The Secret Life of Lies

Jennifer Gulbrandsen is a writer who lives in the Chicago area and blogs about pop culture, lifestyle and motherhood over at Just Say Jenn! She’s also a competitive distance runner, soccer coach, personal trainer, and rescues + fosters Siberian Huskies! <3

She started piecing together the characters for The Secret Life of Lies at the age of 17, and has been adding to it since then. This is her finished piece, and it’s one of the first novels she’s ever written! :] (Here are some of her other novels.)

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free digital copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. As always, my thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone!

The Secret Life of Lies

Review: If you’re looking for a quick and suspenseful read to pass the time, this would be a good choice! The Secret Life of Lies follows the life of Ava Giancola, a woman who has the perfect suburban life she’s always craved after her family’s dark past. When the FBI shows up on her doorstep one afternoon, she discovers that her entire adult life is a complete lie, and her boring-but-pleasantly-predictable life is turned upside down. In the midst of the chaos that becomes her life, she learns this: “no matter how good the future is, you can never outrun your past.”

Which I’d kinda like to not believe because I’m a big fan of the concept that “there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”

(Cue Terminator music.)

But there are definitely times in life where things are out of your control.

As this is a lighter novel, don’t expect super super in-depth character development or introspection, or you may be somewhat disappointed. There were several points in the novel where I got a little lost (the book jumps back and forth between past and present), and another few places where I heavily questioned Ava’s intelligence (“Why? Why would you do that?”!), but since I’ve never been thrown into the type of situation she was stuck in, I suppose I’m really in no place to judge her actions. (After all, who knows what I would’ve done?)

One of the themes I really enjoyed in this novel was centered around the importance of family. There were a couple of tragedies in the book that made me want to strangle the characters that I already could not stand. (Typical villains with no redeeming qualities.)

As I’m a total sucker for cute love stories and the like, that was one of my favorite parts in the book, except I can’t go into much more detail than that because hello spoilers. :O

A message that this book seemed to emphasize was something that I think everyone would do well to remember/realize: every action that you take will have a consequence, and like it or not, you’re going to have to live with them. It’s why I’m not a fan of making impulsive decisions, and why I tend to try my best to consider my options and how my actions might affect others before I actually do them! (The operative word there is try.)

Jennifer is offering a free digital copy to one of my readers! :] Enter below! The giveaway will end on January 31st (midnight EST)!

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The Secret Life of Lies (Kindle Edition) can be purchased on Amazon, Kobo, and Smashwords. You can also read more about it on GoodReads!

Print edition and other outlets like iBook and Barnes & Noble won’t be ready for orders until 1/15/15 (tomorrow)!

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