Lie To Me by Chloe Cox Series: Redemption #1
Published by Self-Published on November 7, 2013
Genres: New Adult
Format: eARC
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The man who saved her is also the man who destroyed her… or is he?
Seven years ago, I decided I wanted to be a fighter. Marcus Roma showed me how.Six years ago, my parents died in a car accident. Marcus Roma picked me up off the ground and held me until I could stand on my own two feet.
Five years ago, I fell in love with him. And then Marcus Roma disappeared. No warning. No explanation. Just gone.
Yesterday, he came back. And now I have to decide who’s telling the truth, and who’s lying. Who wants something from me, and who wants…
Me. If I guess wrong, I could lose everything. I need to think clearly. But Marcus makes that impossible. Marcus makes me weak. Marcus makes me want, in a way I’ve never felt before.
Marcus Roma will make me fall. The only question is—will he be there to catch me this time?
Liezel’s Thoughts:
Lie To Me is a story about Harlow Chase, a young woman who loses everything after the fatal death of her parents. A caring and loving Marcus Roma helps her pick-up the pieces. She thought he was the one that was meant to be hers forever and just when her broken heart starts to mend he disappears from her life without rhyme or reason. Five years down the road just when she thought that she is finally able to move on out of the blue he reenters her life. With all the pain that he caused will she be willing to listen, trust and open her heart to him again?
Lie To Me is an emotionally charged, bittersweet tale of first love, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and second chances.
“You are my everything. You’re the reason I learned to laugh. You’re the reason I learned how to be strong. You’re the reason I learned how to be good. I am who I am because of you. Because you let me love you.”
I was most impressed with both of the main characters of this story. Harlow and Marcus dealt with their individual difficulties early on in life. Instead of letting all those issues tarnish them they mature into very strong individuals. Harlow becomes an ever-loving parent to her younger brother while Marcus hides in the background safeguarding his love from afar. The self-doubt and the inner struggles that both were feeling provided a perfect amount of tension that I love in my romances. I thought that the chemistry and the passion was also terrific.
I appreciated that this story was also written in both POV’s. The author was able to deliver such an in-depth introspection of every thought and feeling that each was experiencing. Knowing how the other was feeling at every given emotional moment was what made this book standout for me. I thought the way the author weaved back and forth through the timelines within the same chapters complimented the story remarkably well.
This is the first book that I have read from this author and I would have to say that I enjoyed it very much and I am looking forward to reading the next part of the series – Brison’s story.
The Verdict:
Excerpt:
“That doesn’t work, Marcus. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t work for the man who’s trying to destroy my home and be my…what? What do you even think you are?”
Marcus puts those big hands on either side of me on the kitchen counter, penning me in, and leans in until his mouth is only inches from mine.
“I’m the guy who’s going to keep you safe,” he says.
I shiver as I feel his breath on my neck, and my heart breaks as he says those words. “Oh. Is that all?” I ask.
His lips graze my ear, my cheek. He rubs his face against my neck, and then licks it, ever so lightly.
“No,” he says in my ear. “That’s not all.”
Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. The physicality of this man, and my attraction to him, removes all sense from my brain. I feel like a zombie, or like I’m hypnotized, like he could tell me to strip and my clothes would be half off before I even knew what was happening. Like I’m drunk on him, drunk and deranged and prone to making bad decisions. This should be illegal. You should not be allowed to drive a human body while under this kind of influence.
“Marcus, I can’t do a repeat of this,” I say, and my breath is already ragged. “Please.”
And I push against his chest, gently.
I can’t look at him when he steps back because I know I’ll be right back there, unable to think clearly through my desire for him. Not just for him, but for everything to be right between us. That was the worst part about sleeping with him again—seeing a glimpse of how it could be. Knowing I love him now more than I ever did, knowing that learning more about the world in the last five years has made me realize just how lucky I was to have him in my life at all. And then the hangover: remembering that it’s not all right. That he still hasn’t explained why he left, that he might do it again at any moment. Remembering what happened to me after he left the first time.
How could I bring him back into my life under those circumstances? How could I ever bring him into Dill’s life under those circumstances?
That’s why I kicked him out. Didn’t seem to do any good, though. He’s still in my life. Even if he weren’t standing in my kitchen, looking down at me with such tender concern that it makes me weak, he’d still be in my life. Because I don’t think he’ll ever be out of my thoughts.
“Lo,” he says.
“Goddammit,” I say. I still can’t look at him. I’m actually sweating, I’m so turned on, and I still have to say no. I still have to be responsible. And I am furious. “Why can’t you just tell me? Why can’t you just explain? Why can’t you help me to understand so I can maybe, maybe, trust you again?”
He starts to speak, but he’s got me going now. I have to get mad or I’ll start to cry. I think about all those sleepless nights after he left, I think about all those men who
treated me like crap, I think about Dylan in the bar. I think about how much I hated myself, how I thought I was just unloveable, if after all that Marcus Roma could leave me so easily.
I push him in the chest again, harder this time.
“Do you have any idea what it did to me when you left?” I ask him.
I can feel the anger roiling through my blood, twisting around the lust, the love, turning it all into something potent and powerful and destructive, and if I thought I was drunk on him before, I had no idea what that meant. I am no longer in the drivers seat. Something else is happening here. All those things I never said, all those things I felt: they’re coming out.
I shove him, hard enough to surprise him.
“Do you know what happened to me?” I shout.
Marcus’s eyes glitter softly, so softly, and when he speaks, his voice is gentle. “Tell me,” he says.
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