The Liar

The extraordinary new novel by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Collector.
 
Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions …
 
The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn’t just dead. He never really existed.
 
Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning … Shop Amazon Gold Box - New Deals. Everyday

Author -

Nora Roberts is the number-one New York Times–bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including The Collector, Whiskey Beach, The Witness, and many more. She is also the author of the bestselling futuristic suspense series written under the pen name J. D. Robb. There are more than 400 million copies of her books in print.

SAMPLE CUSTOMER REVIEWS –

1) Predictable…though still enjoyable... - Purrfect Elements:

~Nora Roberts is one of my “Go to” authors. I have yet to read one of her books that I didn’t enjoy. The Liar follows predictable patterns and and is a smooth easy read.
~Shelby is a really likable character – she shows such amazing inner strength in the face of what would appear to be an insurmountable obstacle and she does it with such class. One can’t help but like and respect her.
~The secondary characters really make this story. Shelby has an amazingly supportive family. Her parents, grandparents and siblings are all wonderful in their own right…and put together add up to quite the loving ensemble.
~Griffin…Griffin…Griffin! Could this man be any more perfect? He’s almost, but not quite, too good to be true. The way he interacted with Callie…made me swoon :)

Less than Purrfect Elements:

~The suspense part of the story left a little to be desired. It was a bit slow moving and never really built up as much as I’d hoped.
~The ending was a little too predictable…though still enjoyable.

Final Thoughts:

Although this one didn’t completely wow me, it was still a great read. I love Nora Roberts – her books all feel like a big warm hug at the end :)

By Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf on April 15, 2015

2) I love Nora and I know that, if she really wanted to, she could be amazing again... - I just want to start off by saying how much I LOVE Nora Roberts. Jewels of the Sun was the first "real" book I ever read after finishing with things like Babysitter's Club, Sweet Valley High, etc... and here I am exactly 10 years later and I still count down the days until her next book comes out so I can buy it immediately. She is the reason I became a writer.

I've noticed something in the past couple years, however, and that's that Nora Roberts has somehow fallen into this writing pattern that she just can't seem to get out of. A lot of authors discover a formula that seems to work for them and tend to stick with it and there's nothing wrong with that. Nora just seems to be following that pattern way too closely. Woman (very rarely a man) gets scorned, set up for the "main story line", she/he forced to go home and find solace in family, meet a guy (girl), fall in love, a bit more about the actual story line, quirky secondary characters, couple has a problem that's easily solved, climax to the main problem, couple resolves all of their issues and then the end.

Now, I have absolutely no problem with happy endings. In fact, I love happy endings. It's just that the happy endings in Nora Roberts' stories aren't always so plausible anymore.

In The Liar, Shelby's husband dies and leaves her with a child and massive debt. She finds out he was a lying, cheating bastard and she goes home back to her family to recover and quickly meets a man and falls in love, picks herself up, yadda yadda, predictable ending and they all live happily ever after. It was all very predictable and I knew exactly what was going to happen before I even read the first line. I figured it out when I read the description on the cover and that would be okay but the way we were all lead to that ending just wasn't satisfying.

Anybody who's ever read more than one work by Nora Roberts knows how much she loves her redheads with wild curls but there just isn't any deviation anymore. The grandmother and mother could have been the exact same person and it wouldn't have made a difference. Most of the time, actually, I had to stop and think which one was which. The grandpa and dad were completely useless. I saw no value in either of them other than to show the readers how totally awesome and in love these couples are after so many years. The brother, Clayton, was also useless. He served no purpose, was hardly in the book at all and I had to wonder what the point of his scenes even were. Emma Kate was supposed to be this best friend who went all the way back with Shelby and I felt no familiarity with them. There were no inside jokes, no comfortability, nothing. I saw my best friend last week for the first time in two years (since she moved to Europe) and we fell right into the same groove; same jokes and we could convey messages just through look. I know they had a falling out but then everything was, supposedly, okay again and I felt nothing. Matt was Emma Kate's boyfriend and Griff's best friend. I left the book feeling like he was a total stranger. There was no chemistry between he and Emma Kate and no camaraderie or "bro-ness" between he and Griff. I felt like his sole purpose was a reason for Griff to have moved to Rendezvous Ridge.

Too many characters as well. Big family, great but I didn't need to meet every single one of them. Nobody calls their cousin "cousin johnny" or "cousin vonnie". I have anywhere from 75 to 100 cousins/second cousins (from my dad's 9 siblings and my mom's 4) and I can barely keep track of all of them and have never called them "cousin so-and-so". That whole "your mother's sister's son" thing was unnecessary when "cousin" would have done just as well.

The dialogue was exactly the same no matter who was speaking. All the women spoke exactly the same and I often had to stop and follow the dialogue again to see who was saying what and, even then, I was still sometimes confused.

Griff was absolutely the best character out of the bunch. He had a great sense of humor, he was sexy and sweet and (supposedly) totally in love BUT I felt like there could have been more. There was one scene in which he showed us something besides amiability and, if you weren't looking closely, you might've missed it. The so-called problem between he and Shelby served no purpose and I think it was just there to try to mix their relationship up a little bit because it was going too smoothly.

The relationship between Griff and Shelby had some potential but it moved much too quickly. They had a couple dates and he was ready to dedicate his life to her. They were absolutely not ready to get married in the end.

Some of these characters were also just outlandishly unrealistic.
All the "good guys" were perfect and all the "villains" were comically cartoonish.
I know Nora loves family but not every family has to be all kissy and huggy and playful with each other. I have a big family. One of my brothers and I don't talk. The rest of my siblings and I get along wonderfully. If I ever came up behind my mother, put my arms around her waist and rested my head on her shoulder, we'd both feel awkward and embarrassed and it's not because we don't love each other and aren't close but because not every family does that. Please understand that, Nora.

I understand that Shelby was played all these years but, seriously... you didn't suspect a damn thing? Absolutely nothing?? Come on, he wasn't THAT good of a con man. Also, he got a vasectomy and you guys had tests done but you didn't ask to see any of the results?

Shelby's husband ran off with $30 million, a PI follows her all the way back to Tennessee, someone gets killed in the parking lot of her work, the PI gets killed, a horribly dangerous man escapes from prison and breaks into Shelby and Griff's houses and steals information and nobody thinks to be just a little cautious? These people are mind-numbingly stupid.

About halfway through the book, Shelby finds out that Richard (or whoever) had been married before... which invalidates their own marriage. She doesn't owe his debt anymore. She's not his wife and owes nothing that she didn't cosign for. And if that wasn't enough, he's alive at the end which means that even if their marriage had been legitimate, she STILL doesn't owe his debt anymore now that he's found alive.

Richard was just ridiculous. In the beginning, he's portrayed as a man who was supposed to be very good at what he did. He lived with her for 5 years and she didn't suspect a thing, he managed to con all of these people and even his own partners, fake his death and get away with it. He gave me the impression of practical, cold, and efficient. What we got was inefficient and just plain dumb. Everything he said was some insulting comment about Shelby and where she's from. This hick little town, this s***ty road, these dumb houses, you stupid girl, you simple girl, you moron. He just wouldn't shut the hell up about it. Also, I know you don't love your daughter but threatening to sell her? Even the worst criminals in prison are offended by pedophiles. That took it too far.

Richard's so called "wife", Natalie what's-her-face was Woman Richard.

Melody was so pointless, I don't even understand what she was doing in the book. I mean, seriously, waste of time and words. Everything that happened with Melody was needless and childish. People can be cruel, but she just seemed like a little girl having a tantrum and was just an excuse for Shelby to punch someone.

The only one I might've found interesting was this Jimmy Harlow but we didn't get to see enough of him or know enough about him at all.

The scenes with the FBI served no purpose.

How the hell does Shelby text such clear messages with one hand and her phone in her pocket? I'm the same age that she is and if that was what was going to save my life, I'd be screwed.

And just one more thing... I could've done without so much setting description. Nora loves flowers and that's perfectly okay but I have no idea what a rhododendron is and I don't need to know every single flower that's planted everywhere that Shelby goes. The descriptions of the house were typical of Nora (ie, warm colors, big fireplaces, gorgeous kitchen, library, full-of-nature backyard). I actually had the urge to skim through some of the setting descriptions because it was just too much.

I really hope Nora Roberts takes a break for a little while and stops working on cruise control. She's producing books like she works the line at Ford and doesn't seem to care anymore what's in them. This story had some real potential but was ruined with cartoonish characters, overdone plot and solution, and way too much setting description.

By Romance Lover on April 19, 2015

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