2024 the best of me novel review

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(as of Nov 16, 2024 18:43:09 UTC - Details)

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“A twisted modern love story” (Parade), Tell Me Lies is a sexy, thrilling novel about that one person who still haunts you—the other one. The wrong one. The one you couldn’t let go of. The one you’ll never forget.

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. 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.

Lucy knows there’s something about Stephen that isn’t to be trusted. Stephen knows Lucy can’t tear herself away. And their addicting entanglement will have consequences they never could have imagined.

Alternating between Lucy’s and Stephen’s voices, Tell Me Lies follows their connection through college and post-college life in New York City. “Readers will be enraptured” (Booklist) by the “unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story” (Kirkus Review). With the psychological insight and biting wit of Luckiest Girl Alive, and the yearning ambitions and desires of Sweetbitter, this keenly intelligent and supremely resonant novel chronicles the exhilaration and dilemmas of young adulthood and the difficulty of letting go—even when you know you should.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria; Reprint edition (February 5, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501169653
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501169656
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.96 x 8.25 inches
Reviewer: cnyce
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: riveting
Review: Great book that kept me turning the pages! If you’ve ever been in a relationship with a manipulative narcissist you’ll definitely relate to this book!

Reviewer: ➷➹➸❥HFB🔹🔹🔹
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The lies that break and define moments
Review: ┍━━━━━━━ ❝ ━━━━━━━┑It was one of those moments I would look back on for years to come: a blurred image in a magnifying glass; a memory distorted in a fishbowl.┕━━━━━━━ ❞ ━━━━━━━┙Not everyone will appreciate this book. I can respect that. It effectively details a toxic relationship with a narcissistic sociopath. The feelings and justifications of the victim. The lack of empathy and thought processes of the abuser.Either a Polaroid of a past experience or a cautionary tale. Both impactful. Uncomfortable and unforgettable. Compulsive and repulsive.One of my close friends was Lucy. It wasn't easy to support her with patience then, and it was just as challenging to read Lucy’s experience now. When people think of toxic relationships, it’s usually in the vein of the direct parties involved, but it’s the loved ones that are left picking up the pieces. Tell Me Lies is a well-written book that showcases every perspective—giving the reader various opportunities to relate and leaving a lasting impression.┍━━━━━━━ ❝ ━━━━━━━┑That kind of pain was the risk for choosing to rely on another person, and reliance is always a choice.Maybe he was magic to me once, but he isn’t anymore. The pedestal has finally vanished, yet somehow, the relief in knowing I’m over him doesn’t make me want to sing from the hilltops. It just makes me want to go and do something else.“Everyone has that guy, Luce. That one guy you think you’ll never be able to shake...”“But guys like that, in the end, when all the smoke has cleared, just make you realize what you don’t want.”┕━━━━━━━ ❞ ━━━━━━━┙🎙️ I finished the audiobook in one sitting—I was helpless to stop listening.🎧 Recommended Listening Speed: 1.7+

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: "don't do it girl" over and OVER again.
Review: Sooooo I got this book because of the show. Mann, the book version of Lucy is just eyeroll after eyeroll, because whyyyyyy?! You'll find yourself continuously saying outloud "don't do it girl!"... and guess what? She does it everytime. The show is much different- the only thing that really stays the same is the college and character names and main back and forth or Lucy and Stephen. The writing was easy. Nice, quick read. Wouldn't read it again. Mediocre compared to the show.

Reviewer: Emily Dukes
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I couldn’t not write a review
Review: I never leave reviews - check my history for proof. The book had its flaws and minor elements I didn’t like (big TW if you have an eating disorder, as I do, and didn’t realize this would be a present theme in the book. I like that the author talks about it, but there were moments from other characters’ perspectives talking about the size or weight of someone that seem to come from a disordered eating mind. Just my take.)All of that said, I’ve written in my journal this week how this book has felt like reading a memoir of my life. I had a Stephen in my life, and his name was Stephen too. The details in this book were scary accurate to every emotion I felt with him. Seeing book Stephen’s perspective, as well as the narrative in its entirety, has offered me closure I didn’t even know I needed.I loved that we got to cycle between both characters’ POVs. I don’t think the book would have been as powerful had it just been Lucy’s, the protagonist. I want to deep dive and discuss, but I want you to experience this for yourself, especially if you’ve had experience with toxic, narcissistic, or sociopathic relationships (or all three).I personally loved Carola’s writing style. Again, as stated above, there were several elements I didn’t love, or maybe rolled my eyes at for being slightly cheesy for me. That’s personal preference, though, and does not take away from how this book has messed me up in a good way. It forced me to think about my past, to relive some memories and to start journaling/writing about my own.I think it’s absolutely worth the read. I accidentally stayed up past midnight reading it one night, completely engulfed in the details, jaw on the floor as I felt like my life was unfolding through the pages, even down to minute details.If Carola ever reads this: I may not know if you lived this exactly, but I have a feeling there’s no way this wasn’t written by someone who lived this. It was too intimate, too real, for me to believe you didn’t experience this kind of pain. And I’m sorry you went through that; I deeply, and unfortunately, empathize with this experience, and I can’t thank you enough for writing this. Fiction books don’t often leave a mark on me. I can name three off the top of my head in the last few years that have haunted me in a good way. Your book just became number 4.

Reviewer: Michelle Jackson
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Character exploration great quick read.
Review: I began reading because of the series on Hulu. I like the way the series developed the characters. I was able to envision the actor/characters while reading the book. Lucy was depicted stronger in the Hulu series than the book I was slightly disappointed by the book version. I envisioned her differently than the author but I enjoyed both versions.I wish I had read the book first so I could’ve gotten the writers character descriptions vs the actors. I liked the perspective shifts giving each characters version of events. Creative writing. Great read.

Reviewer: Candace Witt
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: 5 star read
Review: I purchased this book after finishing the series and being left hanging till season 3. The book is nothing like the series I will start there. But it’s still a very good read. Anyone who’s been in a mentally and emotionally abusive/draining relationship can relate.

Reviewer: Alicia Lunz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Hard to put down.Really good read!

Reviewer: Mounika
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The author has portrayed narcissistic abuse so well. She has nailed it to the T. How the abuser thinks, the lack of empathy, the excuses the victim makes.At one point in my life, I was Lucy, madly in love with a narcissist. I wish I had come across the book back then. I really couldn't put this book down. It literally felt like I was reading MY story. The ending was perfect.The lines "may be he was magic to me, but not anymore." "The realisation doesn't make me want to sing from hilltops. It just makes me want to go and do something else." BANG ON!This is exactly how it feels when you're over their manipulative tactics, the love-bombing, the push and pull games. You're so over it that you don't care anymore.Brilliant job by Carola Lovering!It was too real!

Reviewer: Fanta
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I really appreciated the fact that it is a brutal wake up call to reality. If you have a toxic serial cheater partner IT’S A MUST. BUY IT.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I loved this book. The sad truth is we have all had a Stephen in our lives and at times I wanted to shake sense into Lucy. However, her journey to self love and self worth without a man was truly inspiring.I'm lucky to now be married to my 'Evan' and reading this book just reminded me that we all have to kiss a Stephen DeMarco to realise what we truly deserve in a relationship.Definitely a must read!

Reviewer: Renee
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I found my self skipping several pages of my kindle. The same repetitive situations between Lucy and Stephen were exhausting to read.While Lucy had been mad about her mother’s choices called the ‘unforgivable thing’ repeatedly yet she is okay to partake in Stephen’s cheating. Overall does not really enjoy much of anything neither the characters nor the story!