Randy Susan Meyers

Traces the intersecting lives of three women five years after a fateful love affair, including Tia, who gave up her baby for adoption; Caroline, the adoptive mother; and Juliette, who views her husband's affair differently upon learning about the baby.

A Novel

The Comfort of Lies

Melissa Palmer

Book #32 Read in 2013
The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers

Nathan is having an affair with Tia. He ends it when Tia announces that she is pregnant and will not have the abortion that Nathan wants. Nathan decides to try to put his marriage to Juliette back together and ends contact with Tia. Tia has the baby and gives her up for adoption. Peter and Caroline adopt the baby and once a year, Tia gets a card with updates and pictures from Caroline. 

Fast forward five years later, Tia sends pictures to Nathan. Juliette opens the card and is devastated that once again, her husband has kept things from her. Juliette contacts Caroline and meets her and the young girl. This sends a series of events in motion--Nathan and Tia get back in contact, they meet their daughter, Caroline and Peter are worried that they want the baby back...events that Juliette probably did not think of as being possible outcomes from her actions.

This book is told in alternating viewpoints--Juliette's, Tia's, Caroline's. This format allows readers to really understand the feelings and motivations behind their pivotal characters and their actions. This book was an engaging read and I enjoyed it a lot. I received a copy from Book Browse in exchanging for participating in their upcoming online discussion.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Tanya Sutton

Susan Randy Meyer's newest novel, The Comfort of Lies, revolves around the conception, birth, and adoption of a little girl, and the effect this has on the women it impacts.

Though the heart of the story is the drama that unfolds around the discovery of a child that was the product of an affair, the real power of The Comfort of Lies is its examination of motherhood as portrayed by the three female protagonists. Is Tia's decision to give her daughter up for adoption because of the pain she felt at her lover's abandonment a commendable sacrifice or selfish? Does Caroline's honest assessment of her unhappiness in motherhood make her a bad mother, and is this compounded by the fact that her child is adopted? Is Juliette's connection to this child legitimate, and to what extent should she expect involvement in the life of the child her husband abandoned? These questions are left up to the reader to answer, though Meyers paints a sympathetic view of all of the characters, sometimes to a fault.

The writing was unremarkable and the story felt predictable, both in the resolution and the behavior of the characters. Not a single character was well-developed or particularly likable and, despite Meyers' attempts to make these women seem strong, the most important decisions in their lives are heavily influenced, albeit sometimes indirectly, by the men in their lives.

Overall, I found the realistic portrayal of infidelity and motherhood compelling enough to finish the novel, but I didn't feel much sympathy for or interest in the characters themselves. I'd recommend this book to someone who enjoys family dramas, perhaps, but not to someone looking for a book that packs a strong emotional punch.

The Comfort of Lies A Novel

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