Cecily Gardner is sitting at a bar. She’s just broken up with her near-perfect boyfriend, and now that she’s a few drinks in, she’s about to drunk dial him to tell him how wrong she was. But just as she’s about to hit that little green call button, a stranger gently asks her to put the phone down, to not make the call. So she doesn’t. Instead, she talks to her new friend, Grant, the rest of the night, eventually inviting him back to her place. By the next morning, Cecily is pretty sure she’s in love. Sure, she just broke up with her ex, and this is clearly Rebound 101 territory… But she feels something with Grant she’s never felt before in her life. Unfortunately, Grant is about to move overseas with his brother, so their relationship, or whatever it is, will have to be put on hold for at least a few more months. Cecily tells herself that if it’s meant to be, it will be.

Fast forward a few months later, and Grant is finally flying home to New York. He says he has so much to tell Cecily, but it has to wait until they are face-to-face. Cecily readily agrees and counts down the minutes until she sees him. But then the unthinkable happens: two planes crash into the Twin Towers. In the ensuing chaos, Grant is nowhere to be found. Just when Cecily is about to give up hope, she sees a Missing poster with Grant’s face on it. When she calls the number on the flyer, she quickly realizes Grant was definitely not who he said he was. Now she’s not sure who to trust or what to believe, but she’ll do whatever it takes to create some sort of normal life for herself after this horrific tragedy.

MY THOUGHTS
Honestly, there isn’t much more I can say about this book without giving away major twists and reveals. Holy smokes, I’m stunned. I don’t know how author Giffin fit all this (admittedly ridiculous) drama in here while still making the story feel believable, but, wow, she did. The over-the-top-ness of the book is next level, but I ate up every word, flipping pages like a crazy woman until I could figure out what in tarnation was happening. And I wasn’t disappointed. The Lies that Bind has so much going on—truly, it shouldn’t work. But it did.

My only minor complaint is the ending. Let’s just say the Cecily has choices, and I’m not totally convinced the choices she makes would play out like they did. But oh well. This is one of those books where you just hang on tight and enjoy the ride. I loved it.

This was a fast and interesting read with plenty of mystery. Enough so that I wanted to keep reading to find out the secrets hidden by both main characters. The story hinges on the devastation of 9/11 but is a complicated love story, at its heart. And the work required in order to capture and keep great love.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read - and have already recommended a few friends preorder - Emily knows how to write the rhythm of New York City like few others.

I wanted to start off my saying that I read every single one of Emily Giffin's books. I fell in love with her novels years ago when I lived in Atlanta and saw her first novel, Something Borrowed, on a shelf at Borders (yes, Borders!) promoting local authors. After reading, I immediately bought every book she had out.

I enjoyed reading The Lies That Bind. Honestly, I devour her books, and read this one in two evenings. I just couldn't put it down and had to know what happened. Honestly, didn't see it coming! I don't want to spoil any parts of the plots, but one thing that I really loved about this book is that the characters seem so real. Some are likable, some are not, but they feel like real-live human beings (and we aren't always perfect). Cecily, at some points you will want to hug her and at some points.... well, you won't want to hug her... you'll see!

Also, if you have read Giffin before, she often brings back characters from other novels. Look for a favorite one here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the review copy.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine Books for the ARC in exchange of an honest review. I don't normally read chick-lit books but hey, quarantine, stuck at home, lots of time to kill. So I decided to give this book a try. I enjoyed the premise of the plot but I found the characters a little bit cartoon-ish. It's a great book for reading by the pool or the beach, once they are re-opened... or just sitting on your couch!

I have always been a huge fan of Emily Giffen and have loved her books, this one however was not my favorite. I found it well-written and I was able to connect with Cecily but I felt like Grant's character was a bit off-putting and I felt myself disengaged from him. I do like how they put a personal touch on 9/11 and how it affected this handful of characters instead of trying to generalize it all.

Emily Giffin's books are always ones I look forward to. I am a fan of her as a person, but quite frankly this one may be worse that The One and Only. It took close to half way through the book to even understand what the point of it was and just when I thought it was turning around, it fell flat. It's a bummer because her earlier books were just un-put-downable.

The characters are pathetic, gross people. I felt that the 9/11 story line was weak and didn't do any sort of justice to the most horrific event to happen to our country.

The repeated story line of friend lying and deceiving friend to only be found out and then beg for forgiveness is one that repeats in Giffin's books and after being told once...well once is enough.

The only enjoyable part of the book was the reference to Ethan, Darcy and Rachel for a couple of pages, although all that really did was make me miss Giffin's early books more than I already did.

Another great story from Emily Giffin. I went back and forth on feeling connected to Cecily. I could understand her idealism about NYC and finding true love. I couldn’t quite understand her relationship with Matthew and the way she just went along with things. The complications of Grant and that whole story line really blew me away. I am not sure if all of Grant’s story was completely necessary, but I I enjoyed the drama. Cecily finally figuring out what she wanted and doing things for herself. I loved the little cameos from Rachel, Darcy and Ethan. This book is a great look at love, lies and what really matters.

This was my second Emily Giffin book and I loved it! Giffin has a talent of writing in such a way that pulls you in with ease and you are so invested in the story that you just cannot put it down. For starters I’m a sucker for books set in NYC. I don't live there but I love the city. And I love the vibe you get from a book that is set there.

Cecily and Grant meet in a bar and quickly end up falling in love with each other. Their whirlwind relationship seems to good to be true and doesn’t come without its own set of hurdles; long distance, a sick brother, September 11th, an FBI investigation, oh, and a spouse.

I enjoyed every bit of this story including the 9/11 details. The story contained quite a bit of late 90’s to early 2000’s nostalgia which I enjoyed. This was a 5 star read for me!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this book. Haven't read something in awhile that I couldn't put down. Don't usually like love stories, but this was done well. Good character development. I looked forward to time to read every day!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book.

Upset after a break-up, Cecily heads to a bar and is stopped from texting her ex from a man that she meets. They have a great connection, and then 9/11 happens.

I'm going to rate this 3.5 stars. To be honest, I was hesitant at the start of the book because I am not a fan of using emails and letters as chapters. I feel like it is used as filler. However, that disappeared, and I started to recognize the great writing that I'm used to from Emily Giffin.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I loved the 90's and early 2000's cultural references and Cecily's character growth.

I was a bit hesitant to read Emily Giffin's latest novel due to some of the negative reviews. I am glad I picked it up anyways. This isn't your typical EG book, but the story was still engaging and had a variety of twists and turns in the plot, that while somewhat predictable, I couldn't put the book down.

Thank you for the ARC copy. This was a complex and intriguing story of love,deceit, friendship and discovery. The backdrop of NYC during 9/11 lent an extra layer of emotion. Cecily and Grants relationship is one of ups and downs, twists and turns. At times drown out but one that I’m glad I continued reading to see how their story ended.

I am very torn with this novel. On the one hand I really enjoy this author and her writing style. I am a huge fan of her earlier work - absolutely adored Something Borrowed and Something Blue and recommended them to just about everyone I knew. The later books, I have to say have been very mixed - I did really enjoy Where We Belong and I will hope for a sequel at some point. This book, was extremely readable and kind of addictive- unputdownable in many ways. I loved the nostalgia about pre and post 9/11 times. I am from the NY area and happened to be in NYC for my anniversary during this horrific time. The panic, despair and helplessness was captured wonderfully and I think this is where the novel really shined. The characters on the other hand, were kind of cookie cutter cliches. I found all of them extremely irritating and kind of superficial. Cecily was annoying seemed to be a female who has no identity without a man by her side. Did not like that at all. I found much of the premise to be kind of far fetched. I am between a 3-4 and will round up because of the emotions that emerged when reading about my wonderful home city. I look forward to more from this author- I think she is very talented but I think that the character development needs to grow. I find that the characters that resonated so much about 20 years ago just don't anymore. I guess I am not the same reader that found Rachel and Darcy so endearing. thank you to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy.

I loved this book! Emily Giffin is one of my favorite authors and this one did not disappoint, The twist 2/3 of the way through was completely unexpected.

This book was so confounding for me, on one hand I enjoyed reading it and on the other I found it very surface level and unbelievable. The plot felt all over the place and the ending really threw me off. I didn't get the feeling that Cecily would end up with Grant after all of his lies. I did enjoy the 90 references, but using 9/11 as a plot point felt a little insensitive.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a digital ARC of The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin in exchange for my honest opinion.

Cecily Gardner takes a late night stroll to avoid her desire to call her ex-boyfriend. She enters a random bar, has a few drinks and as she is about to cave and call him, a random stranger encourages her not to. What begins as a chance encounter turns in a twisty relationship full of secrets we slowly uncover. Giffin's characters enjoy a summer together before the halt of 9/11. Cecily slowly rebuilds relationships while uncovering new ones.

Giffin's description of the aftermath of 9/11 was as though she was describing her own experience.

Look for this book on 6.2.2020.

So normally I'm a pretty decent fan of Emily Giffin books. For some reason this one didn't vibe right with me. I do have to say as someone who was 18 when 9/11 happened, I have to say that was handled very well.

So we meet Cecily right after she breaks up with her boyfriend. Out at a bar and about to call him up, a tall, dark and handsome man tells her.not to do it. There was inst-love and just a lot of wishy-washy moments that I didn't care for.

I'd give it a 3/5 stars

I've loved Emily Giffin books since I saw the movie "Something Borrowed" and decided to read the book version. I love the characters she creates and the realistic situations presented in her books.
I wanted to love this one but just didn't. When I read the blurb, I was really interested to how the plot would center around the 9/11 attacks. I think the biggest issue I had was that the characters fell flat for me. I found that I didn't care about any of them and I don't think they were fleshed out enough.
I liked the storyline, just not the characters.

loved this easy going book about love and friendship. It had me guessing some major plots and was thrilled to receive an arc of this book, love this author