This book was a complete rollercoaster ride. The featured relationship is extremely toxic and hard to read at times. The characters are not likable in the least. But it felt like such a real experience that I couldn’t stop flipping the pages.

I would recommend readers looking at the TW’s before diving in. If you are looking for an addictive, well written story, then I say give this one a go.

I tried to finish so I could give a fully educated review, but I couldn't do it. DNF at 239. I just hate both Lucy and Stephen so much that I can't see anything in the remaining 100+ pages redeeming this for me. I understand unlikable characters, but when they are so deeply unlikable, and the surrounding cast offers little as a balance, what's even the point? Lucy is weak and immature and selfish, and Stephen is misogynistic and sexist and grossly manipulative. I have some sympathy for Lucy because of how awful Stephen is, but the grace only extends so far. I have interacted with psychotic or sociopathic men like Stephen in my real life and there's no need to force myself to experience them in fiction as well.

Have you ever met someone who is completely and utterly bad for you? It’s something you know and feel from the moment your eyes meet theirs - yet you are like a moth to a flame? Consumed.

When Lucy meets Stephen, his green eyes, piercing into her, she knows it from the start. She can feel it in every fiber of her being. He is no good for her, and yet she needs him, wants him and has to have him. When Stephen wants something, he gets it. For now, he wants Lucy, at least some of the time. He also likes controlling, manipulating and deceiving women. The best part? They always come back for more.

In this instance however, the stakes are higher than just a little broken heart.

This is a novel that takes you back to that day, that time, when you were looking to someone else to make you feel whole and when, they ended up doing the exact opposite. There are parts of this novel that can’t get anymore real. You might remember exactly what its like and you can almost feel that someone’s eyes on you and then the air around you starts filling with tension and then whoosh!.. it’s not your reality, at least not now.

“Tell Me Lies” by Carola Lovering is both entertaining and horrifying. Basically, I am oh so glad it’s not my reality! That said, I hope you’ll enjoy reading this wicked novel, as much as I sure did!

Thank you to Atria, NetGalley and Carola Lovering for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Now that I've gotten to "know" Carola Lovering's style, I found Tell Me Lies to be interesting but not as revelatory as the other novel of hers that I read. I found myself simultaneously rooting for them and disliking them and then exasperated. While this one wasn't my favorite, it was entertaining and I will most definitely read the next thing she writes.

Overall, this book was well written. I wanted to shake Lucy at times, but I did enjoy seeing her character growth. I would have liked to have seen justice for Macy though.

Intense, twisted, toxic relationship. Hard to connect with any of the characters, sadly, didn't love this book, wanted to...

'Tell Me Lies' is the completely addictive story of a very poisonous relationship. I can look back with the wisdom of age and see how toxic Stephen and Lucy's relationship was, but yet also understand why Lucy made the choices she did.

The tale spans several years of the relationship between the charismatic yet sociopathic Stephen DeMarco and the beautiful but insecure Lucy Albright. They meet in college in California but coincidentally are both from the same area of Long Island. This actually plays a crucial role in the conclusion of the book. While definitely not a romance, there are plenty of very graphic sex scenes. Told in alternating points of view, the author did an outstanding job of making me feel anxious yet completely invested in the story. I could not put this book down!

Lucy knows that Stephen is a serial cheater (and quite possibly, worse) but she has such low self-esteem that she falls for all of his attention and flattery. (I mean, just look at the amazing cover of this book!) I actually felt sympathetic towards both of the main characters (I know, shocking!). I felt that the author really presented a clear picture of the mind of a sociopath, someone incapable of feeling any empathy or remorse whatsoever.

"I know about guilt, and it doesn’t apply to me — I don’t carry the burden of it. It actually works to my advantage, most of the time."

I have known Stephens in my life, which might be why this was such an addictive read for me. Lucy passed up many opportunities just for a fleeting chance she might be with Stephen, and over and over again, he disappointed her. She began a very promising college life, only to settle for average just so she could be closer to Stephen. I loved the exploration of Lucy's very complicated relationship with her mother, which thankfully, resolved itself in the end. Overall, this was a very sexy, dark and complex tale with two very difficult characters.

"I was delirious and idiotic and naive and irresponsible and self-destructive, and I knew all of that. But none of it weighed anything against what I actually felt. Do you follow your head or your heart? Which do you do? Your heart, always. Right?"

'Tell Me Lies' came out in 2018 and it has been on my TBR list since that time. I am so glad I got around to reading this one! I was totally engrossed in this very realistic story of obsession and first love. Highly recommend!

(Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.)

Wonderful read! I enjoyed the story from start to finish! I can't wait to read another of Carola's novels!

This book is not for everyone, as it deals with an on/off again toxic relationship with two unlikeable characters. The story was interesting, but I did not like the alternating past and present of it, although I normally do. I feel like it didn’t work for this plot and the author was trying to shock the audience but fell flat in portraying the maturity of the characters. I did enjoy the story but it’s definitely something that was difficult to get through.

I could not put this book down! This story alternates between present day and when Lucy was in college, where she met party boy Stephen. She knows he's a bad boy, but who can resist a bad boy when you're just discovering life away from home? I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book despite the fact that both characters are highly unlikeable. While this book wasn't perfect, it was a compulsive read that I flew through. I liked that it was told from both Lucy and Stephen's point of views. Definitely pick this one up if you've ever fallen for the wrong person.

This book was about a girl who had an eating disorder and was obsessed with a sociopath. She hates her mother for some horrible thing. not till' the end do we find out the horrible thing was a big understanding and a complete over reaction. All tho the author a good detailed story teller she doesn't tell a story that was something I followed or was up my alley. I hope that the book by this author is something I can enjoy more

Right off the bat, I knew I would have trouble liking the main heroine. She was way too vain and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to like her. It seemed to me that the characters took a lot of pride in how thin a person was—that being skinny just meant you looked better automatically. As if beauty equates how thin you are.

“Bree’s prettiness was mostly accentuated by her thin figure. Skinny people just look better, I realized then.”

Um, okay. That statement is disgusting. But whatever, at this point I just want to get to the actual story and stop reading about assholes who only care about looks. Okay, I lied.

“Lucy is beautiful in the way that makes it hard to stop staring, in the way that the attractiveness becomes something you have to figure out. The best part is, she has no idea.”

Upon meeting our hero, that’s what he says about Lucy. Seeing as how vain Lucy is; I highly doubt she has no idea how “beautiful” she is. I think maybe if I wasn’t already annoyed at the shit Lucy has said, I wouldn’t be so pissed off at everything pertaining to looks. Again. I drudged on.

After reading about all of that, I was a bit more prepared. Now we have bigger problems. Wowza. The back and forth between Stephen and Lucy gave me emotional whiplash. I feel like a need a nice stiff drink and possibly a rom com with no angst whatsoever ever.

Bottom line is this; leave you ex where he belongs...in the past. You’ll never be able to break free unless you cut ties completely. I think a lot of us can relate to Lucy in that aspect. Having a crazy ex you know if all wrong for you, yet letting go is hard. Overall, I hated the characters and at times really hated the story. It was well written and definitely made me feel emotions—not good ones, but still made me feel all the same.

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.

Jesus fucking Christ I can't even deal with any of the characters in this book. This is a "thrilling" coming-of-age story that follows this couple Stephen and Lucy. They are both from New York, but they are going to college in California, where they meet. This novel is told in their dual POV's. My main issue with this book is: Stephen. I'm not sure if I've ever hated a character more than I hate him. Lucy isn't my favorite character either, but holy fuck Stephen makes me want to slam my had into a wall.

Stephen is the typical annoying douche-bag who pressures Lucy into dating him by repeatedly asking her over and over again even though she said no many times. He thinks he can fuck Diana (his ex), Nicole (his fling) and Lucy (his girlfriend) without getting caught and he thinks it's perfectly okay. He says he doesn't understand people who read fiction because he's a non-fiction guy *insert eye roll here* and as soon as he convinces Lucy to open up to him he stops paying attention because 'he can't stop staring at her tits'. He tells Lucy to get on birth control because he 'hates condoms' and he says, and I quote: "Girls are generally psychotic." He desperately wants to get back together with his ex Diana throughout his entire relationship with Lucy, and when he finally gets her back he says: "When you get what you want, it almost automatically decreases in value" like are you fucking kidding me? He's such an asshole! I had actual STEAM coming out of my ear reading from his POV.

And then don't get me started with Lucy. She is so superficial and all she cares about is trying new drugs like weed and cocaine and losing weight and achieving a thigh gap, but then she doesn't want to date guys that look a certain way and she's super judge-y and hypocritical and ughhhhh.

I do realize that the author most likely wanted these characters to be very unlikable, but I don't see the purpose of reading a book like this. I can deal with unlikable characters to an extent but god damnnnnnnn. I absolutely love this cover but that's about the only thing I love about this book. I'm so bummed because I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it's one of the worst I've read this year so far.

I'm sad to say that this book didn't work for me. I was intrigued by the synopsis, but ended up disappointed. Partially because I couldn't relate to these characters at all, In addition, I found them all very unlikeable and didn't enjoy being in their head.

As always, I appreciate the chance to read this story and I look forward to future titles.

With every great reading streak, you're bound to encounter a dud sooner rather than later, and this book was unfortunately that dud for me. Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering had so much promise, but just fell flat. This story follows two main characters, Lucy and Stephen. Lucy is perpetually stuck in Stephen's charismatic trap, even though he treats her terribly. Each of them have their own individual issues going on outside of each other, which makes the toxic relationship even worse, but the only real growth that happened in the book happened so late in the game that everything up to that point was like watching paint dry.

Normally I really enjoy character-driven stories, even if there isn't much plot, but this was such a drag! The story just chronicled their college years in dual narrative format, and all the story really focused on was each time Stephen ensnared Lucy only to begin treating her like crap fairly soon after.

I've been Lucy myself-the girl fully absorbed in a guy and completely ignoring how badly he treats her, listening to lie after lie, and believing that he will change. Observing this from the outside though, all I wanted to do was scream at Lucy to get a grip and leave the loser, even though personally I know it's not that easy.

The book also kept referencing one specific incident in the past that Lucy and Stephen both have ties to, but neither knows it. I honestly didn't see the point of this addition whatsoever. This could have been done so much better to turn this story into a somewhat-mystery. I liked all the side characters a lot, and I think stories about them would have been much more interesting than this. I especially loved Pippa, and was absolutely fascinated by CJ.

The only other redeeming quality I could find in this book was the abundance of Fleetwood Mac references. Lucy sure did have good taste in music. That and the fact that I really like the book cover.

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Thanks to Atria Books for an advanced e-copy of this book! Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering is out now, so if this sounds up your alley be sure to pick up a copy!

This is the first book of Carola Lovering, that I have read. So let me share my thoughts. Tell Me Lies starts bounces from the present to the past throughout the entire book. It starts off in the present where Lucy is heading to New Jersey to be a bridesmaid in one of her closest friends wedding. A friend she met while in college and stayed in touch after they both graduated. Lucy is excited to see her friend get married, but she isn't excited about seeing a certain person from her past.... insert STEPHEN.

Lucy and Stephen have a past. A not so pleasant past might I add. Lucy settles for second best, or so I thought. However, in Lucy's mind, Stephen loved her. At least he told her that. Stephen is one of those guys that you want to kick in the balls throughout the book. He is a narcissist. He loves himself, and is so self absorbed. But yet, he seems to attract all the ladies. He plays women like a fiddle, Lucy being one of his favorite instruments.

Throughout the book, Lucy falls into Stephen's trap. No matter how many times he hurts her, she continues to go back for more. This being one of the biggest problems in the book for me. I hate seeing Lucy fall victim to Stephen time and time again. While Lucy was in college, she changed. She wasn't the same girl that entered her freshman year. Grant it everyone changes while we grow, while we evolve into adulthood. But Lucy didn't change for the better. She grew distant from her friends. She began to lie more frequently. Why? All because she didn't want her friends to share their opinions with her. To tell her that Stephen was only going to continue to hurt her. Instead, she continued to allow Stephen to her more lies.

I wanted Lucy to change. I wanted Lucy to be strong. I didn't care for the ending of the story. I felt like Lucy only realized what a manipulative monster Stephen was, was in the last few pages of the novel. She finally had a revelation at the very end.

Overall, I would give this novel a 3 star rating. Not that the story or editing was done poorly, I was just frustrated reading the relationship between Lucy and Stephen. Or the relationship between Lucy and her mother, who she called CJ. I didn't connect with the characters or the story.

<I>Tell Me Lies</I> is described as a thrilling, sexy coming of age story. While I would agree with the coming of age description, I found it a lot more depressing than thrilling. I went through the whole book feeling incredibly sad and frustrated for Lily. She made a life-changing discovery as a young teenager and kept it a secret for many, many years. It shaped her life in a negative way and ruined relationships that she had and even made any new relationships impossible to blossom because she was hurting.

Rather than entertain me as I read this book, it taught me a lesson. And even further instilled my belief that lies are best never told. There is pain in telling the truth from the beginning, but there is destruction in telling lies and letting them continue to fester.

<I>Tell Me Lies</I> is more of a scary life lesson for parents of teenagers out there. Pay attention to them. Eating disorders don't just appear. Although Lucy's issue with eating (or lack thereof) was mentioned a number of times, and even acknowledged by her, it was never really addressed. I found that very scary. I finished this book with a sense of fear for any kids I know on their way to starting high school, college and their first jobs. It's a tough world out there and we can't let them feel like they are going through things alone.

I really did want to give this more of a 2 or 2.5 star rating but because the author provided us with multiple point of view's in this story, we could better appreciate the pain the Lucy was going through when the situations were described from another's POV.

It has taken 6 days to finish this book. 6 days that I won’t get back. I hate writing negative reviews. I think authors work hard and it’s not my place to criticize them but then there’s this thing I live by about being 100% honest in all my reviews. So here we go..

I’ll start off by what I liked about it. I liked Lucy sometimes. I liked her about 1/4 of the time and the rest I couldn’t stand her. She needed to grow up and I pray that girls her age aren’t that immature because if they are then there’s no hope for the future of our women.

I get the parts of her going back to Stephen after heartbreak after heartbreak. I had a Stephen and it’s hard to break away from someone like that easily. What I hated was that she would justify why she was the other woman. I didn’t realize I was going to be reading a book about cheating or I wouldn’t have picked it up. I lost any respect I had for her after that point.

Stephen is a sociopath. My Steven was too. I think that’s what made me hate this book even more was because he was so much like my ex it was pathetic. Instead I was Alice not Lucy. A Lucy saved me from my hell so there’s that.

I’m just going to end my review saying this: Tell Me Lies is not a book for me or anyone that hates cheating in books as this was one gigantic ball of cheating. It’s also a book you should read yourself if that doesn’t bother you to base your own opinions. This one hit too close to home and I sadly couldn’t get into it like I would have wanted.

Look at the cover. It’s stunning and drew me to this book in the first place. I was delighted when I got approved for an ARC! Then I fired up my kindle and right away I slipped right into the pages. This story was different than ones I typically find myself enjoying, yet I was unable to put this down. I had to know what would happen next. Ms. Lovering wrote almost poetically. It was so smooth and paced so just right. I really felt like I was part of their lives.

So while I couldn’t put this down, it struck me as odd because I didn’t particularly like anyone in this book…yet I couldn’t look away. It was like a train wreck and I had to keep watching. Stephen was a gross unfeeling human, and Lucy was so painfully weak and not well mentally at all. Stephen preyed on that and it fascinated me. I think I was fascinated because this type of toxic relationship exists, and it was like I no only got to understand it, but also really feel it.

I also enjoyed the dual POV. While I didn’t like either Lucy or Stephen, I loved being in their heads. Watching them both tick and think about how they both convinced themselves they were happy, it was unbelievable. And some part of me wanted both of them to be happy for the right reasons.

The romance….I have to talk about the romance because I always talk about the romance and how I need that element in my story. So this is weird because for me it wasn’t there — there was no chemistry, although Lucy thought there was. So no romance but I still loved this? Yes! That tells you how good this was.

The ending – Was it missing something? Yes. For me the ending was supposed to give closure, but I needed an epilogue to the epilogue. We *think* everyone ends up ok….but we don’t know. I wish I knew if both Lucy and Stephen were happy and how everything worked out. While we left them each on what I believe was a high note, we don’t know. So while the book ended, for me the story had so much left.

Rec it? Yes, if you enjoy reading coming of age stories, and a world to get drawn into, this is a good pick. However, there are so many more questions and untied loose ends for me.

Happy reading!