TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE by Carola Lovering

 

ONE LOVE STORY. TWO MARRIAGES. THREE VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH.

Too Good to Be True is an obsessive, addictive love story for fans of Lisa Jewell and The Wife Upstairs, from Carola Lovering, the beloved author of Tell Me Lies.

Skye Starling is overjoyed when her boyfriend, Burke Michaels, proposes after a whirlwind courtship. Though Skye seems to have the world at her fingertips—she’s smart, beautiful, and from a well-off family—she’s also battled crippling OCD ever since her mother’s death when she was eleven, and her romantic relationships have suffered as a result.

But now Burke—handsome, older, and more emotionally mature than any man she’s met before—says he wants her. Forever. Except, Burke isn’t who he claims to be. And interspersed letters to his therapist reveal the truth: he’s happily married, and using Skye for his own, deceptive ends.

In a third perspective, set thirty years earlier, a scrappy seventeen-year-old named Heather is determined to end things with Burke, a local bad boy, and make a better life for herself in New York City. But can her adolescent love stay firmly in her past—or will he find his way into her future?

On a collision course she doesn’t see coming, Skye throws herself into wedding planning, as Burke’s scheme grows ever more twisted. But of course, even the best laid plans can go astray. And just when you think you know where this story is going, you’ll discover that there’s more than one way to spin the truth.

My thoughts:

This is my first Carola Lovering book. I will be reading more of her work. 

This book actually blew me away. From the very beginning it grabbed me. I thought it was going to be a slow read but it wasn't. It has so much going on that you can't be bored with it. You will want to know what is happening and why. Who is the bad guy and who isn't. It's the story of a love that wasn't suppose to happen.

There are three main characters in this book: Heather, Burke, and Skye. Their lives are intertwined in a way that will leave you breathless. You will be rooting for one thing one second then something completely different the next. You won't know who is doing what to whom until after the fact. You will wonder if things are at all as they seem. This book is really about love, deceit, betrayal, vengeance, hate, hurt, obsessions, weakness, strength, and loss. It's about a boy and a girl. A man and a woman. A truth and a lie. 

I wanted very badly to hate Burke, but couldn't. He kind of grew on me. I knew who Skye was not too awful far into the book and it didn't take away from the story at all. I liked her. Heather is another story. I hated her and liked her. I mostly despised her though. I tried hard to like her. In the beginning I felt bad for her but ultimately she got on my last nerve. She was too petty. Self absorbed. Wanted too much. Didn't want to give much. She was so obsessed with things and other people that she could not see the good she had right in front of her face. No I didn't much like Heather. Though she did work hard to get where she was and she was maybe a good mother. I still have a few doubts about that.

There are a lot of secondary characters in this book that you will like too. They play a huge role in this story. In the way it plays out. In all that happens and why it happens. You will not know what is coming until it does. This book is in two parts. The first half makes you feel one way and the second makes you feel a bit differently. There are a lot of emotions in this story that will keep you turning the pages. You will love it all. It's very well written. In the first part you hear the now between Burke and Skye and the before from Heather. It's just full of so much but very easy to keep up with. 

It's honestly a great story. 

This story will bring a few tears to your eyes. It also talks about OCD, addiction, and touches on molestation of a woman.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #CarolaLovering, #StMartin'sPress for this ARC. This is my own true feelings about this book.

5/5 stars and a very high recommendation. A must read!