#BlogTour Truth Hurts by Rebecca Reid

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Truth Hurts by Rebecca Reid. It's a dark psychological thriller, a manipulative game of emotions and secrets.

About the Author
Rebecca is a freelance journalist. She is a columnist for the Telegraph Women’s section,
works for Metro Online and has written for Marie Claire, the Guardian, the Saturday
Telegraph, the Independent, Stylist, Glamour, the iPaper, the Guardian, Indy100, LOOK
and the New Statesmen amongst others.

Rebecca is a regular contributor to Sky News and ITV’s This Morning as well as appearing
on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, LBC, BBC News 24 and the BBC World Service to discuss her
work.

She graduated from Royal Holloway’s Creative Writing MA in 2015 and Perfect Liars is her
debut novel. Rebecca lives in North London with her husband.

Follow @RebeccaCNReid on Twitter, Buy Truth Hurts

About the book
Poppy has a secret.
It was a whirlwind romance. And when Drew, caught up in the moment, suggests that he
and Poppy don’t tell each other anything about their past lives, that they live only for the
here and now, for the future they are building together, Poppy jumps at the chance for a
fresh start.
Drew says he has nothing to hide.
But it doesn’t take long for Poppy to see that this is a two-way deal. Drew is hiding
something from her. And Poppy suddenly has no idea who the man she has married really
is, what he is hiding from her or what he might be capable of.
Drew is lying.
Which is more dangerous, a secret or a lie?

Review
Reading this made me want to go back and read Perfect Liars again. Reid really knows how to write a wicked plot.

The story is presented in flashbacks and the present. At first it appears to be the lives of two separate people, but as the tale unravels the truth becomes clearer. Poppy meets Drew in a bar in the middle of a crisis. She has just been fired and hasn't got two cents to rub together to get home. A few weeks later her she has gone from downstairs to upstairs. Is it all too good to be true?

The author, whether it be through research or personal experience, describes the relationship between au-pairs or nannies and their employers accurately. The upstairs, downstairs mentality of those who can afford to hire people to help raise their children. Some of them think nothing of paying a mere pittance for a 24/7 nanny who is also expected to cook, clean, shop and play waitress. It's often those with wealth and reputations to uphold who are tighter than a nun's knicker.

Then Reid takes the plot further by adding the element of suggestive situations in an environment where a third person is intruding upon the family dynamics. Ask yourself whether you would consider physical beauty a valid reason not to hire a nanny? Does that mean you are insecure or is it just a question of if temptation is dangled in front of someone's face often enough then eventually temptation will probably win? Food for thought.

I'm going to be purposely vague about where the author takes her readers with this story. I loved it, but then I do have a thing for cracking plots with a twist of wicked and a slice of evil. I'll have mine on the rocks please.

It's a dark psychological thriller, a manipulative game of emotions and secrets.

Buy Truth Hurts at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Transworld Digital pub date 27 Aug. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

Read my review of Perfect Liars by Rebecca Reid

#BlogTour Perfect Liars by Rebecca Reid

This is week three of the BlogTour Perfect Liars by Rebecca Reid. I was due to post at the end of the second week, but couldn't due to personal circumstances. So... I am just going to sneak my blog post into the third week instead.

About the Author
Rebecca is a freelance journalist. She is a columnist for the Telegraph Women’s section, works for Metro Online and has written for Marie Claire, the Guardian, the Saturday Telegraph, the Independent, Stylist, Glamour, the iPaper, the Guardian, Indy100, LOOK and the New Statesmen amongst others.

Rebecca is a regular contributor to Sky News and ITV’s This Morning as well as appearing on Radio 4's Woman's Hour, LBC, BBC News 24 and the BBC World Service to discuss her work.

She graduated from Royal Holloway’s Creative Writing MA in 2015 and Perfect Liars is her debut novel. Rebecca Lives in North London with her husband.

Follow @RebeccaCNReid @TransworldBooks on Twitter
Buy Perfect Liars

About the book
Sixteen years ago, best friends Nancy, Georgia and Lila did something unspeakable whilst attending an exclusive British boarding school. Their crime forged an unbreakable bond between them, a bond a bond of silence. But now, one of them wants to talk.

One wrong word and everything could be ruined; their covetable lives, careers and relationships. It's up to Georgia to call a crisis dinner. But things do not go as planned.
Three women walk in to the dinner, but only two will leave.
Murder isn’t so difficult the second time around...

Review
Georgia, Lila and Nancy share memories, experiences at boarding school, friendship and they also share a very tragic secret. The kind of secret that changes and influences lives. The kind of secret that may make you question whether your friends stay in touch because they care about you or keep in touch to make sure their secret stays hidden.

The relationships between the three of them are driven by their upbringing, their new socio-economic statuses and their dominant personalities. Their interactions are often hesitant and only take place after plenty of thought and self-doubt, which makes the reader wonder why they meet up at all. The answer - to make sure each one of them keeps stumm about what they did when they were young girls.

Reid has a knack of presenting the kind of plot you need to follow as a reader just so you can find out where she is taking the story, and believe you me, it isn't where you expect it to go. Not only does she make it a necessity when it comes to finding out their secret, but also how the three of them are going to keep sitting on said secret.

I especially enjoyed the fact the author didn't feel the need to tie all the ends together and present the perfect package or solution at the end. Crime is dirty, impulsive and muddied by emotions, and so is this plot.

It's gripping, intense and ruthless. Possibly because it is based on a situation that could happen to anyone. Making a self-serving and selfish decision to protect yourself might be cruel and thoughtless, but it doesn't necessarily make you a sociopath. Even accidental killers will try and save themselves., right?

Buy Perfect Liars at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.