TELL ME PRETTY LIES BY CHARLEIGH ROSE

4/18/2020

Tell Me Pretty Lies is an angsty new adult romance with an enemies to lovers trope! I devoured this one. Charleigh Rose writes fantastic romances and that's no different with this one.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: April 5, 2020
Genre: New Adult. Enemies to Lovers Romance.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 289 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

Three things my mother acquired when she became engaged:

1. A brand new Tiffany's ring.
2. A lavish home on Heartbreak Hill.
3. Three privileged stepsons.

The last thing I expected was to fall for one of them, least of all Thayer Ames.
Beautiful, brooding, and untouchable.
I knew it was a bad idea. He warned me himself.
But he was a thunderstorm, and I never could resist the rain.
It was perfect…
Until it wasn’t.
One night was all it took for our world to crumble, leaving only secrets and lies between us.
Now, I have to face him again, but the boy I used to know has become the man who loves to hate me.

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READ MY BOOK REVIEW

Release Date: April 5, 2020
Actual Rating: 4.25 stars

New Adult | Angsty Romance

First and foremost, I need to address the fact that Charleigh Rose writes incredible romances. She amps up the angst like no other and continuously writes characters that her readers WANT to read about. Her love stories are gritty, but the underlying emotion is epic. You can feel the chemistry hit you intensely, and you can also see it happening like a movie. I truly admire the way she writes, and this book is no different than what I felt about her previous novels. If you have yet to read one of Charleigh’s books you are truly missing out. I highly recommend giving any one of them a try so you can see what I mean!

With that being said, Tell Me Pretty Lies is a standalone, new adult romance that takes place in a high school setting. I consider it to be new adult rather than young adult because there is quite a bit of detailed sex in the book. I also don’t think the characters necessarily act their ages (17 and 18) and consider them to be a little bit older based on their actions. Charleigh mixes both an angsty, enemies to lover’s trope with a little bit of suspense and mystery. There’s drama, bully tendencies, and a ton of grit between these pages. Some may say this is also a stepbrother romance as the characters USED to be step siblings. I don’t particularly consider it this type of romance because the parents never married, but some might based on the fact that they could have potentially become related.

Shayne and Thayer are at the forefront of this story. They had a little love connection in the past, but when Thayer’s brother dies, he cuts it off immediately because he thinks her brother had something to do with his brothers’ death. Shayne moves away for a year hoping to get over the brooding bad boy but when her mother moves them back to town a showdown occurs. Good girl versus bad boy. Bad boy can’t stand her anymore and does everything in his power to make her WANT to move away (this is where the bullying comes in). But the good girl won’t take his crap and fights back. So, what will become of them?

As with any bully type romance you know eventually that the characters will get together. Doesn’t matter if one is painted a murderer or the other is painted as a villain for the traumatic things her does. It’s the journey to the HEA that makes the story what it is. I won’t detail every little thing that happens because that would spoil it for any reader, but I will say that it’s certainly a rollercoaster ride. I don’t mean in an emotional sense either. It’s harsh, sometimes cruel, but also dizzyingly romantic. I loved Thayer and Shayne together- through all the ups and the downs- and watching the two come together through everything was extremely enjoyable. I do wish the author added a few more details (the prologue discussed some stuff that didn’t come through the rest of the book), but for the most part liked this one a lot. There were some fantastic secondary characters who I hope get books next too and turn this standalone into an interconnected series. Fingers crossed!

If you’re looking for an angsty and gritty read, then this is definitely a great book to pick up! Charleigh can write the heck out of romance and I recommend many of her books to fans of the genre!