Title: The Lie
Author: Karina Halle
Release Date: February 15, 2016
Their love led to a lie
Their truth led to the end
Brigs McGregor is crawling out from the ashes. After losing his wife and son in a car accident and his job from his subsequent downward spiral, he's finally moving forward, getting a prestigious teaching position at the University of London and a new life in the city. Slowly, but surely, he's pushing past the guilt and putting his tragic past behind him.
Until he sees her.
Natasha Trudeau once loved a man so much she thought she'd die without him. But their love was wrong, doomed from the start, and when their world crashed around them, Natasha was nearly buried in the rubble. It took years of moving on to forget him, and now that she's in London, she's ready to start again.
Until she sees him.
Because some loves are too dangerous to ever indulge.
And some loves are far too powerful to ignore.
Their love just might be the life and the death of them.
"The truth doesn't just hurt, it destroys."
I wish I could come up with some profound review to give you on why The Lie will be one of your favorite reads of 2016 but the words won't come. I am still in such awe that nothing I can describe the kaleidoscope of emotions I felt while reading this outstanding book. I'm fairly new to Karina Halle but I can tell you that this book made me want to read them all.
If you have read The Play and Winter Wishes, you'll know a little backstory to Brigs, our main character with a horribly haunted past. Losing his wife and only child in a car accident, one he thinks he caused four years prior, left him damaged and with self-loathing. Now, he is on the road of healing. Still grieving, but with the help from family and a therapist, he is starting to live his life again. Just when things are looking up, enter Natasha!
To say that I shed a few tears would be an understatement. There was no choice in the matter. Karina made you fall in love with these characters, their story and their despair. I felt their every emotion as if it was my own.
Not only did I cry but I laughed as well. There were funny moments, sexy moments, sarcastic moments. There were nerdy moments, adorable moments and heart-shattering moments. It was the perfect second chance story, beautifully delivered by a sexy school teacher and the one who got—or rather he pushed—away.
~ Review by Kelly
Holy cats. This book doesn’t pull any punches. 5% in and my heart was bleeding all over the place. Ouch. OUCH. I can’t even…
Brigs McGregor is slowly putting the pieces of his life back together after losing his wife and son in a tragic car accident. His life was obliterated. His entire sense of himself was shattered and it is only just now, four years later, that he’s pulling himself out of the blackness. He has a new job. A new, healthier perspective on life. And while his outlook on the future may not be exactly hopeful, it’s no longer completely bleak either.
When Brigs sees Natasha Trudeau, like a ghost straight out of his past, everything he ever felt—good or bad—comes rushing back to him. He’s knocked on his ass by feelings he thought he’d never feel again, for a person he thought was gone from his life forever. However, there’s a mountain of baggage between the two of them, and being together may come at a great cost. They say you don’t get to choose who you fall in love with, but you choose who you fight for—and sometimes that makes all the difference.
Good God, this book was so raw; so deeply emotional and intense and sometimes painful to read. My heart hurt for Brigs and Natasha—and I felt stuck with them, wading through the thick, choking grief, guilt and self-loathing. As they reconnect and make steps—together and separately—towards healing and forgiveness and acceptance of the love they have between them, it’s lovely and beautiful and incredibly bittersweet.
I sometimes had trouble enjoying their relationship because there was so much sadness between them. I felt like sometimes the highs weren’t high enough to balance out the lows. I was rooting for them, but I was also sucked under by them. And truly, their pasts were enough for them to muddle through and sort out—the troubles they had to navigate beyond that sometimes felt like overkill. Too much. I needed more sweetness and maybe a smidge less drama.
That said, this was a gorgeous story about soulmates. Two beautiful people who survived unspeakable grief and found redemption in each other. I loved them. I loved their ending. But, honestly, what I loved most of all was how Brigs’ relationship with his family was portrayed. I loved Lachlan (still, and maybe even more now) and the brotherly role he took on. The scenes with Brigs and Lachlan together were some of the sweetest for me. And the entire McGregor family was like a soft, warm bear hug in the middle of all this sticky drama.
There are also little, unexpected moments of humor that were a much appreciated break from the rawness of this story. It added depth, and adorableness and made the reading experience that much richer.
This wasn’t my favorite of the series, which is tough to say because it was kind of brilliant, and emotional, and could not have been an easy book to write. I have a profound appreciation for that. I think that, for me, it just skimped on the swoon and sometimes the obstacles that Brigs and Natasha had to overcome overshadowed how good they were together. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a really, really good book. A wonderful, heartbreaking, haunting, and redemptive addition to this series of books that just seems to continue to grow in depth and emotional punches. Definitely don’t skip it, just be prepared for tissues and the unending need to wrap Brigs and Natasha in giant, comforting bear hugs.
~ Review by Shelly
Karina Halle is the New York Times bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky, The Pact, Love in English, and other wild and romantic reads. A former travel writer and music journalist, she lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails, and devours a lot of books.
