Too Good to Be True by Carola Lovering

ONE LOVE STORY. TWO MARRIAGES. THREE VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH. Too Good to Be True is an obsessive, addictive love story for fans of Lisa Jewell and The Wife Upstairs, from Carola Lovering, the beloved author of Tell Me Lies. Skye Starling is overjoyed when her boyfriend, Burke Michaels, proposes after a whirlwind courtship. Though Skye seems to have the world at her fingertips—she’s smart, beautiful, and from a well-off family—she’s also battled crippling OCD ever since her mother’s death when she was eleven, and her romantic relationships have suffered as a result. But now Burke—handsome, older, and more emotionally mature than any man she’s met before—says he wants her. Forever. Except, Burke isn’t who he claims to be. And interspersed letters to his therapist reveal the truth: he’s happily married, and using Skye for his own, deceptive ends. In a third perspective, set thirty years earlier, a scrappy seventeen-year-old named Heather is determined to end things with Burke, a local bad boy, and make a better life for herself in New York City. But can her adolescent love stay firmly in her past—or will he find his way into her future? On a collision course she doesn’t see coming, Skye throws herself into wedding planning, as Burke’s scheme grows ever more twisted. But of course, even the best laid plans can go astray. And just when you think you know where this story is going, you’ll discover that there’s more than one way to spin the truth.

GEEZ LOUISE!! Three POVs, but which one is the truth. Great book. Couldn't put it down. This is one of those books you don't want to know a whole lot about before you start reading. Just go in blind, it's better that way. So good!! I mean some people are just truly not good people.

rounded up 2.5 ⭐️
honestly this dragged on for me im ngl...cool story in hindsight but it just didn't hook me...
all i got to say is fuck heather lmao idk why she just got away w all that shit

I got this book from book of the month and I'm really glad I did. Each chapter is one of three characters, and it flows extremely well. There were some twists I really wasn't expecting. The only thing I'd say is I disliked the last chapter and wish it didn't turn out that way.

And just like that I have found a new favorite author of mine! I wasn't exactly sure what to expect with this novel but because it was the thriller pick for Book of the Month Club box, I went with it and I'm so glad I did. I thought it was going to be just like many of the other domestic thrillers I have read recently but it was so much more and insanely unique in its own way. I can honestly say that I haven't read a domestic thriller like this before. And the story was so well written and thought out completely that I can't say enough good things about it. I can't wait to see what Carola Lovering writes in the future and will check out her previous work too!

To begin with, Too Good to Be True centers around three characters, depicted through their unique perspectives and in dual timelines. Perfect man Burke Michaels proposes to his girlfriend Skye and she can't believe that even with her OCD, she has found the absolute love of her life but is it too good to be true? Things transpire and get out of hand as the character's multiple truths are revealed but which truth is the actual way the story unfolded? Ahhhh, I loved this plot so much! It was so different and amazingly unique for a domestic thriller and even though it wasn't completely action packed all throughout, little things were revealed all throughout to keep me on the edge of my seat, even if those things weren't always the honest truth. I love the way that the story is presented, through the three main characters eyes in different ways and how their stories all intertwine with one another's. Brilliant.

Secondly, the characterization was superb. I know I've said it before but I am a big fan of complete backgrounds for different characters because it shows how they got to be where they presently are in the story and this book did not disappoint on that front at all. All the characters have complete pictures painted of who they are and where they came from and what their motivations stem from in life. They are all so intricate and complex and perfectly imperfect, which makes it that much easier to relate to them, even the least likeable ones. I felt like I got to personally know all of them and by the end of the book they felt like old friends to me.

Thirdly, the writing style along with the decision to present the book in dual timelines and varying perspectives just completely knocked my socks off. It was a genius decision and a remarkably unique way in which to tell the story. I devoured this book and would have read all day if I didn't have two kids to take care off, that's for sure. I also loved seeing the past as it unraveled and the future and then how it all came together and to a head in the climax. I can't even begin to do it justice.

In conclusion, I will be recommending this book to all the thriller lovers in my life because that's how much this story touched me. I thought it was meaningful and very profound, even aside from it being an amazing thriller novel and possessing all the things I look for in the perfect thriller story. Bravo!