Title: Fragile Lies.
Author: Laura Elliot.
Publisher: Bookouture.
Genre: Women's Fiction.
Publication Date: February 13, 2015.
Source: Netgalley.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.
Purchase: Amazon UK
His name is Michael Carmody.
He is a writer and a father.
His son is lying in a coma, fighting for his life.
Her name is Lorraine Cheevers.
She is an artist and mother.
An illicit affair has destroyed her marriage.
Michael is desperate to find the couple who left his son for dead, a victim of a hit and run.
Lorraine is desperate to start a new life for her and her daughter.
Michael and Lorraine are about to cross paths – damaged souls, drawn to one another.
They don’t know that their lives are already connected.
They don’t know the web of lies surrounding them.
They are each searching for the truth. But when they find it, it could destroy them both.
Author: Laura Elliot.
Publisher: Bookouture.
Genre: Women's Fiction.
Publication Date: February 13, 2015.
Source: Netgalley.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.
Purchase: Amazon UK
His name is Michael Carmody.
He is a writer and a father.
His son is lying in a coma, fighting for his life.
Her name is Lorraine Cheevers.
She is an artist and mother.
An illicit affair has destroyed her marriage.
Michael is desperate to find the couple who left his son for dead, a victim of a hit and run.
Lorraine is desperate to start a new life for her and her daughter.
Michael and Lorraine are about to cross paths – damaged souls, drawn to one another.
They don’t know that their lives are already connected.
They don’t know the web of lies surrounding them.
They are each searching for the truth. But when they find it, it could destroy them both.
I love the synopsis for Fragile Lies. It’s simple, powerful and effective. It really drew my attention to the book and I was looking forward to reading a book full of suspense and twists but sadly, I really struggled to get into it. Fragile Lies was such a slow-burner of a novel, but I don’t even think slow-burner is the right word because it never seemed to get going for me. I struggled to keep myself interested in the novel and if it wasn’t for those little hints of intrigue and all the strong themes Laura Elliot has woven into this story, I would not have finished it as quickly as I did. I wanted to love this novel and I’d heard so many great things about this author before Fragile Lies, so much so I already had her previous books waiting on my Kindle. But this book wasn’t for me.
The prologue was thought-provoking and hinted at some of the themes Fragile Lies was about to explore, from adultery to lies and ill health. It sets the tone for the rest of the book and they were all weaved together well to create this story. My issue was with the characters. Michael is in a bad way after his son Killian is involved in an accident, leaving him in a coma. Lorraine is beginning a new chapter in her life, along with daughter Emily, after the breakup of her marriage. It’s not that I expected to love the characters, I don’t need to like the characters to like a book but I just didn’t even care about them or what was happening. I sympathised with Michael occasionally over his desperation at his son’s accident but that was it. There were more characters introduced but everyone just whined about their problems and I wasn’t bothered. I didn’t care about the affair or the other emotions explored. I was in anticipation of the connection between Michael and Lorraine but then was left disillusioned.
I liked the short chapters when Michael is talking to Killian and we really get to learn about the mentality of both characters and see some of Michael’s motives. I enjoyed it when the chapters were short and more to the point because there were moments when things dragged a little bit and the short chapters gave enough detail and kept the intrigue going too. Intrigue is the main thing which kept me going throughout Fragile Lies – I felt there was surely the promise that things might go too far, thing might kick off and that would get interesting. I’m not normally put off with a slower writing style but here… it was so frustrating because the story would have something that would grab me and I’d think this was the moment things were going to step up but then it faded. Nothing stole my attention and I carried on reading to get to the resolution but the ending felt like it had something missing too. If I’m honest, I found the book to be quite dull overall.
Fragile Lies is ultimately something a little different from a lot of books out there at the moment. It’s an intricate tale of choices and the consequences that come with them. There’s the odd tense moment and it’s a compelling concept, even though it didn’t really work out for me. Fragile Lies is a very character driven story and well, if you don’t like the characters, you’re not going to get much out of the book and unfortunately this was the way it went for me.
I was okay with the characters, but the pacing really got to me. It just seemed so slow for awhile with way too much extraneous detail. It did seem to speed up in the second half, but wow that was some crazy stuff going on in the end!
ReplyDeleteIt was a mixture of both for me! I can deal with a slow pace sometimes and I can deal with unlikeable characters sometimes but mixed together, it was never going to be my thing...
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