Tell Me Lies (tell me sweet little lies) by Carola Lovering

Strap in for another dual-POV book about a college situationship, except this book was better than the last one we read (remember Call It What You Want). Tell Me Lies follows Lucy Albright, a privileged rich girl from Long Island as she goes to college in California and begins a tumultuous, years-long affair with certified sociopath and womanizer Stephen Demarco.

College, affair, guy that doesn't treat girl right: this all sounds a lot like other reads. However, what makes this one stand out is that the man in this book gets no redemption. Something that bothered me a lot reading Call It What You Want was that the main guy Ethan in that book was all "Oh, I love her, but I'm terrible" in his POV. The author was trying to make him somewhat redeemable and understandable instead of just the straight-up loser he was. Stephen Demarco, on the other hand, is irredeemable. The author pulls no punches. Stephen's POV is full of lines telling us how he recycles the same routines with girls, thinks his brother (and most other people) are losers, never listens, and hates dogs. I kid you not there is an actual line with him wanting to kick a dog in its face. Yeah. Oh, and he's not even hot.

Nevertheless, our main character Lucy falls for him, but not right away. When they first meet, she sees his flaws: he's fat and kinda weird. When he asks her out for the first months, she says no. By her rejecting him at first, we see how he works. Stephen plots out when to see her and says he knows that she'll sleep with him. We see how and why she starts to fall for him, even though we know the truth about him. By letting us see how she falls for him instead of her liking him right away, I understand how Lucy's life gets so derailed by him..

Tell Me Lies explores relationships in many facets outside of romance from friendships to mother-daughter to sister to with oneself. We are walked through how Lucys' friendships change and how she acts like a bad friend at times, but then learns from it. We see her start as distant with her mother, then grow and become close again. Lucy goes from healthy to anorexic to recovering. She learns to appreciate her body for letting her go on runs and survive. She starts to enjoy life again after being shrouded in depression. There are so many arcs in this book that make the story feel real. Lucy is an ever-changing and ever-learning character. Does this mean she is a good character? Yes, in the way that she is written well. No, in the way that she would not be some stellar upstanding person if she were real, but she admits to her flaws and wants to change. She has a torrid past, but so does her mother, which has impacted her heavily for years, and so does Stephen (he's just awful generally).

I picked this book because of the TV show. I've seen so many TikToks about how addicting the show is and the theories (I've seen ones about the friends betraying each other and that must be a change from the book?). It all had me intrigued. I also saw that the guy who plays Stephen is the same guy who played Sue Heck's clumsy college boyfriend in The Middle. He cuter than the Stephen described in the book, by the way. Now, I am more tempted to watch the show because I know for sure that this is not another romance where he does love her, but he doesn't want to hurt her. Gag me. I'm so sick of that storyline because it is sooo not true.

Anyways, if you're looking for a new adult read, consider picking Tell Me Lies up. It has thrills, mystery, and poignant self-discovery all wrapped up into one.