True Love (and Other Lies): A Novel

by Whitney Gaskell

Travel writer Claire Spencer doesn't believe in fate, much less any part of that fairy tale, happy ending, love at first sight stuff. Especially not for Amazon-sized women like her. So when Jack, the sexy man who sits next to her on a flight from New York to London, asks her out, Claire figures there has to be a catch. Is he blind? Sleazy? On the rebound? But she decides to accept, and finds herself smitten and a little frightened at how happy she is with how fast things are moving.

While in London (on assignment for Sassy Seniors! magazine), Claire is also looking forward to seeing her best friend, Maddy, one of those impossibly gorgeous, if-I-didn't-love-her-I'd-hate-her women who's got everything in the world going for her--except that, for the first time in her trouble-free life, Maddy has just been dumped...by Jack. Claire's finally met what seems to be the perfect guy, and now the only way she can have him is by betraying her best friend. It's almost enough to make Claire believe in Fate, but if Fate does exist, it seems intent on screwing her over.

• ISBN10: 055338225X
• ISBN13: 9780553382259
• Publish Date: 31 August 2004 (first published 1 January 2004)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc
• Imprint: Bantam USA
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553382259

Reviews

[Leah]

True Love (and Other Lies) tells the story of Claire, a travel writer for Sassy Seniors. She’s single and doesn’t believe in The One or Happy Ever After.

However, on a flight to London, she meets Jack, an attractive ex-pat and they spend the three days she has in London together.

It’s all going well, until it turns out Jack was seeing someone close to Claire… someone very close to Claire.

I first read True Love (and Other Lies) a year or so ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Seeing a fellow blogger review it I decided to re-read it and review it myself.

I found it a bit slow-going second time around so it’s probably a book you can only read once unlike some where you can read them again and again without questioning what the main characters of the book do.

However the book is still really enjoyable. At first the meeting of Claire & Jack seems fanciful and not something that would happen in real life. However all is revealed through-out the book – which is one of the reasons I loved the book. The fact that someone would go out of their way to do what they did made the book for me. Of course, what I’m saying sounds ridiculous but I can’t mention what happens otherwise it spoils the magic of the book. Let me just say it’s incredibly romantic and makes you say, “I wish that would happen to me!”

Second time around I found Claire a bit annoying. Going on and on and on and on and on about how fat you are compared to your best friend gets really annoying after a while. If, as Claire said, she was happy with her body she would not be comparing herself to Maddy or keep mentioning the fact she was Amazonian sized. However I enjoyed reading about her struggles in the office to have her column printed the way she wanted it to – sarcasm and all.

I liked Jack even when everything was revealed. Depending on your views the big reveal could make or break the book for you. I found it romantic and thus, it made the book for me. I thought he and Claire clicked and worked well together.

I liked Maddy but there were also huge dislikeable points about her. I thought she was a bit of a cow to Claire but I could also understand why she was so spiteful.

Overall it was an enjoyable novel, and a quick read at that. I love Little Black Dress books and this is one of my favourites. It’s the ultimate in romance novel and is well worth a read.

Rating: 4/5