Did you read Too Good To Be True by Carola Lovering and have questions? Need spoilers or a plot summary? Check out my Spoilers and Plot Summary for Too Good to Be True and let’s discuss!
Plot Summary for Too Good to Be True
Too Good to Be True by Carola Lovering
Published on March 2, 2021 by St. Martin’s Press
I read this book in March 2021. Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy for possible review.
Skye, a book editor in her twenties who suffers from OCD(Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), meets Burke, a guy in his forties, while on a weekend trip. After a whirlwind romance, they are engaged.
But … whoops. Burke already has a wife named Heather. He reveals in his therapy diaries that Skye was just a weekend fling until he learned how rich she was. He plans to marry her and then divorce her so her can pay off his debts.
Shortly after the wedding, Skye’s best friend Andie accidentally gets an email that Burke meant to send to someone else. (BIG coincidence!) Burke has attached his therapy diary entries which describe his entire plan to defraud Skye.
Burke and his wife Heather grew up in the same small town. When Heather was a teenager, her younger brother Gus drowned.
Heather blames a woman named Libby for her brother’s death. Heather used to babysit for Libby’s two kids, and the day Gus died Libby was supposed to be watching him. After Gus died, Heather and Burke became a couple.
After reading the email that Burke mistakenly sent to Andie, Skye learns that Burke transferred $2 million out of their joint account. She confronts him about the money. Burke admits he’s married but denies stealing the money or writing the email and therapy diaries.
Skye tells her wealthy father everything and he promises to “take care of it.” Skye shows her dad a photo of Burke’s wife that she found online and he says …. he knows the woman in the photo.
It’s Heather, who used to babysit for Skye and her brother. Yes, Libby is Skye’s mother and died of cancer when Skye was a teenager.
Burke sends Skye his real diary which reveals that he was involved in Heather’s plan to trick Skye. He wasn’t supposed to go through with the wedding, but he fell in love with Skye. Burke tells Heather he wants a divorce.
Heather recalls how, after the death of her brother, she stalked Skye on social media for years. Then she made a plan to get her revenge for her brother’s death. She asked Burke to go to couples therapy. Then Heather asked Burke’s boss to fire him. She sent Burke to the Hamptons to meet Skye. Then she stole the money and then gave it to an elderly neighbor, who made Heather the beneficiary of her will. Finally, Heather pretended to “accidentally” send the faked diary entries to Andie.
Skye is still in love with Burke, so she tells Heather to choose between the money she stole … or Burke. If Heather will let Burke be with Skye, she can keep the $2 million. Skye feels her family owes Heather that for the death of her brother.
Skye refuses to testify against Burke and a judge clears him of the charges. Heather buys a house with the money she stole and sets her sights on a handsome rich guy.
Spoiler Discussion for Too Good to Be True
Too Good to Be True offered some fun twists and turns and I really liked the multiple narrators. That doesn’t always work for me in a book, but it worked here, I think. The way the reveals came one after the other kept the pace moving.
Did you like any of these characters?
I felt bad for Skye. Burke was a bit blah. Because we got so much of Heather’s backstory, I did feel for her. It was a bit weird to me that Skye loved Burke so much that she’d forgive him for being married, lying to her, etc. Especially since they’d known each other such a short time.
My main plot question:
Libby offered Heather a huge check after Gus’s death, and Heather ripped it up. Why did she suddenly change her mind and decide to get revenge on Libby’s family? Why didn’t she just take the money in the first place rather than go to all that trouble to steal it?
Another Issue:
Was Skye that undesirable because of her OCD? I feel like the book makes her out as gorgeous but kind of too damaged to find a significant other. As someone who does suffer from mild OCD, I have a few issues with its portrayal in the book. Stress definitely intensifies my OCD, but I do wonder if it can just appear and then completely disappear like it does at the end of book. I guess everyone is different.
Join the Discussion!
What are your thoughts? Our discussions are lively and friendly and all opinions are welcome.
Looking for more spoiler posts? Check out my full list here!
Looking for similar books to Too Good To Be True?
Try Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier, another book about a couple carrying out a con on a rich woman.
I also have a whole post on Con Artist Thrillers.
Finally, Carola Lovering has a new book Bye, Baby. It’s NOT a thriller, but I really enjoyed it
I just finished this book! Overall, I enjoyed it. To answer your question – yes, OCD and certain other disorders can go into “remission.” The way Skye’s remission occurred so suddenly is odd, though, in my opinion.
My other major problem was with the legal bits at the end. If I’m not mistaken, there shouldn’t have been an impending full criminal trial or a need for testimony since Burke was pleading guilty, right?? I’m also not sure Skye’s withdrawal of her testimony would be enough to knock the charges down to petit larceny, but I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know, the whole legal aspect just seemed odd and a little too tidy and convenient.
Speaking of convenient – things lined up way too well for Heather and her Big Plans. It seems like for her to successfully pull all this off, she needed a series of specific coincidences and strokes of good luck to occur (like her husband with a background in finance never EVER changing his banking password, really?) A much more reliable plan would have been, I dunno – a few years at community college and a real job? Just a suggestion!
Overall, though, I loved how dark and twisty this book was – and maybe how much I detest Heather is a credit to the author. The twist with the journals being fake smacked me right in the face, I never saw it coming! I adored the ending, but it did make me wish that Heather had just left Burke for someone wealthier, since she didn’t seem too bothered about their divorce in the end anyway (and neither were their children).
(And yes my name is also Heather. However I am not a scheming gold digger.)
Haha hi (nice) Heather!
As someone who has had OCD as long as I can remember, I agree that it can flare up and settle down. And the more stable and stress-free things are the better I feel. But I found it kind of annoying to suggest the magical cure was… love!
Yes, there were a lot of coincidences but I also enjoyed the book overall. Heather was a great character and I did like the complete turn things took when you got another point of view.