Member Reviews
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC for my Kindle.
Marriage and lies and betrayal was the basic theme for this book. Easy read and most of it predictable.
White Lies was a very interesting book that delved into the world of how we can deceive ourselves and those closest to us. It was a heavier read that what I typically prefer, but a good story.
After a night of celebrating his 40th birthday, Sam and Neil Davenport are involved in a horrific road accident where they injure David McAllister horribly. Neil was driving under the influence of alcohol and asks Sam to take the blame for the accident, which, under the stress of the situation, she agrees to. But guilt eats away at Sam and she goes to the hospital that David was taken to, to apologise to him face to face. Except that she can’t. And instead gets drawn into a physical attraction with the very man she is accused of hurting without his knowledge that she is the accused driver. It doesn’t help the situation that Neil recently had a one night stand with Megan from the office and Sam’s trust and faith in her marriage has been blown to smithereens.
Relationships grow, get torn apart, change and morph into something different from what they originally started as and things change forever and yet remain the same. This is a fascinating book that explores the pressures on marriages, the thrill of new relationships and the pull of the old and satisfying. There is something to be said for better the devil you know. Each of the major characters in this book are well drawn, with each having flaws that shine through, making them more human or that little bit creepy.
You feel a very real sense of sympathy for Sam as she tries to work out where her allegiance lies, whether to take a chance on a new relationship with David or to trust that the years of marriage with Neil can heal and go back to being something she can rely on. You feel the pull she feels towards each man and the responsibility towards her two teenage children who need her desperately. The struggle she feels is plainly spread out for the reader to experience themselves.
The writing is interesting and the author has kept the pace steady with no slow periods of time filling. The story follows the course of one year as suggested in the contents, although it is not so easily reflected in the actual manuscript.
This is a great read.
This was a great book and I was reminded of an old phrase as I was reading it. "What a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive." And trust me this truly fit the situation in this story. What started out as an innocent whire lie snowballed into a mammoth problem for the people involved. This story has many layers and the charachters are spot on. I strongly recommend this one.
This is one of those books you’ll want to get others to read with you because there are so many levels to explore on human behavior and psychology it’d be more interesting to discuss with friends to figure out what path everyone else would choose.
So often people think that small lies are essentially harmless but when one leads to another until you have a domino effect of consequences you begin to realize there really is no such thing as a ‘white lie’. Holmes takes that concept and blows it up using believable characters, behaviors and situations so it is easy to find parallels to yourself and think about what you would do given the same situation.
At times it was hard to like the characters or even feel invested in what would happen to them but it was like watching an old episode of Jerry Springer where you just find yourself glued needing to know how it was all going to play out.
Holmes has proven her right to be part of the literary world before and she continues to uphold her position with this compelling novel; you will leave wanting to hold yourself to a higher standard of truth.
I really enjoyed this book. I went in thinking it would be all fluff. Boy was I wrong, there are so many layers to this story I may need to read again just to make sure I caught it all. It has been awhile since I have read a book this good. I
This was a good story of cheating, deception, and lies in the marriage of Neil and Sam and how small lies accumulate into a big explosion in the end.
White Lies is a well written book. A story of deception, lies and betrayal and the repercussion of one little white lie. I enjoyed the plot and the author's writing. I hope to read more of her work in the future.