The Lies We Told by Diane Chamberlain - Review

Synopsis via Diane's Website:

Maya and Rebecca Ward are both accomplished physicians, but that's where the sisters' similarities end. As teenagers, they witnessed their parents' murder, but it was Rebecca who saved Maya from becoming another of the gunman's victims. The tragedy left Maya cautious and timid, settling for a sedate medical practice with her husband, Adam, while Rebecca became the risk taker.

After a devastating hurricane hits the coast of North Carolina, Rebecca and Adam urge Maya to join them in the relief effort. To please her husband, Maya finally agrees. She loses herself in the care and transport of victims, but when her helicopter crashes into raging floodwaters, there appears to be no survivors.

Forced to accept that Maya is gone, Rebecca and Adam turn to one another first for comfort, then in passion, unaware that, miles from civilization, Maya is injured and trapped with strangers she's not certain she can trust. Away from the sister who has always been there to save her, now Maya must find the courage to save herself-unaware that the life she knew has changed forever.

The Lies We Told, is nothing like the normal book's I read which are mostly YA Fiction and Romance...this one is more on the adult side, with the characters being in there mid 30's, though without violence, sex or dark language – I think it's a wonderful read for older teens as well as adults. (Sorry this is so long, I had a lot to say apparently.)

The Lies We Told is a story of sisters, Maya and Rebecca; One strong, independent, ready to take on the world – a fighter; the other timid, and shy, and basically afraid of her own shadow – a woman in need of a good mans love in order to feel complete.

Each sharing a past, and as well as lie, neither has shared with the other. Each of them an orphan, with parents killed by a gun men, so many years ago. Rebecca just 18 when her life goes from the steady calm to the unsteady and painful, forced to put her own life on hold, and wanting to, for the love of her 14 year old sister Maya. Maya, whom was in the car while her parents were shot, that fateful day, is thankful to her beautiful sister, for allowing her to not have to enter child protective services.

Each sister, Maya and Rebecca, resenting the other, though they love each other as fearlessly as the wind blows during a tornado, each willing to put there own lives on the line for the other, yet the omissions they share run deep, neither has talked about there parents death – not wanting to hurt the other omitting the truth seems to be the best alternative....

As Maya and Rebecca grow, each turning into doctors; Rebecca joins the DIDA (Doctors International Disaster Aid), jumping around the world, always looking for a new adventure, a new way to help. Rebecca, on the other hand, settles into a private practice, she's a pediatrician and loves it, she also falls in love with a wonderful man Adam; though they are struggling, having a child has not been easy but it's one of Adam's life long goals, he being a orphan with no siblings, wants a blood relative. Maya and Adam love each other like the ocean loves the sand, with a moving current that runs deep, often pulling away only be drawn back in again.

After a pair of “sister” storms, Rebecca as well as Adam are sent to the coast, to help though the DIDA – this is Adam's first “mission” after having joined on a part time basis, at Rebecca's prompting. Maya stays behind, as always – she's always been more suited to the calm and quiet of her practice, than the disorderly chaos that is everywhere in an emergency situation. But when Adam calls her on the Satellite phone, telling her of the devastation, and there lack of a pediatrician, he asks Maya to join them...and wanting to please him, she gets on a plane, and then a helicopter to fly down. Little does she know that, the rocky helicopter trip she takes while flying in, is a great foreshadow to the way that her life is about to twist, buck and rock in the coming weeks.

Maya, settles into the work, just like they all do – until one day she meets a little boy whose critical, and as she's wheeling him to the helicopter for his own trip outta there, her boss advises they need her aboard, it's only a short flight, and then she will return to the chaos which she now feels at home in, and to Adam's loving arms – but there's no time to tell him what's going on, before she knows it she's on he helicopter taking off. But something goes wrong, and the helicopter crashes.

Day's go by, Adam and Rebecca are trying to stay positive, but everyone they found so far, from the helicopter is dead, it's not looking good for Maya, with the swelling river, the alligators, and the precarious way the helicopter landed. They, left with little choice, focus on the work, unwilling to think about a woman they both love possibly taken from them with so many unsaid things between them.

Little do they know that Maya is alive, and struggling in her own way to stay live, surrounded by people she does not know, guns that seem to be laying everywhere, and injuries she's not sure she can recover from with out medical assistance.

Though only miles apart, each sister struggles to survive, each in a very different way – Rebecca has Adam to turn to, for assistance, guidance and love; Maya on the other hand is alone...which, she has never been before, not totally, she's unsure, but capable, she's positive she can get though this disaster and make it back to the one's she loves, she just not sure how!

Can Maya make it back, and if she can will her life ever be the same as it was before? Will Adam and Rebecca, turning to each other in grief turn into more? To find out, you must pick up The Lies We Tell!

I honestly LOVED Maya, though timid and scared during the first parts of the book especially, she is strong like the wind that rocks the cradle, ever so gently. Her gentleness, kindness and consummate love for those around her, including the children that she heals, is all inspiring. She's the kind of character that you might aspire to be more like...though she has plenty of self doubts, and struggles with her inner fears you can always tell, or at least I could, just how much her inner strength shines though. I would equate Maya to the sun filtering though a darkened window, at first you can only see her beauty shining though the cracks, her strength is hidden – but once the blinds start to raise, she's a spit fire woman whom, when she sets her mind to it, she can concur the world! I admired Maya, and in away I aspire to be more like her.

Then there's Rebecca, honestly – I had a hard time with Rebecca, I wanted to like her, and while I know why she is the way she is, she was NOT a character I came to love, though in the end I did respect her, her strength and her ability never to settle to always be pushing forward, became a beacon! Rebecca is rough, hard around the edges, she's like an Oleander – beautiful on the outside, stunning even – yet, she's hardened, deadly almost, at least inside. She has her own struggles though out the story, and most of the time it seemed like she just wanted her sister out of the way, which I hated! But in the end she softened to become more like a rose, still with it's thorns yet able to let in the light.

Adam was the last of the main characters with in The Lies We Told, and while he seems like an ok guy, I did not feel as though I knew him well enough to explain who he is, ultimately this is the story of the sisters, Adam's just the hubby. You can tell he's a gentle and strong man, but he's had his struggles too, and ultimately he seemed a bit selfish, to me – always trying to get what he wanted above and beyond what Maya needed. But then again, during his tender moments, which there were a lot of, he's gentle and kind, loving and beautiful. I adored the relationship between Adam and Maya, it's a love like not many find – hard and beautiful all at the same time.

Bottom Line – The Lies We Told, is a book I stayed up to finish, it's action packed; a page turner that you don't, almost can't put down until it's over, if your anything like me, at least – I had to know what the future could be for these two beautiful and ultimately amazing woman. Though, I have to say, the ending for me was a very hard pill to swallow, I understood why it had to end the way it did...but that does not, at all, mean I wanted it to end this way.

The Lies We Told ultimately left me with a promise that even though things happen with in the confines of your life, that define who you are – you do not always have to be defined only by them, the things that happen with in our lives do help to make us who we are, but it's up to us to push past those confines and break free!

Diane Chamberlain is a new author for me, and I was pleasantly surprised by her masterful story telling ways! She captured my attention, as well as my heart, she pulled me into a world, into a life like none I have ever had the privilege of seeing before, and provided a fascinating, yet heartbreaking look at families. I saw bits and pieces of my own relationship with my sister sprinkled though out this novel, though my own sister is younger, she has always taken on the “older sister” roll, in our lives. I am more the Maya type, timid and shy – she's more like Rebecca, always willing to take on the world, always wanting to push further, for more – she never settles, and I look up to and admire that. I give The Lies We Told a 4 mushrooms and will be putting Diane Chamberlain on my radar, I am very much looking forward to reading more from this author – she's got a passionate voice, that should NOT be ignored!

The Lies We Told
By: Diane Chamberlain
400 Pages
Published: May 25, 2010
Publisher: Mira
Received via Tricia Carr at Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. (Thank you!)