Bed of Lies

The McRaes #3

by Teresa Hill

New from the bestselling author of "Edge of Heaven" and "Unbreak My Heart"-a touching contemporary novel of family secrets and hidden longings...
Since running away from a broken home, Julie Morrison's built a nice life for herself in Memphis: a good career and an upcoming marriage to a man who loves her. Soon, she can finally leave her past behind. Until running into Zach McRae takes her back to Baxter to face the family situation she spent eight years trying to forget-and the friend-turned-lover who needs her as much as she needs him...

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 4, 2003

Reviews

[Mary McFarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute but I really felt like it was just thrown together at the last minuteman the main story was just how often they could have sex together. I wanted more about his panic attacks and way more about Peter and Julie together and the trouble with her parents. It really just seemed like this one wasn't planned out very well

[Diana Hockley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I liked this book, it wasn't as good, in my opinion, as Twelve Days and Edge of Heaven.

Julie and Zack have issues with their pasts which can only be resolved by rolling around the bed on a regular basis. The sex is hot and carries on for pages at a time and apparently instrumental in curing Zack's panic attacks. Zack sees a counselor and Julie supposedly looks after her brother, Peter, who has issues about living with drunken parents and being abandoned by his sister.

It didn't ring true for me that Julie would not contact Peter once in eight years, but he accepts her back so quickly after that. They rarely talk, though when Julie forgets about Zack and sex for five minutes and speaks to Peter, it is a reasonably sane conversation. In effect, there is very little "one on one" between Peter and Julie, a relationship which is skimmed over and resolved far too easily.

Although Julie was quite prepared to marry a man she didn't love and lie about her past - how she expected to keep that up I'll never know, and her future mother-in-law was, quite rightly suspicious of her - she got all silly about being in love with Zack. This is, of course, traditional with romance novels with the heroine waffling and having doubts about nothing in particular and the hero running for his life, but in this instance, it irritated me. It was so unnecessary!

May be the other two books - especially Twelve Days - were so outstanding that this book had trouble measuring up. I felt Bed of Lies could have been so much more if an extra side issue or two were added and the interaction between Julie and her brother was explored in more detail.

***

[Sara Luck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as the first two, but I knew that going in, since this is my second time reading books 1, 2, and 3. I think the problem with this one is how quickly Zach went from one fiance to the next. After growing up with Julie, he all of a sudden realizes he loves her and she is "the one"? Maybe if he had always loved her, but then she left at 18 and then they ran into each other again in Memphis it would make more sense? I don't know. Either way, I still loved it. I loved that he was strong enough to get help for his panic, strong enough and patient enough to be there for Julie. I will say that another drawback of this book is that it feels like the book just suddenly ends. I mean it just says 2 months later they still love each other, she says yes, amd the end. It would have been nice to find out what happens next. Do they go to Cincinnati? Julie's parents get 2 years...which will put Peter at 15 when they get out, so what happens to Peter? Does he go back woth his parents? What about the house, does Sam actually buy it? Just a lot of unanswered questions with this book . The first 2 were rounded out perfectly, but not this one...but there is one more book...Grace's story...maybe the author will throw in some of the answers in book 4.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first two in the series; I think I felt uncomfortable thinking about Zach as a grown-up man with a sex life after seeing him in book 1 as a cute little 5 year-old. The male leads were more realistic in the first two books in the series.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the family but not sure of this story

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good romance. Why it was part of a 3 book Christmas collection is beyond me. There was about a page of Christmas in all 300 and some pages of the book. The main characters came from abusive families. The male character had been adopted by a good family and when he was a young adult his birth father got out of prison and it caused all kinds of psychological problems for Zach (the male main character). He falls in love with the girl down the street from the house he grew up in. Julie ran away from her abusive mother and step father when she was 18 and left a 6 year old brother behind. When Peter was 14 his parents were thrown in jail for embezzlement and Julie came home to care for Peter. The story works through their problems and how they help each other with love and understanding. Love scenes were a little graphic. If that bothers you, this might not be the book for you, or you can skip over those parts because the rest of the book is actually very touching. I enjoyed the book thoroughly.

[Debbie Oxier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teresa Hill continues to amaze me with the way she can get into her characters' heads and describe all they are thinking and feeling in the pages of a book. Julie and Zach are no different. Both had terrible home lives but Zach was fortunate to be adopted by two loving people who did everything they could to make up for his Rocky start. And he was always there for Julie, his little sister's good friend. Now they are all grown up and fate throws them together again only this time they need each other to survive. Great love story. Heartwarming characters. Loved it!

[Biba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't as good as the first two in this series. I wish Julie would have made an appearance in the previous books, then I would have known her better. I liked Zack and I liked Julie, but I didn't love them. Their stories just seemed resolved too easily. It could have been better in my opinion. Though, I'm looking forward to reading Grace's book.

[Kelly Dinterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good talked a lot about trust and dealing with past problems and bad family settings and overcoming these problems. About letting themselves love each other instead of running away from what scares them.

[Weaam · Rating 1 out of 5]

The amount of plot holes in this novel...
Not to mention the cheesiness....
No character development whatsoever!
I really hoped that (by a miracle) the guy kills his father at the end. Even though I was well aware that it was impossible, that was the only thing that kept me going.

[Jess Van Dyne-Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

Completely fluffy and a summer read. Not bad, but not really memorable.

[Keysha Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

she does it again. she made me tear up, drew me in to this world and made me love these characters again. I don't want the series to end. loved it.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read all the stories in this series and loved them all. This book was very moving and about trust and depending on that one person who you know is "The One".

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good one.

[willaful · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review at my blog: http://willaful.wordpress.com/2013/12...

[Bernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bed of Lies review

Bed of Lies is the third book in the McRae series written by author Teresa Hill. This one is about the son, Zach.

[Debbie "Buried in Her TBR Pile"]

Christmas with the McRaes: Books 1-3

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series a lot.