Dirty Red

Title: Dirty Red (Love me with Lies #2)
Author: Tarryn Fisher
Genre: Contemporary adult
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 10/10

You can find my review of the first book, The Opportunist, here, and of the third book, Thief, here.

Beware: SPOILERS!

Oh, jeez. That ending. I just... I've always hated Leah, and never truly believed that she loved Caleb; more like, she loved his money and his status and that every woman who saw him, wanted him. She loved being the object of envy of every single woman in town because he was hers and not theirs. That's what she loved, not Caleb himself. She loved that because she "snagged" him, her father finally treated her well; she loved that running after him made her mother notice her and give her advice. She loved all of that, but she never really loved the man himself.
Because when she started truly falling in love with him, she realised that being with him when he didn't love her either wasn't enough; she realised she wanted his love, and she knew that she'd never have that.

So, yeah, even though I knew all that, knew that she had ruined and devastated Olivia for all the wrong reasons (not like Olivia was a saint either, but at least she truly, sincerely loved Caleb), I never, ever EVER expected Leah to cheat - and yet, she flirted with the manny, slept with her husband's brother and is already lusting after Olivia's husband (more on that later). So that little bomb at the end... whoa. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that one.

And yet... while Dirty Red was a fabulous read, it didn't leave me emotionally exhausted like The Opportunist did. More evidence that Olivia is more deserving of Caleb than Leah - even if she did do some pretty crass stuff.

Now, on to the subject of Noah. I like Noah. I really think that comparing how both Olivia and Leah came out from their relationships with Caleb says much more about their characters than the lies and deceit that they committed while with him. Olivia knew she was doing something bad, and in the end, she was strong enough to break that addictive cycle and get to her happy place. Sure, she still loves Caleb - I never expected anything less. But she also had the strength to admit that the person she was when she was with him was not a person she wanted to be. So she let him go and married Noah. Enter Leah, yet again. I know Noah loves Olivia (duh), but I was shocked by his and Leah's interaction. He was friendly. Guess he figures if it weren't for Leah, he wouldn't have married Olivia, so that sort of makes sense. But what really caught my attention was Olivia's description of Noah. It made me wonder. Of course, when she first met Caleb, it wasn't this, but it seems like now, Leah feels inferior to Olivia - to the point where, if given the chance, I'm quite sure she would have cheated on Caleb with Noah, just so she could rub it in Olivia's face that she could. It makes me sad, because Olivia really did move on with her life (I think... at least, that's the idea I got from the end of The Opportunist, but I could be wrong, idk), and Leah is still rehashing the same thing over and over, because she married a man knowing that he could never truly love her.

Now that's desperation for you.