I didn't really enjoy Too Good To Be True, it was very slow moving to me and didn't keep my attention.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC.

Too Good To Be True, by Carola Lovering

Short Take: I hate this book for making me use the word unputdownable.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Hello my lovelies!! It feels like it’s been forever, but I when I check, it’s not been that long - there’s just been too many things happening for just a few short weeks. But you know what? Some of those crazy things are GOOD things for once, and I am breathing easier and looking forward to more and better and happier in general.

And duckies, in that vein, let me introduce you to one of the best books I’ve read in a minute: Too Good To Be True. This nasty little gem starts off with a tale as old as time: Skye and Burke are madly in love, and everything is hearts and roses. He accepts her for who she is, and can even handle her near-crippling OCD. Everything is perfect.

Except for the teensy little thing that Burke hasn’t told her. See, Burke is already married to Heather, and their marriage is quite happy, thank you very much. Through letters to his therapist, Burke outlines his plan to use Skye for his own ends, and nerdlings, those ends are cruel as cruel can be.

So we have Skye, heading for a terrible truth that we all already know, and Burke, plotting and scheming and quite enjoying his life with both his wives, and then we get another double-shot of awesome with Heather’s journal, recounting her life with Burke at the beginning, thirty years ago, when she was a trashy babysitter and he was a small-town bad boy.

I’m not going to go any further here, because number one, hello, spoilers, and number two, going in blind makes for an exceptional reading experience. But let me just say, the big ending you expect comes about 40% of the way in, and from there, we are cranked to eleven, nonstop, till the end. (FYI, this is where I’m forced, again, to say unputdownable and I want to wash my own mouth out with soap for that.)

Ms. Lovering does amazing things with her three main characters. Each of them is complex and broken in their own way - Skye’s OCD, Burke’s addiction issues, Heather’s neverending battle to be better than her past. The author’s portrayal of OCD, especially, is incredible. She simultaneously shows how trivial or even silly it can look to people who don’t have it, and how crushingly, life-ruining awful it can be to those who do. All of the trio have their own good and bad and their own distinct voice. I love all of them like I love chocolate cake, and anyone who knows me can tell you that I love me some chocolate cake.

I think, though, that my favorite part of Too Good To Be True is the unexpectedness of it. As I said earlier, I expected [spoiler] to happen at the end, and was quite enjoying myself along the way. Then [spoiler] happened, and suddenly, everything was so much more complicated and interesting and IT JUST KEPT GOING. And it wasn’t like when there’s more tacked on just to have more, to pad pages or set up a sequel, it was like the story you thought you were reading wasn’t that story at all and darlings, I AM SO HERE FOR IT.

And if you believe nothing else, believe me when I say that the ending is unexpected and satisfying and kind of perfect. Just get this one. Read it, savor it, and yes, you even have my permission to use the word unputdownable. Just don’t ever use it again.

The Nerd’s Rating: FIVE HAPPY NEURONS (and an Aperol Spritz, because I’ve never heard of them but they sound fantastic. But I’ll make mine at home cause I’m cheap.)

I'll keep this review brief since this book deserves to be spoiler-free. It's one of the rare suspense books where the twist was not at all obvious to me, and I hope others can have that experience because it's delightful.

This story is broken into three POVs. We have Skye, a young, rich, seemingly carefree girl who just wants to be loved, and Burke, her almost perfect fiance. They're recently engaged and blissfully planning their wedding. The last POV is Heather, who's Burke's wife. Oops. They're high school sweethearts, now struggling in their mid-forties with huge financial problems, and see Skye as their trust fund ticket to financial freedom.

Untrustworthy narrators abound in this book which makes reading it addictive. I couldn't put it down, because I needed to know how this story would end. After the first big twist, the pacing of the book is a little off - it almost becomes a bit of an info dump at times, but I didn't mind too much. The plot gripped me enough to allow me to hungrily eat through the pages. I enjoyed Carola Lovering's first book, Tell Me Lies, but Too Good to Be True has cemented her as a staple in my suspense catalog.

A truly unique story. With numerous complicated relationships and an intriguing plot, it’s easy to see the author understands human behaviour. Too Good to Be True won me over. All the characters are relatable with Burke by far my favorite. The way he is presented combined with his growth and ability to surprise me had me pulling for him even when all sense said not to. This is a story I would suggest going in blind and enjoying the ride.

Lovering masterfully weaves together past and present. I highly recommend reading Too Good to Be True.

I went into this book with pretty big expectations since it was being compared to Lisa Jewell, and I wasn't disappointed. Too Good to Be True is written from multiple points of view and time periods. It's the story of 40-something, Burke Michaels as he sets out to have an affair. His loyal wife of 20 years, Heather, is none the wiser. We also hear from the perspective of Burke's paramour, Skye, who is 16 years, his junior. Skye comes from a wealthy family and has suffered from severe OCD compulsions since the death of her mother almost twenty years ago. But things are never as the seem, and both Heather and Burke are linked to Skye through a tragic accident whose consequences have altered all their lives. This novel begs the question, "Is love really enough?" It also demonstrates the lengths some will go to gain the wealth they've envied for so long. This is not a book to be missed! It kept me guessing until the very end.

What a gloriously twisted web Carola Lovering has weaved. A lot of thought has gone into this gripping storyline and I especially loved the inclusion of the ‘Dr. Kay’ diary notes. When I think I figured things out and who was the imposter, Lovering throws a curveball. A great page-turner that I would love to see as a tv series like Caroline Kepnes’ ‘You’ series.

Too Good to Be True is a thriller that will leave you guessing how this story will end. It is so different from other suspense books that I have read recently. I will definitely be reading more books written by Carola Lovering.

Too Good To Be True has a nice and usual three alternating narrators that worked extremely well and kept me hooked.
About half way through the book there is a huge twist that I didn’t see coming at all,which was a pleasant surprise.

The three main characters are all slightly unlikeable but they are at the same time very interesting and you care about what happens to them.

Perhaps overstays it’s welcome a little bit in the second half but I really enjoyed this one overall and would have no hesitation recommending it.

Thanks to St Martins Press and Netgalley for an ARC.

A psychological thriller packed with love, heartache, betrayal and deceit, this book is sure to keep the reader guessing. Just when you think you know what is happening, you truly have no idea.

Told from the point of view of three characters and spanning decades, the author is able to weave together a story that encompasses friendships, marriages, crime, death and mental health. It is impossible to give a synopsis of the story without giving away any important details. The only criticism I have is that I wish the ending was different. I feel that it didn't fit with the trajectory of the rest of the story and left me unsatisfied.

Where are all my Verity and Gone Girl lovers at?!

Too Good to Be True reminded me a lot of those twisted and terrific books! This one is told with three alternating narrators… Two of them are quite shady, unlikable, and hard to trust.

I’m not going to give away anything about the plot because I think this is a good one to go into blind. This was a quick read, a totally addicting page turner. There were times it made me cheer and others where I was actually rolling my eyes back in my head.

The ended was a little too happy for my preference, but I still enjoyed this one a lot! Four stars!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Too Good to Be True publishes on March 2, 2021.

Will provide a shout out on Instagram and FB page on release date.

A nice, twisty novel where you're not sure how it will end until the last pages. No figuring it out 3/4 of the way through.

Burke was definitely deceitful. Heather wasn’t bad at it either.

He knew how to keep secrets, and they were big ones.

We also meet Skye who has her own problem of having an addictive compulsion to count and can't find a boyfriend because of it. Burke solved this problem for her.

Then we meet Libby who became friends with Heather and showed Heather what a good life could be when you had money.

Did the obsession with money have Heather making wrong choices in her life like marrying Burke?

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE was difficult to keep the characters and even the story line straight at the beginning.

We meet all the characters in detail in each chapter.

I couldn't tell who was the worst offender when it came to being loyal or being naive.

Burke's chapters had his diary entries, and they showed what a bad person he really was.

Skye's chapters showed how gullible and trustworthy she was and how anxious she was to find a boyfriend even with her gobs of money from a trust fund.

Heather's chapters showed how her sordid life growing up made her want more.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE was slow for the first quarter of the book, but I kept reading because I wanted to see how Burke's devious plan would work out.

Continuing to read was a VERY good decision.

Once the story line got going despite the wordy sections, it kept me glued to the pages with the twists and surprises.

Readers who enjoy domestic suspense will enjoy this book.

The uniqueness and the deviousness of the characters makes it one you don't want to miss. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed how this book unfolds with the different points of view but I was a bit disappointed in the ending...spoiler alert: how did Heather mastermind all of this and get off scot-free???

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. The story pulled me in and the plot kept me intrigued.

Deliciously devious. One wrong set an entire chain of events into motion. You’re led to believe one thing, but then realize the author was just stringing you along and here’s the real story. I do like it when the mastermind of the plan doesn’t factor in one tiny but huge detail. This book is cunning, devious, sinister, and a much welcomed distraction. I liked the slyness of certain characters. I thought the author tied it all together very well.

This was a twisty turny thriller from start to finish. This story is told by 3 people so you get a lot of information to try and figure things out. I don't want to say too much and ruin anything so I'll just say if you enjoy thrillers, this is the book for you! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

#toogoodtobetrue #carolalovering #bookthirteen #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleybooks #arc y’all 😱 I say this a lot. I’m sorry #imnotsorry 😂 this book was so phenomenal. Lord have mercy. We have three view points. We follow Heather. And Burke. And. Skye. The journey. The reasons they are brought together. And. That ending. Whoa. Definitely go and #addthistoyourcart or #tbrpile RIGHT NOW. You do NOT want to miss out on something so well written. #netgalleyreads #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #readersofig

3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 stars.

Brief Summary: Trust fund baby, Skye Starling, has always struggled to make relationships work. So when Burke Michaels comes into her life and seems to love everything about her, including Skye's OCD, which has often been a point of contention with other men, they have a whirlwind romance that results in an engagement six months in. Skye, overwhelmed by the love she feels, doesn't see the various red flags that pop up in their relationship. Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Heather a seventeen year old from a very small, drug-run town. When she gets a babysitting gig for a wealthy family, Heather begins to aspire to more. Not everything is as it seems -- the relationship that seems too good to be true just might be, and the wealth Heather seeks may pervert her morality.

My Thoughts: I read Carola Lovering's first book, Tell Me Lies, in 2019 and I loved it. I had massively high hopes for this one. I read Too Good To Be True quickly. I appreciate how immersive Lovering's writing is and the way she crafts a mystery. Lovering's ability to write unlikable, morally ambiguous characters is top notch.

That being said, I have some mixed feelings about this book. First, the structure led to some repetitiveness that I didn't always see as effectively advancing the plot. Unreliable narrators abound in this book, but because we get three different perspectives, it sometimes felt very "telling" and not so much "showing" and it was telling the same event through three different eyes. In instances where the account or memory differed significantly, the repetition was effective because it illustrated the narrator's mindset and motives (or so we think...). In areas where it was pretty similar, the retelling of the event felt too repetitive. Second, I guessed the "big twist" pretty early into the book--at about 20%. Had I not guessed it, I think I would've enjoyed the rest of the book more. I still enjoyed seeing the story unfold, but we hit the "big twist" at about 50%, and then the remainder of the story pieces together how we got there. Again, I think this would've felt more compelling if I didn't guess the big twist so early. Finally, the ending wrapped up a little too neatly and not overly satisfactorily in my opinion. It made sense, to some degree, but I wanted to see a bit more accountability.

Despite the areas that I struggled with, I still enjoyed this read and blew through it quickly, eager to see if my predictions were correct.

I don't read a ton of thrillers, so I'd imagine people who do will also guess the twist early. I recommend for readers who want to read more psychological thrillers, enjoyed Lovering's first novel, and enjoy unreliable narrators.

Wow this book pulled me in from the very first page and had me hooked till the end. There are a lot of characters to keep track of along with multiple timelines but this author did a great job piecing it altogether at the end. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. To be published March 2021.

3.5 STARS
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 to NG for my advanced copy. OUT on March 02,2021