Love the author's writing style. Lots of twists and turns and points of view. I didn't read What's Not Said, but I will.

What's Not True by Valerie Taylor
Pub Date 24 August 2021
"What's Not True…is an enthralling, character-driven story that will appeal irresistibly to fans of women's fiction… Taylor's prose is crystalline…she does not waste words, rather using them to create a tense, nerve-shredder that offers full entertainment to readers." — Readers' Favorite 5-star review
With her court date set for her divorce and her plans with the younger man in the rearview mirror, Kassie O'Callaghan shifts attention to reviving her stalled career. But things get complicated when she unexpectedly rendezvous with her former lover in Paris. After a chance meeting there with a colleague and a stroll along Pont Neuf, Kassie receives two compelling proposals. Can she accept them both?
But Kassie's decision process screeches to a halt when her soon-to-be ex-husband has a heart attack, forcing her to fly home to Boston. There, she confronts his conniving and deceitful fiancée—a woman who wants not just a ring on her finger but everything that belongs to Kassie. In the ensuing battle to protect what's legally and rightfully hers, Kassie discovers that sometimes it's what's not true that can set you free.
Though a standalone novel, What's Not True is the sequel to What's Not Said (September 15, 2020).
This sequel is definitely better to understand when you have read the first in the series, and it is my personal view to advising everyone to do so.
I found the plot confusing; I felt lost with the characters and the storyline; I found it wordy and long. The story has numerous twists and turns, but sadly they did not hold my attention.
I want to thank NetGalley, Valerie Taylor, She Writes Press and author Valerie Taylor for a pre-publication copy to review.

If you enjoyed the first book in this series, you will definitely enjoy book #2. Don't read this book if you haven't read the first one. FYI, there's a final book coming out to end this saga. I can't wait!! This us a long, detailed review, but I couldn't help myself!!

It's been a year since Kassie gave up on her dreams of a life with Chris. She selflessly helped her soon to be ex-husband, Mike, find a kidney donor, reconnected him with his first love, Karen, and the baby she gave up for adoption to her best friends in college. That's when Kassie got the shock of her life when she found out that the same man that she'd been having an affair with for the past 5 years, the one she was head over heels in love with, and was planning a life with, was Mike's biological son. So Kassie did the honorable thing and walked away. She moved out of their home, right into Annie's condo.

Kassie buried herself in her job. She worked late every night to make up for putting everyone else first, but her career. She wants to make partner. With her bringing in new clients and more revenue, she thinks she has a chance. Other than working herself to death, she spends time volunteering--reading to kids, working with animals, etc. Anything to keep her mind busy.

When Annie suggested they go back to Venice where she first met Chris to go get closure and move on, Kassie's says no. But after talking to her therapist, she realizes it's the only way that she can move on and enjoy the memories they once had.

Kassie and Annie arrive separately due to their schedules, but she never expected her best friend to conspire with Chris. Kassie was having a drink waiting for Annie at the same restaurant that she met Chris 5 years ago, when Chris shows up surprising her. They end up in bed that night and the following morning, Chris told her they were going to Paris, to have a new beginning in a new city.

When they arrive, Kassie has a letter from her boss, Tom, asking her to meet with the managing director of their Paris branch. Not knowing if what's going on between them is a fling in a foreign country or not, she just goes with it.

Meanwhile back home in Boston, life with Karen isn't what Mike thought it would be. He misses his wife and the life they had. He knows that he took her for granted and he regrets that. Karen uses her kidney donation as a tool for manipulation. So Mike lets her have his credit cards to shut down a marriage proposal; he's not even divorced yet. Secretly, she's looking for the big cash payout. Knowing that as his wife that she'll own the house, business, and bank accounts, she's bidding her time.

Since his transplant surgery, he's been feeling great. But lately he's been out of breath, waking up all sweaty, but he doesn't know what's going on.

When The Gaines' (Chris' adopted parents) come to Boston they stay at Mike's house for the first time, and things go downhill without his knowledge. Mike believes Kassie's 6th sense has rubbed off on him, making him see things he'd never look twice at before.

Before everyone wakes up the following day, he makes some last minute changes to his will and does some matchmaking at the same time, then leaves the house to make it official. That's when Karen tells Sarah and Charlie how she feels about them being involved in "her son's" life. When Mike walks in the door, Charlie and Sarah have already packed their bags, called a cab, and are leaving to stay to in a hotel. When he asks why and what happened, Karen just lies.

The next day, Mike takes Karen to the Cape. On the beach, she yells at him for not proposing marriage. So he gives her a shell from the shore to hold on to until he's divorced. But that night, she insists on spending the night alone in her apartment. That doesn't sit right with him, being newly engaged he thought she'd be eager to celebrate. When he catches her in a lie about Bill and baseball tickets and finds the evidence, he goes to her place to see if she'll tell him the truth. Instead, he sees her from his car make out with Charlie in the middle of the street.

Back in Paris, Chris gets down on one knee and proposes to Kassie but instead of saying "yes" she realizes that she's having an allergic reaction to something she had at dinner and panics when the itching and swelling becomes too much. Chris is confused, did she accept his proposal or not? But when he sees the hives and swelling, he knows it's bad and they table their moment. Kassie is freaking out, her big meeting is tomorrow morning and she now knows that she ruined his beautiful proposal.

The only thing bothering her for the past few days is the fact that she saw his passport stamped for Greece four months ago. She had asked him if he dated while they were apart and he said no. Yet he's been ignoring calls that have a certain ring tone.

The next morning, Kassie makes him repeat his proposal so she knows that it was indeed real, she accepts with the condition that they are "engaged to be engaged" until her divorce is final in 2 months.

Her meeting blows her away. It's everything she ever wanted and more. When she leaves 4 hours later, Chris is outside the building waiting for her with her luggage. Apparently, Mike had had a heart attack and Kassie is his next of kin, so they need to go home immediately. Kassie is upset over 2 things. She didn't have anything to write in for the meeting, so Chris gave her his notebook to borrow. On her way there in the car, Kassie decided to write down what she wanted to talk about. Instead she saw something that caught her attention. The name "Lexi" was written along with her pro's but so was Kassie's name and her pro's. She was so taken back, she closed the notebook. She didn't want to ruin her meeting.

Her meeting is everything she's ever wanted and more. The only problem is, Chris won't even entertain the idea. The firm is expanding to London. The managing director she just met with in Paris is pregnant with twins. They want her to run the Paris office for 9 months and then she'll come back to Boston for bigger things, like hopefully partner. She already said yes, but Chris won't even talk about it.

Back in Boston, Karen has been trying to get in touch with Mike, not knowing that she caused his heart attack. Thinking he's mad about the tickets and her lie, she drives to the house and sees an ambulance. She tries to rush to him, but Mike tells her to get out. She can't believe it, but Amelia and her mom, Teresa, are there with him blocking her way. The EMTs won't let her ride with him because he only wants Amelia to come. Meanwhile, Teresa suggests that they call Kassie, making Karen furious. Making Teresa point out the obvious fact, Kassie is his wife; Karen isn't.

Kassie and Chris go to the hospital to see Mike and he looks terrible. He congratulates them on their engagement and then asks to speak to her alone one last time. Then Mike apologizes for treating her the way he did. Telling her that his biggest regret was cheating her out of kids. Then he tells her everything that Karen did. Kassie was mad and disgusted that Karen did what she did to Bill. They part on good, loving terms; with a sweet kiss goodbye.

Five a.m. the following day the hospital call Kassie telling her that Mike had a massive heart attack and they couldn't revive him; he died. Kassie goes into complete shock. Chris takes over taking care of notifying everyone, but Kassie has the job of telling Karen. When she tells her, not a single tear was shed.

When Kassie calls Teresa to let her know, Teresa immediately told Kassie to hire a locksmith to change the locks on the house. The house belongs to Kassie now, as does the business and every single thing that Mike owned; but Karen doesn't know that yet.

Later that day, Kassie goes by the house to find Karen trying to jam her key in a lock that no longer works. Kassie asks her why she's there, she said because she has things in the house. After Kassie gets a bag for Karen's stuff, follows her very closely--not to Karen's liking, grabs Karen's stuff and tells her to go. Then she changes her mind (because she loved him too) and asks her to help her pick out a suit to bury him in. When Karen sees Kassie pull out Mike's secret lockbox full of jewelry and money, she's furious with herself that she never snooped before. Then Kassie pulls out a stack of hundred dollar bills, gives her 10 of them, and tells her to get out. That's when Karen realizes she needs to be nicer to her. So Karen asks her if she's getting more in his will, Kassie tells her to leave. She'd find out everything in a few days.

When Kassie had claimed Mike's body at the hospital, the doctors wanted permission to do an autopsy. She was against it immediately. But Chris talked her into it, so she did. It turned out that it actually paid off.

At the wake, Kassie spoke to everyone that Mike listed in his will. She is the majority owner of his advertising firm, Chris also owns a piece, alongside with Bill, who Mike hired 20 years ago. Karen hated Bill from day 1, she did everything she possibly could to make him look bad; but it backfired in the worst way. When it came time to talk to Karen, Chris got an email from the hospital. That email changed everything in her world.

Kassie told Chris about Karen and Charlie after they saw Mike at the hospital; they were having dinner with Annie. Chris had to tell his mom, Sarah; it was Sarah's idea to do the DNA and the autopsy. (She had a hunch.) They ran Chris' DNA to the tissue they took from Mike's body, it turns out that they weren't even related. In college, Karen was sleeping with both Mike and Charlie, her best friend's fiancee. It turns out that Charlie is Chris' biological dad. He raised his own son.

Karen thought she'd hit the jackpot. But Mike only left Karen $60,000 to be paid out $1,000 a month for the next five years and a job as a receptionist at the firm for life. She was so livid she told Charlie she expected more and was owed it. Charlie, an attorney, told her that she had no claim because she wasn't his wife, so Karen left. Kassie was so relieved, she cried. It had been weighing so heavily on her shoulders for the past 2 years that she had slept with her stepson.

But when the doorbell rang after all the guests but Bill, Nancy, Sarah, Charlie, Amelia, Teresa, Annie, Chris, and Kassie who could it be?

That's where Chris' past makes an appearance. Lexi, who was a "friend" drops the biggest bomb on Kassie when she least expects it.

A must read!!

I didn’t know that this book is the second in a series, it follows the ups and downs of Kassie as she struggles with her life!
I felt lost with the characters and flow of the storyline, at times long-winded and too drawn out! The plot has many twists and turns which kept me reading but it didn’t really hold my attention.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to the author, She Writes Press and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not sure what possessed me to request this - having struggled through it, I wish I hadn't. And that is true!
Although this second in a series is billed as a stand-alone, I found it impossible to get into the story because so much reference is made to events and characters in the previous book. However, my difficulties may have also arisen from the fact that the story is soap-opera-worthy tripe. None of the characters were developed to a point where I had any understanding as to their motives, the plot was convoluted and cluttered, and the book failed utterly to hold my attention.

My rating:

Plot: 3 out of 5 stars
Writing: 3 out of 5 stars
Character development: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3 out of 5 stars

Recommended for readers of:

Women’s Fiction


Review:

This is the second book in the What Not Series by Valerie Taylor but each book can be read as a standalone. Important events in the previous book are explained with enough detail for the reader to understand what happened before. We continue to follow the ups and downs in the live of Kassie O’ Callaghan and her interesting set of friends and family.

Overall:

This book is like watching a good soap opera. There is plenty of intrigue, drama, lots of complex love affairs and some hilarious situations. The characters are complex, their lives and relationships are complicated, this made them interesting. The book is nicely written it flows well. This is a great book if you are looking for a light and entertaining story to get away from your daily life.

Last year, I read “What’s Not Said” (the first book in the series) and was very interested to see how the story progressed in “What’s Not True.” Similar to the first book, there is a lot of drama, romance, and shocking twists and turns, that made this soap-opera story so entertaining.

What I liked about the author’s style is how she gives all the characters various shades. None of the characters are good or bad (well, except maybe one or two), are your feelings towards them change as you read the book. Initially, I wouldn’t say I liked Mike and felt bad for Karen. But as the story progressed, I felt sorry for Mike and disliked Karen with a passion. Similarly, I enjoyed Kassie’s complex relationship with Chris as they tour Paris and spend time together. It was interesting to see their dynamics play out, considering the considerable age difference. Moreover, the author makes the story interesting with surprising twists and turns. There is a shocking death in the story, which I did not see coming at all!

Probably the only downside to the story is the pop culture references. Kassie mentions people like Laurel and Hardy and Doris Day to show that she is older than Chris. While I liked the age gap, I thought some of these references missed the spot because I felt they predated even Kassie’s growing-up era. There were also a few moments that the author could have trimmed down, like Kassie’s problem with the customs.

Nevertheless, the story is very entertaining, and the author ends it in a cliffhanger that makes me eagerly anticipate the next book. I can’t wait to see how the story continues with a new character in Kassie’s life.

"I’m having an affair with my husband's son"- Kassie O'Callaghan

What's Not True follows up immediately after its predecessor What's Not Said as its female protagonist Kassie O' Callaghan tries to answer the question, "Can I have love and a career?"

Valerie has done an amazing job of spinning an interwoven tale of forbidden love, marriage, infidelity, pregnancy, and family. I appreciated the many iterations of relationships from that of adoptive parents vs. biological parents, marriage vs. divorced, faithful vs. unfaithful.

Kassie is a stereotypical- "I will put your needs above my own" type woman who has realized that at the age of fifty, maybe she should start living for herself? While her divorce from Mike, her husband of thirty years means signals the end of one chapter, two new opportunities on the horizon can seriously alter Kassie's future.

One of the things I enjoyed the most is that Kassie's love life is no fairy tale but rather a realistic and honest view of the insecurities that come from loving a younger man and the silent but constant pain of her impending divorce.

As if the soap opera of a love triangle between Kassie, Mike, and Chris(son of Mike) isn't enough, the story also follows the growing relationship between Mike and Karen (who happens to be Chris's biological mother) and Charlie and Sarah Gaines (Chris's adoptive parents) who just happen to be college friends of Mike and Karen.

I felt a sense of poetic justice within this book, if only because I felt like Mike got what he deserved. He enjoyed a loving faithful marriage to Kassie, a caring woman whom he cheated on, so it seems only right that he gets a Karen (haha) to use him for everything besides love.

All the relationships within this book are far from perfect, which adds to the realism that life isn't always black and white, but a nice grey in between.

What's Not True by Valerie Taylor was honest, raw, and powerful. I truly believe Valerie did an amazing job in portraying the hardships of marriage, infidelity, pregnancy, and family.

Thank you to the author Valerie Taylor and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my review.

This was a sequel to "What's Not Said", but it is also a stand alone. What a great read. I have never been a soap opera fan, but if this book was one, I'd religiously watch it.
There are four main characters, Mike and Karen; and Kassie and Chris. The relationships intertwine personally and through businesses. Divorce, blackmail, toxic relationships, medical urgencies. This has it all! I would recommend you read the first book to get a really solid background on the characters first.
Thank you NetGalley for providing this copy in exchange for an unpaid, honest review.

While I really liked this book, and would recommend it to friends, it is too adult for the population I serve.

Book Review: What’s not True by Valerie Taylor
Title: What’s Not True

Author: Valerie Taylor

Length: 269 Pages

Publisher: She Writes Press

Publication Date: 24 August 2021

Genre: Romance, Drama, Fiction

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Summary:

The book is a sequel to the not “What’s Not Said” and follows the journey of Kassie O’Callaghan, Mike Ricci, Karen and Chris. The book is an account of happenings following the previous novels revelations

My Review:

I thank Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC to read and review this novel. All the views stated are my own.

To start with I wish I had read the prequel to this book which I surely am going to do. Book can be read standalone too as it still gives summary and glimpses of happenings of the prequel making you aware of the scenarios leading to this one.

I loved the protagonist Kassie and most definitely abhorred Karen for her cunningness. Chris is adorable for pampering Kassie. I loved the fact that the character traits are not changed during the course of the story and remains as they are. Mike has shades of grey which suited the book. Overall, the characters are believable except for Chris who is too good to be true. Maybe I need to read the prequel to understand him better.

The book is very slow till half way. Post that it picked up pace. I took almost 30 days to complete this book as I felt it dragged a lot initially. However, in the second part of the book, the scenes were justified. I like stories which are fast paced but this book is slow paced one but I won’t complain as the story is good.

I absolutely loved the climax and in my heart was praying for this ending. The final chapter does leave you satisfied and give you peace. The ending also paves a way for another sequel. We can wait for author to come up with an equally intriguing sequel to this one.

Overall verdict is I liked this book. Will recommend the book to those who can enjoy slow paced books with great intriguing storyline.

What’s Not True is the direct sequel to What’s Not Said. While it is ideal to read both novels to fully connect with the characters and story, there are enough pieces of the backstory throughout this novel to help the reader understand everything. The recap elements were well done as they are informative enough for those that did not read the first novel while not being too in-depth to be too much for those that only need some recap. The story continues to follow the main cast of characters after the unexpected ending for them in the first novel.

Kassandra (Kassie) O’Callaghan, a woman in her fifties, is in Venice where she was originally going to meet her best friend Annie; however, her friend had other plans. Instead, Kassie reunites with Christopher (Chris) Gaines, who she met in Venice five years before and started a secret long-distance affair, even though he is ten years younger. As a recap for the previous novel, Kassie and Chris were planning to start a life together and Chris even relocated to Kassie’s side of the United States in Boston from his house in San Francisco. However, Kassie’s divorce plans from her husband, Michael Ricci, went haywire after he landed in the hospital in need of a kidney transplant. Their story was further complicated as Chris learns about his birth parents, where Mike is his father and Karen Copperman, who used to reside in Elephant Butte, New Mexico, but relocated to Boston. Karen ends up being the kidney donor for Mike and the two of them restart a relationship together. As Mike is moving on with Karen and he and Kassie are working on finalizing their divorce, the events led Kassie to take the trip to Venice.

The story starts off where the first novel left off with Kassie in Venice with Chris and the two of them are going to Paris together. There two main stories as the reader follows Kassie and Chris trying to work everything out given Chris’s relationship with Mike. The other storyline follows Mike who is now with Karen, but is not entirely sure about the direction his life is going. On the other hand, Karen is determined to make her relationship with Mike work and replace Kassie’s existence in everyone’s lives. Additionally, Chris’s adoptive parents, Charlie and Sarah Gaines play a role in the story after the discovery of Chris’s biological father and their previous history with Karen. The novel is complex as all of the stories all intertwine with each other with one twist after another. Even towards the end of the novel, the twists did not stop, so the novel leaves the reader on the edge of their seat from start to finish.

Overall, this is a complex soap opera with multiple affairs, betrayals, and journeys of self-discovery. There are some nice themes of regret and life decisions as some of the characters think about the mistakes they made along the way and if they would do things differently if they could go back in time. All of the characters in this story have their own flaws and some are more likeable than others. I loved how well-written and realistic they are. They may not be perfect, but they are each working to try and find their own happiness, which looks different to each of them. Each character reflects on different decisions from their past and how some of these decisions worked out and others led to consequences. Each of them is working towards finding a way to make decisions for their future as they continue to journey through life. An excellent sequel that was a great addition to the series!

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, She Writes Press, and the author for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

So we finally get book number two, and its not a stand alone, you have to know what happened in the first book to be able to understand this one. It has been some time since I read the first book, that when I read this one, I was still shocked by how it all unfolded. One thing I love is Kassie, I love Bad Kassie, but this Kassie is different, she is heartbroken, she runs away to get away, but her best friend Annie had better plans for her, and I was so happy for her and also for Chris.

But this is my take on this, even though the book was a great add on, because I wanted to know what happened to Kassie, Mike, Chris, his family, even his own biological mom Karen, who has snaked her way into Mikes life, this book fell short for me, I guess its because all of the juicy details were all added into the first book?? Maybe?? I don't know, I wanted it to end a different way. I feel like everything was rushed at the end of the book, and I am left thinking that there is more to this story and maybe the author is trying to stretch it out??

I don't know, even though I love the fact that Chris family issues got resolved, Karen is a hot ass mess, Kassie is being a lot nicer, and Chris has his own little mini baggage, I was thinking to myself, why does this book have to end this way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Major cliffhanger.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This is well though and written book, this has aspects which make you think .. the characters are definitely interwined with the last novel - What's not said.
So, in the light of all that .. if you like the last novel then you'll love this, but I must say it's difficult to read it as a standalone .. there is so much in the first half that makes you a bit confusing if you have no idea about the last book
But as a sequel it's definitely a WIN

This marriage drama, life decisions, mistakes and reclaiming truth is a good plot.
The storyline in this book was well done and well worth the read.
You'll enjoy visiting these people again if it's a sequel read

What I liked most was how the Kassie handles the truth and self discovery she didn't want to find, the characters are definitely flawed but so is every human.. how they handled it was my point.

Kassie wants to get her life back on point and control.. but welp!! Those twists and turns . 😲😦😯
That's my expression 😂😂
Felt a bit boring sometimes.. you know the introduction of the new villan and old connections and all

The second in the series, What's Not True continues the story of Kassie, Chris, Mike, and Karen. To recap, Mike and Kassie are married. Kassie started an affair with Chris, who she met in Venice. When Mike finds out he needs a kidney transplant, Karen, his former flame and Chris's real mother, has a viable kidney. Chris finds out that he is Mike and Karen's biological son and he and Kassie break up.

In What's Not True, Kassie and Mike are still married, but they are in the process of getting a divorce. Kassie is in Europe, licking her wounds when Chris reappears. They go to Paris and enjoy the city. She meets with Mimi who offers her a promotion, leading the Europe office where she works. Back in Boston, Karen wants nothing more than to be married to Mike eventhough she is having an affair with Charlie, who is Chris's adoptive father. Mike rewrites his will, unbeknownst to everyone. While Chris and Kassie are in Paris before her divorce is final, Mike has a heart attack and succumbs to it leaving everything to Kassie, Chris and Bill, Mike's partner. Karen is more than upset. We also learn that Mike is not Chris's real father, but it is Charlie.

I enjoyed reading the second book of the series. Based in Boston, I could picture the places that Ms. Taylor was writing about. The characters are fun to read but the plot seems a little far fetched. A great read overall thought.

This a beautiful story about how life is not always easy and it can bring you many struggles. This is a continuation of "What's not Said" so if you have not read the first book then you will definetely be confused.

Kassie is trying to get her life back on track. But some obstacles prevent her from doing that. There are a lot of twists that keep you on the edge of your seat and make you shocked. And the way they unravel is so entertaining and enjoyable!

This book is actually so complex and it really makes you think about your own life too and the choices that you have made. Definetely recommend.

I received an ARC from Independent Book Publishers Association through NetGalley.

I was a little confused by the book until I found out this is the second book of a series. Might be better reading this after having read the first book. All the characters have very complicated lives, overall an ok read.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was just okay. It wasn't bad or good and I am glad that I read it. I would recommend it to a friend who has read the first and is looking for something to read.

So much happening in this book that it pulls you through & you just want to read more! The book begins in Venice where Cassie Ricci is on holiday when her past love/step son turns up & whisks her away to Paris. Thats where this book opens up a complex story of love, old friends, adoption, betryal, money & hopefully a happy future! Recommended read.

This book originally started very confusing for me as I have not read the previous book, ‘What’s not say’. It was difficult for me as the reader to navigate the relationships and the depth of each character without reading the prequel.

In saying that, this is a good plot, and had a storyline that was readable. However, it didn’t grasp me and I kept turning pages without being committed to the story.

I also did not favour any of the characters as they all seemed vain in their way of thinking. This is not a book for me, it might suit someone else but definitely I need more my books.