Julie's Review: Lies and Other Acts of Love

Author: Kristy Woodson Harvey
Series: None
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: A heartwarming story about what it takes to be a family
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: After sixty years of marriage and five daughters, Lynn “Lovey” White knows that all of us, from time to time, need to use our little white lies. Her granddaughter, Annabelle, on the other hand, is as truthful as they come. She always does the right thing—that is, until she dumps her hedge fund manager fiancé and marries a musician she has known for three days. After all, her grandparents, who fell in love at first sight, have shared a lifetime of happiness, even through her grandfather’s declining health. But when Annabelle’s world starts to collapse around her, she discovers that nothing about her picture-perfect family is as it seems. And Lovey has to decide whether one more lie will make or break the ones she loves. ~goodreads.com  

Review: Lies and Other Acts of Love is a wonderful and quick to read novel. It has everything I would expect from a book set in the South. It has a wonderful and wise matriarch and a spunky, kind of spoiled 20 year old girl trying to figure out life. We get both Lovey and Annabelle's stories through alternating chapters. Instantly I fell for Lovey. You'd have to work hard as a reader not to like her and if you don't, let's talk.

Now Annabelle took a bit for me to warm up to. It was hard for me at first not to think of her as spoiled, sorority girl who went to college but has no clue what to do with herself because she doesn't really have to work. She does seem to be down to earth and have a good head on her shoulders. She's always done what is expected of her, except when she dumps her well to do fiance, Holden, and marries a musician after only knowing him for a short time. She's convinced it's true love and you pretty much know it's not going to end well. You just hope that by the time she realizes it that she's found out who she is and what she wants to do.

Lovey has much to tell and has lived through a lot. She got married to Dan later than women did back in those days and their lives have been wrought with love and some bumps along the way. Now with Dan's health fading, Lovey is reflecting on their time together. It is making her wistful and wondering if some of the things she has kept to herself should be revealed.

I loved Lovey and Annabelle's family. I loved how they deeply cared about each other even when their methods of showing it were questionable at times. It is also quite clear that Annabelle and Lovey share an extremely special bond and that even though it gets shaken, it can't be broken.

I have to say that Ms. Harvey through in a little twist in the end that I wasn't expecting but I really liked how she ended the novel. I really don't think, reflecting back, that it should have ended any other way.

If you are a looking for a wonderful read about family, love and finding yourself, then do yourself a favor and pick up Lies and Other Acts of Love.


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