Secrets.
Lies.
A man.
There's always a man.
And there's always a truth to be told.
I'm
Hailey Anne Monroe. I’m twenty-eight years old. An artist, who found
her muse on the canvas because I wasn’t allowed to have friends or even
keep a journal. And yes, if you haven’t guessed by now, I’m that Hailey
Anne Monroe, daughter to Thomas Frank Monroe, the man who was a
half-percentage point from becoming President of the United States. If
you were able to ask him, he’d probably tell you that I was the half
point. But you can’t ask him, and he can’t tell you. He’s dead. They’re
all dead and now I can speak.
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This is just what I needed after reading heartbreaker after
heartbreaker. I have read a couple other Lisa Renee Jones romance books and
they're always fantastic. The Perfect Lie has to be my favorite book written by
this author though. From the very start of this book it was impossible to put
down. I was wrapped up into Hailey's life. Hailey was groomed her entire life
to be the President's daughter, to be the people's first daughter. She was
expected to be more... to be the best and to never make a mistake. The problem
is, Hailey is only human.
Miss Jones weaves a masterful story. It's a story that's surround by an intriguing and deception. I loved the way this book reads like a journal with a now and before. I feel like we get a bit more out of Hailey's mind with this method of writing. The writing is done perfectly. There's a smidge of romance... which is the perfect amount because murder always brings out sex, money, and politics. I felt like the author really captures how badly children want to make their parents happy, to make them proud. Poor Hailey must have felt like she was up against an impossible task with her father. Hailey is a likable character. I really rooted for her. I disliked most of the other characters and like Hailey, I didn't trust anyone! Love the twists and turns... I still have a few questions. I do hope we get a bit more from Hailey!
The narrator, Eva Kaminsky, was seriously a 5 star narrator. She gives us Hailey's side of the story with this quick and no-nonsense voice that I couldn't help but love it! Her pacing and tone throughout the entire nearly 10 hours made me unable to pause. This is definitely a narrator to watch for!
Miss Jones weaves a masterful story. It's a story that's surround by an intriguing and deception. I loved the way this book reads like a journal with a now and before. I feel like we get a bit more out of Hailey's mind with this method of writing. The writing is done perfectly. There's a smidge of romance... which is the perfect amount because murder always brings out sex, money, and politics. I felt like the author really captures how badly children want to make their parents happy, to make them proud. Poor Hailey must have felt like she was up against an impossible task with her father. Hailey is a likable character. I really rooted for her. I disliked most of the other characters and like Hailey, I didn't trust anyone! Love the twists and turns... I still have a few questions. I do hope we get a bit more from Hailey!
The narrator, Eva Kaminsky, was seriously a 5 star narrator. She gives us Hailey's side of the story with this quick and no-nonsense voice that I couldn't help but love it! Her pacing and tone throughout the entire nearly 10 hours made me unable to pause. This is definitely a narrator to watch for!
“Can I join you?” he asks, motioning to the table.
There’s interest in his eyes, the kind a man has for a woman, but who knows, maybe it’s real or maybe it’s not real. Maybe he knows who I am and sees a path to power and fame. The way Tobey wanted me for money and power, right up until the moment I’d called his number aka his agenda; thus, he has not called me since I left. Maybe Harvard will lie even better than Tobey did. Maybe Harvard will at least kiss better than he did, and the lies would taste like temptation rather than convenience. At least then, if I’m used, I’ll enjoy being used.
Whatever the case, it’s clear I might actually be angry with Tobey and that aside, the interest that Harvard has shown in me, must be controlled before my Denver sanctuary is destroyed. “You can join me,” I say, “but only because I’m trying to save the rest of the place from the attorney in the house.”
I am pleased when Harvard laughs, where Tobey would have scowled, proving that Harvard has a sense of humor, which is rare for those in my life. I’ve barely completed this thought when he moves forward and claims the seat next to me, not across from me, settling his briefcase on that chair instead. In the process, his leg brushes my leg and for the briefest of moments, I’m transported back to the place that I’m now trying to forget: to Austin, to Drew’s leg next to mine, his wink, and I do now what I did then. I jerk back. If Harvard notices he doesn’t react. “Since we haven’t been formally introduced,” he says, resting his naked hands on the table. “I’m Logan. Logan Casey.”
“Logan Casey,” I repeat trying to ground myself in the present, at least for now, but some part of me is still swimming in that memory, which naturally has me wondering if this man is a shark in the water around me. “Two first names,” I add. “Sounds like your parents fought over who got to pick your first name. Did they draw straws for which choice became your middle name?”
“You’re actually right on target,” he says, laughing again, and it’s a nice, masculine laugh, and oddly this thought feels familiar while Logan does not. “No one has ever guessed that,” he adds. “My mother won the name war. The women always win. Speaking of names. Do you have one?”
“Hailey Anne Pitt,” I say, “and in my house, my father won the name war.” Because in my father’s world, I add silently, the women don’t win the wars. At least, not that he knows, not in an obvious way. I’ve learned this well.
“Well then, Hailey Anne Pitt,” he says, “what’s a Stanford girl like you, doing in a place like this? You’re a long way from school.”
I’m smacked in the face with a lesson I’ve long ago learned and forgotten with this man; strangers do not always remain strangers and all offhanded remarks can come back to haunt you. “That was a joke,” I say, shutting the door connected to my real life, and a path that leads to my father. “I hate attorneys, remember?”
He narrows his eyes on me, and for no reason other than instinct, I believe he’s looking for a lie that he won’t find. I’m simply too well-taught from birth, too skilled at being more than one person to allow such a detection. Well that, and the fact that I really do hate attorneys, which is why I’ll be a good one.
“That was a joke?” he confirms.
“Yes,” I say. “Are you amused?”
“Yes, actually. I am. What does a lawyer-hating smart ass like yourself do for a living?”
“When not busy taunting those who went to law school,” I say. “I’m an aspiring artist.” Both honest answers, if you put a “was” in front of the “aspiring artist” which I’d thought that I’d come to terms with, but the knot in my stomach says I have not.
Logan motions toward the art room. “Your career explains why you ended up here.”
“I guess it does,” I say, as this place serves me well to reconnecting to the Pitt part of my life, which is a place I really need to be right now, for all kinds of reasons.
“Are you good?” Logan asks, as if he’s read my mind.
My father’s words answer him in my head. Art is useless unless you’re famous, he used to say often, because of course, it was inconceivable that I might be good enough to be famous. “Art is like movies and food,” I say, shoving aside that bad memory. “Good is subjective.” I don’t give him time to reply. I ping the conversation back toward him. “What kind of law do you practice?”
“Corporate,” he says, and this time he pings back to me. “Do you live in the neighborhood?”
“Yes,” I say simply. “Do you?”
“I bought a building a few years ago where I live and work which means this is my home turf, and why I know you’re new here.”
“I am,” I say and since he’s clearly going to ask for details, I quickly preempt with an on-the-fly story. Actually, it’s the suggested story, Rudolf included in my file. “I came here for a job, and my new boss owns a house he’s rented to me for dirt cheap.”
“And what does an artist do but create art for a living?”
“I’m working for a private art acquisitions firm. I now hunt for treasures for a living.” This lie is actually my dream job that I’ve never been allowed to entertain.
The horror flick loving waitress delivers my coffee and brownie. “Thank you,” I say, because every politician’s daughter has manners beaten into her.
“No problem,” she says, “but if you come to your senses and want a better version of that coffee, just shout.” She eyes Logan. “I already know you want a crappy tasting coffee, on endless pour and a chocolate chip cookie. Coming right up.”
“Thanks, Megan,” he says, giving her a wink that I don’t classify as flirtatious, just friendly, and Megan is gone.
“Obviously you’re a regular,” I comment, “and they even like you.”
“And they like me,” he confirms, “despite knowing I’m an attorney.
“Because you’re good looking and use it to your advantage.”
He arches a brow. “You think I’m good looking, do you?”
“Oh, come on,” I say, crinkling my nose. “Everyone thinks you’re good looking. I’m simply stating a fact. We use what we have and those of us that are smart, know what we have.” I move on from what is really quite inconsequential. “Why work here, not at home, or in the office?”
“I find I get a lot of work done with a cookie, coffee, and no access to streaming television,” he explains.
No one in my D.C. crowd would make an admission of being human and distractible. Some people in my situation might take comfort in that fact, but I don’t. Logan’s an attorney, and my gut, which I’ll confirm with research, says he’s a powerful one, the kind that radiates toward my father. Maybe that’s a coincidence and maybe it’s not. Maybe he’s testing how well I execute my cover story. The possibilities are many. Though in all fairness to Logan, perhaps I’d lean toward his innocence, if not for the laundry list of recent events such as Tobey being gay and the FBI agent, who is likely working for my father, that I slept with to prove I was a) still desirable and b) not a killer.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT series.
In
addition to the success of Lisa's INSIDE OUT series, she has published
many successful titles. The TALL, DARK AND DEADLY series and THE SECRET
LIFE OF AMY BENSEN series, both spent several months on a combination of
the New York Times and USA Today bestselling lists. Lisa is also the
author of the bestselling WHITE LIES and LILAH LOVE series.
Prior
to publishing Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was
recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by
the Dallas Women's Magazine. In 1998 Lisa was listed as the #7 growing
women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.
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