The Academy - Liar (The Scarab Beetle Series)

I love C. L. Stone. She is my favorite author. All of her books leave me on the edge of my seat, wanting more. The Academy Series, beautiful. C. L. Stone writes books that I can pretend that I am the main character. SPOILER!! : Alright so, the very first book I read of C. L. Stone was the first book in The Scarab Beetle Series, Thief. I loved the book, it was absolutely thrilling, funny, romantic, tempting, and HOT. This book, Liar, was exactly the same. I only have a few comments that I'd like to share. First of all Kayli, I wish she didn't seem so...stuck up her own butt, I mean, she is the main character, but she... I can't really explain it. She just needs more emotion and more love for the boys. Like Sang in the Academy Series, she is sooooo loving to everyone, her sister for example, I just wanted to smack her across her dang face she made me so mad by the way she was treating Sang, but after EVERYTHING she does to Sang, Sang still loves her and takes care of her the best that she can. The same with her mother and father. I guess I just got too used to Sang's character, maybe Kayli is supposed to be the way she is. I just wish that Kayli's relationship with the boys moved faster. She needs to tell the boys or at least hint to the boys of her affection towards them all! It makes me frustrated! I hope her character develops more in the next book, which I am definitely buying on the day is comes out!!! ANYWAY! : Overall! I love The Scarab Beetle Series, I hope it develops just as well as The Academy Series has. If you have not yet read The Academy Series by C. L. Stone, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BUY IT ASAP! I Congratulations C. L. Stone, your books are my obsession and I'm addicted to all the characters. I soon hope you'll allow me to beta test a few. I don't know if I can wait much longer before I get to the end on the series. <3 ~Yours Truly, * Alyssa Erin Bryant *

Kayli is definitely a "new adult" series (unlike Ghost Bird, the other series about the Academy that has a more YA vibe since most of the characters are sophomores in high school) Not that there is sex, but the characters are mostly in their early 20s and more comfortable with their sexuality. I want Kayli to just trust her team, but it makes sense that her world is upside down, so she shouldn't just have immediate faith in men she’s known a week, when the men in her family both are keeping secrets from her. CL Stone is also really able to sell that Kayli is falling in love with all these young men at the same time. She just wants to have a reliable family the shows her affection & when her family becomes hot young men with whom she is not related that means there will be kissing. Looks like this series might start weaving into Ghost Bird some. It’s fun to see the little cameos from the other series (but not necessary to read the other series to follow along at all — though it is a good read). What works about this series for me is that it is the perfect balance of action & character development & the mysteries are well-plotted. It's such a good combo that I'm willing to follow a girl who's in love with 5 guys who are all interested in her back. (I wish she didn't have to not like female relationships for this to work, but I sort of understand that it would be hard if there was another girl there to talk out the weirdness with.)

C.L. Stone is becoming one of my favorite authors. I love the Scarab Beetle Series! I have also read her Ghost Bird Series. It is very easy to fall into the Academy fantasy land! How can I join?? I feel that I'm enjoying the Scarab Beetle Series the most. Kayli is a strong lead female character, whereas, Sang (Ghost Bird) is a damsel in distress. I love how Kayli hekpos the Academy boys in their missions. She solves problems... she doesn't just wait to be rescued. Scarab Beetle is also a bit more adult....right up my alley! These books have love, adventure, sexual situations, dysfunctional families and intrigue! The concept of the "Academy" itself is awesome. I recommend ALL of the Academy books!

This is part of the new series on the academy boys. It's more of an adult version and just as good as the youth series. Each series has their little birds featured in each series. Both are interesting, but Kayli is one tough cookie. She is smart and will defend all her guys with everything she is capable of giving. The guys are so protective of her and will never let her go without a fight. I love both of the series and will continue to purchase them.

In complete honesty I was concerned at the beginning of this book because I was having trouble jumping back into this series after being in the ghost bird series for so long. I had to keep reminding myself that Kayli was new to everything and had to find her own way. Once I made it past that hurdle ( of my own making) everything started falling into place and I could not put the book down! What I love about C.L. Stone's writing is she takes the time to really develop the characters and give you their back story so you feel like you know everyone and understand why they do what they do. What I love specifically about this book: The guys! How could you not love these guys and the dynamic they create with each other. Kayli's journey! Her struggles are so natural and at times you want to say go ahead and just love these guys! The potential for this group and story! You have the adventures they will get into along the way and their journey as a group learning how to communicate and how they fit together. I don't know how she does it with each of her books coming up with her story development and personal development with such large groups. Another Hit and Must read! Start with book 1 and just keep reading!

*There will be some mild spoilers* It's difficult for me not to compare this series with the Ghost Bird series since it is in the same "Academy" world. So warning: I will be mentioning the GB series as well. I love, love, love the Ghost bird series and although the slow progression between Sang and the boys often times drives me mad, there was something about the beauty in it as well. Sang is naive and innocent to the world so the relationship that progresses with them seems natural, from a friends and family feel to the budding feelings of romance. Even though it's outside of society's norm to have polyamorous relationship, somehow it is written in a way where you feel it could be a very natural progression with this particular group. However, with the Scarab Beetle series it feels to me unnatural and disjointed, maybe because Kayli is more aware of the world around her and she hasn't been forced to be a hermit as Sang was, and although she is broken, she still has fostered relationships with others even if they are skewed and unhealthy. Therefore, I find her "roaming lips" and confusing romantic feelings more annoying then anything else. Her turbulent emotions regarding the guys and Blake drive me insane and make me want to yell at her to knock it off. lol I understand she is confused, I also understand she has never had a real loving and healthy relationship with anyone except maybe her brother, but I feel that she is playing with the guys more then anything else, even if that is not her desired intention. Next, she's bratty, her emotions at times volatile, I can easily imagine her loyalties being swayed in the future. She seems reckless and in some ways more immature then Sang, isn't Kayli suppose to be in her late teens early 20's? I'm not saying she will be this way, but this is my first impression and I find this annoying as well. Although Kayli can be very bright and intuitive with cases they are working on she is totally clueless when it comes to whether to trust the Academy boys or not. Now, it's understandable that she would be wary since most people have lied to her in her life, and to be fair she has only known these boys a short time and it's a very extraordinary situation. Still, she immediately latched on to Blake's cautionary evidence of the guys which casted conspiracy theories about them and the Academy in her head which made her fraught with even more doubts. Which makes me laugh considering Blake tried to poison a whole town in the last book, which if I were Kayli, I would be more leery of trusting Blake then the Academy boys. There is more action in this book which I find to be both positive and negative, positive because they are not just sitting around painting toenails or worrying whether or not Kayli ate or took her vitamins. Negative because you don't get the relationship building as you do with the Ghost Bird series. This is totally just my own personal opinion and preference though. What I did enjoy where the Academy guys, they are wonderful through and through, similar to the guys in the GB series but also uniquely their own as well. Personally, my favorite is Corey. :-D He's a sweetheart and reminds me a lot of Victor. Still not sure what is up with Kevin, but I'm sure later on in the series we will get to know him. I'm also not sure about Blake, and how he will play into all of this as well, but I'm sure we will find out. Still no closer to what Will is up too, but I'm guessing he has his fingers in the Academy pot somewhere. Although, I rated this low I still enjoyed the writing and I probably will give the next book one more try, so far the last book and this book are just not what I had hoped for.

Don't get me wrong, I love books by C.L. Stone, her books are my guilty pleasure and I often giggle while I read them. But there were something in Liar that didn't set well with me, and I am not entirely sure how I feel about Kayli yet. Follow by Theif, Kayli finally learned the crude truth from his father, meanwhile her younger bother Will's missing may turn out to be intentional. Despite having the Academy guys' supports and helps, Kayli still can't quite trust the guys yet. When she discovered the boys have files on both her and Will, she started to investigate about who the boys are and what the Academy is really about. But what she found out may confused her furthermore about the guys. Kayli is uncertain and still acting rather reckless in this book, which none of the guys can do anything about it, in fact they sort of let Kayli leads them to do whatever she wants. In some way I am happy Kayli is a dominated character, but she can be a handful sometime. The romance in this book I thought was progress in a much faster pace than I would've like. I knew this would be a five guys one girl situation (in case you didn't know), so I've expected when Kayli start developing feeling with the guys. However, this is only the second book of the series, and Kayli and the boys hardly had a proper chance to "get to know" each other. Thus, when Kayli started to make-out with the guys, along with her "confused" inner voices and her quite frequent "weak moments", well, I just don't know how to feel about it. Not to mention the author is throwing Blake into the equation (in case you were wondering, I don't perticlar like Blake's character). I feel Kayli is taking advantages and playing with the guys, which really made Kayli look bad. I am not sure if it's because this series is a New Adult genre, but I find the boys can be too aggressive sometime, there are one particular scene which involves Raven and Kayli that just seem unnatural and flat out weird for me. I've expected this series to be more mature and maybe steamy, but I didn't quite get the "aw" effects when the boys are showing, expressing their feeling and desire to Kayli. I think some relationship building is in need at this point. In baffled me that Kayli would easily accept Blake's reasoning, and so-called evidents against the Academy boys. For someone who is also in the "gray" area, Kayli is surprisingly quick to judge and thinks only in black and white. Finally we are learning something new about Will, which may explain certain situations in another series (Ghost Bird series), or not since it wasn't much. While I enjoyed going along with the boys and Kayli on their Academy missions, there are tons actions that was quite fun to read. However, the lack of relationship building can makes the romances somewhat awkward to read. Overall, I liked Liar, but I don't love it. Happy Read! XO

Well, she's done it again. The author has given us another awesome series from the mysterious Academy this time with this unique group of guys. Kayli like Sang comes with her own baggage for the Academy boys to take care of, but Kayli unlike Sang wastes no time in jumping in on what it is that these guys do for the Academy. Of course Kayli gets in trouble again in this book and this time it's not just the Academy boys that come to her rescue. Oh and things just keep getting steamier between Kayli and this group. Steamy is what takes this book to a whole different level. Love it!

I have read every book in the academy. c l stone never fails to surprise me. I have to say c l stone is one of my favourite authors because of her writing style and I enjoy every minute reading it. I have told so many people about and they gave it a go. they absolutely love it. keep writing your amazing books!

These Series are different, you have to have an open mind for this. Because the women is different is young but is a tieft and she have 4-5 boys in love with her and she is not indifferent to them, so you have to enter in this world in where the life in the Academy is differnt from your social beliefs.

This was good but I'm still failing to see the reverse harem. Just because the girl kisses a bunch of guys doesn't make it a harem.. anywho.. still a good story.

I love al the writing from C.L. Stone. The way she writes about emotions and insecurity, just so recognisable, and the boys are great! want them to be my friends!

(MAY CONTAIN SMALL SPOILERS) I have been sucked in by C.L Stone and the world of The Academy. Yet again!! When this new series came out I told myself that under any condition was I to buy this book!! Obviously that didn't happen as I have now just finished the second book. The reason I didn't want to buy Thief - the first book - was because I knew it couldn't compare to the Ghost Bird Series (And in my opinion, it doesn't, I like Ghost Bird better) I'm not a writer, but I'm guessing it's quite hard to have 15 different guys, with different personalities in 2 series, and not mix them up a bit. But somehow C.L Stone does it without any problem. Sure throughout this series there have been moments when I'm reading and one of the guys will say or do something that will remind me of one of the Ghost Bird boys, and there are some traits of some of the boys that make me compare them, for example - Corey reminds me of Kota, with his smart, nerdy and shy ways Raven, he's bossy and has tattoo's like North, built and protective like Silas (Although he may be dirtier than both of them-You guys know what I mean ;) Other than them little traits and a few others I don't really mix them up. Good for C.L. I like the fact that this book is a little more mature, there's A LOT of kissing between the first two books, 2 naked men and a little touchy feely. But the reason I like this book more is because it's a little more realistic (Not that Ghost Bird isn't realist - it is - Its just that it's hard to believe that 9 very good looking guys are all single and not one is bisexual or gay) Which comes to my next point, when I read the first book and Brandon told Kayli that Corey is gay, I thought he was lying so he didn't have to compete with his brother. At the end of this book you find out Brandon wasn't entirely lying and that Corey is in fact Bisexual and he has a major crush on one of the guys, we don't find out who that is but I have a feeling that it's Marc, I don't know why, I just do. I really like Blake, out of all the boys, he is actually my favourite and I thought maybe he could join in with the group, there's just something about him that I like, I'm not sure what it is, but I just hope that C.L Stone doesn't turn him into a bad guy, although there was one point in the first book when I thought he could be Volto, but he doesn't know Sang and he's not apart of the Academy so he couldn't be, although he seems quite smart, One thing I didn't like was that Kevin wasn't in it a lot at all, which is sad because I kind of wan to know a bi more about him, it also confuses me because he has a girlfriend, which means he won't be near Kayli a lot so does that mean he won't be getting into her like the others, will h leave the Academy to be with his girlfriend. I hope not because I think it'll be a good story like for him to b on a job with Kayli so they can get to know each other better, I hope we get to know him a little more in the next book. The thing I love about C.L Stone is that she doesn't need a cliffhanger to keep her readers interested to buy the next book, we buy it because we want know what happens next. The only bad thing is that we have to wait a month for book 3 of Scarab Beetle and have to wait what seems like a year for book 8 of Ghost Bird, which makes me sad. Other than that this series is amazing and I can't wait for the next book.