t get along at all, and I’m not even seeing an attraction. Casey has his own investigations going and I’ll be interested in seeing where that leads as I have ideas already.

I liked Gordon and want to see more of him.

Will continue on.

Excellent beginning to a taut, well-written mystery that brings Gabriel, generational con-man, to Hearthstone to retrieve his "inheritance" which he learns seems designed to keep him right where he's landed. His knack for finding himself in unsavory and dangerous situations sets the stage for this next chapter of his story when all he was hoping for was a fresh start. Since this is a romantic mystery, I can't wait to see the evolution of Gabriel's relationship with Casey. Surrounding characters come alive on the page and the author does a superb job of bringing readers along on this adventure filled with palpable danger and all the feels. Elle Keaton's superpower is creating complicated, mostly flawed characters and this super-slow burn, found family mystery is why I love her writing. I loved it and highly recommend.

Running for his life, running looking for answers, it didn't matter Gabriel still ended up on Heartstone Island and the start of a series that has already got me looking on Amazon for when the next in the series is coming out.
Being the start of a new series, scenes have to be set and the descriptive world building had me following every laboured breath Gabriel made, every aching joint and the weather that made me put an extra jumper on whilst I was reading it. I was hooked.
Gabriel whilst liked the thrill of relieving others of money was not a bad person, he did have a good heart, although he did have a way of attracting trouble and through out this book we met some interesting characters, Elton, an elderly gentleman that knows more than he tells and big gentle Gordon who wanted to be left alone and then there was Casey, the Forest Ranger who from the moment he met Gabriel "rubbed him up the wrong way".
This story had it all, action, suspense, a mystery to be discovered and whilst some questions were answered there is still more to reveal and I am already counting down the days for the next in this series

This is book one in a new series called Subtle Deceptions and is linked to the Veiled Intentions and Piedras Island universe and it is a great start. We meet Gabe and Casey who are the main characters but at this stage they don’t even really like each other but because this is book one we get a lot of world building and character introductions in this but the story and plot of the series is ticking away nicely and I can’t wait for book two.

A mystery with a low burn romance to spice things up. I'm already hooked and these wonderful characters and highly engaging storyline are going to have me counting the days until the next book.