Book Review | Fragile Lies - Living Life With Joy

Fragile Lies by Laura Elliot

Publication Date: February 13, 2015

Book Blurb

His name is Michael Carmody.
He is a writer and a father.
His son is lying in a coma, fighting for his life.

Her name is Lorraine Cheevers.
She is an artist and mother.
An illicit affair has destroyed her marriage.

Michael is desperate to find the couple who left his son for dead, a victim of a hit and run.

Lorraine is desperate to start a new life for her and her daughter.

Michael and Lorraine are about to cross paths – damaged souls, drawn to one another.

They don’t know that their lives are already connected.

They don’t know the web of lies surrounding them.

They are each searching for the truth. But when they find it, it could destroy them both.

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My Review

Fragile Lies is a novel about the damage that illicit passion can create. There is a great quote in the Prologue about stolen hours and the idea that thievery has many faces. I thought that was an interesting concept and from there I was intrigued and wanted to read more. I wanted to find out who this man and women were and how they could do something that they knew was terribly wrong, knowing that they were hurting innocent people, running away from their mistakes.

The world of illicit passion and deceit is foreign to me. It’s amazing the amount of lies one must tell when they are cheating on a spouse or significant other. There are countless men and women that lie and cheat. Why do that to someone they [at one point in time] cared about? Not that it’s ever okay to cheat, but in my mind it’s different to make a mistake and cheat one time than it is to continue on with an affair. To constantly be going behind their back, cheating on them and filling them with empty lies. It’s sad that these characters in particular have something tragic happen that wasn’t really their fault, but because they were together, they panicked and fled rather than deal with the situation the way they should have.

The novel is broken up into four parts but other than the prologue, goes in chronological order. I’m not entirely sure why it was broken into parts, perhaps to signify the different stages of Lorraine’s life. Throughout her life she has experienced absolute love and has witnessed terrible tragedies. Some of the events in the novel made me wonder if it’s possible to be in love with two people. I can imagine that you can love two people, but I think you can only truly be in love with one of them. The person that is always in your thoughts, the first person you think about in the morning, the last person you think about before you fall asleep, is it really possible to be in love with two? I don’t think so.

There was another quote that I absolutely loved and have to share. ‘Love only has substance when it’s freely given.’ Fragile Lies is an interesting tale of love, deceit, tragedy and forgiveness. All things take time to move on from but can they ever be fully forgiven? Will people ever learn from their mistakes? The terrible knowledge of someone’s mistakes must beat down on them every day until it ultimately destroys them or strengthens them. Can one ever really move past something so terrible? This novel is about overcoming obstacles and emotions. There are some fun and humorous details but it’s mostly a touching story about the human capacity to love, lie and forgive.

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Receiving novels free of charge in no way reflects on my honest opinion and no monetary compensation was provided for my review. Writing a review is the best way to say thank you to an author. I encourage you to write reviews and share them on sites like Goodreads and Amazon so that your fellow readers can see what you think!

Connect with Laura Elliot

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Author Bio:

Laura Elliot is the author of three novels, Stolen Child and The Prodigal Sister (published by Avon HarperCollins) and Fragile Lies (published by Bookouture). Her books have been translated into many languages.

Aka June Considine, she is also a writer of children’s fiction and has written twelve books for pre-teens and young adults. Her short stories have been broadcast and have appeared in a number of teenage anthologies, including The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror Annual Collection. She gives regular workshops on creative writing and is secretary to the board of the Irish Writers’ Centre. She has also worked as a freelance journalist and magazine editor but is now engaged full time in creative writing. She lives in Malahide, Co Dublin.