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.
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It held my attention throughout. I tried to guess the finale but totally missed it. The author did a fine job of providing lots of twists and turns. I liked the characters and highly recommend the book!
Cute story. Entertaining.
Emily Giffin books are ALWAYS fabulous!!!! This one is no exception! Read it!
Thought I was settling in for a mind-numbing read. Boy, was I wrong! Wonderful story.
Emily Giffin’s is an auto-buy author for me for a reason. Her writing is impeccable and the worlds she builds open up the pages and drag me right in. This book has all the hope, heart, and heartbreak that begs the question of the human condition—what would you do in the same situation? You can’t read this book without internalizing the character dilemmas. Must-read!
Just ok. Somewhat repetitious. Didn’t particularly like the main character.
When a book title has “lies” in the title, you know the whole story will be a lie. I spent the whole book knowing that there would be a giant lie that would overshadow the entire story, and just waited for the reveal.
When the lie was revealed, I felt like I knew it all along. I was incredibly disappointed in this book, although there were a few things I liked (mainly how Cecily was a good friend to Scottie, and how nicely her family treated her). I was bored with how easily Cecily fell into a relationship with Grant, and how quickly she reunited with Matthew. The Matthew / Cecily relationship seemed shallow all along.
Hoping for a better book from Emily Giffin in the future, as this book dragged for me.
I just finished this book for the 3rd time. Everyone can remember where they were on 9/11 and this book does an incredible job of sharing one woman’s story. It’s twists left me breathless and unable to put it down! Emily Giffin did not disappoint. It’s one of my favorites from her.
The Lies That Bind is Emily Giffin at her best! TLTB reminds me of her early work (and not just because some of the characters pop up at the end), which was fast paced, filled with great character development, and even though tough topics are involved – enjoyable reading.
TLTB follows Cecily through her journey as a newly single, meets a guy, falls in love with said guy, 9/11 occurs, and the aftermath. Was Grant – the man she spent almost one summer with too good to be true? You’ll have to read the novel to discover the answers… And can we just talk about Scottie?? Every person needs a BFF like Scottie – he made me laugh out loud and just want to hug him every time he spoke!! He is that one person every one deserves to have as a BFF.
I definitely would recommend The Lies That Bind to anyone who not only loves EG, but readers who enjoy Women’s Fiction, Chick-Lit (there is some romance in here!!), and Fiction in general.
I read this book in one day. I couldn’t put it down. I’ve never done that with a book before. I highly recommend!
really loved this book .. it kept you interested till the very end,, hoping for a miracle ,, about love and family
I give this 6 stars!!! Amazing!!!!
I loved this author’s book ALL WE EVER WANTED and decided to give this one a chance. I was not disappointed.
This is a great story with plot that will keep you wanting more. A story of love, loss, deceit, forgiveness and moving on. A love that is either strong and worth fighting for or a love that can’t hold up to expectations.
My favorite line from this book is: “WELL, I DON’T UNDERSTAND IT. IF YOU WERE MINE, I’D DO ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING TO KEEP YOU.”
That line explains so much when you read this book and try to decide who you think is a good guy or a not so good guy.
This is the story of a woman. A woman who is deeply in love with a man. It’s also the story of a woman who has a bit of a history with a man. One is destine for her. The other not so much. It took me a while in this book to decide who I liked the most but after hearing both I did finally make up my mind. While I despised one and really didn’t care a lot about the other I did finally give in. One melted my heart.
Cecily lives in New York and works for a small tabloid newspaper. She’s recently broken up with Matthew who could not commit after dating for four years. She then meets Grant at a bar and they start seeing each other. Grand comes with a lot going on and is not one to jump into bed or a sexual relationship fast. Even though they both seem to want things to go to a different level it just isn’t in the stars so to speak. Grant is leaving for a trip with his twin brother. His brother has ALS and they can get him in a clinical trial in London. He has to go.
I thought the book was going in a complete different direction when the two started emailing back and forth and was very happy that it was just the one chapter. I would not have liked reading that for long. Not that what they had to say was boring. I just don’t like reading emails in a book all the way through. Needless to say they keep in touch.
On the one hand you have Matthew who is familiar and Cecily has known him for four years. Then you have Grant whom she has basically just met but just feels right. Then you have the sequence of events that happen. The awful 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. Then one man goes missing. A lot comes out after this. A whole lot of things that will make Cecily wonder if anyone is who they say they are. If anything is what it seems. The ups and downs in this book kept me turning pages. Kept me wanting more.
This book is filled with so many emotions. The love, loss, found, terror and a few more. It will keep you captivated to the end. You will root for them all in different ways. One will totally have you wanting him but then something happens and you will pull for the other. But the main thing is for Cecily to make the right choice. It’s about her life after all. Her destiny and her future. Whether alone or with one of these two men. This is what makes fiction so grand. Things can work out one way or the other. Whether it’s always believable or not. It’s fiction after all.
I loved this story. I loved the characters. All of them. They all held a very important part in this book. Even Amy, who you will kind of not like but like. These characters are totally human after all.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #EmilyGiffin, #RamdomHouseBallentinePublishing for this ARC. This is my review.
I was going to give this book 4 stars but that ending made me change it to a big 5/5 stars and a high recommendation. I loved it!
On a whole, not too bad. The main characters are not very likeable and the story is rather twisted; I thought that I would have enjoyed this more when I read the synopsis; however I couldn’t say that this is a favorite book
Emily Giffin does it again with a wonderful story of love, loss, relationships and everything in between! She has a gift of blending the character’s lives and leave the reader wanting more. This story is about Cecily, Matthew, Grant and Amy and how their lives intersect, explode and circle back.
The Lies That Bind
Emily Griffin
This was a wonderful love story with some twists and unexpected surprises set in the backdrop of 9/11. It is everything you come to expect from our well loved Emily Griffin – found this read to be emotional, compelling and truly a page turner – I just cannot stop when I started this to learn what would happen next. I enjoyed this as a fun escape read that I enjoyed especially with some cameo from Griffin’s earlier novels. This was definitely a heartfelt read for me and I did enjoy reading this book a lot.
This is a great book! I liked the tie into world events and how the world reacted on September 11. The characters are really well developed and kept me interested. I always like a book where I am rooting for the characters.
Giffin does it again in this great story that I found easily predictable but that, nevertheless, I couldn’t put down. I finished it in two days, thoroughly enjoying the twists that I knew were coming. Life isn’t easy and tragedy abounds, but what matters shines through in this novel about trusting yourself and following your heart.
Without a doubt, my least favorite of her novels (and I’ve read them all). I never felt full invested in the characters. The plot was just kind of meh (and 100% predictable). Hope that this was just a aberration. Because every book so far has been progressively better than the last. She’s an author I’ve enjoyed watching her grown into her craft. But ooof…this book is not good!
This is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. Probably the worst.