The Brutal Truth

Very well written!

loved seeing these complex characters untwine. sapphic gaze. slow burn was worth it. their relationship didn’t feel superficial

One important thing to know about this romance story: it is a SLOW burn. In terms of pages of the novel and chronological time in the story. I've cut my lesfic teeth on femslash fanfic, so I'm very familiar with lesbian slowburn...but this one is up there on how long it took! The first half of the book is them getting to know each slowly, and then Maddie very slowly realizes she has romantic feelings. Maddie and Elena don't kiss until like at 80% of the book. There is no insta-love here, no fireworks or points of high drama where tear each other's clothes off or whatever. Given all that, I couldn't put this down once I read it. Lee Winter is clearly an accomplished writer at the top of her craft. Pacing is good, the dialogue is amazing, the descriptions of the fashion world, business world, NYC and Sydney are interesting, all the different plot lines are well balanced, and the secondary characters (Felicity, Perry, Natalii, Veronique) are endearing as well. And most importantly, the character development of Maddie and Elena throughout the book. Yes, their romance is a very slow burn, but the way their characters developed and evolved so that they could finally come together...was magnificent, and this is where Lee Winter absolutely shines.When I started this book I didn't know that it was developed from a Devil Wears Prada fanfic. I've read the novel, but I haven't read from the DWP fandom. Sure, there are several elements that are from DWP, most importantly the fashion world and the PA angles, but it really didn't feel like this was Miranda and Andrea. Lee Winter takes you deep into their Maddie and Elena's minds and hearts, and it is so, so well written.

I loved this book. I could not put it down. The writing was very good. The characters were believable. Very entertaining read.

Well, for those that enjoy the slow burn as a dance partner, you've met your match. 90%.... you have to read 90% of the book til this particular flower blooms, but it's worth the back and forth and the will they, won't they.Both characters, flaws and all, are lovable. Like a bird that has found a cactus to perch on, it is prickly in all the right spots and will keep you reading for the inevitable resolve, and phew! What a resolve! There were times in each chapter where I skipped a page or two... I don't like reading about all the things the character was thinking after the incident occurred. I'm sure there is a fancy saying for what I'm describing, but it's like when a criminal is caught and they give you that soliloquy about why they did it? Little bit unnecessary. I'm all for character analysis, but my attention only holds for about a paragraph or two if it's not a big reveal that I couldn't parse out on my own.Worth the read and will definitely pick up a few more books by this author.

Some things fall apart the second time you read/see them. Some things you just keep appreciating how sublime they are the more you read/see them. I just finished my 5th? 6th? time listening to the audio book and I am yet again blown away. For me, it's the characters and the meticulous writing that makes everything they do make sense for them. The audio book reader is very very good, so that helps, but the writing is amazing. It's mostly told from Maddie's point of view, rarely switching to Elena. One thing I latched onto this time were the scenes with Felicity, Elena's sidekick. Her scenes seemed funnier than ever to me this time around.Elena is lying to herself about several important things. These things drive the story. Maddie falls for Elena really quickly. Elena is not "nice". But you understand why Maddie falls. You understand why Elena falls. Such a delight. Each part of the story, I'm thinking, "I don't want this part to be over yet!"I guess one big compliment is there is a scene where Maddie fixates on the word "impossible". She totally misunderstands the true meaning of the context, the reader knows that, but you understand why she misinterpreted and she doesn't seem stupid. In a lesser work, you'd think, "I hate how she misunderstood that." In this book, you understand and kind of want to bash Elena for being so oblique. God I have that problem. I speak so precisely. What I say is exactly what I mean, yet it is so easy when the statements are heard less precisely for misunderstanding to occur. Obviously not the speaker's fault. We see Elena doing this, and it impedes the relationship and sends Maddie for a loop.

Fantastisch! Einfach nur fantastisch!!!THE BRUTAL TRUTH ist das erste Buch, welches ich von Lee Winter gelesen habe. Es wurde mir schon sehr lange von Amazon Kindle empfohlen, doch der Klappentext konnte mich zunächst nicht überzeugen. Die guten Bewertungen haben mich allerdings neugierig gemacht und ich wurde wahrlich nicht enttäuscht. Um das Lesevergnügen zu steigern, habe ich mir auch gleich das dazugehörige Hörbuch, gelesen von Angela Dawe, gekauft. Die Sprecherin liest die Geschichte derart überzeugend, dass ich das Gefühl hatte, inmitten des Geschehens zu sein. Sehr zu empfehlen!Lee Winter versteht es, eine Geschichte in Worte zu fassen, die den Leser berühren. Ich mag ihren Schreibstil und die Art, wie sie die Erzählung aufbaut. Vieles steht zwischen den Zeilen und verleiht der Geschichte eine spezielle Tiefe. Zudem sind die Handlungen spannend und ich konnte das Buch zeitweise nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Obwohl ich die Geschichte bereits vor einigen Wochen gelesen habe, kann ich mich noch immer an jedes Detail erinnern. Die Geschichte ist nicht flüchtig, wie viele andere Bücher, sondern sehr einprägsam.Ich möchte an dieser Stelle den Geschichtsverlauf nicht wiederholen, denn der wurde bereits ausreichend beschrieben. Damit das Buch spannend bleibt, sollte man auch nicht zu viel im Vorfeld wissen. Einige Aspekte, welche die Geschichte so besonders machen, möchte ich dennoch hervorheben:- Elena und Madeleine wurden von Frau Winter absolut perfekt und detailliert beschrieben. Die Chemie der beiden, komplett unterschiedlichen Frauen, stimmt von Anfang an. Das belebt die Geschichte und lässt den Leser mit fiebern. Die Dialoge zwischen den Beiden sind manchmal feurig, manchmal humorvoll, aber auch zärtlich.- Im Vordergrund der Erzählung steht zunächst nicht die Liebesgeschichte der Frauen. Das empfand ich als sehr angenehm, denn in den meisten Liebesgeschichten beschränkt sich die Erzählung auf die Gefühle der Protagonisten, was die Geschichte schnell eindimensional erscheinen lässt. Hier kann der Leser zwar bereits am Anfang eine gewisse "Spannung" und "Anziehung" spüren, doch diese wird erst mit der Zeit offenbar.- Die Autorin hat, neben den Hauptcharakteren, ein Umfeld geschaffen, das lebendig und aufregend ist. Egal, ob es sich dabei um die ehrgeizige Felicity, oder die Modeschöpferin Véronique oder deren Tochter handelt - die Personen wurden liebevoll gezeichnet und klug in Szene gesetzt.- Lee Winter hat eine sehr erotische und wirklich aufregende Sex-Szene erschaffen. Ich lese solche Szenen gerne, aber nur dann, wenn diese mit der restlichen Geschichte harmonieren. Es gibt nichts schlimmeres als den Versuch, durch sich ständig wiederholende Sex-Szenen eine emotionale Bindung zwischen den Protagonisten aufbauen zu wollen. Lee Winter hingegen hat diese Szene genau an die richtige Stelle platziert, was die Geschichte perfekt abrundet.The brutal truth ist damit eines der besten Bücher, das ich seit langer, langer Zeit gelesen habe. Ich kann es nur jedem empfehlen! Meine Hochachtung gilt auf jeden Fall der Autorin, Lee Winter, für dieses Meisterwerk!Anmerken möchte ich zum Schluss, dass einige Stellen im Buch für nicht Muttersprachler etwas mühsam sind. Aber zu einer guten Geschichte gehört eben auch eine gekonnte Ausdrucksweise. Daher habe ich es gerne in Kauf genommen zum besseren Verständnis, einige Sätze mehrmals zu lesen ;)

Super story, but it does take its time to unfold – 4 StarsMadeleine (Maddie) Grey finds that pursuing her dream career as a journalist in New York isn’t what she expected. Life in The Big Apple leaves her feeling strangely alienated. Maddie can never resist a good story though, and when she meets boss, Elena Bartell, Maddie becomes determined to uncover what lies beneath her icy façade…With themes of age-gap, workplace, and ice queen all interwoven into a story that takes the reader from New York to Australia, this is a romance with plenty to grab the attention. Both the lead characters are interesting, although it’s that of Elena that really takes centre stage. Introduced as a ruthless but extraordinarily successful business woman, the key to the story is how Maddie gradually chips-away at the hard-hearted image Elena projects to reveal the woman beneath.This is a slow-burn romance that really does take its time and, even though I generally enjoy this type of novel, I did find myself wanting to shake Maddie into action on more than one occasion. There is however much to recommend: The story is a good one, Elena Bartell’s character is a delight and, as always with a book by Lee Winter, the quality of writing and presentation is excellent.Overall: Entertaining, and Elena Bartell’s character is fabulous as the ice queen of the piece.

This book is about Maddie Grey working as a reporter in New York, she is unhappy and homesick and working the night shift in a rundown journal is not as exciting and important as she hopped for, every day she longs to be home (Australia)… that is until the journal she works for is bought by media mogul Elena Bartel. Sparks fly on the first interaction and Maddie’s life changed forever… It’s not exactly love at first sight kinda romance, it’s a slow build-up with a lot of sparkling dialogue.The thing I like the most in this book is the easy flow of the dialogues, it’s intriguing, interesting and so delicious to read. Lee Winter knows how to build up the chemistry of the characters just by writing their lines. The book is told from a third point, but it centers on the main two characters, you could separate it in parts, there is no confusion about who you are accompanying. I mentioned the chemistry in the dialog but it’s not just about the dialogue, the way the story is told with its believable story and compelling characters, special remark for Felicity and the Duchamps, is what makes this book not boring at all… I might be biased because I love the “Devil wears Prada” but I can safely say that's different, not just the FF romance, but because Maddie is very different from Anne Hathaway’s character, she doesn’t lose focus on who she is and what she wants, she keeps her essence and captivates everyone that comes in contact with her. I can say she is uncorrupted throughout the book and that’s something I love about her. Elena Bartel is the essence of the Ice Queen and I love the way she speaks and behaves, she is all cold and aloof but behind her actions, there is a little girl afraid to let go and get hurt, she wants to prove to her family and herself that her choices and dreams are worthy.All in all, I rate five stars in this book. Suffice to say I’m in love with Lee Winter’s writing.

One word for this book…CLASSIC!This wonderful, exciting, fashionable, story is the ultimate, and contains everything I love. Drama, conflict, passion, ice queen, age gaps, humour, style, seriously, there are so many ways to describe this book, but perfect sums it up.From the very first page, I was hooked, and I made sure to savour every bit of it and make the reading experience last as long as I could. (And seriously I purchased it over a year ago, so why I waited so long to read it…I don’t know!) The main characters, Maddie, and Elena couldn’t be more different, and yet the same if they tried and they are a match made in heaven.Everything about Elena is just amazing, and Maddie was a cool and refreshing contrast to her power and authority that really intensified the relationship between them.The best thing, and I mean the best thing was Lee Winter’s ability to really bring this story to life with vivid imagery, an exciting, intense plot, and brilliant characters that felt so real you just had to close your eyes and you were right there with them in the story. There really was no reason not to love this book, at all. It really is everything.Then we come to the talent in making the Duchamp characters, Natalii and Veronique so amazing you could really hear their dialogue in a French accent as you were reading it. Pure genius.I highly recommend this book, and if you haven’t read it yet…seriously why not?If you have been putting off reading this book, and already have a copy, or it is sitting in your wish list, then seriously – treat yourself. You won’t regret it. What are you waiting for?We’re done.

This book blew me away from the minute I finished the first chapter and is definitely a contender for book of the year at Les Rêveur. This book has hit so many of my good read shelves like Ice queen, boss/employee, age-gap and rich/poor and whole lot more.Maddie Grey is miserable in New York and longs to be home in Sydney. When Elena Bartell takes over the newspaper she works for, they develop an odd friendship. So when Elena fires her and liquidates the company she doesn’t think she will see her again, that is until Elena gives her a new job back in Sydney, but it this job something Maddie wants to do? And can she really live with not seeing Elena every day?I can’t tell you how much I loved this book. I am actually struggling to put it into words.Elena's persona was so cold and it was really great to watch as Maddie tears down each and every wall and over time, she wasn’t the same hardened woman we saw at the start. Maddie was just so sweet from the very beginning and I automatically warmed to her from Chapter one. She also knew what she wanted and did’t apologise when she went after it, these little personality traits of characters is what intrigues me and makes me keep turning the page.The storyline its self mirrored a lesbian version of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and oh, how I love that movie. I only wish that Twentieth Century Fox would redo the movie with Lee Winter’s delicious lesbian twist.The first sex scene was a long time coming (excuse the pun) but it was outright one of the sexiest sex scenes I’ve read in recent months. It was incredibly hot but at times you saw the intimacy and love shine through but more than anything, it was just damn sexy to read.This book made me swoon from start to finish. Great first book to read by Lee Winter.5 Stars