This wasn't what I expected, and I was happy for the way it turned out. Instead of a traditional romance, really this is a story about the lies we tell ourselves and the people we make ourselves out to be. I think we all play roles in our lives to either hide our true feelings or to act the way others want us to, so the themes felt very relatable even if the actual events were not. I liked how you discovered the character's past in small doses through flashbacks, so it was a mystery I was uncovering throughout the read. Amelia and Will were lacking a little in character development, but they mostly felt like vehicles to tell the story of the past anyway. The epilogue really didn't work for me, so I'm gonna pretend it ended before that haha. Thank you so much to Harlequin and NetGalley for this ARC.

This book has a similar vibe to the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but with more twists and turns. I really enjoyed the story and the development and complexity of the many characters.

The Greatest Lie of All by Jillian Cantor
I read this courtesy Net Galley and Park Row. Reeling from her mother’s death and over her boyfriend’s infidelity, actress Amelia Grant agrees to star in a movie about the life of Gloria Diamond, a famous romance author, based on her memoir. She goes to spend some time with Gloria at her home outside of Seattle, when she finds that the woman is nothing like what she had imagined and there are questions that are raised with no discernable answers. With Will, Gloria’s son, Amelia starts to unravel the mystery of Gloria Diamond’s real life—and how she herself is somehow connected to the woman. This story worked well, but there is a deus ex machina kind of reveal that came out of nowhere. Despite that, it is an absorbing tale of legacy, regrets, and secrets that is worth a read.

#TheGreatestLieofAll #NetGalley #WashingtonState #HarlequinTrade #ParkRow #MethodActing

This one kind of has it all. From family dynamics, love lost, not so happy endings and lessons learned. A solid absorbing read. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

Jillian Cantor brings us the story of actress Amelia Grant and the role she felt she was destined to play. When she insists on spending time with the famous author in order to play her properly on the big screen, she is met with cold disdain from best selling author Gloria Diamond. While struggling with the role, Amelia realizes that Gloria's life story does not quite match the narrative she has put out to the world. Along the way, she enlists the help of Gloria's son, Will. Will their attempts at finding the truth really set them all free, or will it cause friction between them? And how will it affect the movie that she is preparing for if what she finds out doesn't match the script?

Follow along with Amelia and Will as they try to uncover the mystery that is Gloria Diamond. We get to read from all the players in her life as we go between past and present and how the actions and misconceptions shape the present. See how much Amelia and Will find out about Gloria's past and how their lives are intertwined. Read to find out how much people are willing to go for those they love and at what cost would they go to hide the truth and perhaps uncover it as well. You keep turning the page to see what these characters will do next and to find that common thread and how everything is somehow connected.

I have read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I would like to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Park Row for this privilege.

✨✨✨𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰✨✨✨
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑳𝒊𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒍𝒍
By Jillian Cantor

Please swipe for @goodreads synopsis

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Harlequin, Netgalley and Jillian Cantor for the advanced reader copy of this novel.

This novel captured my attention within the first few chapters. The dual pov coupled with past and present narratives between Gloria the glamorous author and Amelia the B-List Actress, Cantor did an amazing job tying both FMCs together.

The romance was actually interesting. It wasn't the main focal point but a nice additive for Amelia. Gloria's love story is one I think can be seen as "but why??" "Why did she make this decision?" I was frustrated with her but then felt empathy for her because she had to make some hard decisions based off of duty and possibly fear.

Gloria's perspective made me think of What lies do we tell ourselves to get through the day? Or what lies do we tell ourselves to make our self stay in situations we know to not be right? What lies do we tell to make us acceptable to society?

The Greatest Lie of All is a great read that can spark different discussions and could be a wonderful pick for your next book club!

Keep an eye out as this book is set to be released December 3,2024!

A lovely romance in Ruby's childhood dreams about an ideal job and an ideal husband starts to come true! However, there is the problem of her present live-in boyfriend, who wants to control her whole life....and when disaster happens at work, all her dreams are going up in smoke. What can she

This is a very enjoyable novel about a young actress getting the opportunity to create the role of a literary idol in a new biopic. Amelia decides to spend time with Gloria Diamond to prepare for her role. Sh ends time with the openly hostile Gloria. Her expectation of learning about Gloria’s tribute memoir to the great love of her life soon reveal a very different underlying truth.

Amelia, reeling from the death of her own mother soon unearths some unexpected connections. Cantor has skillfully entwined Gloria’s story with one that is inextricably connected to Amelia’s own life.

There is also a perfect romance injected into this fascinating novel.

I really enjoyed this novel and I thank Cantor for her very satisfying closure and epilogue. Thank you Netgalley for this very readable novel.

✨ BOOK REVIEW: The Greatest Lie of All by Jillian Cantor

“We all tell stories to ourselves, but some are truer than others.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨/5
4.5/5

This book had me hooked within 13 pages. This was a story of grief, self invention, a little mystery sprinkled in with a little Hollywood glitz and glam. I do have to say, I love books that are a type of biopic trope and this book did remind me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in that sense with the roles reversed — this time it was not a story of a glamorous movie star, but a renowned author whose story was made for the big screen. I love the different timelines and going back into the past and really finding out why the Gloria seems to have a chip against Amelia. The tale is a testimony to the strength of women and the way they have to help one another through lessons learned and passed on as well as the sacrifices in love. That is why they call them love stories. It is also a testimony about how the lines between reality and fiction can be really thin if we try to run away from our lives and then realize we can’t decipher fact from fiction any longer.

⭐️⭐️✨ = 2 stars and a consideration

⭐️ I really enjoyed the protagonist Amelia Grant herself. She was easy to relate to and likeable. The way she is an actress because she can use it as an escape to play someone else’s life while escaping her own is an ideal I think many people go through. Everyone has their own forms of escape. Just like Gloria’s was writing her novels that were nothing like her life. In the end, we’re all stories trying to find our happiest endings.

⭐️ I am a sucker for alternating timelines and tell-all tropes and this book did not disappoint in that aspect and it was really well integrated. It was not choppy and the flashbacks were woven with the present day timeline.

✨ This might just be me nitpicking (or feeling sad about Bess and Mare) but the fight seemed… a bit contrived. After everything Mare had gone through, I would have thought she would have been a bit more empathetic towards Bess or at least heard her out. Then again, this is me just wishing that they hadn’t lost all those years.

Thank you to Harlequin, Net Galley and Jillian Cantor for this Arc. I cannot wait to grab a physical copy of this book.

Pub Date: December 3, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced reader copy. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

A story that delves into the glamorous life of acting and writing romance novels and then the not so glamorous life behind the scenes of what happens in real life. This story had so many facets with twists I thought I knew but, then nope I was wrong. Read it on a flight and I laughed, I gasped, and I cried. I loved the many details Jillian puts in her stories ahead obviously does phenomenal research and it shows.

“The Greatest Lie of All” is an intriguing tale of grief, friendship, love and secrets that unravel when you least expect them to.

Actress Amelia is grieving over the loss of her mother when she discovers her significant other in bed with another woman. A highly entertaining story of love, grief, and reinvention. Yet, instead of drowning in sorrow, she seizes the opportunity to play Gloria, her mother’s favorite author, in a movie about the author’s life. To understand the character better, Amelia stays with Gloria for a week, but Gloria refuses to give Amelia the information she needs to effectively play the role. Instead, Amelia befriends Gloria’s son, Will and the two begin to untangle an intricate knot of secrets that lead Amelia to surprise discoveries of her own mother.

While this story is referred to as a romance, the romantic aspect plays second fiddle to the intrigue. I also thought the novel did a good job of exploring different relationships including the one between parent and child and that between two friends. I appreciated how Cantor builds suspense as she blends the timeline of present day with that of Gloria’s history. Even when Gloria comes across as unlikable in the present, you can empathize by what you learn about her in the past.

Four stars.

Thank you to the author, Harlequin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

🎬 Dive into the glitz and glamour of Hollywood with this addictive tale of love, ambition, and secrets! 📽️

Amelia Grant, a struggling actress, gets the chance of a lifetime: to star in a biopic about the legendary romance novelist Gloria Diamond. But behind the scenes lies a web of deceit and intrigue that will keep you turning pages until the very end!

💔 From the moment Amelia meets Gloria, she realizes there's more to the famed author's story than meets the eye. With the help of Gloria's charming son, Will, Amelia uncovers long-hidden secrets that threaten to unravel everything she thought she knew.

📖 Cantor weaves a captivating narrative, blending romance, mystery, and betrayal into a spellbinding tale that will keep you guessing until the final twist. A must-read for anyone who loves a story with heart, depth, and a touch of Hollywood magic!

#TheGreatestLieOfAll #JillianCantor #BookReview #HollywoodSecrets #MustRead 📚🎥

This had no reason to be so damn good but it definitely was. I devoured this at inhuman speed and couldn’t stop thinking about it

This is rounded up from 4.5, but still an excellent, well written, heartbreaking story. Amelia is an up and coming actress coming off the untimely death of her mother and the end of her almost 10 year relationship with a fellow actor(jerk) and getting what she hopes is her big break. She's gotten the part in the biopic of her mother's favorite author and she thinks it's a great opportunity. She meets the author, Gloria, to find out more about her to enhance her performance. She's a bit disappointed when Gloria is cold towards her. She meets Gloria's son and starts a friendship with him that deepens when they realize that there is a mystery about Gloria that needs to be solved by them. The more they learn, the more their lives look to become upended. Gloria finally reveals some truth(what she believes to be the truth) to Amelia and Amelia walks away from the project. Amelia finally gets some answers and closure, but misses Will, who she pushed away when she walked away from the movie. After finding a letter Amelia's mother wrote to Gloria and sending it to Gloria, all the mysteries are resolved and the ACTUAL truth comes out. The story is heartbreaking because not everyone got their happily ever after, but that was a lesson learned and heeded by Amelia. I've seen some other reviews that compare this to the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and I do agree that there are a few similarities, but it's a different story and it's a good one.
I was provided this ARC from Netgalley and provided this review voluntarily.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read The Greatest Lie Of All. Jillian Cantor is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint! My favorite thing about this book is how Ms. Cantor switches points of view and years. You get all the perspectives and it still leaves you questions. This is a story of love and loss with lots of lies thrown in. The Greatest Lie Of All is a book you don't want to miss.

I really liked this book. I loved how it kept changing POVs and time periods! It was fast paced and I loved the ending!

Gloria said it best that you have to earn your happy ending and work hard in those actions that occur in the middle. For so long, she created what she thought her happy ending should have looked like and fictionalized her life story. Amelia was set to.play her as the successful romance novelist but as she dug deeper, she realized that like her pen name and supposed romance with George, Gloria lived behind a facade. She lost her great love in Max and therefore created a web of lies that she hoped would bring happiness to her readers when she herself had a total lack of. She pushed everyone away including her son, Will. Amelia in the loss of her mother couldn't find a new beginning as she felt surrounded by endings. This book was fascinating as the true story of Bess and Gloria unveiled and revealed itself as the true testament of love. Amelia found love in both herself and Will. Life truly is fleeting and it is so important to live for yourself and not what you hoped it would actually be.

I really enjoyed this book. It was so well done switching between the present day timeline with Amelia and Gloria and the past with Gloria. The scenes were cut perfectly so when something was really ramping up in the story it would switch so you couldn't help but keep going to get more details about what was going on! It was part Thriller/Mystery part Romance and also just highlighted how our assumptions can get in the way of living our lives. Would things have turned out different if Gloria hadn't assumed certain things about the circumstances of her life or the people in it? Aren't we all guilty of that? So while it may have been frustrating to walk through with her wishing she would have made different choices, it was real, and there was still happiness at the end even through the sadness and unfortunate turns. Such is life.

I like the premise of this story. You have an actress trying to method act about an author so living-in to get a feel for her. Only, the author runs a tight ship and won’t allow the actress to fully do her job.

I like our main girl here. You get a lot of her thoughts and motivations and I really appreciate that. Will and Tate are both great supporting characters as well!

Otherwise, the book didn’t hit it for me. Mare felt way more flat than I wanted her too. Flat is honestly just the word for her- yes, cold could be used too but more than that it’s just a big nothing for most of the book. (Pertaining to Mare).

There’s potential here, it just fell short for me. The writing was fine, the dual timelines were good.

I would still pick up other books by Jillian Cantor, even though this one wasn’t my preference!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC.

Poignant romantic literature about an author who rewrites her own past to take control of her future and the lessons she teaches the younger woman who is playing her in her biographic film.
I enjoyed the character arc, the intertwined love stories and even the tragedies.
Thank you to Harlequin for the advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.