Presented as “an obsessive, addictive love story for fans of Lisa Jewell,” Too Good To Be True by Carola Lovering sounded like perfect escape-the-pandemic-shutdown reading. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley I received a copy in exchange for my honest review. TBH, I read it a month or so ago and today, when I needed something to read, I started reading it again and thought “wow, this sounds vaguely familiar.” I read a bit and could not for the life of me remember it, so I had to do a refresher skim to bring it back.
The story is told from multiple points of view, and involves a young woman, Skye Starling, who is super excited when her boyfriend, Burke Michaels, proposes after a whirlwind courtship. Her mother died when Skye was only eleven, and she’s been a little off since then. Lots of OCD and no ability to have a successful romantic relationship — until now.
Burke is handsome, older, and seems more emotionally mature than any of her previous relationships. Interspersed with Skye’s wedding preparation, we get things from Burke’s POV, and quickly realize he is a liar. The letters to his therapist indicate he is ALREADY married (supposedly happily), and likely sees Skye (and her $$) as an answer to his immediate problem.
The third perspective is told from a 17-year-old named Heather, who lives in a not-great part of town and has been dating a local “bad boy” named Burke. She wants to get away and make a better life for herself in New York City. Clearly, there is a collision coming involving Burke, his early-in-life girlfriend who knew him when, and sweet young Skye.
It’s convoluted and intricate and clearly forgettable, since I didn’t remember much of it at all. But it held my interest at the time, and I didn’t guess everything — and it DID take me away from pandemic shutdown for a couple of days, so that’s worth four stars, in my book!