Review: The Opportunist

Olivia Kaspen is a sharp tongued manipulator used to always getting what she wants. With just one exception-Caleb Drake, the one she foolishly let slip away.

After a chance encounter brings Caleb back into her life, Olivia finds herself wanting a second chance with her first love, and asking herself how far she is willing to go to get him back. Her only problem is a red head named Leah, Caleb's new love.

Olivia must fight for what was once hers, and in the process discover that sometimes love falls short of redemption.

Title: The Opportunist (Love Me With Lies ~ Book 1)
Author: Tarryn Fisher | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website
Publication Date: November 14 2011
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 429 Pages
Add it to your TBR Pile: Goodreads
Buy It: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Source: Purchased (Kindle Edition)
Cover Love: Love this cover, and every cover in the series is perfect.
Point of View: 1st person, following Olivia

My Rating: 5 Stars

I am broken.  I am but a shell of the woman that I was before I started reading The Opportunist.  My heart was put into a vice, squeezed, and then ripped painfully from my chest.  oooOOOooohhh the emotions that I not only felt while reading, but the ones that have continued to stay with me after.  I am a mess.  The only way I am going to be able to write a coherent review is to give my opinions and thoughts about the main characters.  There is no way I would at this time be able to put my full emotions into words, and then to string those words into sentences and paragraphs.

“I fell in love underneath a tree.”

Olivia.  I love her, but man does she has the largest self destruct button I have ever seen.  She is closed off, ruthless, and can be flat out mean.  But this is the Olivia that she shows to the outside world.  We are in her head, we know that when she makes a bad decision or a terrible choice... we know the guilt she feels about it.  It doesn't stop her from doing it, but the guilt is there.  I felt for her.

It has to say something about the level of excellent writing that Tarryn Fisher has managed to produce, for me to say I like Olivia.  Normally her type of character would have me wanting to pull my hair out.  But those feelings never came.  Did I agree with all of her choices?  Not at all.  But did I understand why she was making them?  Yes.  And that means that I understood her as a character, I got the mess of emotions that were going around in her head.  I understood her.

“And my personal favorite, your lips."  He smiled as a pink flush crept up my neck.  "Full and sensual, puckered, and always turned down at the corners.  They kind of make me want to kiss them until they smile.”

Caleb.  *sigh*  If I actually use the word swoon will you still take my review seriously?  Because honestly, I can't think of another word to use.  He is far from perfect, and to be honest I blame him almost as much as I blame Olivia for the inevitable outcomes that happen.  But, saying that... I think he tried his best.  There is only so much that you can do when dealing with somebody as closed off as Olivia.  But he never stops loving her.  No matter what happens, no matter what is thrown at him by her, he loves her wholeheartedly, and continues to do so to the very last page.

“She is playing games with someone who knows how to play them better.”

Leah.  She is a bitch.  I hate her and I hope for very bad things to happen to her.  Is this harsh?  Nope, I don't think so.  Olivia may be a product of her past, her closed off nature allowing her to make poor choices, but Leah is just a manipulative cow.  A mean, evil, manipulative cow.  Book Two in the Love Me With Lies series, Dirty Red, is from Leah's point of view.  I'm not sure what I think about that.  I know one thing for sure though, I will never like her.  I don't care if being in her head shows me a completely different side of her.  I will not like her.

“Life balances itself on a precarious ledge, we can stay safe up high or propel off the edge.”

Okay, now for the ending.  I have always openly admitted to crying when I read, I am a very emotional reader.  I have happy tears, I have sad tears, and in this case I had big fat ugly cry tears.  Even thinking about it now, my eyes are filling up again.  There are just too many emotions, and this again shows the level of writing that is taking place.  I have some major love for these characters, and my heart is sadly broken right now.

I was going to start Dirty Red before I wrote this review but I felt this review deserved to be written first.  I have no idea what to expect in book two, but I am sure there will still be plenty of twists and turns and roller coaster ups and downs.  But I didn't want it to sway the emotions I had when I finished The Opportunist.  But, I am now off to start it.  This time I am prepared with plenty of tissues.

“I have finally accepted that there are consequences to every action.  I earned them and they are rightfully mine.  There is no time to make bad decisions.  Every step is precious.  The definition of living is mine.”

MORE QUOTES FROM THE OPPORTUNIST