Luna and the Lie
Easy read
Meaningful
Sweet

Luna and the Lie

The problem with secrets is that they're too easy to keep collecting.Luna Allen has done some things she would rather no one ever know about. She also knows that, if she could go back in time, she wouldn't change a single thing.With three sisters she loves, a job she (mostly) adores, and a family built up of friends she's made over the years, Luna figures everything has worked out the way it was supposed to. But when one of those secrets involves the man who signs her paycheck, she can't find it in her to regret it. Despite the fact that he's not the friendliest man in the world. Or the most patient.Sometimes there are things you're better off keeping to yourself.------#1 Overall Amazon Kindle Best Seller
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Reviews

Photo of Tiana holt
Tiana holt@holttia
4 stars
Jan 3, 2025

Every single one of her books are bangers I swear. I can’t with the huge age gap though, why is every single book an age gap now😭

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big ab@snapitsabbey
3 stars
Dec 9, 2024

it gets three stars because i love mariana zapata. but because i love her, i can say this book is not good. this is bad. fmc is so incredibly naive for someone who grew up with lots of harsh realities being thrown at her. i had a hard time with her acting like a child and him acting like a brute. i just felt like the dynamic was weird. there were large plots in the story that were just never touched on.. why did the color shirt he wear dictate his mood? what happened to rudy or jason? why did he buy a rocky horror picture show mug for her when rocky horror was never previously mentioned? am i being nitpicky, probably. but mariana can and has done better.

Photo of Ilham
Ilham@xaaam_o
5 stars
Jun 8, 2024

Mariana Zapata did it again 5⭐️

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aleksandra@aleksandrareading
5 stars
Apr 2, 2024

5/5 Mariana Zapata, as usual, although we'll see, did not disappoint. Luna will probably be my favorite heroine, I love her with all my heart. This will definitely not be the only time I read it. "His smile was gentle. “You could steal the Mona Lisa, and I know you’d do it for a good reason. I don’t think there’s anything you could do that I wouldn’t be all about, baby girl.” „Luna. You are my girl. Just you. Nobody else ever has or will be.” „What do you want back? I want my goddamn Luna back”

Photo of Isabella
Isabella @iscbella
3 stars
Mar 13, 2024

Such a cute book!! I teared up at some parts because I loved Luna so much. She is such a kind person, and her story made me so sad. This is probably the most grumpy x sunshine trope I have ever read. While I did enjoy and like the book, I wouldn't say I loved it. I loved their relationship though especially the latter part; I found the stubbornness quite amusing.

Photo of Ana Luiza
Ana Luiza@anaelin
4 stars
Mar 1, 2024

4,5 ⭐️ Meu Deus que casal lindo sério. A Mariana Zapata não erra nunca. Esse é um romance bem diferente dos outros dela, a Luna é a personagem mais diferente que já vi nos livros da Mariana. A vida dela é e foi muito sofrida, deu tudo por suas irmãs e foi tratada do jeito que foi. Senti muito por ela, torci muito por sua felicidade. Mariana consegue como ninguem te fazer conectar com seus personagens. Que lindoooooooooo

Photo of Lynn Braden
Lynn Braden@ftbooklover
4 stars
Dec 3, 2023

Luna Allen really likes her boss, Mr. Cooper, but when he brings Lucas Ripley into their car restoration business as a second boss, she tries her best to keep Mr. C's and Rip's arguments from turning into something physical. Luna has her own problems dealing with Rip's unreasonable expectations of her work, but she believes that everyone has a silver lining and is determined to find his. The more time they spend together, the more their feelings for each other grow, but secrets and lies threaten to tear their worlds apart.

Even at 616 pages, it seems as though some things in Luna and the Lie are rushed or glossed over, especially serious topics like child abuse, substance abuse, and PTSD. Also, several small time jumps throughout the book make it seem as though things have been left out of the plot. While the characters mostly come across as realistic, some of their actions are illogical based on their construction in the story. Even with these issues, Luna and the Lie successfully develops a slow burn romance between the protagonists, and grabs the reader right from the very first page. Overall Luna and the Lie is an emotional roller coaster that is difficult to put down.

+10
Photo of Stacey Nicole
Stacey Nicole@staysea
5 stars
Nov 28, 2023

A beautifully written frustrating at times slow burn romance. Mariana Zapata is the queen of this style. This is going to be a book I reread multiple times

Photo of Martha McLendon
Martha McLendon@marthaymc
5 stars
Jul 31, 2023

Another hit by Zapata! I could not put it down

Photo of Michaella
Michaella @zebra4188
4 stars
May 22, 2023

3.5

Photo of Megan BV
Megan BV@megplantparm

The part of my brain that wants a big strong man to go all caveman on me loved this. The rest of me was a little uncomfortable.

Photo of jupiter
jupiter@toryvega
4 stars
Mar 2, 2023

okay the first half was 😴😴😴 but the end ?? mr ripley my man !!! 😩🙏 him and lenny’s cameos carried it for me. this book is crazy long for no reason and yeah luna has her 🙄 moments but lunarip were fun 🤷 bumping this up to 4 stars cos rip got to me in the epilogue

Photo of Samaa
Samaa@samaash
4 stars
Feb 9, 2023

This was good. It was really good and I loved it. Maybe wanted to see more stuff but it was okay and I’m not gonna complain because it’s 5 AM and I really need to sleep instead of writing this but Luna and Rip’s relationship is really great and worth reading about. Anyone can see and admire Luna’s heart because she is really the sweetest kindest girl I’ve ever read about and Rip might be a pain in the head but he is a good man. I have to say I started to get bothered by the age gab but other than that this book was really good.

+2
Photo of 🧸
🧸@lamiaa
4 stars
Feb 1, 2023

reread: 19/01/2023– 22/01/2023 ★ ★ ★ ★ 4 stars for rip only bc I had this sudden realization that I don't like mz's writing. maybe bc I read most of her books and they all had this same pattern in writing which really pissed me off. why does she write long useless paragraphs detailing every thing that's already explained multiple times..? I'm tired. first read: 16/03/2022– 18/03/2022  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I enjoyed every part of this book ngl it was the longest I've ever read and one of the best books. I love luna sm I'd give her the world if I could 😭.

Photo of Jasmine
Jasmine@lovelyximperfect
5 stars
Jan 21, 2023

4.5-5 Stars This was incredible, ahh Luna and Rip I don't even know what to say other than I enjoyed the hell out of it and fell hard for these two<33333333333

Photo of Kasey Montagnat
Kasey Montagnat@kaseymontagnat
5 stars
Jan 2, 2023

miss mariana never misses it’s 5am and I couldn’t put it down

Photo of Ashley Janssen
Ashley Janssen@aninterestingidea
5 stars
Oct 18, 2022

Love me a good, slow burn.

Photo of Yami🌷
Yami🌷@raisyxlilo
5 stars
Sep 24, 2022

Mariana Zapata lo volvió a hacer, como con cada libro que leo de ella terminé enamorada de la mayoría de los personajes. Luna Allen se suma a mi lista de protagonistas más fuertes y valientes que he leído porque no importa cuando dura haya sido la vida con ella siempre supo ser fuerte y salir adelante🤧 Lucas Ripley por favor que hermoso, lo amé mucho. Siempre preocupandose por Luna y protegiendola, pero sobre todo amandola en secreto es que es perfecto🥰 Y bueno, es necesario decir que me quede con ganas de más porque los momentos de ellos como pareja siempre son cortos pero hermosos😭😭 PD: Ya quiero leer el libro de Lenny y espero ver un pequeño vistazo de Luna y Rip💗

Photo of cris 🫀
cris 🫀@crislvsbooks
4 stars
Sep 19, 2022

Como buen libro de Mariana Zapata, claro que no me decepcionó. No sé en qué momento se me fueron 628 páginas pero lo único que sé con seguridad es que valieron totalmente la pena. Luna es la protagonista más pura y buena que he leído en mucho tiempo, sin una gota de maldad y dando todo de ella sin recibir nada a cambio y sin pedirlo. Me rompía el corazón cada vez que dejaba que alguien la pisoteara, especialmente sus hermanas. Luna es el claro ejemplo de una hermana mayor, todo lo que hizo por sus tres hermanas, todo lo que dejó de hacer por ella para dárselos a las otras tres. Y aún así, Kyra y Thea no le supieron agradecer. En cambio Lily >>> Por otro lado tenemos a Ripley. Al principio dudaba un poco si en realidad me iba a gustar, porque trataba con demasiada frialdad a Luna. Pero QUE HOMBRE. Estuvo ahí para Luna todo el tiempo que ella lo necesitó, la cuidó y fue su soporte en todo momento. Ambos me parecieron perfectos juntos, y sí, tuvimos poco tiempo de ellos como pareja pero el proceso de enamorarse fue simplemente hermoso. Cuando Rip comenzó a mostrarle sus verdaderas intenciones a Luna me tenía con corazones en lo ojos, sin duda fue lo mejor.

Photo of ♡
@blooms
1 star
Sep 16, 2022

this one is just not for me

Photo of elle t
elle t@ellereadz
4 stars
Aug 25, 2022

if your thinking abt reading this, DO IT!!! He had dimples, he opened doors for her, paid for her food and dates ALWAYS, he had tattoos, he would scare off all her other dates so he could have her, beat the shit outta her cousin for her, he put one of her necklaces on a keychain. His only red flag was that he had major daddy issues, but I spimply don’t give a fuck. I can fix him 🤩🤩🤩🤩

Photo of Kennedy MacINNES
Kennedy MacINNES@bookswithken
3.5 stars
Aug 24, 2022

While it was a good book and had that classic MZ feel, something felt off with some of the events in the story that I’m not sure I’m the biggest fan of them. Typically I could look over some thing’s like that but the events just felt a little more fake and slightly weird. Overall I still really liked this book!

Photo of val
val@goaskval
4 stars
Aug 24, 2022

te amo mariana zapata. te amo luna allen. tengo sentimientos encontrados con este libro porque siento que es ligeramente diferente al resto pero a la vez contiene la gran esencia de todos los libros de MZ. Me gustó pero no me encantó como otros. Pero lo importante… ¿Lo disfruté? Claro que sí, de principio a fin.

Photo of char🫠
char🫠@charchar33
4 stars
Aug 22, 2022

This book is not one of my favorite Mariana Zapata books it was still good though you do need to have patience while reading this because it is slow The groveling is phenomenal 10/10 put in the top 5 of best grovels in romance books (This book has tropes such as age gap (15 years), workplace romance, grumpy x sunshine, and boss x employee this book does mention topic(s) such as abuse)

Highlights

Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

In that moment, and for the rest of my life, I knew that nothing would ever be as necessary as this man in front of me, who would sabotage my dates and make me food because he knew I couldn’t cook and mostly because he saw me for who I wanted to be. For who I tried to be even when I did things that weren’t very nice. This man, Lucas Ripley, who was just as much of a taped together puzzle as I was.

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Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

He’d upped his game from bringing me donuts to… a flower. A flower that made my throat tighten up even as I told myself that I knew why he’d done it.

Because of the guilt.

The first flower anyone had ever bought me was because of guilt.

I had to let out a deep breath at that.

I had told him—hadn’t I told him?—that I wanted to go back to us being what we should have been from the beginning?

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Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

“I forgive you, Rip, I really do. I can’t imagine the stress you were under, and I appreciate that you feel bad for what you said. You had no idea I couldn’t care less that you knew what I did before I told you. But I never thought you would tell me to leave you alone. That you would push me away, and that’s what hurt me. Because I grew up being told to leave people alone. I want you to be happy, and I want to be happy too. And none of this lately has been doing that. It just makes me sad. So I think we’re better off just keeping things the way they always should have been. Like you’re my boss, and I paint your cars for you, and that’s it.”

This highlight contains a spoiler
Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

Luna,” he growled through his teeth, taking another step forward. That big body seeming to expand before my eyes. “It’s my business. You are my business.”

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Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

Me and Rip.

Friends.

I’d take it. I’d take it every day of the year, forever.

Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

But it was all the truth. I just… wanted somebody. Not just anyone, but someone special. A best friend and a lover. A partner. A life partner. I was fine being alone, but I didn’t want to be lonely, and there was a clear difference.

Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

His left cheek twitched. Then his right one did too, and in the single blink of an eye, Lucas Ripley was smiling at me.

Straight white teeth. That not-thin but not-full mouth dark pink and pulled up at the edges. He even had a dimple.

Rip had a freaking dimple.

Photo of SG
SG@sgmacdonald

But he waited until I’d opened my front door before he drove off.

I went to my room, changed out of my clothes and then, then, I cried.

For Grandma Genie.

For my sisters.

For the mom I had never met.

For the past, the present, and the future.

But mostly for myself.

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Photo of Charlie
Charlie @charlielikesbooks

I want my goddamn Luna back,"

this man is gonna be the death of me