From the bestselling author of Only One Life comes a story of true love that spans decades. Lillian Alexander has never understood why her twin sister hates her so much. Layla’s animosity stems from childhood, from their mother’s death twenty-seven years ago. But Lillian remembers nothing about that day. Why, if her mother’s death was an accident, does Lillian harbor guilt, as though she were … she were somehow to blame?
Lillian discovers a thumb drive, marked for her eyes only, in her recently deceased father’s study. Graham’s account of his stormy relationship with her mother stirs long-suppressed memories and divulges information about Lillian’s past that sets her on a journey of self-discovery.
After a whirlwind courtship and fairy tale marriage, Graham’s honeymoon with Ivy is short-lived. When tragedy strikes, Ivy sinks into the depths of despair, refusing to see anyone but her childhood best friend. Resentful of the strange hold Alice has over his wife, discouraged by Ivy’s persistent despondency, Graham turns elsewhere for comfort, spawning events that forever alter the course of their lives.
When the Alexander sisters learn the family fortune is gone, the rift between Lillian and her sister deepens as Lillian fights to save her family’s ancestral on Charleston’s prestigious East Battery. Ghosts from the past resurface and truths are revealed, leading to a dramatic conclusion not soon forgotten.
“. . . the story is endlessly intriguing, with enough plot turns that readers who predict one or two may still be surprised . . . The ending befits this realistic portrayal of love, family, and all the complications those two often engender . . . An absorbing fusion of a searing family drama with an unusual love story.” –Kirkus Reviews
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Ashley Farley keeps amazing me with every book she writes. I think I’ve read her best and then she comes out with another truly wonderful book. The premise of this one grabbed me and when I started reading, I was completely wrapped up in it. Weaving between the present day of Lillian Alexander trying to figure out what happened in her past with something her father wrote and left behind that blows her world away. This book is just so completely surprising and I couldn’t put it down!
I have always been a fan of Ashley Farley for her great writing, exceptional characters you will enjoy reading about that will stick with you, the lovely pacing, and just her brilliance in writing a great Southern Fiction overall.
When I had a chance to get an early review copy of this book Tangled in Ivy, I knew this was a must read for me. I tried not too read the synopsis as I wanted to slowly uncover the story of Ashley’s words through the pages. And my goodness, did I love this book!
Set in Charleston, twin sisters Lillian and Lyla reeling from their father’s death just cannot get along. Lillian a struggling artist uncovers family secrets left behind by her father hidden tucked inside a Hemingway book. The story is full of twists that lead to a satisfying ending I really enjoyed.
This is Southern Fiction at its finest! Loved it!
Thank you Kate Rock Book Tours and the author for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Tangled In Ivy
By: Ashley Farley
REVIEW
I read Tangled In Ivy as part of a book tour. Unfortunately, life just got crazy, and I missed posting. I’m catching up now, though, and this book is too good not to acknowledge. In the South Carolina lowcountry, Lillian has just lost her father to cancer, but in his final days, he tried to relay something important, but Lillian didn’t understand what. Now, the funeral and the estranged family and the division of inheritance will happen. This type of thing tends to bring out the worst in people, and when you don’t get along in the first place, well, it can get ugly. Lillian has a twin sister, Layla, and they are not close. They disagree on what to do with their father’s estate. Then, Lillian finds a memoir written by her father for her to read. This finding is a game changer to say the least. I very much enjoyed this story for its immersive atmosphere and impactful story line. I could envision everything in my mind from the lovely descriptions. The characters were authentic with real relatable problems and family baggage. I felt sympathy for basically everyone because I understand the situation. Billed as southern fiction, Tangled In Ivy is definitely that and more with charm, warmth, struggles, hope, love and family. Ashley Farley is a prolific writer, and I am excited to see what is next.
Tangled in Ivy is hands-down one of my top reads of ALL-TIME!!!
The book opens with Lillian saying good-bye to her beloved father after his battle with cancer. Her twin sister arrives but too late even though she had been calling her for days. This is just one more thing to add more animosity and friction between the two of them. It’s funny that Lillian has never felt the twin bond she has always heard about. Not long after her father’s funeral and learning that their entire fortune is gone, Lillian goes searching for answers, especially when she finds a letter left to her from her father. She never expects the answers she finally finds.
This was such a unique read. It was a story within a story. It’s Lillian’s story, but for her to be able to discover things about herself, she has to read the story of her father and mother. And, my what a story that is!!!! The plot twists wouldn’t stop! It was exciting to see where the story was going to go next.
It is also a complex story of family and what it really means to be family. Lillian comes to learn a great deal about herself and the reason why she has the complicated relationship she has with her sister.
Farley is a wonderful writer, but she is also a storyteller. She definitely knows how to tell a story. I am always a fan of fiction based in Charleston because I was raised there, and she captures the special essence that is the South Carolina Lowcountry. I live elsewhere now, but I will always be a South Carolina girl at heart! This was indeed a love letter to the Lowcountry! She took me back home even if just for a little while.
I highly recommend reading this gem of a book! It took me longer than usual to read this book, but not because it was a slow-moving book that didn’t hold my interest….it was because it WAS SO GOOD!!!! I didn’t want to rush it because I was so immersed in the storyline, the characters, and the setting. I wanted to savor it until the very end!!!! Excellent, excellent read!!!!
4.5 Stars
This is the second book I’ve read by Ashley Farley and she has quickly become a favorite author of mine. Her characters are ones I find myself invested in, I am transported into their story from start to finish.
Lillian and her twin sister Layla are not the closest of sisters and couldn’t be more diffrent, I do enjoy a good sibling rivalry story! Their mother died when they were very young children, Lillian has suppressed memories of her mother’s death. When their father Graham dies these memories begin to vaguely come back to her.
The sisters are notified their Stoney family fortune is gone except for the house which they are in total disagreement about selling. Lillian has secretly been entrusted with their father’s Memior, while reading it she discovers everything about their parents love story and secrets from their past that have altered the lives of many.
This is a story that is filled with family dysfunction, complicated relationships, and secrets that span across generations.
Riveting!
Ashley Farley mesmerizes in this creative fantastic story! I was completely captivated. I could NOT stop. I was completely blow away by this one. I devoured page after page, unable to let this family go. I was completely consumed. I felt so many emotions, became so attached.
Ashely Farley is a story telling genius. This is one I will be telling all my friends about! MUST READ!
Tangled in Ivy is sure tangled up! I loved this book by Ashley Farley. This was my third book by Ms. Farley and I fell head over heels in love with each of them. If you haven’t read any of her books yet, what are you waiting for? She is a wonderful story teller and I have been totally entertained by the three books I’ve read and plan to keep reading more of her creations.
Her characters come alive and practically jump off the page into your heart. You instantly care for them and feel like you are part of the story. Her descriptions of the Lowcountry make me feel like I am back there once again. Her descriptions of surroundings are not boring and over the top. You get just enough to be able to picture the setting. I love the old homes in Charleston and enjoyed getting a glimpse of what life might have been like living in one of the grand dames.
Wow, and speaking of tangled up, this book will keep you on your toes. I promise you bored won’t be a word used to describe this story. There is a lot going on and because part of it is Lillian’s father’s memoir, it feels like it takes place during two time periods. Ivy is the name of Lillian’s mother. Life revolved around Ivy. She was a whirlwind and she kept it that way. Life was on her terms no matter what anyone else thought.
If you love a story with great characters, a little angst, a lot of love, some scandal and seeing how old money lives, you will enjoy this book.
I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher for a fair and honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review an early copy.
First of all, before I get to my thoughts about this book, I have to gush about this cover. Isn’t it just simply stunning? So beautiful! And then the words inside this gorgeous cover—just a beautiful!
Tangled in Ivy could be Ashley’s best book yet. And I have absolutely loved all of her previous books, mind you. This is one that will stay with me for a long time. I fell in love with Lillian and hurt for her as she struggled with the death of her beloved father, felt angry and frustrated as she had to deal with her estranged and selfish sister, and shocked as she learned the truths of the past. So many emotions, so many family secrets!
This is an amazing, heartfelt story that will keep you totally engrossed as you take this journey of discovery with Lillian and Layla. Is the bond of family enough to keep these sisters from being torn apart?
I highly recommend Tangled in Ivy, as I have all of Ashley’s other books. You will not be disappointed when you pick up this beautiful book!
We look at a beautiful old house, in a historic area, that obviously has been handed down through an affluent family, and think their life is perfect and carefree. This book shows that is not the case. Having wealth and esteem does not mean that your life will be easy.
Ashley Farley is one of my favorite authors and this book is a great example of why I feel so strongly about her writing. She has a way of telling a story that draws a reader in and they are compelled to continue and experience the highs and lows of her character’s lives. The people and situations she creates are so life-like and by the end of the book, the reader know these people and cares deeply about them.
I will not write about the book’s plot since you can find that easily in the summary. What I want to say is that you should not pass up the opportunity to treat yourself to this wonderful, emotional story full of Southern charm.
I want to thank Leisure Time Books and NetGalley for allowing me the pleasure of reading the advance reader copy of this fantastic book. My review is my own opinion, not influenced by receiving the ARC.
Tangled in Ivy by Ashley Farley is a wonderful and emotional story which drew me right in, making me forget everything else and did not let me go until I turned the last page. Each book is better than the last. Once I started reading this book I did not want to put it down. It was well worth the lack of sleep to finish this book. The story is very well written, the characters well defined and believable and the descriptions that Ms. Farley writes about make you feel like you are right there with the characters. I totally enjoy Ashley Farley’s work and highly recommend all her books. Thank you Ashley Farley for the opportunity to read this book and leave a voluntary review.
Fantastic doesn’t even begin to describe how delicious TANGLED IN IVY is! Ashley Farley has beautifully written this dramatic novel that will take you on a journey of love, life and family drama like no other with unexpected twists and turns that I didn’t see coming!
Lillian Stoney is taking care of her father, Graham, at the end of his life. She soon finds his journals that take her back in time to when her parents met, when she and her twin, Layla, were born and to when her mother, Ivy, passed away.
As Lillian realizes her life was not what she thought it was, the truth comes out. But what will they do with this truth? Please get your copy of TANGLED IN IVY to find out. Thank you Ashley Farley and NetGalley for this ARC.
College professor, Graham Alexander dies after a short but painful illness. His twin daughters, Lillian and Layla find their lives in upheaval that seems to have begun with the death of his wife Ivy.
For twins, Lillian and Layla are polar opposites – shy Lillian and boisterous Layla. Layla has bullied Lillian all their lives and blames her for Ivy’s death. While Lillian has always felt guilty about the death of their mother, she has totally blocked the memory of that day.
After Graham’s funeral, Lillian comes into possession of his memoir that he left her. Reading her father’s story reveals a complex account of secrets, anger and heartbreak, but helps her begin to understand herself and her life.
Ashley Farley has written another fascinating saga of a Southern family full of love and hate, complicated relationships, and passion. While it’s initially hard to understand the relationship between the twins, as the story unfolds, the situation becomes clearer. I have loved everything that Ashley Farley has written and this book lives up to my expectations. While I must admit that the resolution in the last few chapters seemed to happen rather fast, the catalyst made the outcome satisfying. I stayed up well past my bedtime to finish the book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to enjoy this book and provide my personal opinion.
I got completely tangled up in this book and couldn’t put it down! The story of two sisters, twins. Their parents. Their loves and losses. Of discovery and self discovery, remembering, and forgiving. Set in the charming south, Ashley once again creates beautiful word pictures that stream through my mind like a movie as I am reading. This books has a few “plot twists”, I was proud that I figured out one that was coming only to be taken completely by surprise by the next one! Well played Ashley, well played 😉 This was my favorite Ashley Farley book (and I have loved them all!), her writing and story telling just keeps getting better and better!
Complex story line, good characters, great pace of story.“Secrets and lies abound in this richly crafted tale of dysfunctional sisters as they try to unravel the mystery their father left behind. Expertly told and spellbinding from start to finish.”
I am in love with Ashley Farley’s magic with words. And Tangled in Ivy is another gift of storytelling for her readers. The lowcountry is one of the areas I love to read about and the author does an amazing job of having read the dialogue in your mind with that slow southern drawl, smell the fragrances of the tides and gardenias, and feel the sweltering humidity of a hot Southern day.
The story is told through backflashes of Graham’s “diary” of his history with Ivy. There are twists and turns, tragedies, secrets kept, lies told, and relationships strained to the point of breaking.
Tangled in Ivy is a Southern drama at its finest. It is an adventure in love, loss, dysfunctional families, drama, intrigue, infidelities, insecurity, and pain. But through it all is a story that will grab your attention and will have you glued to the book and flipping the page as fast as you can to find out what will happen next.
Thank you to NetGalley, Leisure Time Books, and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Put this one on your to-be-read list! I can’t wait for my next adventure with Ashley Farley.
Twins Lillian and Layla have never had a loving relationship.
Raised in a dysfunctional family years in the making, they lost their mother in a tragic accident and Graham, their father has recently died. Lillian has spent the last three months taking care of him, while Layla has stayed away with insignificant excuses.
In Graham’s pain riddled ramblings before he died, he often mentions that he has left something important for Lillian to find.
What she finally finds is her father’s memoir and it leads her on a journey of long held lies, revelations and unexpected truths not only for her, but for Layla too.
I could say that Tangled In Ivy is Ashley Farley’s best book, but all of her books cover emotional relationships and offer drama and feelings that tug at your heart. Thank you Netgalley and the author for an early copy. The comments and review are my honest opinion.
Tangled in Ivy by Ashley Farley is unlike any other book I’ve read. I highly doubt my review will do it justice, but I’m going to try.
The story, told as it was with 3 longish journal entries interspersed with Lillian’s story was a wonderful way to present the story. Lillian has a twin sister, Layla, and the twins have never gotten along, with several instances told where Layla bullied or was cruel to Lillian.
When their father dies and they find out there is no family fortune left, things begin to get real for his daughters and it’s shortly after that we learn of the journal and get to find out what it contains.
This is such a fantastic story. I didn’t want it to end, yet I couldn’t wait after each journal excerpt to find out what the next journal excerpt was going to reveal. The history of this family was fascinating and I was finding myself putting the book down because I didn’t want it to end.
If you enjoy family drama, books about familial relationships, secrets, lies, and finding forgiveness, this is definitely a book you will enjoy. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing an ARC at my request. All thoughts in this review are my own and shared because I loved this book so much.
Having read a number of Ashley Farley’s books, I was looking forward to reading Tangled in Ivy. Wow, it went over and above my expectations. Compelling, intriguing, riveting, and so much more. This is a fantastic Southern family drama with twins who have not bonded, and a beloved father who died and left debt and huge secrets. Farley captivates her readers with compelling characters, well-written prose and gorgeous descriptions of scenery–I feel like I am right there in the scene with the characters. Tangled in Ivy is a story of family, what it should look like and what it doesn’t, a gritty story of secrets, and long-told lies, a story of the beginnings of forgiveness and restoration…a story from a talented author not to be missed. I received a complimentary copy of the book and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.
Thank you NetGalley, the Publisher and Ashley Farley for the opportunity to read this book. Opinions are my own.
Ashley Farley once again hits a home run with her new book!
As usual, her writing flows her plot grabs you and keeps you interested and the characters are lifelike and relatable.
Giving it 4stars and a full recommendation to snatch up a copy for yourself!
Wow! Wow! Wow! I did not want this book to end! Ashley Farley did a fabulous job putting together the perfect cast of characters set in the magic of Charleston. The way the story unfolds as told by each of the main characters kept me guessing until the very end as to where we were being led. I loved the romance, mystery, and family strife that kept the pages turning. This is most definitely a can’t put it down until the very last word is read kind of book. Thank you so much for my requested copy of the ARC and all thoughts and opinions are truly my own!