Tell Me Lies by Jennifer Crusie

Maddie was coping pretty well with the adultery, the embezzlement, and the blackmail.Then her old boyfriend came back to town

The Story:
Maddie Faraday's life would be perfect if it weren't for her nosy neighbors, her interfering mother, her unhappy best friend, her worried little girl, her cheating husband, and that guy she lost her virginity to twenty years ago who just showed up on her front porch. But things keep taking a turn for the worse (and worse than that) and pretty soon she's up to her eyes in gossip, blackmail, murder, and brownies, not to mention some flashbacks to a past that's just as steamy in the present.

After being slightly disappointed by Faking It, I decided the best course of action for this next JC book was to have no expectations at all. To just read it without thinking, OH gosh, this is the same author who wrote Bet Me and Welcome To Temptation..and oh gosh, those were FABulous! I wanted to give this a fair go. I tried, I really did. But in my eyes, Tell Me Lies came up short. Very short. I can't exactly pinpoint it to one thing in particular, I can only say that by the end of the 384 pages, I wasn't a completely satisfied reader.

I didn't feel like I could relate or warm up to Maddie Faraday much..and I hated that she tried to cover up the fact that her lying-cheating-good-for-nothing-husband hit her. That made me mad. The secondary characters were just meh and I think the only saving grace for me was CL Sturgis. I loved that he was so frank and forward with his wants and intentions with Maddie and never tried to convince himself otherwise because he was scared. (at the beginning he did try, but I understand that because Maddie was married to someone else) He fought for what was his and kept on fighting until he finally got his HEA. And considering he had been waiting for a very long time, he scored some major points there.

All in all, as much as it pains me to say it..I'm disappointed in Tell Me Lies.

2.5/5