Customer Reviews

Tell Me Lies (Leisure historical romance)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was an amazing story of romance that was also full of suspensful events that kept me involved to the very end. I felt for the characters, and spent the whole book praying for a happy ending. The author has dreamed up, and commited to paper characters I couldn't help likng, or sympathizing with. This is a truly moving love story, and the trials and tribulations that the characters experience only make the ending more enjoyable.

First off..the cover..This scene never occurs in the book, but the characters are described as looking very much like this. I loved this book. Lydia is captured by pirates. She has to plead with the captain with her eyes and movements to save her from the mob of pirates. It works and he takes her away to his cabin.....the book is pretty sexy for about 4 chapters. Lydia is very frightened and does anything just to live. Very seductive reading. She has the opportunity to jump ship and escape...she does. I was rooting for her all the way. The pirate, Dan, goes looking for her and finds her in Williamsburg. She is the real Lydia there...a prim and proper girl from a loving family. It takes him awhile to figure this out. He finally realizes who she really is and continues to pursue her. I loved the ending where lies met the truth. It takes him nearly all of the book to see the truth but he eventually does. I liked Lydia very much. I enjoyed seeing Dan faced with himself in the end. Claudia Dain wrote that part very well. Good book.

This is an old-fashioned pirate story with a brand new twist. The captured maiden seduces the pirate captain. The intimate scenes in the early chapters are some of the hottest I've read in a long time. The book contains humor, suspense, good historical descriptions of Williamsburg Virginia, and a sizzling romance. Very entertaining.

I had not read a romance novel for many, many years before I picked up Claudia Dain's debut novel. I meant to glance at a few pages before actually sitting down to read it, but found myself 150 pages into the book before I had to force myself to put it down and finish it later. It is an entertaining read with all the finer points of the romance novel genre. Claudia Dain should be congratulated on a great first novel.

I almost didn't buy this book because the of the kinky cover...! And I'll bet the title was decided by some editorial committee, not the author. If I were to have been on that committee, I would have picked "At All Cost" for the title.

I read a couple of reviews back, and wonder if someone hasn't sent in a review by mistake of another "Tell Me Lies," there are two contemporary books out at this time by the same title--this book by Dain is not remotely humorous, and shouldn't be.

These quibbles aside, this is a lyrical, haunting, cohesive story with an intense theme of survival-vs-transcendent love. How many romances have such an unusual theme? Usually it's revenge, misunderstanding or simple lust.

The heroine departed from the now-tiresome spitfire cliché, and was an intense, thoughtful and spiritual survivor who had me "rooting" for her with every paragraph. Often in romances, I itch to slap the bad-tempered Scarlett wannabes and tell them to grow up.

The hero behaves very badly, and gets both his justice and mercy. He is not quite as fully realized as the heroine.

The auxiliary characters are authentic and frequently sympathetic.

How about a story on Lydia's sisters?

I have to say, I was suprised! This was the first Claudia Dain book I read, and I loved it. Exceptional writing, wonderful, engaging characters, - and did anyone else get the theme, the morality tale of this book? The hero and heroine are survivors, they do what they have to to survive, but the things that people do forever change who they are.- That's real life, but people cover up the truth of who they have become with the lies they tell themselves. I also loved the true image of the pirates- Ms Dain doesn't paint a pretty picture like something we would see in a traditional romance- more like what we would see in real life- brutal, merciless killers. Excellent read! Not your traditional romance!

A woman must seduce a pirate captian in exchange for her life. I was completely riveted by the story. The heroine's bid for survival, the author's imagery, the crew's dissension, the intense emotions between the lead characters--all held my attention so that I couldn't put the book down. Until she jumps overboard in her escape. The heroine survives...the story doesn't. I wish the story had ended at that point. It's as if two different authors had written this book. Imagery is all but forgotten, the emotions between the characters is unintresting. I find myself wanting to rip the book down the middle so that I could keep the first half and burn the second!While this story had a disappointing finish, I still look forward to Ms. Dain's second novel. She has the ability to becomes a very powerful writer.

I was so impressed with Claudia Dain's first novel that I cannot wait until her second book is published. She has such an incredible sense of attention to detail. I felt as if I were there with the characters and truly felt their conflicts and emotions. Ms. Dain weaves a wonderful story of survival and true love. Lydia and Dan were real characters with an emotional depth that is missing in most romance novels today. I am anxiously waiting for Ms. Dain's next novel. I have no doubt that I will be as pleased with the second as I was with the first. My compliments to you, Ms. Dain.

This pirate has killed lots of innocent people to avoid leaving witnesses. He would have killed the heroine, too, if she hadn't been intentionally trying to entice him. He has also raped women and allowed his crew to gang-rape and kill innocent women. Indeed, his attack of the heroine can also be considered rape, because she only consented in order to save her life. When she escapes, he goes after her only because she "owes him" since she was his portion of the treasure and he hadn't finished with her yet. Indeed, he repeatedly calls her a whore and refuses to marry her because she is damaged goods, even though he is the one who ruined her!

This guy is a romantic hero???

The heroine is pretty ditzy too. She knows what this guy is like, but after two days of being treated like a whore, she's in love. Well, I think she has a problem discerning the difference between love and lust. I mean, there's really nothing there to love except his sexual prowess.

This is the type of book that gives historical romance a bad name. Sex is not love. Women who fall in love with rapists and murderers are idiots. . . they definitely do not make good heroines.

But by far the most disturbing part is the overwhelming number of readers--primarily women, I'm sure--who have written rave reviews of this book. Very disturbing.

What if you had to be someone totally unlike yourself in order to save yourself? Could you do it? How far would you go to do it? Read this book if you want to explore how you'd answer those questions.

TELL ME LIES whisks you back into time onto the deck of a pirate ship threatened by the salaciousness of its crew and the scorn of its captain. Chapter one starts unlike any other book I've ever read; it launched me into the heroine and hero's struggle and kept me turning pages until their solution. I stuck with the characters because the characters stuck with me.

If you read TELL ME LIES you will bask in Claudia Dain's world. One rich with the Caribean full of scorching scenes - some caused by the sun, others not. Claudia Dain's words flow. Her imagery's vibrant, her characters're compelling.

Buy this book, you won't regret it!

Reviewed May 10, 2000 by the girl next door.