Lily: A Story Of Love

by Marilyn Stuart
Published By 1st Books Library
www.1stbooks.com
ISBN # 1-4033-9268-4 (e-book)
ISBN # 1-4033-9269-2 (Paperback)
ISBN # 1-4033-9270-6 (Dust Jacket)
407 pgs $19.95 Paperback Reviewed

 

“This can’t be right,” I said looking at the book I had just received to review, “ I’m not the right audience, I never read this kind of stuff.” Nevertheless, I am a reviewer after all, and the creed of reviewers is, or at least should be, if you get a book and agree to do a review, then you should do a review. Seems simple enough doesn’t it- I thought so. Now granted, I am backed up with books, but the time came where this was the next in line, and I could put it off no longer. Grudgingly I sat down, Diet Coke ™ beside me, opened the cover, and began to read.
Slowly the pages began to turn as I read what to all intents and purposes was, to me, one of those ‘women’s books’ which no self-respecting guy would ever be caught dead reading, macho fools that we are sometime. As I began to read, I noticed something-the pages were beginning to be turned faster and faster, and before I realized what was happening, I was drawn into this world and all the characters-and, dare I say it-enjoying the heck out of it with my maleness still fully intact.

Lilly is, without a doubt, one of the best character driven stories I have read in quite some time, with Lilly herself one of the strongest, most realistic female characters I have read. No, scratch that, she is one of the strongest characters I have read, period.

This is the story of a woman betrayed earlier in her life, and now, after all these years, he is back in the picture. She is forced to deal with him whither she wants to or not, and the exploration of and examination of their past and futures are both heart warming and heart tugging at its best. Lily becomes faced with decisions that no one should have to make, yet once she is forced to, can she live with the consequences of her act?

I don’t want to give too much away, this isn’t a book report after all, but I will say this- Lily: A Story of Love is just one of the best books I have read in a long time, regardless of genre. Author Marilyn Stuart writes with such conviction and fortitude that I relished each word on the page. While doing some on-line research for this review, I found out that this book won a prize at the Southeastern Writers Association- I don’t know what prize it was, but I am hoping it was best in show, or an equivalent. The characters and the world they inhabit are as real as the one we are in (well, some of us anyway), and that is never an easy task for a writer to accomplish as it is-but then I find out that Lily is her first novel. If authors get better as they go along (well, some of them anyway) then she is on her way to being one of the leaders of this genre-I’m serious, this book is that good.

From the eye-catching front cover to the striking picture of the author herself on the back, this is truly one superb book. If you are a fan of love stories, or even if like me you are not, then you have to read this book. I did, I’m glad I did, and my testosterone is still fully intact.

Lily: A Story of Love by Marilyn Stuart-Remember that, you can thank me later.