All That Lies Within by Lynn Ames

Beautiful movie star, Dara Thomas, has every material thing she could possibly want. Both men and women practically throw themselves at her feet. She is one of the USA’s sexiest and hottest actresses of the time. Dara is also hiding a secret. She is Pulitzer Prize winning fiction author Constance Darrow. Dara is everyone’s eye candy, Constance allows her to be her true self. Dara has spent most of her life hiding her true self from the world.

Professor Rebecca Minton teaches American Literature. Rebecca is a huge fan of Constance Darrow’s works and is secretly in love with her, although she’s never seen or met her. Rebecca and Constance begin to correspond with each other. A phrase in one of Constance’s letters leads to Rebecca making a startling discovery about the author. Will this be the end of their correspondence? The events that follow on are about to change the lives of both women forever.

You can carry on as though nothing is happening, but you can’t hide yourself from the one person who can truly see right through you. Eventually something or someone has to give. But what or who?

I’ve read all of Lynn Ames’s books and loved each one of them. Without exception, they are all on my re-read shelves, this latest one will be joining the rest.

The story is a well written and heart warming page turner from start to finish. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way that kept me feverishly turning the pages until the end.

This is by no means a straight forward romance. There is a heartfelt background story on both main characters. Both Dara and Rebecca have issues stemming right back to their childhoods. Lynn Ames has given us their backgrounds seamless woven into the present day story. Neither woman had an easy life, far from it. But, both women have made the most of their lives, striving to succeed in one way or another.

I thoroughly enjoyed my glimpse into academia and the movie world. It’s nice to read a story with a romance that is a bit different to the norm. This is what I love about Lynn Ames’s books, always something different, with surprises along the way. The characters are all well formed and multidimensional and they interact really well together too. Dara and Rebecca are backed up by a cast of friends and colleagues to enhance the story and move it forward through to it’s beautiful ending.

As always with any Lynn Ames book, I have one complaint, I wanted more. I didn’t want the book to end. I hope we see more of Dara and Rebecca. But, I’ve said that about all of Lynn’s books. Sometimes we are lucky. Dara and Rebecca have a lot more to say.