Too Good To Be True by Carola Lovering

349 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: March 2, 2021

Fiction (Adult), Mystery, Thriller, Betrayal, Revenge, Addiction, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Skye Starling is twenty-nine and lives with OCD. She has had it since she was twelve when her mother died. Because of this, she has a hard time finding a man able to accept her and her behavior.

Heather Price is a teenager with ambitions stuck in a small dead-end town. She babysits for two children and becomes part of their extended family. An unexpected turn of events will change her life forever.

Burke Michaels is forty-seven years old, married with three teenage kids. He was fired for a job he had for twenty years. With no retirement and no job prospects, he does the unthinkable. After all, family is everything.

The story has a steady pace, the characters are well developed, and it is written from three different perspectives. The book description states it is one love story, two marriages and three versions of the truth. That says it all. It has everything a great book should have – flawed characters, betrayal with revenge, and is full of twists and turns that makes the reader say “Wow.” This is one of the best books I have read this year and I highly recommend.

📖My Thoughts📖

Well that was one heck of a twisted ride! There were quite a few webs tangled into this story and every now and again it was like someone dropped a bomb revealing a twist of some sort. Though this book was a little longer than most I read, I plowed through it because I just had a hard time putting it down. It was so gripping and often times literally felt my jaw drop when a twist would surface. I think the only thing that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, was the way it ended, but that just may be the vengeance seeping through my veins. This book was told from multiple points of view, bringing their own flare to the table. If you’re in the mood for a twisted thriller, definitely pick this one up. Side note: this book contains quite a fair amount of triggers.
Thank you Netgalley, Carola Lovering and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this great book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Too Good to Be True was the third book I have read by Carola Lovering and I think its my favorite of the three. This was so good!! I was immediately drawn into the story told from three POVs. and I was constantly trying to decide who was right and who was wrong and what was happening.. I do think that the first half of the book was much more intriguing whereas the second half of the book was a little bit drawn out. Overall I would give this 4 out of 5 stars. Excellent book - enjoyed my time reading it very much.

This book is a great read. I loved the 3 different points of view, and I was totally sucked into the story.
The chapters with Skye, really showed her struggles with OCD, and how debilitating her condition is, she was really believable as a character.
I loved reading Burkes letters, and watching the story unfold.

Great read.

What a fantastic psychological thriller! I loved it and thought the twists were superb. There was one really big twist that some reviewers found too contrived, but I loved it. The story had 3 different POV's but they were easy to follow; however, it kept me wondering if any of the narrators were unbelievable and not being truly transparent. For me, the book was a page-turner and I was invested in the plotline and the characters. I highly recommend this one, especially if you're a thriller genre lover.

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press Publishers for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review which I have given.

Carola Lovering is a master at writing about toxic people and relationships. She is fabulous at spinning tales around seedy situations, and I know that when I pick up one of her novels, I am sure to be entertained. I come to her 2021 novel Too Good to Be True by way of her debut Tell Me Lies, which I loved. I am happy to share that I loved Too Good to Be True even more, and Carola Lovering is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. In fact, I will be picking up her latest book, Can't Look Away, as soon as I finish this review!

Too Good to Be True is a novel that slowly unfolds over the course of alternating POV chapters, narrated by three main characters - Skye, Burke, & Heather. The plot is best explored through your own reading, but to give you the gist, here's what you need to know about our narrators going into this book: Skye, a beautiful, wealthy young woman who suffers with OCD, is thrilled when she finally meets the man of her dreams - Burke - after years of frivolous, noncommittal relationships due to her disability; Burke, handsome, charming, and very much married, is about to take Skye for a ride, which is uncovered and narrated through a series of journal entries written by him to his marriage counselor; Thirty years earlier, 17-year-old Heather, strapped down with caring for both her little brother and drug-addicted boyfriend Burke, gets a taste of the finer life while babysitting for a local heiress and has her eyes opened to what her life could be.

I was immediately sucked into Too Good to Be True. Carola Lovering caught my attention on the very first page and I quickly settled into this book, excited to see where it would take me. I was not disappointed. Lovering is a phenomenal writer, adept at creating dynamic, vibrant characters that leap right off the page, and weaving intriguing stories that reveal the dark truths about human nature and psychology.

Too Good to Be True will appeal to readers who enjoy dark contemporary fiction with a hint of twisty suspense. Fans of Caroline Kepnes' You will enjoy the confessional writing style of this novel, as will readers who like edgy psychological fiction.

Absolutely loved this book. It sucked me in from the getgo and had me guessing all the way to the end. Did not want it to end at all.

This is one of those books that when the reader is finished looks back and just shakes her head--"what did I just read?" The story is convoluted, but also makes sense in a way. The multiple points of view is perfect for this story as it shows the gaps in understanding of the characters about what is really happening--it is kind of confusing at first,m but then everything falls into place. All in all it is a sad story about sad people, but a compelling read.

wow, this book was so good.
I was blown away by the deceit, and how far people will go to get what they want.
Firstly there was nothing good about Burke, what a jerk. He turned out to be no good for both Skye and Heather.
Such a twist, who is who in this book!
Thanks so much for this e galley, I read this book in June of 2021. I'm looking forward to more books from Carola Lovering

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

An exciting and addictive read!

This was my second novel by Carola Lovering and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the first. It didn't take long for the story to grab my attention and not let go. A great story with terrific characters (some I loved to hate).

I'm really excited to read the author's next novel!

I absolutely adored this book! Thrillers are my "go-to" novels, but this one was one of the best I've read all year! I don't even know where to start as my head can't stop spinning! We see Skye and Burke, then Burke and Heather, then Heather and Libby...any combination you can imagine actually happens in this fiendishly twisted novel that I couldn't put down for even a second! The plot is too convoluted to actually begin to explain, but just know that it totally works and had me gasping for breath repeatedly! Deceptions, power, wealth, revenge, love (often misguided), mental illness, compassion...well, you get the picture! How many themes can Lovering address here? But all of it works! It's an awesome storyline that is both entertaining and mind-blowing (and just keep a glass of wine in hands-reach) because you might have to pick yourself up off the floor after reading this creepy good book!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I kind of sat on this one for a while and I wish I hadn't!! I love books that traipse around in a few different genres, never really settling for one! There is an excellent twist here, but it takes its time getting there. I love the unreliable characters in this story and it left me questioning what really happened long after reading! There were times when I wasn't sure I'd finish this one, but I did, and I'm glad I pushed through. Originally, I was going to rate it somewhere between 3-3.5 stars, but I settled on 4 in the end. I enjoyed the first half (to about 3/4) much more than I did the last half/ending, but I would still recommend it!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read/review this book!

I'll be looking for more from this author in the future. This book has some great potential and I can't wait to see what Lovering has for us next!!

I've never read this author before but I was intrigued. the twists were amazing and kept me hooked throughout the book!

I might be too used to books about marriages gone wrong because it was a bit too predictable. Good for if you haven't read many domestic thrillers.

Skye is a 29 year old woman that has not been lucky in love. Living in NYC as an editor she has debilitating OCD in which she must knock on wood so many times and in so many ways that most of the men she meets hightail it before date number two. Until she meets handsome Burke Michaels. He's a forty-six year old successful business man that is also a recovering addict. He accepts Skye for who she is including her compulsions. Skye is finally genuinely happy with her life and with Burke who she has fallen madly in love with. After only 6 months the two get engaged and begin planning their whirlwind wedding. Is Burke too good to be true?

I really thought I had this last twist figured out, but boy was I wrong!

It was pretty entertaining and the characters surprised me over and over again. I think I would have liked it to be a bit shorter with fewer pages of diary entries. The pace could have been improved, but I still had fun reading it.

If you enjoy a domestic drama with some melodrama, you may enjoy this one too.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book for an honest opinion

Interesting and cunning characters drove this thriller towards a plot twist I did not see coming! If you enjoy a thriller that is emotional and unpredictable, you'll love this book.

I definitely didn't know where this was going, and I did not expect a happy ending - but somehow throughout the twists and turns of this psychological, domestic suspense meets romance I walked away feeling hopeful, warm, and full of the joy of forgiveness, redemption, and second chances. This is one of the most unlikely romances I have ever witnessed and, yet, they are so easy to fall in love with. I absolutely adored this one and cannot wait to see what Lovering has to offer next.

Too Good to Be True is the second novel of Carola Lovering's that I've read and like the previous novel, I really enjoyed the various perspectives and storylines and how they intersected. I enjoyed loving to hate a few characters and somehow finding a way to have a smidge of forgiveness to at least one of them (even though for a large part of the novel I thought two characters were horrible people)--it takes talent to write such awesome villains that I can actually like at points.

While the AHA! moment was as much a revelation as it was a confirmation, I still enjoyed seeing how it would all turn out.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this opportunity to review the book.

It was enjoyable!