Why Smart Women Buy the Lies

The follow up to the award-winning Why Smart Women Make Bad Decisions, this laugh-out-loud self-help book teaches us how we can use critical thinking to protect ourselves against trusting the wrong people.

35-year-old Kat, having seen off her narcissistic boyfriend, believes that this is the year her life will click into gear. She is in a relationship with a lovely, decent man, she's enjoying her well-paid job and she has adopted a large groodle. Things are looking up!

Then her boss brings in a smooth-talking business guru, her neighbour employs a psychic to rid her flat of a curse and stylish but mysterious neighbours move in upstairs. Things start to go awry. Her happy life starts to fracture. Her relationship is threatened, the groodle disappears and she gets scammed.

This is a hilarious and insightful book about the lies we tell ourselves, the lies we tell others and the lies we're told, and why we believe them. It's less about why people lie, scam and obfuscate and more about why we are vulnerable to it.

But we shouldn't judge ourselves for being overly trusting. Intelligence doesn't protect us from being lied to; often, we are willing participants. If we desire something strongly and someone comes along and offers us that very thing - the dog, the love, the shoes, the anti-aging vitamin, the money or the future - the cognitive flaws in our brain kick into action and skew our thinking.

Using Kat's universe as a microcosm of the world we all inhabit, Why Smart Women Buy the Lies is a relatable, thought-provoking and incredibly important must-read for women who are ready to use critical thinking to discern fact from fiction.