Review: The Lie by Karina Halle

“I didn’t buy it.  This is a perfect example where the subject of cheating was not done in a way I’m ok with and it only made me think less of both the hero and heroine. ”
~ Under the Covers

Well, here’s an unpopular opinion if there ever was one.  This book has so many glowing reviews!  Is it me?  I think from the very beginning I found things not working for me and I’ll have to say this review may contain some minor spoilers (I’ll try to keep those at a minimum to things you know from almost the beginning of the book) but there’s your warning because I can’t review this without giving some away.

Where do I begin?  I’m disappointed with my lack of enjoyment of this book because I’ve otherwise liked the other books about the McGregor cousins.  I was excited to read about Brigs because he’s a professor and frankly he just seemed very sexy.  But from the beginning when we find out how he lost his wife and child I had my doubts about his character.  It is clear that he’s not responsible for what happened and it was a tragic accident.  But the fact that this was based on his cheating (and yes, I don’t care if there was no sex, emotional cheating is worst in my opinion), I was expecting a good reason behind the story where Brigs and Natasha fell madly in love.  Something to justify that a grown man would act so juvenile and make the decisions he did.  And frankly, I don’t think he pulled that off.  The more we find out about why he was unhappy in his marriage, for how long, and how he found Natasha to be a breath of fresh air… etc etc etc.  It all just annoyed me because if he really felt like that for so long, why not grow a pair of balls and do something about it before?  It took a girl coming into his life, who honestly didn’t seem all that interesting to begin with and I felt no deep connection between them, to shake up his life and push him to make a decision he had avoided according to him because of the sake of his kid?  I didn’t buy it.  This is a perfect example where the subject of cheating was not done in a way I’m ok with and it only made me think less of both the hero and heroine.  Sorry to say.

But then there’s the fact that all that conflict was actually in the past.  Like I said, we find out about all that in the beginning of the book, so where’s the conflict you may ask?  I was looking for it.  This book is set years after the events of that sad night, and both Natasha and Brigs have dealt with some grief.  I found the conflict keeping them apart was almost non-existent and it made for some lackluster tension.  Ah, but there is one new thing that is thrown in.  Believe me, that was so obvious that it would go that way from the first time these two characters interact (not the hero and heroine) that once it does I just had to roll my eyes at the cliche of it all.

Overall though, I don’t think I ever warmed up to either of them.  Individually or as a couple.  This may be a case of it’s not you, it’s me.  Probably is, as reflected by the many great reviews.  I love taboo books and to test my boundaries when reading.  I’ve also enjoyed many a cheating story, even involving physical cheating!  But I don’t think all authors can pull those things off without some careful planning, and this one didn’t work for me.

[about-author author=”Karina Halle”]

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