A twisty page-turner that I could not put down. Drew and Poppy both have deep secrets about their past..does this make them the perfect pair?

This was an incisive, complex, compelling story from start to finish—I was so intrigued by the characters and their world.

This was a fascinating read. I expected a thriller - but it was more of a creepy, slow burn women's fiction mystery. The main character, Poppy, really drew me in, and the scene-setting was excellent.

This was a well thought out book that was more of a slow burn than an action-packed thriller. The book was interesting but if you’re into books that are more fast-paced, then it may not be for you. The ending was a nice surprise, however, which could make the slow burn worth it.

An atmospheric psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns and unreliable narrators. The writing was good and I was entertained.

This premise. Had it all for me....for some reason, I did not connect to this title at all.
I have decided to DNF.

Thank you for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this thriller! This was my first book by this author, and I’ll definitely be checking out her other books! I didn’t expect the “secrets” to be what they were, and I was definitely surprised by the ending.

Whirlwind romance? Secrets? Mystery? Say no more, I am in. The Truth Hurts was an awesome read that provided both smart debate and escapism when needed most. Will be purchasing for the library's collection.

The Truth Hurts starts off with Poppy watching as her house be demolished so it can be turned into a playground. Then it goes back to when she was working as a nanny and gets fired for speaking up to the woman of the house. It moves forward in time from there, as Poppy meets Drew when she has been kicked out from her nannying job in a foreign country and needs a place to stay. Drew is rich and offers her a place to stay for the night. They have a whirlwind romance based on fun. They decide to get married after about a month and Drew proposes that since their relationship is going so well, they should agree to not quiz each other about their pasts and just focus on the present and future. Poppy agrees and it becomes apparent that they both are hiding things from their past. The book adds "before" chapters that slowly tell of Poppy's past, but we get very few clues about Drew's. It was generally captivating and I wanted to keep reading because I wanted to know what they were hiding and figured one of them was hiding something that wasn't that big of a deal. This would make a great Netflix movie with the suspense and creepy house that Poppy is convinced is working against her.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

I was excited to read a book that combines my two favorite genres, romance and thriller. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t as great as I hoped. The story was a slow build and felt like more of a drama than a thriller. I wish the story had more twists and thrills.

Thank you Harper Collins Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of The Truth Hurts for an honest review.

I was really surprised by this book-- it was a well-written thriller that had me guessing and second-guessing until the (almost) literal end. Speaking of ending, the ending of this book blew me away! I cannot wait to read future titles by this author!

Such a satisfying thriller! It felt like a slow burn in the sense that you really didn’t know what was going on until the last 5% of the book, but the details and Poppy’s backstory interwoven into the present day narrative kept it moving really quickly.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for an advanced copy of this book.

There were some great twists in this novel and, without giving too much away, I thought the ending made complete sense for the characters. I'll look forward to reading another one by this author!

I think this is a 3.5 rounded up? I'm unsure where to land on the ending. Up until the very end The Truth Hurts is a pretty pitch perfect modern British domestic suspense Gothic. It even literally references Jane Eyre and Rebecca as books our young nanny has read, and we get said nanny-turned-wife to older rich man who won't talk about his past wondering if her house is "out to get her." It builds and builds and builds and had me turning pages.

And then it attempts to stick QUITE the landing. It was an emotional shock and I'm just not sure it worked for me? Haven't dipped into other reviews but I'd bet a lot of people had issues with the ending. I'll discuss that more with spoilers shortly.

Regardless: 95% of this book is an excellent suspense read if you like ridiculous rich Brits, enigmatic old British manor houses, Keeping Up With the Joneses social torture (the kind where the fish out of water MC tries desperately to hold her own against the upper class set), that Gothic feel, and a slow burning GET OUT GIRL SOMETHING IS WRONG feeling. I was immediately drawn in and keen to return to the pages each evening. Though one quibble I have with the ARC formatting that I assume was fixed for the final printed copies--the prologue was BEFORE the table of contents and not actually IN the table of contents so I was a third into the book when I realized I had missed the prologue! Once I read it, it completely changed the suspense build of the book.

The characters are vivid, I definitely cared about multiple of them, and as mentioned there is some delicious social torture moments. We're also going back and forth between past and present, and past chapters are from the POV of a mum with a young nanny, and you catch on pretty quick this MUST tie to Poppy (our former nanny character) and it's a slow build of "what the hell happened" to the end.

One note, however: I found it ultimately very odd that both Poppy and Gina in two different spots were referred to using POC words but... I don't think they are POC? I literally went back and double-checked--neither is EVER fully described in terms of their appearance beyond hair color for both, and some freckles for Poppy. We know Poppy is beautiful and ginger but not much else, which wouldn't matter since everyone in the book defaults to white... except twice in the Ibiza scenes the author describes her skin as brown? Look there are 100% POC gingers, but given no where else does it ever come up that Poppy is non-white (and I think in this world it would?) so I think this was the author's hamfisted way of saying Poppy was tan from being in Ibiza... bad form! Don't call a white person brown b/c they are tan! And Gina is described by another character in a single scene late in the book as "exotic"... and I was like "wait wtf is she POC?" and I went back and reread both her introduction scenes--the first one on the phone in chapter one and the first time she physically appears at Thursday House and there is NEVER a physical description of her beyond "dark curly hair" and that she's tall and very thin. So I'm left over here like... if Gina is a POC it's poorly done which ultimately... no she can't be; she's defaulted to white. ARGH. I'm typically not a stickler for this, but when you use words that are coded to mean "POC" but otherwise your characters 100% default to white... it's weird. That said, I read an ARC and perhaps this was fixed before final copies.

Now onto my feelings about the ending... First, non-spoilery, because of the direction it goes in, it did feel like there were a few dropped plots, IMO. Or just things that didn't satisfactorily conclude. (The rest of my thoughts are spoilers and are on Goodreads)

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Absolutely loved this book! I was unable to put it down and read it in one setting. It moved quickly, with twists you never expect coming. The ending was completely unexpected. Will definitely be reading more from Ms. Reid.

While the overview of this book intrigued me, in practice, this wasn’t my favorite thriller and gets three stars from me.

In general, I felt the pacing was rather off. The clues were there throughout, which I appreciated as a reader and I certainly wanted to keep reading, but even around 50%, it didn’t feel as though much had happen. Then, towards the end, we get an abrupt finish that is quite literally too crazy to believe.

Nonetheless, I’m glad I gave it a shot and appreciated Reid’s short chapters and thorough character development!

Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Rebecca Reid (Perfect Liars) delivers a cracker with The Truth Hurts. Poppy needs a plan after being unceremoniously fired despite years of dedicated nanny service. Instead, she's in a roadside bar in a foreign country with no friends or money. She's approached by an extremely attractive older man. After verbal sparring and an obvious connection, Drew offers Poppy his spare bed. She stays on in his decadent Ibiza summer home and, after a fairy-tale month, they marry.

Poppy isn't stupid. She knows "handsome rich men didn't just stumble into your life, buy you dresses and then offer to marry you.... There would be a reason." The other shoe begins to fall when Drew proposes an agreement: they never talk about the past. Poppy is wary but relieved. Drew is hiding something, but she also has much to conceal. Flashbacks to a prior nanny job swirl into the present timeline, revealing the awful events Poppy wants to stay secret. At the same time, she catches Drew in small lies and feels uneasy in their isolated London mansion.

Poppy invites her friend Gina to stay, then Drew's friends come for a weekend. As the longtime friends eat, drink and dig at each other, Poppy's and Drew's pasts are forced to the surface, to a shocking end. The tense, slow-burn relationship drama in The Truth Hurts unsurprisingly turns ugly and ends with a startling burst of intensity that works extremely well despite its abruptness. Reid's writing is engaging, taut and just plain fun to read.

STREET SENSE: I went into this one knowing nothing about it, not even familiar with the author. Honestly, I didn't expect to like it. Didn't seem like my thing. Another domestic thriller. But this one grabbed me good. And the ending was so somewhat out of left field I didn't know how I felt about it until I realized I kinda loved it.

COVER NERD SAYS: If the truth hurts, I wouldn't really be attracted by this cover. That being said, it's really a great cover. I dig the font and the image. Really all of it. It's perfect for the book, it simply reinforced what I thought was a book that would not be in my wheelhouse. Cover gut was on point re quality of the cover, but missed on whether this one would be for me.

Be careful what you wish for seems to be this subtitle. Two strangers strike a bargain, have mind blowing sex and settle into life ever after. Until one of them decides the bargain no longer works for her. So begins the trek for the truth. Poppy and Drew meet in a bar and a bit of conversation later they make a deal. Neither asks any of the pertinent questions as they enter into a pretty sweet deal for at least one of them . But old habits die hard and things begin to come to light . Oh did I mention there is lots of sex .

Poppy has just been fired from her nanny job and is stranded in Ibiza. With the last bit of money she has, she decides to drown her sorrow at a local bar. Drew sits down at her table and small talks his way into her life. He dazzles her with his money, nice clothes and fancy car. Deciding to live for the moment, Poppy and Drew marry. No prenuptial, just a pact between the two of them that they would never ask about each others pasts.
What are Drews secrets? Can she find out his without revealing her own? Did she make a mistake and married a murderer? Poppy is living the dream while she gets to know the real man she married

I couldn't put this down! I felt Poppys heart break when she gets fired, and then her elation when she gets married. Drew is lovable and mysterious and a little scary. There is an hint of creepiness and ghosts, just enough to make you believe it will be the twist of the story. The twist reveal left me shocked. Didn't see the end coming at all, and I'm happy with it. I love a good crazy ending.