NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the irresistible new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of All We Ever Wanted and Something Borrowed, a young woman falls hard for an impossibly perfect man before he disappears without a trace. . . . It’s 2 A.M. on a Saturday night in the spring of 2001, and twenty-eight-year-old Cecily Gardner sits alone in a dive bar in New York’s East Village, … alone in a dive bar in New York’s East Village, questioning her life. Feeling lonesome and homesick for the Midwest, she wonders if she’ll ever make it as a reporter in the big city—and whether she made a terrible mistake in breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, Matthew.
As Cecily reaches for the phone to call him, she hears a guy on the barstool next to her say, “Don’t do it—you’ll regret it.” Something tells her to listen, and over the next several hours—and shots of tequila—the two forge an unlikely connection. That should be it, they both decide the next morning, as Cecily reminds herself of the perils of a rebound relationship. Moreover, their timing couldn’t be worse—Grant is preparing to quit his job and move overseas. Yet despite all their obstacles, they can’t seem to say goodbye, and for the first time in her carefully constructed life, Cecily follows her heart instead of her head.
Then Grant disappears in the chaos of 9/11. Fearing the worst, Cecily spots his face on a missing-person poster, and realizes she is not the only one searching for him. Her investigative reporting instincts kick into action as she vows to discover the truth. But the questions pile up fast: How well did she really know Grant? Did he ever really love her? And is it possible to love a man who wasn’t who he seemed to be?
The Lies That Bind is a mesmerizing and emotionally resonant exploration of the never-ending search for love and truth—in our relationships, our careers, and deep within our own hearts.
more
I wasn’t sure what kind of book Emily Giffin Lies that Bind was when I started it; it had a beginning like a chick-lit romance novel, and I wondered where we were going…And then it surprised me.
And then it surprised me again.
Finally, it surprised me one last time.
This novel is a true page-turner that leaves you thoughtful and yet satisfied.
With many twists and turns, Giffin gives us an amazing story that peels back the ideas of love and challenges readers to examine their own choices. I finished this book on vacation but it has been lingering in my mind for a long time. Highly recommended.
This book. This! Book!! I love everything Emily Giffin writes, but I’ve got to say: The Lies That Bind is Emily’s best book yet. (Apologies to Rachel and Darcy.) I could not put it down, literally; I tore through it in one day. It gave me serious Something Borrowed vibes, with its NYC backdrop and the relatable voice of our narrator, Cecily. Cecily is fresh off a breakup, nursing her wounds, when a mysterious stranger urges her not to call her ex. To say more would be to ruin this roller coaster of a ride, but suffice it to say, you need to pre-order this book now. Out June 2nd.
An interesting read set a few months prior to 9/11/2001 that dissects the natural weaknesses of human nature when people make mistakes and tell lies! In a story that contains a few too many coincidences, the reader meets Cecily Gardner, a reporter from New York City and Grant Smith, a financial consultant on Wall Street. Cecily and Grant meet in a bar in New York City like many other young adults.
As the story unfolds, a web of lies is woven by Grant and Cecily that will eventually affect many of the people in their lives. In the months after 9/11, the lies will begin to unravel. Is one lie worse than another? How important is the truth? The story explores the issues involved and lives affected when a good person makes mistakes and the complexities of how one lie often leads to another even when we tell them to ourselves.
A thought-provoking contemporary read exploring morals and the ramifications of telling less than the truth! The story also explores the theme of unconditional love, forgiveness, and the importance of listening to our head as well as our heart. I definitely recommend this book for readers of women’s fiction, contemporary fiction, and romance. A good start to your summer reading!
This ARC copy was received from Ballantine Books and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review. The above thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.
#TheLiesThatBind #NetGalley
I read this book in 2 days and could barely put it down. Thoroughly enjoyed and related to the protagonist and her emotional growth.
Thank you Random House for my review copies. Opinion is exclusively mine.
Hmmmmmm. This is so tricky. Actually. It is not tricky. Not at all.
.
I was very disappointed in this novel. I personally think this novel was just too much. Just too, too much. I mean. We are dealing with some heavy topics here….
…………………….SPOILERS AHEAD…………………………………………
For real. Do not read any further if you do not want spoilers.
This is the story….Cecily (played by Girl); Grant (played by new guy); Matthew (played by OG Ex)
*Ok. Girl breaks up with boyfriend due to his inability to commit.
*Meets new man in bar, asks him to come home, just to “sleep”. They do in fact sleep but we are faced with huh? That’s weird.
*Starts a relationship with new man. Still not physical.
*New man’s brother is dying with ALS.
*New man travels with brother to London for treatment for the whole summer.
*Girl goes and visits new man, with her token hometown gay friend (still in the closet gay friend).
*Brother tried to commit suicide while there.
*Girl comes home from London back to New York.
*New man finally comes home from London popping in to spend the night, and then going to work on the morning of September 11, 2001. We have physical activity.
*09.11 happens. Need I say more?
*New man is lost in the attack.
*Girl finds flyer with new guy face on it….reaches out, turns out is is new man’s wife looking for any word on him.
OHNOOOOOOOOOOOOO, he was married. He has now passed away.
*The ex boyfriend comes back in the picture.
*Former relationship accelerates.
*Oh, I forgot. Girl develops friendship with new guys wife?!?
*Ex boyfriend proposes. They are getting married now.
*A few weeks later she starts to realize she has not had a period.
You guessed it….she is pregnant….but who is the father? The dead man or the fiancé. BTW: Fiancé does not know there was a physical relationship with girl so close to HIS physical relationship with girl.
*She has a nagging feeling about the dead man. She reaches out to his brother via email. Brother states his marriage was not in a good place and he was going to divorce wife….but he never had a chance.
*Wedding is accelerated as the baby due date is fast approaching.
*Girl wants to talk to boys brother. She makes the drive to talk to him.
Guess what? The new boy is still alive. The brother is the one who passed away. {What the actual Hell}
*Oh and new boy is a criminal and was running from the feds…
*She finally tell finance and dead/alive man’s wife what happened. Relationship ends with fiance….she ends friendship with the wife.
*Girl moves home.
*Guess what? Dead/alive guy comes to visit. He has decided to turn himself in because he loves her and wants to be with her and the baby that could possibly be his or the OG ex.
*Fast forward. Everything turns out peachy. Baby is verified as the new guy/dead guy/alive guy.
They have a very happy family life.
*Oh and the gay best friend, finally comes out of the closet.
Too much. Too, Too much.
Do not recommend.
Can someone tell me what the heck just happened here? This book is a solid 3.5 stars for me. The ending brought my rating down, but the fact I felt so many ragey emotions and binge read the whole book meant I couldn’t give it a 3 star rating. There was so much back and forth in this book, it made my head spin. Although I did see the twist and ending coming, I sat here saying, please let me be wrong!
We meet Cecily in May of 2001 in NYC, just broken up with her boyfriend of 3 years, Matthew. She is down and out at a bar and meets Grant. It’s instant how they fall for each other, almost like an obsession, but he has a terminally ill brother and needs to go to London for a clinical trial. We all know what happens 9/11/01 so it’s safe to assume that those plot lines are thrown in there. At first you think one thing, then you think ok, NOW she will be happy, then you think, oh wait maybe NOW, but in the end it is all over the place.
I loved seeing a glimpse of Rachel, Darcy and Ethan though. Ethan was still the voice of reason, which I loved. This book put my emotions through the wringer, for sure. My heart almost beat out of my chest a few times. I expected to only start it tonight, but not finish it. In the end, i has to know if my suspicions were correct or not. Thank you to Emily and Netgalley for letting me read it early.
4 Stars
It’s been a while since I have read a Emily Giffin novel and The Lies That Bind reminded me of why I became a fan in the first place.
I ripped through this book in 2-3 sittings as I was so completely engrossed in Cecily, Matthew and Grant’s story. In typical Giffin fashion, this story makes you laugh, it makes you cry and it makes you believe in true love all over again. This book is very reminiscent of her older work, Something Borrowed, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much.
There are a few unbelievable plot points and Cecily had a tendency to get on my nerves a little bit, but all in all, this was a fast paced, well told chick-lit / women’s fiction story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for advanced reading copy of this book.
I am a huge Emily Giffin fan and The Lies That Bind didn’t disappoint! I loved this book.
Maybe it is because I was the same age as the main character in 2001. Or maybe it was because I too was a New Yorker who had a very similar reaction to when the first plane hit the towers. But regardless, I found this story and the characters incredibly relatable. There were numerous twists and turns and I struggled to put the book down. Also, I loved the way some fan favorite characters made a cameo appearance in the novel… Total must read!
I always enjoy this authors books as it’s going to be a romance with a twist and a bit messy. All while reading this I knew some twist was coming and it does. A great wrap up at the end. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC.
The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin was a bit different than what I am used too from this author and yet I was captivated from the start. We meet Cecily as she is trying to move on from a previous relationship, but struggling, when she meets Grant. It was supposed to be one night, but one night was not enough. Then when tragedy strikes the nation, Cecily’s life is turned upside down in more ways than one. What happened to Grant? Who is he and what secrets is he hiding? There are surprises, twist and turns throughout this story. It was an emotional and intriguing story from start to finish.
Read and reviewed for Reviews From the Heart.
Happy reading!
Wow, what a ride! The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin was absolutely incredible. I haven’t read a book that I enjoyed so much, and was unable to put down in quite some time! This story contains a multitude of twists, turns, and surprises that I never saw coming. A web of lies, deceit, and crazy coincidences take this plot and the characters in it to the next level. I totally loved the premise of this book, and highly recommend it to all!
Really liked this. Hard to put down. Interesting story line. Fresh.
I was not a huge fan of this book. There were way too many storylines going at the same time which made it confusing. There were lots of twists that keep you interested but they were also too unrealistic. I appreciate that the author writes about characters that are fallible. Just not a good read for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
I love this author. Her writing style is top tier and she has a magical way of turning an ordinary story into a page turner. Leaving a little mysterious question or two hanging in the air that you can’t stop reading until you get the answer. Even though I had my suspicions, I was still thoroughly surprised. The setting was in the past and I felt like I was back in 2001. Also, I am a sucker for snappy, whitty, and punchy supporting characters that get to say and do all the things the main character couldn’t possibly get away with.
Many reviews said this book was closer to Emily’s first works, which made get into it with great expectations. Unfortunately, I did not love this story. Emily’s writing style is as impeccable and gripping as always, but this wasn’t a light read. And even the lighter parts, didn’t make me swoon.
The insta-love was too quick for me, it made me roll my eyes. I guess I’m more of a slow-burn kind of gal.
The brother’s sickness was downright too depressing for a light read. I avoid sickness in books like the plague, it depresses me, it’s one of my greatest pet peeves.
The 9/11 description was captivating, it had me glued to the page (or more my headphones since I listened to this is audio) even if of course I knew what was going to happen.
But after that all the lies became just too much. (And before you tell me, well, Camilla, hello? Have you read the title? I know, I know. It was still too much deception for me. Everyone was lying/omitting to everyone.)
Grant’s Pettigrew act, had me even more disenchanted. The motive I had guessed, but still… no saving graces for me. I guess I just didn’t feel the love with this novel.
My favorite part was the five-minute cameo from Darcy, Rachel and Ethan. Ethan was my favorite character in the whole book. Well, he and Jasmine and Scotty. But none of the leads, even Matthew lost appeal by the end.
Quick read. Fun. Very good.
Love all of Emily Griffin’s books! Just re read this one! Loved it the second time around!
I feel blessed to be finding all these new authors! This story had it all plus, the 9/11 tragedy.
The book has love, loss, illness, travel, twists and turns and redemption… couldn’t read it fast enough. Gotta love having a buddy like Scottie! This is a good one…
The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin is an amazing book. I have read and enjoyed other books from this author. I was intrigued by the 9/11 storyline. I think she handled this topic really well. It really resonated with the experience of that day, in my opinion. The plot itself was pretty crazy and kept me guessing throughout. What a great story! I recommend it. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.