Tell Me Pretty Lies by Charleigh Rose
Publication date: April 5th, 2020
Pages: 289
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
Three things my mother acquired when she became engaged:
1. A brand new Tiffany's ring.
2. A lavish home in Heartbreak Hill.
3. Three privileged stepsons.
The last thing I expected was to fall for one of them, least of all Thayer Ames.
Beautiful, brooding, and untouchable.
I knew it was a bad idea. He warned me himself.
But he was a thunderstorm, and I never could resist the rain.
It was perfect...
Until it wasn't.
One night was all it took for our world to crumble, leaving only secrets and lies between us.
Now, I have to face him again, but the boy I used to know has become the man who loves to hate me.
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Review:
I found my home in the bully romance genre a bit ago and started devouring as many books as I could find on Goodreads's listopia lists. I don't exactly know why I enjoy watching a heroine be brow beat or verbally abused while also fighting a strong attraction. But... here we are. This book was a random recommendation on my Amazon Kindle Unlimited list that I was curious to try.
Shayne was an exceedingly strong heroine who was willing and able to take an abundance of abuse from the entirety of her school. She was put through the ringer but was strong for it. Shayne fell in love with Thayer but he was resistant to her advances until one fateful night that he gave in to his desires. After that moment and the demise of their parents' relationship a wedge was thrust between them. Shayne moved with her mother to another town and started over. But fate would have it that they had to return in order to get Shayne's grandmother's house in order for selling. Shayne was once more placed in the same school as her would-have-been stepbrothers; Thayer included. Thayer had seemed to grow to resent Shayne and was determined to drive her back to the town she had just left. Shayne took the abuse with her head held high but eventually she had to know why he hated her so much. A mystery unfolds between their families and secrets that had been long since buried were once again brought to the surface. Can Shayne and Thayer find a way back to each other or will the secrets, lies, and deceit be their permanent undoing?
I don't know why, but Thayer was top-notch book boyfriend material for me. He was such a grumpy asshole but it seemed to stem from pain and misinformation that he thought was the truth. While he was tormenting Shayne he was also struggling with being fiercely protective as well. Shayne, while a strong female lead broke down very seldom. I would have been a sobbing mess on more than one occasion. I both admire that she had so much emotional fortitude and also found it almost unbelievable.
The secrets that were uncovered were very surprising. I really didn't see them coming which makes for the best kinds of reveals in books. The murder mystery portion of the story was perplexing. There were so many options for suspects that even I had a hard time following a lead to completion without veering off in another direction.
Tell Me Pretty Lies took murder, passion, anger, and love to an entirely different level to make one delicious medley of reading delight.
