It’s the spring of 2001 and Cecily Gardner and her boyfriend have just broken up. Trying to distract herself from calling him, Cecily takes a walk in New York City and ends up at this small pub. She asks to borrow a phone to give in an call her ex when a man sits down next to her and cautions her not to make that call. Cecily and Grant don’t do much talking that night but they sit next to each other at the bar and when it closes he walks her home. She lets him in and they fall asleep platonically, but it’s the beginning of something, but she’s not sure exactly what.

Cecily and Grant have an instant connection and stay in touch, even when he takes his sick brother to London for the summer for treatment. When he returns, he tells her he loves her, spends the night, and then disappears when two planes hit the World Trade Center on September, 11th. During her search for him she stumbles upon some truths. Truths that change the direction of her life.

I have only ever read one other Emily Giffen novel called The One and Only. In that novel the heroine falls for her best friends father. A disturbing theme that somehow turns out ok and I remember admiring the author for making me feel something even though the topic made me feel kind of uncomfortable. It wasn’t until I was a good way into The Lies That Bind that I realized this was that same author and I had that same feeling again. Cecily’s actions made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Even though she was in love with Grant because of what she found out after 9/11 she ran back into the arms of her ex, Matthew. The she started her own brand of lying. I admired the authors storytelling, but again was reading a plot that was out of my comfort zone. Did I like it? I’m still mulling over that thought. I think I can safely say that I did, although I will admit to skimming over a couple of areas because I needed to read to a point where I started feeling better. I can totally understand if this is confusing to you all because it’s confusing to me too, but without giving away all of the secrets and lies, it leaves me with only that gut feeling to talk about.

Let’s talk characters. I liked Cecily despite disagreeing with a couple of choices that she made in this story. I also liked Grant. Even after hearing the truth. Just as Cecily repeats in the book their love felt so real. It did to me too! The person who honestly drove me crazy was Cecily’s best friend Scottie. His personality was very over the top and he seemed kind of unforgiving? Despite his own sad predicament, he wasn’t a very sympathetic character and Cecily, bless her heart, needing someone to help lead her out of the path she was on. Unfortunately Scottie was not that guy. He was good for a little comic relief though.

Just as in The One and Only, despite how the book made me squirm, I liked the author’s style and her willingness to look at different kinds of behaviors and dig deep into her characters psyche. There were just too many grey areas and my own morals are pretty black and white. I’ll admit, this did slant my rating down just a tad I would have a hard time giving it less than a 4 rating. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetHalley for my honest review and it was honest.

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Copyright 2020 The Reading Chick All Rights Reviewed

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