Hello Kittens!
Long time, no post, I know. I have been reading faster than I have been writing, but I am happy to say I’ve got the next month of posts all ready to go for you and I hope you’ll enjoy them! We’ll start out with a dark and sexy option to get your summer off to a steamy start. This one comes out in a few days and while it has a limited audience, it is well-written and gripping. Without further ado…
Title: Tell Me Lies
Author: Carola Lovering
ISBN:9781501169649
Publisher: Atria Books
Publish Date: 06/12/18
Genre: Women’s Fiction/ Debut Author
Author Website: http://www.carolalovering.com/
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolatlovering/
Buy the book: Amazon Barnes and Noble
Carola Lovering’s first novel concerns the life of a young woman named Lucy and her first experiences with love. Like so many, Lucy has a lot to learn about what love is and what it isn’t. As she strikes out on her own, leaving her East coast life for a West coast college, we learn that she is fleeing a secret about her home life that has been haunting her for four years. It’s easy to blame everything that happens next on that secret and its impact on her life, but it’s too easy. As Lucy meets Stephen, a young, slightly older man, early on in her first days at Baird College, she is swept up in a completely new lifestyle of partying, drugs, and sex that will unravel her life as she knows it.
This story is a coming of age tale for Lucy, who will face secrets, lies, and emotional distress over the course of the story, covering several years of her life. Her story will be recognizable to so many young women today. Everyone has dated a guy similar to Stephen, or knows a friend who did. The story will infuriate you as you silently plead for Lucy to get a clue about what is going on and get her life together, but it feels true to life.
The story is told from Lucy and Stephen’s point of view, alternating chapters and flitting between the early 2010s and present day. The story is broken into four parts, although they are not particularly distinct from each other. If you’re looking for likeable characters, this novel is not for you. You may pity Lucy, but you probably won’t think highly of her for most of the book. While Stephen is clearly the villain, Lucy certainly has her faults. Lucy’s musings on love serve as an interesting contradiction to Stephen’s thoughts on relationships. The juxtaposition is very reminiscent of predator-prey relationships.
This story won’t give you the warm and fuzzies, but the lessons it imparts are important. This was a good debut for this author, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her work in the future. That being said, with its emphasis on sex and drugs, this book will not be for everyone. I would recommend it to those who like their women’s fiction gritty and raw and want a focus on the strength of women’s friendships.
And lastly, while I don’t judge books based on them, I love the cover for this one.
Disclaimer: I received an e-galley of this book from NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.
My rating:
1 glass of lemonade= a book that can only be recommended to someone whose reading taste you know well, like a best friend. There may be a fair amount of curse words, spicy sex scenes, or potentially morally repugnant behavior. This does not mean that the book is bad, just that the audience might be a little more limited.
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