Will provide a shout out on Instagram and FB page on release date.

A nice, twisty novel where you're not sure how it will end until the last pages.  No figuring it out 3/4 of the way through.

Burke was definitely deceitful.  Heather wasn’t bad at it either.

He knew how to keep secrets, and they were big ones.

We also meet Skye who has her own problem of having an addictive compulsion to count and can't find a boyfriend because of it. Burke solved this problem for her.

Then we meet Libby who became friends with Heather and showed Heather what a good life could be when you had money.

Did the obsession with money have Heather making wrong choices in her life like marrying Burke?

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE was difficult to keep the characters and even the story line straight at the beginning.  

We meet all the characters in detail in each chapter.

I couldn't tell who was the worst offender when it came to being loyal or being naive.

Burke's chapters had his diary entries, and they showed what a bad person he really was.

Skye's chapters showed how gullible and trustworthy she was and how anxious she was to find a boyfriend even with her gobs of money from a trust fund.

Heather's chapters showed how her sordid life growing up made her want more.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE was slow for the first quarter of the book, but I kept reading because I wanted to see how Burke's devious plan would work out.  

Continuing to read was a VERY good decision.

Once the story line got going despite the wordy sections, it kept me glued to the pages with the twists and surprises.

Readers who enjoy domestic suspense will enjoy this book.

The uniqueness and the deviousness of the characters makes it one you don't want to miss.  4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed how this book unfolds with the different points of view but I was a bit disappointed in the ending...spoiler alert: how did Heather mastermind all of this and get off scot-free???

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. The story pulled me in and the plot kept me intrigued.

Deliciously devious. One wrong set an entire chain of events into motion. You’re led to believe one thing, but then realize the author was just stringing you along and here’s the real story. I do like it when the mastermind of the plan doesn’t factor in one tiny but huge detail. This book is cunning, devious, sinister, and a much welcomed distraction. I liked the slyness of certain characters. I thought the author tied it all together very well.

Sometimes things are not as good as you think!   Great read, and will make you think about life.   Sometimes we are the problem;  but can that be?

This was a twisty turny thriller from start to finish. This story is told by 3 people so you get a lot of information to try and figure things out. I don't want to say too much and ruin anything so I'll just say if you enjoy thrillers, this is the book for you! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

#toogoodtobetrue #carolalovering #bookthirteen #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleybooks #arc y’all 😱 I say this a lot. I’m sorry #imnotsorry 😂 this book was so phenomenal. Lord have mercy. We have three view points. We follow Heather. And Burke. And. Skye. The journey. The reasons they are brought together. And. That ending. Whoa. Definitely go and #addthistoyourcart or #tbrpile RIGHT NOW. You do NOT want to miss out on something so well written. #netgalleyreads #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #readersofig

3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 stars. 

Brief Summary: Trust fund baby, Skye Starling, has always struggled to make relationships work. So when Burke Michaels comes into her life and seems to love everything about her, including Skye's OCD, which has often been a point of contention with other men, they have a whirlwind romance that results in an engagement six months in. Skye, overwhelmed by the love she feels, doesn't see the various red flags that pop up in their relationship. Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Heather a seventeen year old from a very small, drug-run town. When she gets a babysitting gig for a wealthy family, Heather begins to aspire to more. Not everything is as it seems -- the relationship that seems too good to be true just might be, and the wealth Heather seeks may pervert her morality. 

My Thoughts: I read Carola Lovering's first book, Tell Me Lies, in 2019 and I loved it. I had massively high hopes for this one. I read Too Good To Be True quickly. I appreciate how immersive Lovering's writing is and the way she crafts a mystery. Lovering's ability to write unlikable, morally ambiguous characters is top notch. 

That being said, I have some mixed feelings about this book. First, the structure led to some repetitiveness that I didn't always see as effectively advancing the plot. Unreliable narrators abound in this book, but because we get three different perspectives, it sometimes felt very "telling" and not so much "showing" and it was telling the same event through three different eyes. In instances where the account or memory differed significantly, the repetition was effective because it illustrated the narrator's mindset and motives (or so we think...). In areas where it was pretty similar, the retelling of the event felt too repetitive. Second, I guessed the "big twist" pretty early into the book--at about 20%. Had I not guessed it, I think I would've enjoyed the rest of the book more. I still enjoyed seeing the story unfold, but we hit the "big twist" at about 50%, and then the remainder of the story pieces together how we got there. Again, I think this would've felt more compelling if I didn't guess the big twist so early. Finally, the ending wrapped up a little too neatly and not overly satisfactorily in my opinion. It made sense, to some degree, but I wanted to see a bit more accountability. 

Despite the areas that I struggled with, I still enjoyed this read and blew through it quickly, eager to see if my predictions were correct. 

I don't read a ton of thrillers, so I'd imagine people who do will also guess the twist early. I recommend for readers who want to read more psychological thrillers, enjoyed Lovering's first novel, and enjoy unreliable narrators.

Wow this book pulled me in from the very first page and had me hooked till the end. There are a lot of characters to keep track of along with multiple timelines but this author did a great job piecing it altogether at the end. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. To be published March 2021.

3.5 STARS
I really thought I had this last twist figured out, but boy was I wrong!

It was pretty entertaining and the characters surprised me over and over again. I think I would have liked it to be a bit shorter with fewer pages of diary entries. The pace could have been improved, but I still had fun reading it.

If you enjoy a domestic drama with some melodrama, you may enjoy this one too.

Thanks to NG for my advanced copy. OUT on March 02,2021

Too Good to Be True is a long, winding road of a book, starting with the budding relationship between emotionally damaged trust fund baby Skye Starling and her older beau, Burke, that winds up quickly evolving into marriage, despite plenty of red flags. Told in alternating points of view, we're aware the entire time that Burke has ulterior motives... Namely, his first (and current) wife and children, who he's providing for by skimming money off the top of his new, joint bank account-- just a casual $7k/month that Skye'll never even notice. The third POV is that of Burke's first wife, Heather, who grew up poor and experienced a tragedy of her own. The emotional points are set up in the first third of the book, only to be completely upended when the narrators' reliability switches, jolting our perceptions of all parties involved.
My favorite thing about this book is Lovering's ability to call events into question by giving us multiple perspectives. It's psychologically twisted while still maintaining a domesticity and realism often lost in these sorts of stories. Unlike many mysteries, where characters are being killed and villains are evil, in black-and-white, this feels like a story your coworker might tell you about their sordid and intricate family drama. I would recommend this especially to people who enjoy the TV show The Affair.

I think I might be an outlier on this one.

This was another one of those books I finished early this morning, and as I sat down to write the review, I had to re-read the synopsis to remind myself of the plot. It was that forgettable.

Too Good to Be True had glaringly obvious red herrings (including the synopsis - I recommend you don't even read it if you're contemplating this book), an unmemorable story line, and an absolutely ridiculous conclusion. If you like happily ever after, this one is for you.

I honestly don't have anything more to say. Meh.

2.5 stars
Available March 2, 2021

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my review copy.

I have some very conflicting emotions about this new book by Carola Lovering, but that’s what keeps a book interesting, right? The writing style, characters, settings, and plot were all excellent and well-orchestrated. My issue was with the personality of the lead female, Skye Starling. Even the name makes me cringe. She is so ditzy, clueless, gullible, and dangerous to herself, but this is exactly what kept me reading. Was I played? Does the author plan to generate some ire from the reader when we’re obviously supposed to be pulling for this dingbat? Then I played right into her plan. This story of poor little Skye was so good I couldn’t quit reading, and even after the last paragraph, I wanted to grab Skye by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. Excellent cunning, Ms. Lovering, I willingly fell victim to your ploy.
In an effort to avoid any spoilers, here’s my brief synopsis: Sickeningly rich Skye meets Mr. Right at a girl’s weekend. They fall into a whirlwind romance, culminating in marriage less than six months later. But she’s never met Burke’s family, friends, or coworkers. Skye’s friends try to alert her (when they’re not rolling their eyes or throwing up behind her back from the nauseously romantic relationship Skye and Burke are portraying).
Meanwhile, on another planet, we meet Heather. I immediately gained compassion for this young lady, even though she played a role in a horrible drunk driving event in her teens. We listen to Heather explain the years of her life and how she got to where she is today. Then these two worlds collide. In this collision, I lost respect for Heather and gained some sympathy for Skye, but not for long. She’s still a clueless little spoiled girl with a really big heart! Give this book a read; see how you react to Skye, Burke, and their drippy romance.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The release date is March 2, 2021.

There are always more than one version of the truth, however, which one to believe? That's always the question. 

First, there's Skye Starling who, at a first glance, seems to have it all. However, spend some time with her and you see she suffers from a severe case of OCD with compulsions that usually make romantic partners walk out the door. She just craves acceptance and love from someone other than her close knit group of friends. Someone who can look past her compulsions.

There's Burke. Handsome, mature Burke, who says he loves Skye and wants her forever, but...truth is? He's married and using Skye in his master plan.

Then there's Heather, Burke's wife, who tells her story starting from 30 years earlier before the wicked scheme begins until the very end.

What I didn't like?
Okay,  I read A LOT OF THRILLERS/MYSTERIES, and after reading one part of each perspective I felt like I got a lot of the big twists, so a little predictable for me.

What I did like?
While, I guessed a lot of the big things, there were a couple small things that threw me for a loop, which I liked. Going on, this book was fast-paced, without being rushed, and the changing perspectives kept the book interesting and made me turn the pages quickly. Now, while, some of the main characters may not be likable, they are so for a purpose and I found being in their head to be fun, and as I was reading I wanted to know more and more about them. 

If you want a fast paced mystery/thriller read? Something light, without too much suspense to scare you? A more domestic type thriller? Definitely check this one out!

3.5 rounded to 4.

Burke, although older than Skye, is handsome and seems to be just who Skye has been waiting for. After just a very short time they get married and everything is wonderful in Skye's world. Then she is shown an email by a friend and her happy world comes tumbling down. Meanwhile, thirty years previously, Heather is trying to break up with Burke, but soon they all come together very unexpectedly.
I did enjoy this thriller and thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This one fell a little flat for me. Throughout most of the book, I felt Burke was just playing Skye (which turned out to be true). The saving grace was that I didn't see the twists and turns coming, but it wasn't enough to keep me interested or to fall in love with the book.

THank you for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion.

I adored Carola Lovering's debut novel, Tell Me Lies, so I had high hopes going into Too Good To Be True - and I'm happy to report that it blew my expectations out of the water! It takes an extremely skilled writer to tell a story through three POVs combined with a nonlinear timeline and never leave the reader feeling confused. Each character's voice was distinct and given background was tightly tied in with the overall plot (no long tangents of irrelevant info). Too Good To Be True is fast-paced and enticing from the very start. Get ready to go through a rollercoaster of emotions with the flawed-but-lovable characters of this novel, to surprise yourself with the amount of empathy you can feel each, and for a major twist you will not see coming!

Too Good to Be True is an excellent domestic thriller with strong elements of psychological suspense. The story is told from three different perspectives - the husband, his wife, and his new wife. Things aren’t entirely what they seem. There can’t be three different versions of the truth. The plot is filled with plenty of twists and an unpredictable plot. If you’re looking for a completely addictive domestic thriller, this is the one for you! Be sure to check out Too Good to Be True immediately.

Three different point of views keep you going...but that is part of the mystery.  It is so difficult sometimes to review books with twisty endings, but this is one of the better ones!