The Lies That Bind
by Susan X Meagher
List Price:
Our Price: $5.99
You Save: $10.01 (63%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Susan X MeagherEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-11-04
ISBN: 0979925428
Number of pages: 220
Publisher: Brisk Press
Book Reviews of The Lies That Bind
Book Review: The impact of change on a life
Summary: 4 Stars
Erin Delancy thinks she has the life she wants. She has returned to her hometown to be the town doctor as part of a contract she made with the people for paying to put her through medical school. She knows every person, every street and every situation. Though her social life as a lesbian is stunted, the fact that she can live with her mother in the home Erin grew up in means that she's seldom lonely and always has someone to do things with. Erin's life seems just fine until two things happen. Erin meets Katie Quinn and Erin's mother meets Katie's father. These two incidents, which are totally unrelated, change everything about Erin's settled life. Katie is a bright, aggressive lawyer from Boston who is immediately attracted to Erin and she becomes convinced early on that small town life isn't all that Erin has portrayed it to be. She lives a busy life as a lesbian and has numerous friends who support and encourage her. Katie believes that Erin could be the perfect partner, but not if she is going to deny how she really feels about her situation and what she wants in her life. As their relationship develops, Erin begins to remember that she had dreams she sacrificed for what she believed was her duty and she realizes that Katie will never be happy living in tiny Essex instead of Boston, but she is bound to the position for ten years.
As Erin and Katie try to figure out how to deal with their situation, they also have to adjust to the fact that their parents have fallen in love and are planning on marrying. While Erin wants her mother to be happy, she resents the changes that are being caused in her own life and their relationship without being able to do anything about them. Katie doesn't mind Erin's mother. It's her father she can't tolerate being around. Having to interact with him when she visits Erin brings up sour memories from when he left her family. Neither one of them has spent any time really trying to understand the other, so their perceptions of who the other is often lead to arguments; however, with her father married to Erin's mother, Katie isn't going to be able to ignore him as she has done in the past. Either Erin or Katie is going to have to make some tremendous changes in her life to accommodate everything that is happening. The question is who, or if, one of them is going to be willing to do that.
No one will ever accuse Meagher of not thoroughly developing her stories or characters because all of her books are big in size. The reader has a real chance to "get into" her stories. The drawback to this is that there are many extraneous scenes that repeat the message that she is trying to send to the reader. The reader is liable to reach a point where she wants to say, "OK, I get it. Now how does this thing end?" On the other hand, the length of Meagher's books does allow her to develop nuances of a story so that they creep up on you and you feel you have a revelation in your own thinking instead of having every issue spelled out for you. Authors who write to meet the normal length of these genre books aren't able to perform this little bit of magic. Meagher needs to work on keeping that ability while accepting that not every scene is important to its development.
The Lies That Bind is about change. Change in relationships; change in perceptions; change in goals. It's also about how difficult change can be and sometimes how necessary it is. Meagher knows how to tell a good story, one that seems superficially to be another romance, but this one will cause the reader to think also. Don't let the length fool you. The reading passes quickly and it's worth it.
Summary of The Lies That Bind
Erin Delancy, a young, callow physician, moves back to her small town in New Hampshire to take over for her mentor. She assumes that everything will be much like it was when she left for school almost 10 years ago. But subtle changes have occurred that barely reach her consciousness, given her proclivity for accepting things as they are.A feisty attorney passes through town one winter morning and her brief visit sends off a series of changes that eventually affects not only the young doctor, but the entire town.
Katie Quinn looks, at first glance, to be the antithesis of the placid doctor. Katie is excitable, chatty and adventurous, with a touch of the profane thrown in for spice. Erin steadfastly refuses to even utter a mild oath, she's rarely left New England, and she's the paragon of respectful behavior. But the pair fall slowly and inexorably into love.
Falling in love is often the end of the story, but there are a myriad of complications in this small town that work against their living happily ever after.
Erin is challenged to do several things she hates: think of her own needs before those of others and disappoint people who rely on her. Katie has her work cut out for her, also, but her challenges are almost the inverse of Erin's.
This tale is multi-layered and presents issues that aren't solved with a roll in the hay-- although rolling in the hay makes a lot of the trouble seem well worth it!
Lesbian Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Lesbian Books
Sleeping Bones: A Kate Delafield Mystery (Kate Delafield)by Katherine V. Forrest
Berkley Hardcover; Published: 1999-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.68
Price in other shops:
She Came to the Castroby Mary Wings
Berkley; Published: 1998-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
The Intersection of Law and Desire: A Micky Knight Mysteryby J. M. Redmann
Avon Books (Mm); Published: 1997-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.87
Who Was That Masked Woman?by Noretta Koertge
St Martins Pr; Published: 1981-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.48
Price in other shops:
Brotherly Loveby Randye Lordon
St Martins Pr; Published: 1993-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $71.12
Ambientes: New Queer Latino WritingUniversity of Wisconsin Press; Published: 2011-05-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
Bastard out of Carolinaby Dorothy Allison
Dutton Adult; Published: 1992-04-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Ashby Malinda Lo
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.09
Price in other shops:
The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics) (English and French Edition)by Charles Baudelaire
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.28
Price in other shops:
The Flowers of Evil (Oxford World's Classics)by Charles Baudelaire
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.95
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
From This Moment Onby PJ Trebelhorn
Bold Strokes Books; Published: 2010-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
Above Temptationby Karin Kallmaker
Bella Books; Published: 2010-07-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.14
Price in other shops:
Blind Betby Tracey Richardson
Bella Books; Published: 2010-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.94
Price in other shops:
Sheltering Dunes (The Provincetown Tales)by Radclyffe
Bold Strokes Books; Published: 2011-11-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.29
Price in other shops:
Desire by Starlightby Radclyffe
Bold Strokes Books; Published: 2010-11-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.20
Price in other shops:
Love Waitsby Gerri Hill
Bella Books; Published: 2010-07-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.56
Price in other shops:
Doublecrossedby Susan X Meagher
Brisk Press; Published: 2010-11-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.45
Price in other shops:
Arbor Vitaeby Susan X Meagher
Brisk Press; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99
The Legacyby Susan X. Meagher
Brisk Press; Published: 2009-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.55
Price in other shops:
Cherry Groveby Susan X Meagher
Brisk Press; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99