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

The Opportunist (Love Me with Lies #1) by Tarryn Fisher
Publisher: CreateSpace
Publication Date: 13th February 2013
My rating: 5 stars

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.

So many of my blogging friends had been on at me for some time now to start this series, but you know me, I never listen. But lately with the only books seeming to work for me being New Adult and Adult books, I felt as if I was in the right mood for it. But I couldn’t have been more wrong, The Opportunist blew me out the water. I Initially had a tough time starting The Opportunist, I found myself not being able to trust our MC Olivia, she seemed so out there with extremes she would go to, that it made me feel that I couldn’t trust her, I felt as if she was an unreliable narrator at times, she made things awkward that I was like what I have seriously got myself into? But seriously Fisher turned this book around for me that by the end of it I couldn’t get enough of Olivia and Caleb’s relationship, that I ended up staying up way later than I should have done finishing this book (the last time I did this was with Gone Girl; and to be honest The Opportunist has left me feeling the same way after finishing; in awe and totally lost for words.

Although I found myself totally suckered up in Olivia’s present world with the crazy happenings, I slowly found myself getting caught up in Olivia’s past too. Why had things ended up the way they had between Caleb and Olivia? I really enjoyed dipping into the past chapters, as it gave me a proper understanding of the sort of characters Olivia and Caleb were when they initially met and it really did give me a better understanding of why Olivia was the way she was now. Both characters really had been through a lot, their relationship was a tumultuous one, but beneath it all it was a gloriously beautiful one, one which broke my heart and stitched it back up again. I know there were a lot of things which made it twisted, crazy and really scary with the extremes that characters went to, but I liked how different it was to the typical romances that we get to read about, the ones that full with smooth sailing and end up with happily ever afters. The romance here was raw, painful and a bit dark at times, and I was totally a fan of it. I also liked how Caleb and Olivia’s paths kept coming back to one another, through some sort of twisted fate. The revelations along the way were also a favourite part of mine, I honestly didn’t see any of them coming, and the deception that Fisher weaved into this story was masterfully done! And the ending? I was actually quite surprised about that too I thought things would have ended the way they were meant to, or they way I would have hoped. But it really went to show how much our characters had been through and the growth they had experienced, it was sort of bittersweet in a way.

Despite being okay with the way things ended in The Opportunist, I’m eager to be reunited with these characters once more in the next book and see what Fisher has up her sleeve. I know it’ll definitely bring out all the emotions too especially of the ragey variety, as it’s told from Leah’s perspective!