Thank you to Berkeley publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance of its release.

I read this book as standalone, which was probably a mistake as I'm assuming it picks up where the first one left off. It took me a while to figure out who was who and what exactly was happening. The author uses different timelines to tell the story, and trying to piece together the events felt like whiplash. I think I would have enjoyed this book far more had I read the first one beforehand.

That being said, this book is full of twists and turns, and I was enticed by the story. I am rooting for Rockey and Phoebe and immediately shipped their relationship.
I liked that the characters were in their mid 20's (presumed) and are trying to escape their life of con. It reminded me a bit of Magnolia Parks.

**Thank you to Berkeley Romance and Krista & Becca Ritchie for sending me an advanced reader copy**

We are SO BACK! It was such a good time being back in the con world with Phoebe and Rocky and the gang.
This book was so different from the first one, and I think there’s a lot of reasons for this. First and foremost, Phoebe, Rocky, and the group have gone through a lot of inner change- they’ve been con artists they’re whole lives, but now there’s the question of if they’ve been conned themselves. It was really interesting to see how each character shifted with this new dynamic in mind.
Through this, the plot of the book was also different. A lot happened, and yet nothing did? And maybe that’s the point-maybe KBR wanted to create this chaotic confusion. Personally, I was annoyed with this and wanted a better understanding of what was going on, especially with their parents.
Phoebe and Rocky are so solidified as a couple that it’s almost annoying. I think they both somehow lost themselves as individual characters and became completely warped in their relationship. While there’s nothing wrong with being deeply in love, you are your own person at the end of the day.
The next book has a LOT to get through. But, KBR has been in the game for so long that I have no doubt that they'll do these characters justice!

This book was everything I wanted and MORE. I had been dying to get my hands on book two as soon as I was done with book one. and well, what do you know, now I am absolutely beside myself until I get book 3. Phoebe and Rocky are my babies and Becca & Krista have such a way of writing addicting characters. This series has a chokehold on me the way The Addicted Series did. If you’ve read Krista & Becca’s work before, this book just feels like them and it fits so well. I am going to be unwell until the next one. Forever thanking my lucky stars, net galley, and the publisher for early access to this masterpiece. Infinity stars, no notes.

Krista & Becca Ritchie have served another angsty romance with yearning, intense steam, and twists and turns that will keep you hooked! I was nervous and excited to dive back into Rocky & Pheobe’s story because this world is intense and I didn’t want any more heartbreak for my babies. Now, while there is definitely still a lot of uncertainty…my heart wasn’t in pieces after this so I’m hopeful that the happy times might keep rolling…I hope🥹 It did take me a while to get into it, I think mostly because I couldn’t remember what the heck was going on, but also I did feel that the writing style was a bit hard to follow at times, especially when they were referring to so many characters constantly. That being said, I did stay up until 5am one night trying to finish it because by the end, I was hooked! Now I immediately need book 3 which I now know the title of (big shoutout to Berkley for blessing me with an arc!!), and can confidently say I will be diving into the moment I get a chance to read it!! ALSO PLEASE REREAD DISHONESTLY YOURS BEFORE STARTING THIS BOOK!! I didn’t and was lost for the first 25%😅

Thank you to Berkley Romance and Penguin Random House for providing an ARC for review!!

Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for the E-Arc!

Starting with the hard facts: You're either gonna enjoy this or feel like it was a miss.

If you're like me, you would find this to be enjoyable but only because you feel invested in the characters.

Unlike the first novel, you know Phoebe and Rocky's backstory. There's a couple flashback chapters but they don't add anything to the relationship and feels pretty filler.

This novel is more like a laid familiar back trip rather than an addicting and complex book. There's a little thrill of a heist but overall this felt like AU writing. The components that made book 1 enticing were absent, this was a very loose book. If you didn't like Rocky nor Phoebe, this book will not be enjoyable to you.

Those who are familiar with Krista and Becca's other works, this feels exactly like them.

I liked seeing more of Hailey. She's a unique character and I'm interested to learn more about her.

Based off the ending of the first book, you would think the parents had a bigger thrilling part but it fell short. The potential was there but the execution wasn't as effective.

This is a rounded up review because I thought that ending with Hailey was setting up an interesting plot. If not for that this would've landed in the solided 3.5 range.

Overall, I great book to pass the time with but not solid enough to be revolutionary.

Why isn't this on screen? The whole time I was reading it, I could picture myself watching this on TV and seeing everything unfold. And wow, unfold they did! There were a lot of moments that caught me off guard and so many times when I felt impatient and just wanted answers. I was actively trying to solve the puzzle, trying to connect the dots. There are a couple of twists that I wasn't expecting, some that blew my mind, and there were quite a few wtf moments. I had my suspicions about a few things and some were right while others were completely off the mark. This was such a fun and exciting book to read. I would absolutely love to see this turned into a TV series. There is a lot more going on in book 2. Unlike the first book, they actually plan out a con in this one and I love that we get to see the whole gang in action. Here, we get to witness them all play their little parts and follow along as the plot gets thicker. It's no wonder why Krista and Becca are proud of this book. It's a refreshing change of pace from their other well known series where the characters are "famous ones." No, not in this series. The little band of criminals in Webs We Weave are basically unknown. They fly under the radar, have so many different aliases, and would never leave a paper trail. I have so many thoughts going through my head and I'm wondering how and if they will ever successfully live a semi normal life and break free of being con artists. This book was mind blowing! I'm so excited to see how it will all come together in the final book.

The pacing in this felt really slow to me and I just couldn't get into it. That with the fact that it was over t00 pages, I just couldn't rate this higher than 3 stars. Someone might like this, but I didn't 🤷🏼‍♀️

Phoebe + Rocky

-best friends brother
-childhood love
-mutual pining
-conartist families
-grumpy/grumpy

woah. 🤯 this family is fckkkkddddd uppp yall! all these schemes this family has conditioned these kids into & then the layers & layers of lies…is truly wild!! i love the nature of these two relationship tho inside & outside cons! it’s truly a love of a lifetime! & the little hints we’re getting of the other characters is sure to make the coming books spiral even more!

Picking up where Dishonestly Yours ends, we are thrust back into the world of Phoebe and Rocky as they and their family work a con in an affluent Connecticut town. As always in a Ritchie novel, I enjoyed the closeness and dynamics between the main characters and their families (found or related).

Coming in at over 500 pages, this never felt long as it was entertaining and the writing flows easily. Yet much of it also felt like it was largely filler, preparing us for the finale next book. Not a lot happens until the end.

As this series focuses on two con families, there’s a hint of mystery involved and I enjoyed trying to figure it out.

Let me first start off by saying that I love Krista & Becca Ritchie. I will read literally anything this duo writes. Dishonestly Yours was one of my top reads for 2024, so I’m not gonna lie, the bar was set extremely high for Destructively Mine.

Destructively Mine picks up right where the last book left off and I couldn’t help but fall harder for Phoebe and Rocky. I mean, the steam between them is OFF the charts and I just love how they fought to be together and where their relationship ended up. The secondary characters were just as fantastic and engaging as they were in the first book. I loved that while we finally got some answers, the plot twists were twisting and kept me on my toes.

All that being said, I did have some major issues with this book. The first one is always a big one for me and that’s the pacing. At over 500+ pages, I could not believe how slow the pacing was. It felt like the story just dragged and that nothing really happened until I got about 40% or so into the story.

To be honest, I felt like this book suffered from second book syndrome. Like it was an enjoyable read, but it didn’t live up to the hype of the first book, and it KILLS me to say that. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this book was way longer than it needed to be and it felt like something was missing.

Overall, I thought this book was an okay read. I think maybe my expectations for this book were a bit too high. I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it as much as I was hoping to. All my issues aside, this book was still filled with enjoyable drama, tension, and scorching moments.

Sadly, this book was not a hit for me. I adored Dishonestly Yours (even went to get my copy signed by the girls!) The writing felt so different in comparison to the first book and it was really difficult to get lost in the story due to the choppiness and constant changes in pacing.

I felt that Dishonestly Yours laid a lot of promising groundwork as far as character development and I was disappointed to find that this was not explored any further (if at all) in this book. The romance felt forced and spice scenes were acted upon extremely hastily so I got tired of reading about the “chemistry” the main characters talked about so clearly having when I couldn’t feel an emotional connection between them at all.

So thankful to have gotten to ARC read this as it was a highly anticipated release for me this year.

“Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.”

This quote perfectly encompasses all my feelings while reading Destructively Mine. Finishing Dishonestly Yours left me with some truly important questions about the characters, but I felt like I had a foundation on who the characters were. Destructively Mine crumbled my foundation and I’m once again left reeling with all the revelations that this book brought.

Phoebe has been fake dating Victoria town royalty, Jake Koning Waterford, but in secret is dating her longtime love Brayden “Rocky” Tinrock. All Phoebe and Rocky want is to be together truly and honestly but there are a lot of roadblocks in their way. Phoebe’s mom has arrived in Victoria at long last and is posing as a matchmaker with mysterious plans of her own, refusing to answer any pressing questions. But Phoebe and her best friend, Hailey Tinrock, are determined to make their new honest life work… they just might have to be a smidge dishonest to achieve that.

The Romance:
Phoebe and Rocky spent so much of their lives resisting the pull that draws them to each other time and again. The angst in Dishonestly Yours was truly heart wrenching, and it all pays off in Destructively Mine. These two were volcanic in this book, their chemistry practically lit the pages on fire. There was significantly less angst in this book, but in a good way. My heart needed a break after the last one, so I was able to just enjoy watching Phoebe and Rocky fall more and more in love with each other and uncover parts of the other that they never knew, despite growing up together. Things only a significant other would know, and omg did it melt my heart.

The Plot:
Writing the basic synopsis of this book is truly so hard because there’s so much going on - but I won’t spoil anything. A big aspect of this book was hunting for the answers about the Graves and Tinrocks. Who are they really? Where did they come from? And why does every question answered still feel like another lie?

There were so many little clues that were being laid out and woven into the book. On the one hand, I had so much fun combing through the book for these hints, but at the same time, it was quite heart wrenching seeing the characters trying to grapple with what is actually the truth. If I felt like my foundation for these characters crumbled at the end of the last book, then my poor Graves and Tinrocks were decimated. Which leads me more into…

The Side Characters:
At the end of Dishonestly Yours, we finally saw our merry band of heathens all together in Victoria. The silver-tongue, the mastermind, the seductress, the getaway, the chameleon, and the psychopath. Now we finally see why they’ve earned these monikers.

For Phoebe and Hailey to make their honest life stick, they need to return to their dishonest ways - so this book sees these characters living up to their monikers. And also at the same time, we see them challenging those titles and proving that they’re more than simply a role in a con. It’s a fascinating deep dive into the characters when you see them balancing who they’ve always been with what they’re slowly becoming. Krista and Becca have always been really insightful with their characters and their development and growth across a series, and this book is no different.

I loved getting to see more of their lives through the lens of Phoebe and Rocky. For as much as Phoebe and Rocky are the center of the story, the Graves and Tinrock siblings and Jake are very much in the spotlight in this book. In Dishonestly Yours, I felt that we got to know Oliver, Nova, and Trevor more through the flashbacks to past cons that they’d participated in. I love that in Destructively Mine, we really get to see them a lot more in the present timeline, and get more insight into their characters.

All this to say…
That. Was. Wild. I think it might have been the most wild ride that any of Krista and Becca's books have taken me on. The romance, the cons, the tension, the suspense, the mystery, it was damn near impossible for me to put it down at all. Unfortunately for me, there was no savoring, I had so many burning questions and I was flying through the pages in search of answers. I am obsessed. The ending once again has left me reeling, and it's a tragedy that I now have to wait for Book 3.

There’s so much more I wish I could say but just know it was heart wrenching, pulse pounding, swoony, mind twisting fun being back in this world, with this merry band of heathens.

The ending was everything. All the kudos to Krista and Becca for making me feel settled with the answers I did get, but also feeling like my brain has been scrambled and I still have so many questions left to explore in Webs We Weave 3.

Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for an early copy!

Destructively Mine by Krista and Becca Ritchie, is book 2 in the Webs We Weave Series.
This is Phoebe, Jake and Brayden's story.
An ok read that drags a bit, is a bit overwhelming, not easy to connect with the characters. I really liked the first book, but this second ones, I don't know - 3,5 stars.

Thank you for the early copy.
I read the first book in the series before diving into this one, and I was super excited to read it. However, I ended up feeling a bit disappointed—I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Maybe my expectations were too high, and in the end, it just didn’t live up to them.

My all time favorite authors with another home run! I devoured every book they write and this one was no different. I am obsessed!

Spice? Mystery? Elaborate plans and deceits? Sign me the fuck up.

Destructively Mine starts right where Dishonestly Yours leaves off, with our favorite gang of con-artists shaken by a recent revelation that shows their whole lives are not what they believed them to be. Alternating between Phoebe and Rocky's POV, this book takes us deeper into the underbelly of Victoria, Connecticut, and the histories of the Tinrocks and the Graves. I love how we learned more about the gang's origins, with flashbacks of previous jobs they pulled, as well as seeing Phoebe and Rocky's relationship grow. We also get to know their other siblings better and see more relationships blossom (hehehe).

This book gave us so many answers and so many more questions. It also gave us elaborate cons, shocking twists, and moments that stopped my heart. Krista and Becca have done it again, giving me a book that left me 100% breathless.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

One thing you should know about me is if Krista and Becca Ritchie write it, I’m going to love it. I am absolutely loving this series so far! The first book was nothing special to me, but this second book has me absolutely hooked. Krista and Becca are the queens of the found family trope, and these books are no different. I adore the found family dynamics between the main characters and those closest to them. Another thing KB Ritchie do so so well is write relatable, loveable characters that feel real. Although these characters aren’t on quite the same level for me as the Addicted/Calloway characters are, I am absolutely loving them. Phoebe and Rocky are so swoon worthy and Lily and Lo fans would absolutely love them. The plot of this book is also so so fun. Con artists trying to live a double life; so fun, interesting and different from anything I’ve ever read before. Overall, I absolutely adored this book and this series. Fans of Krista and Becca Ritchie need to pick this up asap!

Thank you thank you thank you Berkeley for an early copy of this book!!! I will love you guys forever for that!!!

This book was a wilddddd ride and I loved every bit of it! This one answers some questions that were left from book but also will give you more questions that I can’t wait to see answered in the next book! I loved getting to see more of Phoebe and Rocky together but I also really loved getting more of the Graves and Tinrocks backstory. Destructively Mine focused more on the cons and it was so cool getting to see how each person’s role played out. I’m definitely more fond of Jake in this one than the first book. I was really hesitant on trusting him (as I should be because he’s a side character from a Krista and Becca Ritchie book lol) but after this one I can confidently say that I like him! There was some jaw dropping moments that had me turning pages and pages. I was hooked!!!! Hooked on the story, hooked on the romance, hooked on the answers. Can’t wait to see where this story leads to next!!!

I wish I loved this like I wanted too, but I think I still had a bad taste in my mind from book one… I just don’t think it’s for me…

defff liked this one better than the first but i feel like it’s still missing something for me!!! there was more plot and interesting twists in this (thank god) but idk i feel like i’m not in love with the characters? i like them but i’m not obsessed with them, not hooked on every word or anything like that. i am looking forward to more in this series tho!!

thank you to berkley and netgalley for the arc! all opinions are my own <3