jennabeck13's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering
⭐️ (1/5)
Genre: Romance
About 370 pages
Lucy is searching for who she wants to be when she arrives at Baird’s campus in California. She is young and naive which is how she falls into Stephen’s trap. The two start an on-again, off-again romance as they can’t resist each other despite knowing they aren’t good for one another. Tell Me Lies tells the story of their relationship during college, their transition to the professional world, and beyond.
Keeping this brief… I did not like this book. It felt like it was promoting toxic relationships and in my opinion, there were no “positive” moments in Lucy and Stephen’s relationship. GoodReads promotes this as a “coming of age” story and a romance, but I think it was the opposite. While I think addressing themes like those in this book is important, I don’t think it was done properly here.
Favorite Quote: “Love—real love—isn’t something you construct or hope or imagine or plan for the future. Love is something you live and feel in real-time, in every single moment, big or small. It’s reciprocal and often unglamorous. But we bank on it because it’s what gives life meaning.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
mandarrr's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Death, Drug use, and Emotional abuse
lindsayerin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child death
Minor: Alcoholism and Classism
cosycourtney's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
After watching the trailer for the tv show coming out shortly I was really excited to read this book. However, I was greatly disappointed. Considering this book was under 300 pages, it felt like the longest short book I’d ever fucking read. The reasons I didn’t like this book were because 90% of it was female suffering with a sneeze of female empowerment. Did the author just want to wonder what it felt like to be a toxic male for the period of her life she wrote this? The focus on the male POV in this novel made me sick as I felt like Stephen was the most developed of the two characters and I felt like I knew more about him than Lucy by the end. Stephen is the worst type of person and there is no arguments there, well executed because I was mad and disgusted; bravo. However, LUCY was such a wildly disappointing character. The potential for growth, retribution, and happiness was so ripe and just ignore. Mind you, the lack of showing and just telling was infuriating. I only finished this book because I had high hopes it would be closed out with a bang and I could launch my fists in the air and say for good her but like what we got was pathetic. The entire 4 year relationship being rounded out by an epilogue felt lazy. For Lucy to end up in another pathetic relationship where a man only wants her for her body, still in a run down job & he gets the “happy ending” was just annoying. PLUS don’t even get me started in the Macy thing. Also, the amount of content surrounding Lucy’s eating disorder for her to just suddenly not have one anymore ???? And also the notion that she was “better” and yet she was still exercising ferociously and binging sweets. Overall, I was so disappointed with this book and hope the show is better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Sexism, and Sexual content
janesarah's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
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