From the Bookshelf of Buddy Read Zone…

Dirty Red (Love Me with Lies, #2)

Tarryn Fisher

Discussion: Contemporary Romance Buddy Reads

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 61 topics — 12,159 comments total

Contemporary Romance Buddy Reads

Made 11/7/2014
By Erin · 123 posts · 48 views

last updated Nov 11, 2014 06:26AM

UnBeloved (UnDeniable #4)
By M. · 67 posts · 61 views

last updated Sep 22, 2014 08:34PM

showing 3 of 3 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 29, 2012 Annie Brewer rated it really liked it

So I really, really hate Leah...like with every fiber of my being. But I am curious as to what will happen in this book. And I need it....NOW!!!!! Dammit! I hate waiting!

OMFG YOU GUYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.........IT'S ALMOST HERE......ALMOST HERE......I'M JUST WAITING.....AND WAITING.....EARLY RELEASE AND I'M FUCKING FREAKING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2013 Mistress rated it it was amazing

Shelves: absolutely-love, so-good

WOW! I'm stunned, speechless, giddy from all the drama! I'm a sucker for drama and this book has it in spades. I went from wanting to scream in frustration when I finished The Opportunist to wanting to scream in excitement when I finished Dirty Red. AHHH!!! I love this series! I can't wait to devour Thief! This series is filled with lies, deceit, and major DRAMA! (Imagine me singing that last word at a high pitch because that is what I'm doing in my head... draaaammmmmaaaa!) At first I didn't wa ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Jul 24, 2013 Karen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, adult-romance, ugly-crying, angsty

No time to write a proper review so I will make this quick. I finished 5 minutes ago and I plan on immediately cracking open Thief. I don't care that it is late and I have been marinating in The Opportunist & Dirty Red for the last 48 hours. I should probably take a break and let the impact hit me and then settle, but I seriously can't take another minute of waiting. Tarryn Fisher's writing is a drug... A DRUG I am jonesing for and cannot be pulled away from.

I have so many thoughts swirling aro No time to write a proper review so I will make this quick. I finished 5 minutes ago and I plan on immediately cracking open Thief. I don't care that it is late and I have been marinating in The Opportunist & Dirty Red for the last 48 hours. I should probably take a break and let the impact hit me and then settle, but I seriously can't take another minute of waiting. Tarryn Fisher's writing is a drug... A DRUG I am jonesing for and cannot be pulled away from.

I have so many thoughts swirling around Dirty Red. After finishing a re-read of The Opportunist last night(which since May 2012 I couldn't face again until all three books were released) I was once again thrown back, punched in the gut and contemplating throwing my Kindle across the room (And the last page and that vision of the damn tree KILLED me...again). WHY? WHY? WHY? My mind was reeling with "what if's" and my anger was brewing. I was braced for what was to be so I was able to skip the ugly crying this time around.

Enter, Dirty Red. How is it possible to hate someone and truly pity them at the same time? My feelings for Leah are just as complicated as she is. Hate is ruling at this point but what I witnessed in this story throws a wrench into all the loathing I have been clinging to. Now I totally get the title of the third book - Thief. It didn't make sense to me months ago when it was revealed. It is absolutely brilliant.

Dirty Red was a damn good read. Not a word or sentence wasted. I had forgotten the magic Tarryn Fisher seems to effortlessly weave. Past, present, past, present as she slowly unravels the story with a true sense of mystery, intrigue and total suspense. Just when you think Caleb, Olivia & Leah can no longer bleed...BAM! I have never read an angstier series but somehow it works and doesn't drain the reader in me; it fuels the storyline and keeps it climbing towards deeper revelations.

I am so glad I waited to read Dirty Red right before the final book was released because that epilogue would have eaten away at me for months.

Okay, times up; I am diving back in and not coming up for air until it is over. Nervous as hell to face the beating Tarryn Fisher is bound to dole out. She never hands over the story without taking a little piece of your sanity and a sliver of your heart. That would be way too predictable and that is simply not her style (she's cruel like that).

...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 19, 2012 Kathy rated it really liked it

Reading Dirty Red was a completely different experience than I felt while reading The Opportunist. Being inside of Leah's mind was quite...saddening and disturbing at the same time. I'm still not a fan of Leah's character, but I do understand her and her motives a bit better.

I knew the book was in Leah's viewpoint, but I still went in a little blind. I love going in without reading the synopsis, or having read the synopsis so long ago that I've forgotten what to expect. In this book, the synopsi Reading Dirty Red was a completely different experience than I felt while reading The Opportunist. Being inside of Leah's mind was quite...saddening and disturbing at the same time. I'm still not a fan of Leah's character, but I do understand her and her motives a bit better.

I knew the book was in Leah's viewpoint, but I still went in a little blind. I love going in without reading the synopsis, or having read the synopsis so long ago that I've forgotten what to expect. In this book, the synopsis doesn't begin to tell you about the book or what to expect. I was surprised throughout my reading at Leah's sinner/saint persona.

As the book takes you back and forth between the present and the past of Leah and Caleb's relationship, Olivia is always there in the back of Leah's mind. Leah is still a manipulative witch who doesn't accept responsibility for her actions, always passing the blame to someone else...primarily Olivia. Given her childhood through adulthood relationship (or lack of) with her parents, it's a wonder this woman isn't sitting in an asylum drooling and making motorboat noises with her lips!

It's no surprise that Leah is the dysfunctional beauty queen who wears her pretentious mask for all who see her. She has a history of using and tossing men out like last season's Milanos. But Caleb is different. She's never "felt" anything for any man before, and jealousy is certainly not what she expected to feel along with possession. Her possession of Caleb is clearly more of obsession mistaken as love. She has Caleb on a pedestal, but he is certainly not perfect, as we learned in The Opportunist, and we see again in Dirty Red. But, I can't help but still love the guy. *sigh* and *swoon*

Leah's life is spiraling out of control from the beginning with the birth of Estella, and her jealousy of other women around Caleb includes her own daughter. She's having a difficult time bonding with Estella, which could be the final nail in her coffin. She doesn't know how to be a mother, and her selfish side wants to continue drinking and partying with her girlfriends. Enter the Manny, Sam. Sam, who just happens to be Cammie's cousin, quickly becomes her close friend and mentor for motherhood. He tells it like it is and pulls no punches around Leah, but he does understand her, when she lets him in, and tries to help her with both motherhood and relationship advice.

Leah's fear of losing Caleb has her scheming, confessing, and using anyone to keep Caleb as her husband. The confessions made by Caleb and Leah are both heartbreaking and astounding. The final confession right before the epilogue?! Oh. Em. Geeeeee. It truly took me by complete surprise and ended the book on a cliffhanger of sorts. I didn't want to empathize with Leah, and I tried every way possible to push those feelings aside, since I am Team Olivia all the way. Just as I didn't want to like Noah, but I couldn't help it. I DID empathize with Leah. My heart went out to her at times until her childish selfishness reared, and she would do or say something that made me want to slap her and yank Caleb as far away as possible. In Leah's world, the only thing she understands is that the ends justify the means.

As the story progresses from beginning to end, the reader truly gets the picture of Leah's issues and from where they stem. So many things contribute to Leah's behavior. Fear, family relations, postpartum depression, a shameful secret, and a possible history of mental illness. Are these things truly contributing to her behavior, or is she so detached from others and sociopathic in her thinking and behavior that she again is justifying the means? We also see Seth, Caleb's older brother, and learn a bit more about him and his connection to and view of Leah. I can't wait to see if he plays a part in the next installment, because there is certainly something about him...just an instinct I have about him and his feelings toward Leah.

The lengths that Leah goes to keep Caleb as her own clearly indicate no boundaries. Tarryn Fisher has done a spectacular job at taking the reader into the human psyche of a frightened animal who is backed into a corner and trying to preserve the only thing, or person, she connects to love. To watch Leah's dawn of understanding was magical, connecting me to her character with empathy even more....until her vindictive and spiteful nature of "You hurt me, so I'm going to hurt you, too" came to the front once again. I definitely recommend this series and have already begun reading Thief before even writing this review. I just couldn't wait. It is important that these books be read in order to understand the character backgrounds and relationship histories, even though the book could be read as a stand alone in my opinion. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 02, 2012 Ellelou rated it it was amazing

Oh wow!

It's late, very late and just finished reading. I don't know where to start...
I really got to know Red in this book, I hated her, I felt sorry for her, tried to understand her...
One thing I'm sure about it, I knew Caleb was controlling and not a victim, and so far I have been proved right.
We didn't get much Olivia on this book, but this was Red's story.
They all play games, Red, Olivia, Caleb...my head is still spinning.
The only good guy is Sam, liked him a lot....
I might have to come bac ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Oct 03, 2012 Anna rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary-romance, kick-ass-heroine, series, adult, hilarious, feels

Leah is such grade-A bitch. And she knows it!

“I can’t believe we did this,” Caleb says for the millionth time, looking down at her. “We made this.”
Technically, I made this. It's convenient how men get to sign their names to these little creations without doing much more than having an orgasm and assembling a crib.

Why is it that after everything she did, I want to root for her and give her a hug. Looks like her bitchiness is rubbing on me.

Leah. Leah. Leah. Were it not for you, I would not have c ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 waterbaby786 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Tarryn fisher once again has made me forget what day or what time it is. She whisks me away gracefully into her fantasy world which albeit is not close to perfect. But it is magnetic and alluring and dangerous and addictive and bittersweet. The story stays with you long after you've finished reading it, his web of lies and deceit of which at the core is only selfish love. You get to see all three sides to this triangle and your heart aches more and your brain bleeds a bit too and you can't wait ...more

1 like · Like · see review