Anna Shrewsbury has just lost her beloved brother-in-law.  At the lawyer’s office for the reading of the will, she comes into contact with the one man she has avoided for six years, Zachary Quinn.  Six years ago Zach and she were involved for one night; one night in which Anna fell in love but when morning came, Zach no longer believed in her innocence and chose to believe lies.  Lies perpetrated by her scheming and selfish sister Sophia.  It looks like now, six years later; Zach still hates her and still thinks the worst of her. 

Zachary Quinn has followed the comings and goings of Anna Shrewsbury for years.  Unable to pin her down long enough to actually talk with her, he only has stories of her escapades to go on as to her character.  When his business partner dies and leaves a stipulation in his will that is supposed to bring Zach and Anna together for one week, Zach doesn’t know how he is going to be able to stand it.  The woman he loves does not give a fig about him and if the stories of the past six years are as true as he believes, then she forgot him immediately.

Past Lies made me crazy.  Made me absolutely go nuts with the intense and hidden passionate natures of the characters.  First of all, Anna’s character needed some guts.  How she was able to allow her sister free reign over her emotions for years was beyond me and frankly, I would have smacked Sophia down a long time ago for simply telling something that wasn’t her business. Secondly, Zachary earns my ire for his scrutiny and downright nastiness to Anna.  Good looking, impetuous and supposedly in love with Anna, Zach claimed to care for her.  A man in love does not call the woman he loves a whore and believe horrendous and life altering lies about her.  He doesn’t refuse to listen to her side of the story and he most certainly does not make her life a living hell when he can see she is on the edge.

Past Lies was not the book for me.  It was well written and the blurb made it sound very intriguing. I wanted to know what the big secret between Anna and Zachary was but I couldn’t get past all the darkness and turmoil.  All I needed was one tender touch between Zach and Anna and alas, I was disappointed.  My recommendation is to skip Past Lies and look for something less depressing.