Review: The Opportunist (Love Me With Lies, #1) by Tarryn Fisher

(Blurb): Olivia Kaspen has just discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Caleb Drake, has lost his memory. With an already lousy reputation for taking advantage of situations, Olivia must decide how far she is willing to go to get Caleb back. Wrestling to keep her true identity and their sordid past under wraps, Olivia’s greatest obstacle is Caleb’s wicked, new girlfriend; Leah Smith. It is a race to the finish as these two vipers engage in a vicious tug of war to possess a man who no longer remembers them. But, soon enough Olivia must face the consequences of her lies, and in the process discover that sometimes love falls short of redemption.











Book Information:

Released: November 14th, 2011
Publisher: Amazon
Length: 278 pages
Version: eBook, Kindle
Genre: Contemporary, romance, drama
Age group: New Adult to Adult crossover

Review:

Talk about a story with some serious emotional whiplash! Be prepared to be dragged through some hot coals and then doused with ice water on every page. It's better than it sounds ;-)

What I liked:
The setting of this story is really quite brilliant. I mean, what would you do if you ran into an old flame who you had a really bad break up with - only to discover that he remembers nothing due to a horrible accident that caused amnesia? Do you take advantage of that situation and try to start over? Or do you call it what it is and part ways forever?

For Olivia, this once in a lifetime chance to set the record straight was more than she could pass up. So she befriended the very one that would be hard for her to ever forget - Caleb Drake. At first I was a little unsure about Olivia. I didn't know how far she would take this deceptiveness and I really didn't want to be stuck between a love-hate relationship where one is playing the other like a yoyo and the other is standing by not knowing what to do. It actually turns out much better than that and there is a certain complexity behind the whole deal that brings the story to a whole new level. I loved that this story wasn't written as it seems on the surface!

Caleb Drake is a man to behold! (aren't they always?) His interplay with Olivia is heart-stopping and as much as I sometimes hated the situation that they were in - his actions always seemed to remind me 'what would I do' given this situation? And that was the other part that made this story so great. Because as much as you kind of want to hate Olivia for attempting to drag Caleb into this misleading friendship - you can't help but know that deep down they once loved each other so strongly and all Olivia wants is him to be able to talk to her. It's truly a heart breaking deception.

What I didn't like
 The time frame in which events were occurring became confusing. The Opportunist is set up so that every other chapter alternates between the present and the past. This is fine as it is the best way to tell the story without giving too much away, and you can better relate the present behavior of each character immediately to the past event that is potentially responsible for the behavior.

Where it gets confusing is when you alter between Olivia's present/past for fourteen chapters and then suddenly - without note - you're in Caleb's past POV. Then, 5 years go past and you're back in Olivia's "present".

This is where it becomes really confusing. Because now what was once written as the present you have to think of as the past. I know it may not seem that difficult, but when there are a lot of events going on and multiple characters reoccurring over each period and similar conversations being recounted - it is really hard to keep it all straight. Eventually I just threw out the time periods and started reading the story without trying to comprehend what happened when.

Overall, it is a really captivating story that is actually very romantic. I'm talking irrevocable and undying love that totally melts your heart and has you in a puddle at Caleb's feet. The time frames were a bit confusing, but in the end I think you get the general picture without fully understanding what happened when, exactly.

Ratings:

Romance: tension and steam
Character Development: *****
Plot Progression: ****
Plot Development: ****
Writing Quality: *****


My Rating:
 




Goodreads: 4.28
Amazon:  4.5