Review: Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering

Tell Me Lies

by Carola Lovering

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 352

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Lucy Albright is far from her Long Island upbringing when she arrives on the campus of her small California college, and happy to be hundreds of miles from her mother, whom she’s never forgiven for an act of betrayal in her early teen years. Quickly grasping at her fresh start, Lucy embraces college life and all it has to offer—new friends, wild parties, stimulating classes. And then she meets Stephen DeMarco. Charming. Attractive. Complicated. Devastating.

Confident and cocksure, Stephen sees something in Lucy that no one else has, and she’s quickly seduced by this vision of herself, and the sense of possibility that his attention brings her. Meanwhile, Stephen is determined to forget an incident buried in his past that, if exposed, could ruin him, and his single-minded drive for success extends to winning, and keeping, Lucy’s heart.

Kritters Thoughts:  Alternating between Lucy and Stephen this book gives each the chance to tell their side of the story and I love when a book does this!  I especially love it in a relationship story and getting a male and female perspective!  The other thing this book does is jump around in time and it is clearly marked and I love seeing the present story unfold at the same time as the past is being shown - I think it is so interesting to do a book this way.  

This book was hard to read, but satisfying.  It is hard to watch a relationship unfold and scream at a character to do one thing or another!  I love when I get connected with characters enough to care about their future, it is hard to keep going when you don't care.  I wanted to know where the heck Lucy and Stephen would end up and if it would end where I thought it would.

A pet peeve that I have when it comes to any genre reading is when a character consistently hints at a secret and it takes awhile for the reader to get in on the secret.  In this book they kept referring to "The Unforgivable Thing" and the reader knows that this moment for Lucy was a big deal and that it shaped her life and I just wish I knew what it was a little faster.  This ended up being distracting and although yes it was a big deal, the build up seemed more than the actual secret was worth.

Overall, I liked this book but didn't love it.  I would read another by this author and try another one from them.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.