The Romance Cover: Review: Thief (Love Me With Lies 3) by Tarryn Fisher @Tarryn_

After rumours all over the weekend Thief, book 3 in the Love Me with Lies series by Tarryn Fisher, was finally released yesterday! Willow and Donna were dying to get stuck into to this book. Here are their thoughts and feelings on it:

Reviewed by Willow & Donna ~ 5 Stars

"She’s mine. She always has been, she always will be."

Willow: I can still remember when you convinced me to read the Opportunist, I had been putting off because I heard it was emotionally draining, but you said that it was one of the best books you'd read so I had a go at it. I remember finishing it and being a little angry that I didn’t get my HEA, but I started to think that both Caleb & Olivia were f**ked up and would only destroy one another if they were together, so I was actually really scared going into this one, especially when I saw the blurb saying Caleb was going to fight for her. I have always been team Caleb secretly but we can see Tarryn is so good at writing a big mess of a relationship. What where you thoughts before you started reading?

Donna: I was nervous and reluctant, I had been waiting so LONGGGGGG for this book, I wanted my HEA for Caleb and Olivia, as you know I have always been team Caleb and knowing what a mind F**K Tarryn likes to dish out I was anxious. It was a case of I so want to open this book now, dare I open this book now, is Tarryn going to kill me with this book....oh shit just open the damn book and start...so I did.

Willow: Well we did have that conversation about me helping you bury Tarryn if we didn't get our HEA for them!!!

Again this book had a different feel than TO & DR, and I think that it’s great all three books felt different to me, they all felt like their character’s personality. TO was angst filled and difficult at times, DR was down right ugly and whilst Thief was not perfect it was more caring that the other two books.

Donna: I think that we saw a very different side to Caleb in this book, whilst in TO although I wanted them to be together I thought he was a stupid selfish git at times and so tactless, yet in this book, through the past chapters we got to see the real Caleb, the real turmoil, his real thoughts and feelings and that just made me fall in love with him even more...all of their crap that was dished out, whilst was their own fault to some extent, layed firmly at the feet of Leah and despite everything she even tried again in this book

"Selfish, self-centered Caleb Drake loved a girl so much he could already feel himself changing to accommodate her needs.
I fell.
Hard.
For the rest of this life and probably the next.
I wanted her — every last inch of her stubborn, combative, catty heart."

Willow: My heart totally broke 100 times for Caleb in this book, he was trying so hard and I totally agree with you, I thought in previous books he was just as manipulative as Olivia and Leah (well maybe not Leah - she is the queen of bitches) but I too fell in love with Caleb in this one.

"God. I think of Olivia now and a peace settles over me. She might not be mine, but I’m hers. It’s no use even fighting it anymore. I just keep falling flat on my face and then rolling toward her. If I can’t have Olivia Kaspen, then I’ll be alone. She is a disease I have. After ten years, I am finally realizing that I can’t cure it with other women"

Donna: My heart broke for Caleb a lot and I must admit I was getting pretty pissed at Olivia, she was giving out so many mixed signals to Caleb and then she would just go and break his heart all over again. I was worried when he went away for work as I thought that may have been the nail in the coffin but was glad that fate had other ideas

“It was a lie. I knew it was a lie, even as I said it. I’ve never loved anyone after you. I never will.”
I walk out.
Walk away.
No more fighting — not for her, or with her, or with myself.
I am so sad."

Willow: I hated Olivia at one point! "I choose him" - you are right it was a roller coaster of up and downs for poor Caleb, as it always is with these two:

“Leah-”
“No,” I say.
“I don’t want to talk about Leah.”
“Fine,” she says.
“Where’s Noah?” She looks away.
“Please stop asking me that.”
“Why?”
“Because it hurts to answer.” I consider her for a moment and nod. “You’re going to have to tell me eventually.”
“Eventually.” She sighs. “That word is so us, isn’t it? Eventually, you’ll tell me you’re faking your amnesia. Eventually, I’ll tell you that I’m pretending not to know you. Eventually, we’ll come back together, fall apart, come back together.”

Willow: Through the first part of the book I was wondering where Leah was. Then bam, everything she did after that kinda made up for her absence in the first part don’t you think? Lets talk about Noah - I was convinced before going into Thief that there was something not right about him, I thought no one is that perfect and although we heard a bit more about him, I was actually disappointed there wasn’t more.

Donna: Like you I thought that there was something missing with him, whether it was like a set up or something...he just seemed too sugary sweet with bows and flowers, but actually he was actually that nice, he had his own demons to deal with, but if I was him, knowing my future wife was in love with another man, I couldn't have done it. Their marriage was doomed from the start especially when the other factors were thrown into the mix. My heart did break for Olivia in the epilogue, having been there and done that...but luckily for me, my outcome was so different, I was just so sad that mother nature took away that HEA for her.

Willow: Yes the ending. As you know I'm a cold hearted bitch, it takes a lot for me to cry at a book, and I did cry at Thief. It was like every time Tarryn gave us something good it was bitter sweet because she took something else away. In true Tarryn style it was heartbreaking and messy!

Donna: This book was extremely emotional for me, but we needed to get inside Caleb's head and Tarryn did it brilliantly. We got so many questions answered which we soooo needed. After getting these answers it just made me angry, if only they talked...then all this heart break could have been avoided, but then if they did talk we never would have got 3 amazing books...ying and yang and all that!!

Willow: Totally agree! I loved this book, I felt it was a good ending to the trilogy. The way it has been written with each book told from each of the three personalities (and even a bit from Noah) was genius. I loved the back and forth between past and present. It was easy to read and brought out a lot of emotions, hurt, anger, betrayal and hate, but also hope, longing and love - however f**ked up that love was. But most of all it felt real, ok maybe an extreme side of real, but there was no insta love, they had to work hard for it. In real life love isn't always hearts and flowers, sometimes it is messy and F**cked up and Tarryn has certainly written about that "alternative" side of love. For me this was an easy 5 star read.

Donna: I totally agree, love is never guaranteed and it is always a work in progress, you have to want it, nurture it, fight for it. It can be messy but if it was all hearts and flowers life would be incredibly boring. As you say, this is real life, maybe a bit extreme with Leah's shenanigans but very real none the less. I was glad they got a relative HEA in the end, despite the twist at the end, even though it was not the ending I would have liked. But, it was the ending that this trilogy deserved, it was never perfect, so a perfect ending would have done the book an injustice. With all that being said and having had time to reflect and digest and get my head round it, I will give it a 5 too, it deserves it!! Although that darn ending was just urgggghhhhhh, it needed to be done.

Reading order:

The Opportunist