Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Tell Me Lies

I'll start by saying, definitely look at trigger warnings for this book before reading. I should have.

Aside from that, when I started this book, I wasn't sure what direction it was going to go in. It was giving me tale of caution vibes, and I was correct.

I loved the ending to this book. It was very healing. The author is correct in that we all have a Stephen in our lives at some point or another. I know who mine is and I can't wait for the day I have the epiphany Lucy does at the end of this book. 🧡

Content Warnings

oliviamcclay's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

this book was a whirlwind. and by that i mostly mean emotionally exhausting and fairly infuriating. the author quickly grabs the interest of the reader, and maintaining it. i read the book rather quickly; though, i never felt i was fully prepared for what was coming next.

the book was a lot more sexual and a lot heavier than i thought i would be. so much so i wish there was a warning. the incessant sexual writing was not my favorite and felt like overkill. but also essential for the purpose of the story that i believe the author was trying to share. the mental health issues were numerous but the ones that were most prominent weren’t only the common ones, like depression and anxiety. in a way, i felt more educated about certain illnesses after reading the book.

the hardest part of this book was hating one of the main characters for almost the entirety of the book. though, at times, you hate both of the main characters.

what i did appreciate was the reconciliation, the realizations, and overall result of the book. i felt i got the closure i was seeking and the peace i was needing.

i wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone though. only get into it if you want to read about sex every chapter, feel the weight and frustration of mental illness, and eventually get satisfying closure.

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tannerlauren's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense 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

2.0

Content Warnings

rain_conners's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Recently just finished the show and found out it was based on a book, so you know I had to read it. The book is COMPLETELY different than the show… but not in a bad way? It’s just so different it’s weird.
Stephen and Lucy’s relationship is so toxic but yet intoxicating. By the end of the book you hate Stephen with all your fu€#ing guts because he is the WORST!!!!!
I think this book hit a little too close to home because Lucy is recovering from some trauma, goes to college and falls in love with the typical asshole. So she tries and tries and tries to fix him and herself. There are some tigger warnings in here that as a female in love with a guy we all can relate too… anorexia, lying about it from your friends, and self destruction.
I think I loved this book so much because it was extremely relatable and I’m so relieved the way it ended <3

Content Warnings

jennabeck13's review against another edition

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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

mandarrr's review against another edition

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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

laurendavies443's review against another edition

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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

The WORST book I’ve ever read. If I had known it was about a girl having an eating disorder, I wouldn’t have read it and where was the trigger warning?? Oh wait there wasn’t one. I really didn’t enjoy the glamorising of calorie counting, not eating and relentless weight-loss. It wasn’t even written in an informative, educational way about eating disorders, it was exhausting reading the character’s obsession with weight. I hated both of the main characters and while Stephen was clearly extremely narcissistic and misogynistic, I didn’t expect the female characters to present the same views, what did the writer gain from making the female characters pit themselves against each other? I also hated the numerous digs about lesbians - again what was the need and what did it gain?

I also didn’t appreciate that it was framed as a ✨toxic relationship✨ when it was clearly emotionally abusive and Stephen is controlling and coercive to everyone he interacts with.

Overall just a very dull, repetitive story where basically nothing notable happens.

Content Warnings

beccacarroll's review against another edition

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emotional tense 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

3.5

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