I won a free copy of This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf in a Goodreads giveaway. Special thanks to William Morrow for hosting the giveaway and the publisher Custom House. All opinions expressed are solely my own.
In this story we are following a woman named Rebecca Farwell, a small town girl from Pierson Illinois, who works at Town Hall when she starts buying and selling art. In a different city, a thousand miles away, Reba Farwell–as she’s known to those in the art business–has made a fortune by selling off her paintings. Rebecca/Reba’s art dealings have been fueled by money she’s taken from the town’s accounts. We follow her story over the course of thirty years, watching as she takes larger risks and gains bigger rewards. But all good things come with a price and we must ask: how long can she play this game?
This book ended up being a miss for me. It was a slow read and I had to force myself to pick it back up and continue it. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and everything was just very dull. I couldn’t tell if the author was trying to portray Rebecca/Reba as having antisocial personality disorder or what was going on with Rebecca/Reba. She knew that the town was going bankrupt from her stealing the money, but she continued to do it, sometimes even blaming others (the state, etc.). What’s more, she attempted to hold fundraisers to raise money for the town and was praised as a great citizen of the town who loved Pierson. She spent tons of money on her friend Ingrid and children, but when Ingrid wanted to do something specific for her children, Rebecca/Reba ignored her, thinking that her own way was the only correct way. The one time she was almost caught by her boss, she freaked out and put money back into the account, and then tried to equate his kissing her while he was married as the same as her embezzling money from the town accounts.
Rebecca/Reba had little regard for people. She used people and then threw them away when they were no longer of use to her. The book itself was not super engaging. There were only a few occasions where it seemed any action happened, and for a book that was over 300 pages, that is not nearly enough. I don’t mind slice of life, day-to-day books, but there needs to be something happening or at least have some interesting and well-rounded characters.
Also, this book is classified as a mystery. I’m sorry but that is incorrect. I’ve tagged it as such, but what’s the mystery? The question is can or can’t she continue to get away with embezzling money? No mystery there.
Book is set for Publication September 29.
