Customer Reviews

Lie to Me

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ellie Coggins is determined to find the evidence she needs in order to prove that Banner Westfield murdered her best friend. While breaking into Banner's office during a house party is probably not the best plan she has have come up with, Ellie is getting desperate. And, she has just been caught by Jack Payton, the black sheep of the Westfield family who also happens to be Banner's half brother. In a split second the two become allies and engaged so as to cover for the real reasons they are in the office.

Jack Payton has just been paroled and is trying to get his life and daughter back. He wants to do all he can to convince social services and his estranged family that he has changed. Ellie posing as his affianced bride is a stuck of luck in itself and seems like the perfect start.

Ellie and Jack agree to help each other out. Due to her engagement to Jack, Ellie is able to get into the Westfield home much to the consternation of Banner. It is only a matter of time before Ellie gets the proof she needs to get Banner put away forever. Hopefully she will be able to let Jack go just as easily!

Jack Payton is the ultimate reformed bad boy. Criminal record aside, he is doing his very best to turn his life around so that the powers that be at children's social services will grant him custody of his beloved daughter. For this characteristic alone I fell in love with Jack. His loyalty and love towards his daughter and Ellie shines through during every scene.

If Jack is loyal, Ellie is loyal times ten. She is willing to put herself in danger in order to find the evidence she needs get Banner arrested. That aside, her love for Libby, Jack's daughter, grows into unconditional love much like the love of a mother and natural child. She and Jack's attraction to each other is so instantaneous I had no trouble seeing the dilemma each has with the other in trying to convince their families that they are truthfully engaged.

I found the plot and premise of LIE TO ME to be original and intriguing. Realistic in nature, I can only imagine how someone on parole feels when trying to regain the confidence needed to live day in and day out with the stigma of being a released prisoner. Jack's ability to focus on his mission to be a worthy father to Libby is notable and made me sigh with delight and smile. A daughter loved half as much as Jack loved his daughter Libby would make many young girls very lucky.

LIE TO ME is a great addition to my every expanding keeper shelf. I swooned at Jack's sensuality and gritted my teeth at Banner's audacity and then you have Libby's tenacity and Ellie's unwavering loyalty. All of these traits made for a truly wonderful read!

***Natalie S. for Wild on Books***

Overall, cute and entertaining read. The heroine meets the hero when he catches her breaking into his evil brother's study to find evidence that Evil Brother had his wife killed. He pretends that she's his fiancee when they are interrupted a few minutes later and the charade just keeps getting bigger & bigger as they bamboozle his family & he tries to help her find the evidence she needs. In the meantime, he's trying to prove that Evil Brother is up to No Good so he can get his family's respect back and gain custody of his illegitimate daughter that he just found out about. The mystery was pretty good, chemistry between the two main characters was good, daughter wasn't annoyingly cute or moppet-ish. Problems: Evil Brother was just too over the top with his bad doings--he should have had a leer, a monocle, and a large black moustache and eaten puppies for breakfast every morning. A couple of plot twists were too convenient or unbelievable for even this breathless reader. Lastly, the idea that an untrained, uneducated young woman could start a business inspecting security systems and seem truly professional because she carries a briefcase and gets help from a former jewel thief is totally ludicrous. That part of the story was so unbelievable that I just laughed when it started to get more & more involved with the plot. This book isn't a desert island keeper, but it made for a pleasant and entertaining read.

This is a good first novel. The plot is fun, if a little bit of a stretch, and Ellie and Jack are well-developed and have some witty repartee. The villain, Jack's brother Banner, is too black-hat for me and one-dimensional. The love story could use a little more development, but was pretty good.

Pros: You want to turn the page. I didn't have to force myself through several pages to get to a good part (ok had to force myself though the MJP break in but it wasn't long). The hero and heroine were likeable and funny. The beginning library and party scenes were great. There were some funny lines and scene set-ups and some witty dialog throughout. It wasn't too predictable, though obviously it's a light romance so you know they'll get together in the end and bad guy will get his. First sex scene build up was a unique and well-done approach with Banner describing on the ride home what he would do to Ellie.

Nit-picky cons: The sex scenes were a little vague and should have been rewritten "and then clothes were everywhere" isn't enough detail for me. Or the scenes were vague and then really specific "he felt a squeeze where they were intimately connected' Didn't know they were connected since ya didn't tell us. Or "he disposed of the condom" and here I thought it was an oops since she didn't mention that he used one this time.

In the last 70 pages the author adds two new POV scenes, which is bad, bad, bad. The one from Janet's POV should have been cut completely as it added nothing. The one from Libby's POV should have been from Jack or Ellie's via the IM conversation. This is really sloppy to throw these in when the whole book has been Ellie's or Jack's POV.

***ending spoiler***

Didn't buy the ending. One, that you'd want a kid along at an expensive dinner proposal. And, more importantly, that the longed for declaration of love, which happened during the proposal, was enough to make everything ok in the end. Come on, Jack told Banner to go ahead and shoot her. Ellie pointed out all the instances where she thought he showed he didn't love her. I think she'd need a little more convincing and maybe without a 12 year old at the table. I loved the "give back the ring" set-up and the "carpet tack" lines.

I'd give this 3.5 stars if there were half stars.

Lie to Me is the hang on to edge of your seat page turner by debut author Starr Ambrose. We loved the characters and thought the plot twists were believable and very well done.
Devastatingly handsome Jack Payton, recent parolee and black sheep of his well bred family isn't exactly marriage material, but for a fake fiancé', he'll do just fine. Not that Eleanor Coggins has a choice. If she is going to prove that Jack's wealthy half brother Banner Westfield murdered her best friend, she needs total access to the family estate.
Once Jack and Ellie blow Banner's cover, they can go their separate ways... or so Ellie thinks. In order to win custody of his twelve year old daughter Libby, Jack needs to improve his reputation. An engagement to Ellie should do the trick but with her vivacious wit and irresistible curves it's the pretend part of their plan that is getting harder to maintain.
With help from an ex con turned home security expert, a police chief with a scandalous secret and Libby they all must help to expose Banner's dangerous secret before they become his next victims.
The relationship between Jack and Ellie is great. We loved their witty banter and loyalty to each other and their chemistry is just explosive. But can Jack convince Ellie to turn their seductive little lie into the truth?
Readers looking for a suspenseful and intriguing story with a great romance should definitely pick up Lie to Me.

Just a fun, charming read... great characters, laugh out loud dialog and enough heat to keep things interesting. I'm looking forward to Starr Ambrose's next book, and only hope that Amazon makes it available for Kindle at launch!

Lie to Me was absolutely wonderful. The plot was exciting and kept me engaged the whole time. The characters were likable and well developed. It was a "feel good" story without being juvenile or cheesy.

Eleanor `Ellie' Coggins and Jack Payton need each other. Jack needs to show that he's fit to be a part of society and his daughter's life. Enlisting Ellie to be his fiancée to show he's in a stable relationship, if only on the surface, is a step in the right direction. Ellie needs Jack in order to get closer to his brother, the man who took the life of her best friend. Eleanor is determine to make Banner Westfield pay for his part in the death of her best friend and Jack is exactly what she need to help her do just that.

Neither Ellie nor Jack could have prepared themselves for the unexpected twist and turns that were thrust upon them.

Lie To Me is an edge of your seat page-turner. Starr Ambrose did a great job for her first novel. I loved the characters and thought the plot twists were very believable and very well done. The relationship between Jack and Ellie is great. I like how they interact with each other it was perfect for the story, and they had such great chemistry. Readers looking for a suspenseful and intriguing story with a great romance should definitely pick up Lie To Me.

Ley
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

STORY BRIEF:
Banner marries Janet, and she disappears two months later. Three months after that, Janet's best friend Ellie sneaks into Banner's home to search for evidence against him. Ellie believes Banner killed Janet and wants to put him away. Jack is Banner's half-brother and the black sheep of the family. Jack and Ellie meet and then pretend to be engaged. Ellie does it so she has access to Banner's home to search for evidence. Jack does it so he can appear more responsible in his efforts to win custody of his twelve-year-old daughter Libby.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
The plot and the events moving it along were excellent and well done. The conflicts were good. The romance was good. I was chuckling many times and laughing out loud several times. The conversations were witty and smart. I usually don't like a hero and heroine lying to each other as a way to have conflict. In this story they lie to other people (not to each other) which makes things interesting. There are a variety of complicated and engaging characters. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is due to the lack of a strong emotional feeling at the end. But not all books need to have that. This book was good entertainment, so I rounded up to 5 stars for Amazon.

There was an unexpected yet wonderful seduction scene. While Jack is driving Ellie to his home, he describes in detail the script for their coming bedroom scene. It was different and sensually moving.

I have one recommendation. An epilogue would have been nice to learn more details about evidence, convictions and jail terms for the bad guys. The story ends with some of this, but I would have liked more.

OTHER BOOKS:
I've read one other book by Starr Ambrose. My 3.5 star review of "Our Little Secret" Copyright 2009 was posted 11-26-09. Her third book "Thieves Like Us" should be out Fall 2010.

DATA:
Story length: 371 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 4. Total number of sex scene pages: 18. Setting: current day Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Copyright: 2008. Genre: contemporary romance with suspense.

Started this on a rainy morning and finished it before the day was done! Tons of snappy dialogue make it a fun read, and Starr Ambrose really creates some engaging characters (and some sexy scenes). I agree there are a couple of holes in the plot, but they don't keep you from caring about the likable characters and sticking with them to see what happens.

Earler reviews of LIE TO ME on this site do not make enough of the wit and the sexiness of the goings-on. Starr Ambrose makes convincing the emotions of the two principals for 21st-century readers by graphic demonstrations of their mutual attraction. They cannot keep their hands off each other! A clever element is the complications of the story's theme of lies. Everyone lies to everyone else, and especially to themselves. Ambrose handles very well the shifts in point of view that let the reader detect the ways that each character kids him/herself throughout. A lot of fun!