Customer Reviews

Living, Breathing Lies

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Gloria Mallette's latest offering, Living, Breathing Lies, is a family drama that illustrates the ill-fated after effects of abject lying and guarded deception. The Richards Family is headed by the bitter, selfish matriarch, Stephanie. She has been married to New York City firefighter, Lester, for years. They have an adopted niece, elementary school teacher, Nadirah Lewis, and older twin children, Les, a music producer, prodigal son of sorts and Lynn, an equally absentee daughter who lives in Bostonwith her husband and two children. While Stephanie is a heartless mother and evil aunt, Lester is the nicest, most devoted loving husband/father/ uncle/friend; and for years is the victim of Stephanie's biting tongue and no one understands why he tolerates her.

A household "accident" cripples Stephanie and she pounces on the opportunity to manipulate Nadirah into guilt-ridden servitude which lasts over seventeen years. When the proverbial "straw" eventually breaks Nadirah's back, she threatens to move away which sends Stephanie into a panic -- the fear of living alone is unimaginable. When a mysterious call to the school's principal implicates Nadirah in a sordid affair with one of the community center teenaged boys, her job is jeopardized and she immediately suspects Stephanie as the culprit. She enlists the help of Cousin Lynn to help deal with Stephanie. Unlike her mother, Lynn is compassionate and giving, going over and beyond by using her connections to allow Nadirah to board rent-free in a luxurious town home of a handsome and almost-divorced Austin Gray and even volunteering to stick around for a few days to find the truth behind the false accusation. Needless to say that once the string is pulled, the ball of lies begins to unravel and many, many more secrets are revealed including a few surrounding Austin's marriage, Aunt Stephanie's angst, Uncle Lester's devotion, and even Lynn's fear.

Living, Breathing Lies has sparks of romance (one coupling is truly surprising), elements of mystery/suspense that lead to a few surprises, and enough drama to rival any daytime soap opera. While I was a bit disappointed with her last offering, If There Be Pain, I truly enjoyed this novel as a light, entertaining summer read. I think the author's longtime fans will be pleased.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub
Nubian Circle Book Club

In Living, Breathing Lies, Nadirah Lewis is devastated when she discovers that she has been forced to live a lie--for seventeen years. As a child, she was blamed for crippling her unloving guardian, Aunt Stephanie, in a fall and...guilt has kept her the devoted family "slave" for many years. Everyone around Aunt Stephanie is plagued by these enormous lies, which begin to ricochet from family members to friends and back to family members. Nadirah is a teacher and becomes a foster parent for one of her students, Bree Morrison. Just as things turn for the better, Erma, Bree's Aunt, brings an even more vicious set of lies from the past that begin emerging and affecting everyone around her. Amazingly every character in this book is caught up in a web of lies and they are all living, breathing lies! Mallette has made the reader do some serious soul searching and ask themselves...Why is it so hard to tell the truth, but so easy to tell a lie?

It took me a while to get this book, but it was so worth searching for. Once again Gloria Mallette wrote a story that made me think about my life. The lies told in Living, Breathing Lies are no different from the lies told in every day life. But the consequences of the lies told in her book are so deserving and filled with emotion. Reading this book was like watching a real life crime show where everyone is exposed. Kudos to you Miss Mallette for once again keeping me up at night to read. I didn't even mind the typos. I've seem lots of those before.

What do you do when you find out the person who was charged with your care doesn't really care about you? What do you do when the situation is reversed and that same person is now dependent upon you for their care? And what do you do when you find out this person has lied to you and manipulated you with no remorse for seventeen years? This is exactly the situation Nadirah Lewis suddenly finds herself facing. Her Aunt Stephanie is lying to her, a co-worker is lying on her, and her cousin Lynn's husband...well, he's just outright scandalous. He drags Lynn into his schemes kicking and screaming, which causes even more confusion for Nadirah. The drastic results that follow are just the tip of the iceberg.

Gloria Mallette is back with LIVING, BREATHING LIES, a tale so rife with drama, lies, and schemes, it just might have you taking a second, third or even fourth look at your life and the people around you to see if what you believe to be true actually is. I'm not sure how Mallette keeps creating these characters you just love to hate, and how she keeps developing storylines that are so outrageous you find yourself talking to the book as you eagerly flip the pages trying to find out more. However she does it, it's all good, and I'm a fan for life.

Reviewed by Renee Williams
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Living Breathing Lies thrives on emotional instability and inhumanness because of lies. It yields two separate families with roots so tangled they choke the life from innocent victims.

Eleven-year-old Nadirah Lewis became a ward of her father's sister, Stephanie. Stephanie, with her own twisted lies, made Nadiarh's life a living hell. Nadirah's savior was her aunt's husband, until his death some nine years later. Emotional weakness and guilt over an accident that crippled her aunt has kept Nadirah a prisoner in her aunt's home. Nadirah is now an elementary school teacher, and in ten months, on her thirtieth birthday, she will inherit four million dollars; she wonders if she is too emotionally crippled to stand on her own? Her cousin Lynn doesn't think so. Stephanie's daughter Lynn left home when Nadirah was thirteen years old; but suddenly Lynn is back in her life.

Bree, one of Nadirah's students, is a troubled eight-year-old who reminds Nadirah's of herself. Nadirah has learned so much and everything is starting to overwhelm her. When bitter, oppressive lies are revealed Nadirah finds the strength to flee her aunt's home. She finds solace in the home of a friend of Lynn and gains temporary custody of Bree. As Nadirah starts transforming, lies threaten her career, disturbed family members surface, and they discover a disturbing connection between the two families. A connection that changes the lives of everyone in Nadirah's world.

Ms. Mallette writes serious human drama. Living, Breathing Lies displays the most human tragedy to date, as it reveals several characters living in a dysfunctional abyss, mainly because of family lies. Readers will find themselves tangled in the emotions of the characters and empathetic to their struggles. The book oddly displays a deep sense of hopelessness and hopefulness at the same time. If you've ever suffered from someone's lies, this story will hit home.

Living, Breathing Lies was an excellent book. My book club read it and we had a ball discussing this book especially that Aunt. This is one of the books we all enjoyed but "Shade of Jade" is still at the top of our book club list. Other books my book club read is: Shade of Jade, Promises to Keep, What's done in the dark and Weeping Willow Dance. We still talk about your grandmother and some of them even having their husband reading it. I'm waiting on Sassy but until then, keep up the good work and keep my attention and I'll keep on buying your books and spreading the word. God Bless you and your family

Can Aunt Stephanie really walk after seventeen years of deceiving her late husband Lester, her children and niece Nadirah who waited on her hand and foot? Will Nadirah ever gain her independence and sense of self confidence that was ripped away from her by Aunt Stephanie? Is BJ the one who made the anonymous call to Nadirah's teaching job, claiming she had an affair with a young student at the Empowerment Center? Is Lynn's marriage a sham and is she plotting to steal Nadirah's trust fund money since her husband landed them in a mountain of debt? Will Nadirah ever experience true love and have a family of her own one day? Will Bree, the little girl Nadirah loves and wants to protect so desperately from Bree's twisted mother, be able to live with her permanently? These and other questions relating to this provocative story of love, lies and betrayal will be answered after you read Living, Breathing Lies by Gloria Mallette.

The novel clearly shows the harm that secrets and lies created within a family, and hid amongst loved ones, can truly do to a person. A lie can make a person kill, steal or destroy. A lie can crumble a life, snuff out a person's self worth and keep someone filled with unbearable pain and anguish. The main character and heroine, Nadirah, wants to be free, yet Aunt Stephanie wants to keep her in bondage. Lynn, Nadirah's cousin (and Aunt Stephanie's daughter) wants desperately to take her two kids and leave her husband Byron, a stone cold abuser and failed day trader. Austin, a college friend of Lynn and Byron's, and Nadirah's landlord, regrets the day he ever met his soon to be ex-wife Erma or Erma's sister Dorothy, who doesn't wish to live another day. Bree needs a loving parent and a stable home to be raised in, but with all the drama going on, will Nadirah have the strength and courage to fight to be Bree's adoptive mother? Living, Breathing Lies may be Gloria Mallette's most powerful story to date. Kudos!

DuEwa M. Frazier
Rhymes, Views & News Reviews

Well it's not the house that's on fire .. but the BOOK!!!! A fast reading, page turning "I got to get this book" read. Gloria thanks from the bottom of my heart for writing from your heart, from your mind, from your conscience. Thanks for standing your grounds! Don't ever settle. Thanks for not giving in to those that wanted you to become "in sync" with others! To thy own self be true-and you have. Wonderful book. This book is a must read!!!!!!!!!!! Valuable information contained and it's really happens so many many times in life.

This book was definitely a page turner. I would have loved to share this book with my bookclub, but there were just too many typos. I might consider "What's Done In The Dark" instead.

Living,Breathing Lies is the first book that I have read by Mallette. She will be added to my list of favorite authors. This book is just what I needed for one of my summer reads. I found this book to be intriguing and very refreshing. I especially liked the fact that the book was more about the characters and their lives instead of their sordid sexual life. I also like the fact that there were not page after page of vulgar language. Sex don't always sell.