Paula Dombrowiak Beautiful Lies Review!
Beautiful Lies
By: Paula Dombrowiak
Release Date: April 17, 2023
Publisher: Paula Dombrowiak
Author Website: https://www.pauladombrowiak.com/
4 Stars
In her work Beautiful Lies Paula Dombrowiak tackles an age gap romance and all the questioning, insecurities and judgments that accompany them for a well put together story!
Unexpected and full of chemistry, older driven career woman and single mother Lake Kennedy drops her defenses and caves into her attraction to a younger man, singer Adrian Corvin, for a one night stand. In a series of unforeseen coincidences this pair was continuously confronted with their physical attraction and found themselves dancing around their emotional gravitation for a work full of angst and flirty wit.
Adrian was an interesting contrast of edgy rocker and sweet romantic. His self awareness was as attractive as his looks and together they were irresistible making Lake's internal dilemma at pursuing a relationship with him easy to understand. Outwardly Lake appeared to have it all but behind her success Lake was lonely and emotionally scarred, isolating herself in her fear of being hurt. Using her responsibility as a single parent to her daughter to avoid taking chances, Lake was caught up in avoidance of romantic opportunities and in meeting the needs and expectations of everyone but herself. Lake and Adrian were captivating together and it was no surprise that their friends and family caught on to their attraction. Lake's struggle with letting go of her tight control of her life and viewing her relationship with Adrian as taboo was the crux of this story. Adrian's faith in his and Lake's ability to overcome, both real and imagined, obstacles kept this work from being a tragedy and was very well done by this author. Not to be ignored, this couple's connection was hot!
While this work had its fair share of angst it was a much more toned down version of what readers have come to expect from this writer. There was quite a bit more humor interwoven throughout this story mellowing it and the resulting pain of Lake and Adrian's decisions and actions. There was lots of witty dialog for some fun moments and a great supporting cast and their interactions softened this story.
Paula Dombrowiak continues to offer deep and thoughtful characters that have complex exchanges and histories that shape them. Her layers are vast, giving readers robust portrayals that feel well fleshed out. Imperfections are this author's sweet spot and she displays them in her characters without hesitation making her works interesting and relatable. Paula Dombrowiak's Beautiful Lies shows a nice change of pace for this writer and will keep readers coming back for more of her fabulous stories!
*I was given an advanced copy. All opinions expressed are my own.*