An engaging, complex story about Eve, a writer tasked with writing the biography of Julia Summers, a legendary actress with a colorful past full of secrets.

Eve moves in to Julia's mansion with her young son and slowly discovers the story behind the glamorous actress's life, her regrets, the love of her life and the people and events that shaped her. The more time they spend together, the more they come to respect and love each other, and the book becomes more than a job for both of them.

A lot of people are unhappy about the secrets that are about to be revealed, however, from an abusive ex, to an actress who is afraid that her image will be ruined, and Eve soon starts getting threats to abandon the book, but both women are determined to see it through no matter what.

Paul, the son of one of her ex husbands and son of her heart, is skeptical about the book and Eve at first, but soon becomes intrigued by her professionalism and her seeming indifference to him. It's not long before he starts pursuing her, and slowly gets past Eve's defenses, but their romance is not the focus of the story.

There are a number of people who could be behind the threats, and all of them become suspects when Julia turns up murdered, but the main suspect is Eve, who

Spoiler

has just learned that she is the child that Julia gave up in secret. She doesn't take it well, and their loud fight lands her at the top of the detectives' list.

In the end we find out that the murderer was none other than Julia's assistant, who was the daughter of someone from Julia's past who felt that Julia owed her for her father's fate, and ended up working with a gangster with a grudge against Julia for rejecting him

.

Engaging story, if a little long and dated, with colorful, flawed characters and an intriguing mystery.

Legendary movie star Eve Benedict has decided to tell her story. She asks Julia Summers to write an authorized biography and moves Julia and her young son Brandon onto her estate. There is opposition from many quarters, even including Eve's step-son, Paul Winthrop, but Eve is determined and Julia is thrilled for the opportunity, even though she must uproot Brandon again.

Eve's stories are exciting and she shows Julia her Hollywood life, but then the notes come. Innocuous, even trite, sayings that somehow seem threatening. Eve promises to take care of them and Julia agrees to let her. But the sense of danger around her grows with each new story from Eve's life.

Three stars because it's easy to read and Eve and Julia are wonderful characters. Truthfully so is Paul. But this is an older book, so the relationship had to start with dislike and I hate that. Truly. In fact, I really disliked the tone that was set by the opening scene, but I kept going and things were mostly redeemed. It was a fun and light book.

Its an ok ok book with more emphasis on the suspense angle rather than the love developing between Paul and Julia.

So much of Eve's history is captured with lots of twists and turns. and the motive for the murder sounded out of depth to me.

One of the things I've noticed going back and re-reading these older Nora Roberts books is how she's evolved her female characters. In these older books the women are all not looking for any sort of relationship and then here comes this irresistible man who nearly forces himself on them and they fall in love two days later. There are some exceptions to this, but this one, Genuine Lies, was probably the worst offender.

Maybe it didn't help that I didn't care for any of the characters and the book was so dang long. And transparent. Of course, I've read the book before so I can't say if I was remembering or if it really was that predictable, but I didn't enjoy this one the way I've rediscovered and enjoyed the Dream trilogy and the Concannon Sisters trilogy.

I don't know why it had to be so long. She spent a lot of time setting the scene and building up, but then there were other aspects of the story she seemed to gloss over quickly. And maybe that's my own preference. Sometime the aftermath is more interesting to me than the actual story!

Julia just wasn't my favorite Nora Roberts character. She was weirdly angered. Maybe that was Roberts way of expressing how repressed she was in everyday life, but really, it was just weird. Paul's heavy handed 'romancing' of Julia was borderline creepy although I did like his relationship with Julia's son. Eve's whole plot to get all of this together was just badly planned and the monkey wrench thrown in sucked.

All in all, certainly not my favorite Nora Roberts book and in fact, the only book of hers I can think of that I'm rating lower than 3 stars. Oh well, they can't all be winners!

Un libro sobre un libro.... el libro de la vida de Eve Benedict; una estrella de la era dorada de Hollywood, una famosa que a pesar a su edad sigue despertando pasiones tanto dentro como fuera de la pantalla.

Eve decide que es momento de plasmar su vida en un libro, sus memorias. Para ello elije a Julia Summers para que escriba su libro; parece una elección al azar pero Eve tiene sus motivos y debo admitir que me sorprendió descubrir cuál era la "Verdadera Mentira". Mientras Eve relata su vida a Julia, ambas mujeres se conocen y forman un lazo que va mucho más allá de la páginas.

Por otro lado está Paul Winthrop, Eve es la madre que nunca tuvo y es algo reticente a que ella admita a una extraña a su vida y por lo tanto a la de Paul. Naturalmente empieza a haber una atracción entre Paul y Julia, Paul se enamora tanto de Julia como de su pequeño hijo de Julia. Ambos descubren que pueden confiar el uno en el otro.... y es algo que ambos van a necesitar.

Los secretos de la vida de Eve ponen nerviosos a muchos participantes, las amenazas y los accidentes no tardan en aparecer y el verdadero motivo de Eve sale a la luz, quedando en evidencia que ni siquiera en Hollywood se puede huir de las mentiras.

Nora Roberts escribe una gran historia con todo el glamour de Hollywood, es palpable a través de los flashbacks de la vida de Eve. Mientras se vive el romance de Paul y Julia en el presente, además de descubrir la verdadera mentira y quién está atrás de las amenazas para evitar que se publique el libro.
Muy buena historia, debo admitir que no esperaba ese final....

Spoiler

nunca imaginé quien era en realidad el verdadero asesino de Eve, ya que había varios protagonistas más que dispuestos a hacer ese trabajo.

Mi único problema es que el final me pareció muy abrupto; quizás me hubiera gustado un epílogo que mostrara la vida de Eve, Paul y Brandon después de todo; que se mostrara el libro de Eve completo y el resultado del mismo. Pero así y todo es uno de los buenos de Nora para leer, recomendar y disfrutar.

Disclaimer: I receive a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“I feel something for you, some dangerous thing, some volatile thing.”

This is my first Nora Roberts read. Definitely won't be my last.
I love her writing style, how she tell her stories.
The descriptive of each actions, her characters and the plotline.
I have to do my research on her best works and people's recommendation.

I got hooked on the prologue.
I know it was a murder mystery but at some time I was reading I forgot what genre I was reading because I was just too into the book.
There were so many characters in the book, I thought it was going to take me time to catch up but I got into it alright.
Every character literally has their own personality like real life people and I feel like there is somebody out there similar to the characters.

Eve is such a diva. I love it. I mean come on she is a famous film star.
I love her humour, her arrogance and her stories being in the industry.
It got me like shock but not really because hey celebrity life.
I love her relationship with each main characters. And with each of them we get to see the side of her. At times no matter how big of a star she is, she is only just human.

I love the romance in this book.
Is it just me.
I fell in love with Paul like dangerously immediately.
I was unsure if we could trust him in the beginning but I deeply fall in love with him.
He is good with his words, well he is an author.

I love Julia. In a way, this was also her journeys and not ust Eve.
The plot twist was wow.
She has her own secrets and stories.
Her son Brandon is so cute I can't.

However, I felt like the case solving happen too fast.
Like it happen and I think it was solve in less than 50 pages.
I wish there was more fight and thrilling side to it.

I definitely need to read her other works!
FIND ME A PAUL SOMEBODY.

“Give them your brains, girl, never your guts.”

Acabei.

Gostei, como gosto de qualquer livro da NR. Não está nos meus favoritos, mas gostei bastante de vários pormenores que achei interessantes. Houve outros aspectos que não me surpreenderem, à falta de melhor palavra.

Foi um livro que me pôs a pensar sobre as injustiças da vida.

Começando pelas partes que não achei tanta piada... - foi uma história bastante previsível. Todas aquelas relações familiares, filhas de este fulano e do outro, consegui deduzir tudo. Toda e qualquer atitude da Eve estava cheia de significados ocultos e eu só poderia imaginar que isso implicava que havia qualquer coisa a mais sobre o livro e a própria autora que o iria escrever. Não me surpreendeu então quando a revelação, já quase no fim, apareceu.

Obviamente, também foi previsível o facto de

assassino não ser nenhum daqueles que a Nora perdeu muito tempo a falar sobre a vida deles : Kincade, Gloria, Lyle...

. Portanto, não fiquei surpreendida com estas reviravoltas, se calhar já é da familiaridade que se tem com os livros dela.
Porque obedecem todos ao mesmo esquema de escrita.

Contudo, a NR ainda me deu ali as voltas à cabeça com o assassino. Isto porque houveram pormenores que ao longo do livro, iam ficando mais esquecidos. Embora não conseguisse acertar, não me surpreendeu. Acho que a escolha da personagem foi, mesmo assim, inteligente. Gostava bastante do assassino até, mas claro que a partir de um certo momento, comecei também a ter as minhas próprias dúvidas e praticamente quando estava a ler a identidade, estava a pensar na pessoa.



Já sobre a parte mais romântica do livro, gostei, claro. E apesar de gostar sempre de ver um romance com pessoas de outra geração - sem ser a mulher 28 anos e o homem lá pelos 30 - uma geração mais velha, normalmente é sempre muito bem descrita pela NR. No entanto, não gostei deste casal - Eve e Victor.
Claro que não haveria mesmo possibilidade de eles ficarem juntos, porque senão a história não faria nenhum sentido. Mas o Victor era tão fraco e vulnerável, em vez de guiar a vida; deixava a vida guiá-lo a ele.

E apesar de saber que as mulheres fortes também têm momentos de vulnerabilidade, odiei que a Eve se tornasse tão fraca aos olhos do assunto do Victor. Ele tinha todo o direito de saber o que o esperava.


Raramente, estes livros individuais da NR me fazem lembrar uma situação que pudesse acontecer na realidade que nós conhecemos. É sempre o herói ou a grande heroína corajosa que descobre o malvado. Gostei bastante do pormenor deste livro ter um julgamento e da Julia ter sido considerada a principal suspeita, porque isso sim , é algo muito susceptível de acontecer todos os dias na nossa realidade.