Too Good To Be True Carola Loving #not for us @JanBelisle @absltmom

And because you just can’t love then all!

Jan’s review

Is this a 5 star thriller or is it TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? Unfortunately it’s the latter.

I was riveted from the beginning, and loved the voices of the 3 different narrators. The characters were very well-developed:
– Skye, wealthy and privileged but left with crippling anxiety and OCD after her mother’s death, she has trouble meeting men who can tolerate her unusual tendencies. Until Burke.
– Burke. He’s perfect. Mr. Right. Skye’s one and only. Or is he? His chapters are told as journal entries and are so compelling, I couldn’t wait to get back to them.
– Heather. I won’t say who she is, but through her we get a lot of backstory.

It seems that all may not be as idyllic as it seems and a diabolical plot is in play. The short chapters and shifting perspectives make this a propulsive read.

THEN…poof….the propulsive mystery/thriller turned into a sappy ridiculous Lifetime movie romance, and not a very good one at that. I can’t say anything more without spoilers but luckily I had my reading buddy Marialyce to rant with over this one.

An author doesn’t owe me a story arc that I like but it has to make SOME kind of rational sense for me to enjoy it. If I had been reading a physical book I would have tossed it across the room.

The first 50-75% was a solid 4 or 5 stars…then POOF it was truly too good to be true, as I was suddenly reading an entirely different genre.

4 stars for the first half. One star for the second. 2 stars because I finished it.

I want to end on a positive note so I will say that although this was a BOTM club book I downloaded the audio on Hoopla to supplement my reading, and found I much preferred listening. The narrators were SUPERB! Especially Burke’s character.

Marialyce’s review

Let’s just say, one need a massive dose of the “unbelievable” potion to read and enjoy this book. Truly it started out like gangbusters with a group of characters that seemed to exhibit some “strange” tendencies. I will admit I was immediately sucked into the story from page one as we follow Skye Starling, a woman of 29 years, that always seemed to be in the grip of her OCD which occurred after her beloved mom passed away. We also have Burke Michaels, who has that rough boy now man demeanor and with his wife, Heather, a true zealot trying to get her piece of the pie and her compulsive need for revenge.

And now it’s time for that potion! As we head into the second half, the story that had a five-star potential dropped like a stone and went from 100 mph to a drippy 10mph. I realize this is fiction, but really the things that happened and the tied up in a bow ending with none the of culprits receiving one bit of punishment made my head spin. Having high hopes for this book, I found myself wandering around in the “this can’t possibly be real” territory where once again disappointment followed my every step.

So, all I can give this sappy book is a 2 rating. While the premise was good, the ending just blew all that allure right out the window.

Jan and I laughed over and got steamed up over this hard to believe story that felt like we were reading a fairly tale. Too good to be true…indeed!

Grumpy me…..plus I bought this book as well!