--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Playing with Fire series, book 1)
He saw her first, but his friend made the
move.
She settled for the safer choice, but her
heart knew the truth.
They love, they crave, they lie.
Garrett McCarthy, Annabelle Parker, and Milo
Roberts were as close as friends could get. They shared in each other’s joy
during graduations, promotions, and engagements. They consoled one another
through heartache and loss.
When one of the friend’s life is cut short, it’s up to the two left behind to
pick up the pieces and find out the truth – no matter the cost. As they slowly
start to uncover the nature of his deception, and the very powerful people
behind it, they begin to question everyone and everything, including
themselves.
Everyone has secrets – some do it for love
while others do it for power. Those secrets can change perceptions, alter
reality, and sometimes destroy lives.
What do you do when you find out your whole
life has been a lie?
Tara Sivec never ceases to amaze
me. I fell in love with her writing after reading the Chocolate Lovers series,
and was as giddy as a kid in a candy store when I found out she was writing
another novel. That being said, I was a little nervous when I found out it
wasn’t going to be anything like her
previous books – I mean, the woman is freaking hilarious, how could I read
something of hers and not want it to be funny?! Well, let me tell y’all
something; this book doesn’t need funny and not
once did I think to myself, “Man, I really wish this had some of her
inappropriately hysterical humor in it.” You know why? Because it’s absolutely
fucking perfect.
The story of Garrett, Parker, and
Milo is one fueled by secrets, deceit, and guilt, then lit on fire with passion,
what if’s, and so much sexual tension I wanted to jump into the story, smack
both of them and yell, “JUST DO IT ALREADY, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST PUT YOUR
P IN HER V!!”Now, as much as I clearly wanted both of them to give into their
desires and push their consciences aside, I feel like the sexual build up was
absolutely necessary in this novel. They are both wrestling with a huge cloud
of guilt; how could he betray his deceased best friend by sleeping with his
former fiancée? How could she be disloyal to him and sleep with his best friend
since childhood? It’s this constant tug of war between their heads and their
hearts that kind of rips you apart a little.
Oh, and when they do finally give
in to each other…holy mother of God; it’s
everything I wanted it to be and so much
more! If every author gave me a scene like that after a lot of sexual
tension and word foreplay, I would never, ever
complain about having to wait for shit to go down. It was that good!
The characters were easy to love,
and the storyline and writing were both flawless; just when you think you have
it all figured out, Tara unveils a new layer of deception that you probably
never even saw coming. I know I didn’t. My heart broke for not only Parker, but
Garrett as well; as more and more of the pieces started to fall into place, you
could feel him questioning just how much of his friendship with Milo was real.
How could he not have seen past his façade to see the monster that he really
was? It’s the mother load of deceptions that will leave you slack jawed…or
wanting to punch him in his stupid face. Yeah; definitely wanting to
punch him in the face.
A Beautiful Lie just reiterates why Tara Sivec is absolutely one
of my favorite authors. Her writing sucks you in and doesn’t let go until the
very last word of the very last page. Well, actually longer than that
considering I thought about this book for days after I finished it. She
effortlessly transitioned from the humorous brilliance we were all used to, to
something…well…beautiful. While I don’t normally love stories written in third
person, I understand why Tara did it. We needed to see exactly how both of them
reacted not only to certain situations, but to each other. We needed to feel
the chemistry and the want between these two, and I think it worked impeccably.
This torrid love story coupled with the air of mystery, and a healthy dose of
angst left me absolutely, 100 percent satisfied.
And in case you're interested, here are my casting picks for Garrett and Parker:
No comments:
Post a Comment