A review by afroheaux
Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering

dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

I'm in between 3.5 and 3.75 for this book because I enjoyed the writing style, and it kept me engaged throughout, but I didn't like it. Throughout the book, I was just waiting for something that just didn't happen. The author is an incredible writer. I love the way she describes things. She clearly did a lot of good research for this because Stephen's tone and thought process is accurate to the mindset of a sociopath. The style is similar to the Luckiest Girl Alive, and I should've known after seeing a raving review from that author about this book that this wasn't going to be my favorite. However, Lucy, even though I did not like her much, was a bit more endearing to me than TifAni. 

Stephen is a horrible person, but I do think it's important to write books about people like him to show people how they think and operate. I'm sure this book could be a great wake-up call to someone who's stuck in a relationship like this to break the delusions of what you think the other person feels for you. What I love the most about the way she wrote Stephen is that he was incredibly honest with many around him, but people didn't want to listen. They only heard what they wanted to hear from him. Everything else painted him as a creep, so they ignored it. As someone who has had their own toxic (somewhat) codependent relationship that wasn't a relationship, I can understand Lucy's thought process well, and yet even that didn't endear me to her. The eating disorder references were hard to get through. As someone who is recovering, it's hard to read through the mind of someone who has contempt for someone who looks like you.

The "Unforgivable Thing" being her "canon event" and powers her decision-making throughout the detrimental relationship with Stephen just didn't make much sense to me, honestly. Lucy herself wasn't the best person, which she is honest about, and I wish that were focused on more rather than the fact that seeing her mom have sex with her childhood crush (who was almost a decade older than her) made her this awful person. What confounds me the most about the ending is how she saw bringing this event to light improved her relationships with her entire family, and they were able to heal. Why not air some of that truth for Macy as well? Why not give her family the peace of knowing the truth like you now know? Why allow Stephen to walk around and continue to do horrible things to other people, knowing he's a murderer? The ending was dissatisfying because even though Lucy has physically removed him from her life, she's still protecting him. I'm glad that she decided to remove herself from the toxic environment she created for herself, but there's much left to be desired by the ending.
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