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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
I had big expectations after reading "Strangers", my firts C.L Taylor, which I loved (I also read it as audio). Well, I haven't liked one single thing of this book.... ufff!!! I almost DNF-ed more than once, but I wanted to see if it changed at the end... no. I didn't liked the characters (I couldn't stand them!, Nor Jane/Emma, the main character, neither their friends), the story is predictable and boringgggg! It seemed so long... and I didn't like the narrationt either... I just wanted it to end. Very, very disappointed. I'll forget about this one, keep in mind "Strangers" and will repeat with C.L.Taylor for sure :)
Originally posted on:> http://lauraslittlebookblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/book-review-lie-by-cally-taylor.html
This is one the books that has practically been crying out to be read and I finally got round to reading it on holiday. I was just in the right mood for a thriller and for me this one was absolutely brilliant!
Jane Hughes has come quite a long way since her holiday that turned into a nightmare. She thinks she has finally put that all behind her, that is until she receives a note saying "I know your name's not really Jane Hughes". Everything Jane has built up in the last five years is at risk of crumbling down as someone out there is determined to destroy Jane and everything she loves.
Everything about this is just so intense, there is a constantly tense atmosphere as you really do not know what is going to happen next.
The writing style is brilliant, it's gripping and keeps you turning the pages. I don't think I have read such an addictive thriller in ages. I literally could not stop thinking about this book; it completely and utterly consumed me; I just HAD to know what was going to happen.
I loved the intricacy of the characters that Cally has created in The Lie. None of them are what they appear on the surface and when thrown into a claustrophobic and intense situation, their true colours start to emerge. I was fascinated by how a group of 'friends' may seem like friends on the outside, but underneath there is deeply rooted jealously and hate. It made for some really compelling reading and reminded me of my own, past unhealthy friendships.
This is my first read of Cally's and I can honestly say this is going to be one of my top reads this year. I know Cally previously wrote The Accident and has had much acclaim to it, so that one will now be quickly inching its way up my TBR pile!
This was brilliantly dark, creepy and twisted, with a constantly underlying sinister edge. Everything about this book is addictive, gripping and compelling, I could not put it down.
This is one the books that has practically been crying out to be read and I finally got round to reading it on holiday. I was just in the right mood for a thriller and for me this one was absolutely brilliant!
Jane Hughes has come quite a long way since her holiday that turned into a nightmare. She thinks she has finally put that all behind her, that is until she receives a note saying "I know your name's not really Jane Hughes". Everything Jane has built up in the last five years is at risk of crumbling down as someone out there is determined to destroy Jane and everything she loves.
Everything about this is just so intense, there is a constantly tense atmosphere as you really do not know what is going to happen next.
The writing style is brilliant, it's gripping and keeps you turning the pages. I don't think I have read such an addictive thriller in ages. I literally could not stop thinking about this book; it completely and utterly consumed me; I just HAD to know what was going to happen.
I loved the intricacy of the characters that Cally has created in The Lie. None of them are what they appear on the surface and when thrown into a claustrophobic and intense situation, their true colours start to emerge. I was fascinated by how a group of 'friends' may seem like friends on the outside, but underneath there is deeply rooted jealously and hate. It made for some really compelling reading and reminded me of my own, past unhealthy friendships.
This is my first read of Cally's and I can honestly say this is going to be one of my top reads this year. I know Cally previously wrote The Accident and has had much acclaim to it, so that one will now be quickly inching its way up my TBR pile!
This was brilliantly dark, creepy and twisted, with a constantly underlying sinister edge. Everything about this book is addictive, gripping and compelling, I could not put it down.
I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a book about a woman called Jane, only her name isn't really Jane it is Emma. Five years ago Emma and three friends went on a holiday to Nepal. The holiday was a disaster and not everybody returned. Emma changes her name to Jane and starts a new life. Five years later when she is finally happy and settled, Jane receives a letter at work that makes it clear that they know who she really is.
This book alternates from the present to the past. We know right from the beginning that something terrible must have happened to her five years ago to make her want to change her name and start a new life. This is what really grips you and makes you want to continue reading the story. When you have read a few psychological thrillers, there are certain storylines within the book that are a bit cliche and most authors go down the same path. Each time I thought I knew what was going to happen C.L.Taylor surprised me. This is the second book of C.L.Taylor's that I have read and enjoyed and I will definitely be looking out for more titles by this author.
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This book alternates from the present to the past. We know right from the beginning that something terrible must have happened to her five years ago to make her want to change her name and start a new life. This is what really grips you and makes you want to continue reading the story. When you have read a few psychological thrillers, there are certain storylines within the book that are a bit cliche and most authors go down the same path. Each time I thought I knew what was going to happen C.L.Taylor surprised me. This is the second book of C.L.Taylor's that I have read and enjoyed and I will definitely be looking out for more titles by this author.
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This gripping psychological thriller is told in dual timelines by Jane Hughes, a woman living a quiet but happy life in rural Wales working at an animal sanctuary and is in a new relationship. But Jane isn’t her real name. She has been lying about her identity for the past five years to escape the infamy of her life after a girls trip to Nepal went terribly wrong, resulting in the deaths of two of her friends. But someone knows who she is and starts sending notes and messages that threaten to turn her happy life upside down.
I loved the characters in this book and enjoyed that Jane was flawed and not the popular girl of her group as it made her more relatable. I enjoyed the dual timelines and found the chapters that focused on five years ago interesting in how it explored the dynamics of female friendships and how you can think you know someone, or that they’re there for you no matter what, only to find out you’re wrong and be betrayed when you need them the most. As well as dealing with the intricacies of friendship, this book is also about how we can’t escape the traumatic or difficult events in our life or our mistakes no matter how hard we try, and it is important to face your past while also not letting it shape your future.
I had never read a book by this author before but have had many of her books recommended to me. After reading this book I understand why they did. The Lie was an exciting thriller that was full of twists and turns you didn’t expect. I was full of anticipation and couldn’t put the book down as I raced to the end to find out what happened. Throughout the story I tried to figure out who might be tormenting Jane but could never be sure and was shocked and surprised when the perpetrator was finally revealed. This will certainly not be the last book that I read by this author.
I loved the characters in this book and enjoyed that Jane was flawed and not the popular girl of her group as it made her more relatable. I enjoyed the dual timelines and found the chapters that focused on five years ago interesting in how it explored the dynamics of female friendships and how you can think you know someone, or that they’re there for you no matter what, only to find out you’re wrong and be betrayed when you need them the most. As well as dealing with the intricacies of friendship, this book is also about how we can’t escape the traumatic or difficult events in our life or our mistakes no matter how hard we try, and it is important to face your past while also not letting it shape your future.
I had never read a book by this author before but have had many of her books recommended to me. After reading this book I understand why they did. The Lie was an exciting thriller that was full of twists and turns you didn’t expect. I was full of anticipation and couldn’t put the book down as I raced to the end to find out what happened. Throughout the story I tried to figure out who might be tormenting Jane but could never be sure and was shocked and surprised when the perpetrator was finally revealed. This will certainly not be the last book that I read by this author.
HOW CAN ONE CHARACTER BE SO STUPID?
That's literally the thought that was screaming through my head the whole time I was listening/reading this book. The Lie focuses around Emma and is split into the present where she is working in Wales and known by the name Jane Hughes and four years earlier when Emma went on a holiday to Nepal with three of her best friends and only two of them returned alive. Emma has built a new life for herself as Jane but she sudden;y starts receiving ominous messages and must figure out who is threatening her.
So the first thing you need to know about this book is that Emma's friends - Al, Daisy and Leanna - are literally THE WORST people in the world. They're all selfish and just idiotic. When the girls go to the camp in Nepal, it's immediately obvious something weird is going on and Emma knows it yet she just goes with it? I mean..WHY would you give your passports to someone you don't know? Why not just pay the money you would be paying anyway at the end and keep the passport. They are he most precious thing you have when abroad and I know I wouldn't be giving mine up to anyway when halfway up a fecking mountain away from normal civilisation.
There were a lot of times listening to this that I wanted to scream out loud in frustration at both Emma's actions and her friends and how they treated her. Daisy was suppose to be best friend and was literally the worst. I found it really odd how she could turn on Emma so suddenly and be sucked in by Isaac. Having recently read The Girls by Emma Cline which focuses on a cult in California in 1969, I can see how a cult leader can be written to be so charismatic and drawing that you get why people would worship and listen to him. Isaac wasn't like that - apart from being good-looking, he did just come across as being controlling and weird all the time. Not only did Emma stay after being sexually assaulted NOT ONCE BUT TWICE, she also stayed when she knew Isaac had literally locked away a girl and beaten her??? I would be down that mountain in a flash. The part after Emma was almost raped (which was really hard to listen to btw) and Daisy spread around the rumor that Emma had asked for it and was lying made me so mad - especially with what's going on right now with the Stanton rape case. UGH.
Emma's stupidity contInued even when she was Jane. She knew something was off aBout the new girl in the shelter yet she just continued on. WHY WHY WHY!Haven't you learned anything?
The ending was definitely weak and just seemed like such a let down.
To add on: The audiobook for this wasn't great for me either. The narrator put on a lot of strong accents which were not only annoying and distracting sometimes but slowed down her reading. She also made the one gay character, Al, sound really mannish which was unnecessary.
That's literally the thought that was screaming through my head the whole time I was listening/reading this book. The Lie focuses around Emma and is split into the present where she is working in Wales and known by the name Jane Hughes and four years earlier when Emma went on a holiday to Nepal with three of her best friends and only two of them returned alive. Emma has built a new life for herself as Jane but she sudden;y starts receiving ominous messages and must figure out who is threatening her.
So the first thing you need to know about this book is that Emma's friends - Al, Daisy and Leanna - are literally THE WORST people in the world. They're all selfish and just idiotic. When the girls go to the camp in Nepal, it's immediately obvious something weird is going on and Emma knows it yet she just goes with it? I mean..WHY would you give your passports to someone you don't know? Why not just pay the money you would be paying anyway at the end and keep the passport. They are he most precious thing you have when abroad and I know I wouldn't be giving mine up to anyway when halfway up a fecking mountain away from normal civilisation.
There were a lot of times listening to this that I wanted to scream out loud in frustration at both Emma's actions and her friends and how they treated her. Daisy was suppose to be best friend and was literally the worst. I found it really odd how she could turn on Emma so suddenly and be sucked in by Isaac. Having recently read The Girls by Emma Cline which focuses on a cult in California in 1969, I can see how a cult leader can be written to be so charismatic and drawing that you get why people would worship and listen to him. Isaac wasn't like that - apart from being good-looking, he did just come across as being controlling and weird all the time. Not only did Emma stay after being sexually assaulted NOT ONCE BUT TWICE, she also stayed when she knew Isaac had literally locked away a girl and beaten her??? I would be down that mountain in a flash. The part after Emma was almost raped (which was really hard to listen to btw) and Daisy spread around the rumor that Emma had asked for it and was lying made me so mad - especially with what's going on right now with the Stanton rape case. UGH.
Emma's stupidity contInued even when she was Jane. She knew something was off aBout the new girl in the shelter yet she just continued on. WHY WHY WHY!Haven't you learned anything?
The ending was definitely weak and just seemed like such a let down.
To add on: The audiobook for this wasn't great for me either. The narrator put on a lot of strong accents which were not only annoying and distracting sometimes but slowed down her reading. She also made the one gay character, Al, sound really mannish which was unnecessary.
The Lie is the perfect example of why C.L. Taylor is one of the best authors of the thriller genre. Haunting and compelling, this addictive psychological thriller draws you in from the very first page, when Jane receives an anonymous note saying that somebody knows who she really is. From that point onwards, you’ll find it difficult to put this book down.
Having read all of her other books before divulging in this one, it is The Lie that gripped me the most. Taylor completely absorbs you into her story as a group of friends become entangled in a dangerous cult. It’s a plot that I haven’t seen explored before so I was immediately intrigued by it. An incredibly haunting encounter, one that makes you want to shout at the characters to warn them of whatever it is that lies ahead, you will find yourself hurriedly turning every page, wanting to find out more.
Like many of Taylor’s books, she uses a narrative technique of switching backwards and forwards in time between each chapter, changing from the present day, in which Jane is being stalked, to the past, five years earlier, when Emma (her real name) and her friends begin their trip to Nepal. As you are gradually given pieces of the puzzle bit by bit, the suspense is built up incredibly well, as Jane’s past starts to catch up with her present day.
This is definitely Taylor’s darkest book yet. It is revealed early on that only two of the four girls return home from the trip, so we are constantly left wondering what awful event must have led to something so catastrophic. But nothing prepares you for the trauma and torment that Emma has suffered.
There are many themes explored, some of which Taylor uses frequently in her books, including alcohol, sexual abuse, mental illnesses, and depression. You can tell that Taylor studied for a degree in Psychology as she really gets inside the minds of these characters and their many, many issues.
Taylor normally emphasises the strengths of women in her books – their resilience, their powerful instincts, their determination to do whatever must be done. But with The Lie, we also see their many weaknesses. Highlighting the tug of war conflict between this group of young females, this constant power struggle comes to full blow when the worst things that could happen on a girls’ holiday, happen in the most extreme possible ways.
All of the characters are explored in great detail. They may have a lot of history together, but bubbling under the surface is a lot of anger, jealousy and mistrust, all of which are waiting to be unleashed. With betrayal and resentment lying in wait, it’s more than just their friendships that are at risk; it is also their lives. There are already many cracks in their fragile relationship, as their friendship is put to the test in an intense and jaw-dropping way.
Despite being a very grim and twisted story, it does end with a message of hope. The final couple of chapters don’t have as much of an impact, however, as they feel rushed in comparison to the amazing setup, but this book will definitely not leave you disappointed.
Having read all of her other books before divulging in this one, it is The Lie that gripped me the most. Taylor completely absorbs you into her story as a group of friends become entangled in a dangerous cult. It’s a plot that I haven’t seen explored before so I was immediately intrigued by it. An incredibly haunting encounter, one that makes you want to shout at the characters to warn them of whatever it is that lies ahead, you will find yourself hurriedly turning every page, wanting to find out more.
Like many of Taylor’s books, she uses a narrative technique of switching backwards and forwards in time between each chapter, changing from the present day, in which Jane is being stalked, to the past, five years earlier, when Emma (her real name) and her friends begin their trip to Nepal. As you are gradually given pieces of the puzzle bit by bit, the suspense is built up incredibly well, as Jane’s past starts to catch up with her present day.
This is definitely Taylor’s darkest book yet. It is revealed early on that only two of the four girls return home from the trip, so we are constantly left wondering what awful event must have led to something so catastrophic. But nothing prepares you for the trauma and torment that Emma has suffered.
There are many themes explored, some of which Taylor uses frequently in her books, including alcohol, sexual abuse, mental illnesses, and depression. You can tell that Taylor studied for a degree in Psychology as she really gets inside the minds of these characters and their many, many issues.
Taylor normally emphasises the strengths of women in her books – their resilience, their powerful instincts, their determination to do whatever must be done. But with The Lie, we also see their many weaknesses. Highlighting the tug of war conflict between this group of young females, this constant power struggle comes to full blow when the worst things that could happen on a girls’ holiday, happen in the most extreme possible ways.
All of the characters are explored in great detail. They may have a lot of history together, but bubbling under the surface is a lot of anger, jealousy and mistrust, all of which are waiting to be unleashed. With betrayal and resentment lying in wait, it’s more than just their friendships that are at risk; it is also their lives. There are already many cracks in their fragile relationship, as their friendship is put to the test in an intense and jaw-dropping way.
Despite being a very grim and twisted story, it does end with a message of hope. The final couple of chapters don’t have as much of an impact, however, as they feel rushed in comparison to the amazing setup, but this book will definitely not leave you disappointed.
I thought this book was entertaining enough. Like all Thriller/Mysteries, the big bang is in the twist. Kept my interest.
Jane Hughes resembles any of us. Carefree, adventurous, searching for an escape. She blindly trusts her friends- Daisy, Leanne and Al, not just with her everyday dilemmas, but with her secrets. The ones you wouldn’t want the world to find out about.But is her friendship strong enough to sustain through manipulations and petty games?
Read the full review at ecstaticyetchaotic.wordpress.com
Read the full review at ecstaticyetchaotic.wordpress.com
Suspenseful from the start, this one was hard to put down. Jane Hughes is a young woman who has fled her stressful corporate and social life in London for anonymity and a new life in Wales, working in the Green Fields Animal Shelter. Her days consist of cycling to work and taking care of the animals brought to their shelter due to abandonment or abuse. Having always wanted to be a veterinarian, the job suits her interest in caring for animals. But, as we quickly learn, Jane has a past with a different name -- a name that she seeks to conceal from her Welsh employer and community -- but why?
The Lie bounces from the present to five years past, when Emma Woolfe is an assistant to the head of sales at a software company. She hates her job and her boss, when she agrees to travel with her best friend Daisy, and two other friends to Nepal. The plan is to go to a yoga retreat for two weeks, followed by a jungle safari. However, once the group arrives at the retreat, Ekantra Yatra, strange things start to happen, and the friendship is tested in unfathomable ways. It's what happens at the retreat, and among the four friends, that causes "Jane" to choose her current life in Wales. We bounce back and forth between present and past until the truth and past are revealed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks, Inc. for the ARC of this book.
The Lie bounces from the present to five years past, when Emma Woolfe is an assistant to the head of sales at a software company. She hates her job and her boss, when she agrees to travel with her best friend Daisy, and two other friends to Nepal. The plan is to go to a yoga retreat for two weeks, followed by a jungle safari. However, once the group arrives at the retreat, Ekantra Yatra, strange things start to happen, and the friendship is tested in unfathomable ways. It's what happens at the retreat, and among the four friends, that causes "Jane" to choose her current life in Wales. We bounce back and forth between present and past until the truth and past are revealed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks, Inc. for the ARC of this book.