Helpful Score: 2
Nora Roberts at her best!
You'll want to be a member of this family within about ten minutes, as usually is the case with the characters Nora creates.
Mostly about family and romance with just the right amount of suspense mixed in. I did guess the outcome, but it did not ruin the story for me.
It's a great book!
You'll want to be a member of this family within about ten minutes, as usually is the case with the characters Nora creates.
Mostly about family and romance with just the right amount of suspense mixed in. I did guess the outcome, but it did not ruin the story for me.
It's a great book!
Shelby Foxworth is shocked to learn that her late husband has left her and their daughter, Callie, with a mountain of debt. Selling Richard's beautiful artwork, expensive suits, and huge mansion only makes a dent in the millions of dollars that he owed. While liquidating assets, Shelby discovers a safe-deposit box containing thousands of dollars and several fake identities with Richard's picture. She doesn't know what he was up to before he died, but believes she never really knew her husband.
Shelby packs up her daughter and returns to her family in the hills of Tennessee. There she reacquaints herself with her family, and meets Griff Lott, a contractor who is currently working on several projects around town. Griff is immediately taken with Shelby and Callie as soon as he meets them. He knows she has been through a lot of heartache and quickly plans to make her smile.
I liked that Shelby was a strong woman who made a plan to pay off the debt her husband left and worked hard to whittle it down. But I didn't like that she was continually flogging herself for not knowing that her husband was a con man, thief, and liar. Griff was a great character and I loved his relationship with both Shelby and Callie. The story itself was nothing new. The plot twist could be seen from a mile away. And the story at over 500 pages could have easily been edited down to a more manageable page count. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
Shelby packs up her daughter and returns to her family in the hills of Tennessee. There she reacquaints herself with her family, and meets Griff Lott, a contractor who is currently working on several projects around town. Griff is immediately taken with Shelby and Callie as soon as he meets them. He knows she has been through a lot of heartache and quickly plans to make her smile.
I liked that Shelby was a strong woman who made a plan to pay off the debt her husband left and worked hard to whittle it down. But I didn't like that she was continually flogging herself for not knowing that her husband was a con man, thief, and liar. Griff was a great character and I loved his relationship with both Shelby and Callie. The story itself was nothing new. The plot twist could be seen from a mile away. And the story at over 500 pages could have easily been edited down to a more manageable page count. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
I love Nora Roberts stand-alones better than the trio's she so often writes. They used to be my favorites but got tiring after awhile and I moved on.
The Liar has a great beginning that sucked me right in and I couldn't put it down. However the middle of the book has so much tiresome and boring chatter, I skimmed through about 200 pages! Then the story took off again and I was enthralled and excited to the end even though it was predictable.
Since this book is 500 pages, it could have been told in 350 pages. Then it would have been perfect.
The Liar has a great beginning that sucked me right in and I couldn't put it down. However the middle of the book has so much tiresome and boring chatter, I skimmed through about 200 pages! Then the story took off again and I was enthralled and excited to the end even though it was predictable.
Since this book is 500 pages, it could have been told in 350 pages. Then it would have been perfect.
This book actually reads like Nora Roberts wrote it ... which is a great relief from some of her other recents, more supermatural (?), novels.
The usual characters populate Rendevous Ridge locale. The close family / clan is typical of small town South - lots of cousins and class mates grown up and taking over for their parents' role and businesses. Our plucky heroine has come home after discovering many revealing secrets that her scoundral husband kept hidden. Many more dastardly secrets come to light as she tries to start on a new life for herself, her cute daughter, and figure out the new sensitive but alpha-male suiter in her new-but-old life.
Sound familiar?
It is. But one of the pleasures of a well written NR book are the side characters that make the storyline much more real and interesting. Not to mention the moments of humor and nolstagic familial warmth that all of us wallow in for the brief time we are visitors to the setting.
So why only 3.5 stars? Because this is another visit to the same cast of character types NR perfected 20+ years ago. She has written outside of our comfort-zone in some recent books. But those are in the minority.
So I enjoyed this book. But it was the "Usual Plot" hence the better than average rating.
--
Kuzu
The usual characters populate Rendevous Ridge locale. The close family / clan is typical of small town South - lots of cousins and class mates grown up and taking over for their parents' role and businesses. Our plucky heroine has come home after discovering many revealing secrets that her scoundral husband kept hidden. Many more dastardly secrets come to light as she tries to start on a new life for herself, her cute daughter, and figure out the new sensitive but alpha-male suiter in her new-but-old life.
Sound familiar?
It is. But one of the pleasures of a well written NR book are the side characters that make the storyline much more real and interesting. Not to mention the moments of humor and nolstagic familial warmth that all of us wallow in for the brief time we are visitors to the setting.
So why only 3.5 stars? Because this is another visit to the same cast of character types NR perfected 20+ years ago. She has written outside of our comfort-zone in some recent books. But those are in the minority.
So I enjoyed this book. But it was the "Usual Plot" hence the better than average rating.
--
Kuzu
THE LIAR was the September pick in my online book club, The Reading Cove. And what a disappointment it was! I kid you not: this story was comprised of 5% totally tension-less and transparent plot + 95% rambling filler.
While the premise was interesting and Shelby's relationship with her sweet little girl and her family too cute for words at times, Stevie Wonder could see the truth about Shelby's husband Richard from Ch. 1! Yet the narrative rambles on and on for (literally!) 500 pages before it's "revealed"! Was that seriously supposed to be some kind of surprise?!
And perhaps it is a surprise for the adolescent or teenage reading comprehension. That's why I personally avoid these assembly line commercial fiction cash grabs like the plague. Great premise with an elementary, who gives a f**k execution.
While it is adult fiction, I personally could never recommend this for anyone with an above average level of intelligence. For the thinking reader looking for clever storytelling, THE LIAR is just a complete waste of the time and effort it takes to read 530+ marginally plot-relevant pages! And that's not snobbery, it's simply the plain truth.
So I can't rate it more than 1.75 stars. And Jeez Louise. God bless the hearts of the masses it takes so little effort to keep entertained.
While the premise was interesting and Shelby's relationship with her sweet little girl and her family too cute for words at times, Stevie Wonder could see the truth about Shelby's husband Richard from Ch. 1! Yet the narrative rambles on and on for (literally!) 500 pages before it's "revealed"! Was that seriously supposed to be some kind of surprise?!
And perhaps it is a surprise for the adolescent or teenage reading comprehension. That's why I personally avoid these assembly line commercial fiction cash grabs like the plague. Great premise with an elementary, who gives a f**k execution.
While it is adult fiction, I personally could never recommend this for anyone with an above average level of intelligence. For the thinking reader looking for clever storytelling, THE LIAR is just a complete waste of the time and effort it takes to read 530+ marginally plot-relevant pages! And that's not snobbery, it's simply the plain truth.
So I can't rate it more than 1.75 stars. And Jeez Louise. God bless the hearts of the masses it takes so little effort to keep entertained.
Good book. I would recommend it for young adults and up. The book is a little worn out.
While I am a long time Nora Roberts fan, The Liar is one of her better titles of late.
It's the same formula: strong man, strong woman, conflict but this time around there was more romance than suspense in this romantic suspense novel.
The ending was not a surprise but it was a fun trip to get there from beginning to end. Don't pass this one up!
It's the same formula: strong man, strong woman, conflict but this time around there was more romance than suspense in this romantic suspense novel.
The ending was not a surprise but it was a fun trip to get there from beginning to end. Don't pass this one up!
