Tell Me Lies

I just couldn't finish this mess, despite getting pretty far into it.

The "hero" CL Sturgiss, had a crush on Maddie back in high school, when he was the local bad boy. She was dating Brent the football hero, who was a cheating hound dog and she caught him too many times. So to get back at him, she lost her virginity to the delighted CL in the back seat of his car. Then she went back to Brent and married him.

Flash forward a dozen or so years to the present. Maddie has once again discovered Brent is cheating on her, via a pair of crotchless undies she finds in his car. She vows to leave him. Meanwhile, CL is in town - he left right after high school, but he's back and looking to speak to Brent for reasons too convoluted to even get into. show more How convenient - Maddie decided it's the perfect time for another revenge fu(k with CL!

So that happens, and then CL immediately takes over Maddie's life and tries to bond with her daughter and plans to build a house to move them all into, like a weird desperate creepy stalker. At least that's how it seemed to me, but the scenario was presented as if it was supposed to be this great sexy romance. Then a new development Brent ends up being murdered when Maddie and CL are in bed together with no other alibi takes the plot in another absurd direction.

I would definitely pass on this one. show less

Seriously well-plotted romance mystery, which I liked and disliked as I read through and ended up loving. The parts I disliked seemed messy — Maddie not acting as I thought any sane woman would, or people forgiving others where forgiveness might be questionable — but by story’s end I realised it worked because people don’t act as they should, life is messy, and maybe we should all be a little more forgiving especially when no one is perfect. I came to love Maddie’s grandmother perhaps the most — her character sums up the essence of the book perfectly, even though at first that doesn’t seem like an endorsement. Many of Crusie’s earlier work is short, still well-plotted, but light fun. This is all of those things and more, show more showing that imperfection can be okay, even preferable sometimes, not to worry so much about what the neighbours think, and it’s also fine to be occasionally selfish. And how it feels good to stand up to dominating relatives sometimes. show less

My re-read of this book has been an interesting, eye-opening experience of how time and life can alter one's view of a story.

Maddie Faraday is the "Good Girl" in a small town run on gossip, and married to her high school sweetheart, Brent, the "Golden Boy" of Frog Point, who predictably can't keep it in his pants. C.L. was the bad boy in high school who long ago shared one very steamy night with Maddie in the back of a car; the culmination of a long-standing crush on his part, and an act of revenge on hers. Now, 20 years later, C.L. is back - mature, still sexy, and an accountant - to do a favour for his ex-wife, by looking at the books of the construction company Brent co-owns. All hell breaks loose.

I remember this book being a fun show more romp with some moderately steamy sex scenes when I first read it lo those many years ago. It's still a fun romp with some moderately steamy sex scenes, but this time around it was also...confronting. This time around I'm on the other side of a marriage implosion and a good chunk of this story felt very real, very plausible. Maddie's meltdown, Brent's avoidance, the anger, the confrontation, that very desperate moment Maddie has with a half bottle of wine in her hand: it all felt like it came from a place of personal experience (for the author - not me). Losing herself in C.L. also felt authentic if not intelligent.

This is chick-lit, so it goes without saying that the story has a happy, if overly convenient, ending, but the middle is a bit more raw than anything else I've read of Crusie's.

There's a mystery element to this story as well, and it was really well crafted; the suspect so deeply buried in the narrative that I never had a clue. A very good read and not quite as frivolous as one would think from the term "chick-lit". show less

I think I liked the setting of this one, the vaguely-claustrophobic atmosphere that accompanies small town life, better than I did the actual romance. That struck me as oddly paced and more than a little unconvincing, and a strange accompaniment to the slightly darker themes Crusie touched on—Maddie and C.L. were perfectly likeable, but I'm still at a loss as to how they progressed so quickly from haven't-seen-you-in-twenty-years to love-you-let's-marry. Em was a cute kid, but her dialogue and thoughts struck me as a little too mature for a nine-year-old. Perfectly enjoyable overall, but not Crusie at her best.

I don't think Jennifer Crusie can write a book that I wouldn't like. Her characters were, as usual, enchanting, delightful, and witty. Mel and Gran cracked me up constantly. Em had me drawn in emotionally. C.L. and Maddie were equal parts just plain entertaining and steamy. I loved how Maddie went from meek and mild to bold and in control! It's a shame it took so much drama in her life for it to happen, but it shows the how the human spirit can adapt and change. This book is definitely a keeper for rereading. 5 Stars



Read With Me: Tell Me Lies

Though this was on my "Read" shelf, I could swear this is the first time I met C.L. and Maddie. This may be the very best of Crusie's heartbreak-and-heist type stories, with a believable plot to compliment the very wonderful characters. I particularly love that Maddie's wayward husband, while not often present, is certainly humanized and mourned.

Mixed emotions about this book that was chic lit but also a mystery. Interesting all the small town interactions and lies that everyone Maddie met has. I agreed in the beginning with the lies told to the daughter but when confronted Maddie should have gotten more honest although her daughter acted older than the age given. Frustrated by Maddie's behavior especially getting rid of evidence but made for comical reading. CL was a good guy, loved his compassion, the way he handled the daughter by giving her a dog, but really did not like it becoming an adultery type of relationship especially when that could have happened later in the story and been more respectable. Glad husband got his just reward.