The Secrets of Lily Graves

by Sarah Strohmeyer

With the intrigue of Pretty Little Liars and plenty of romance, bestselling author Sarah Strohmeyer weaves a story of secrets and lies—set in a funeral parlor.

Growing up in a house of female morticians, Lily Graves knows all about buried secrets. She knows that perfect senior-class president Erin Donohue isn’t what she seems. She knows why Erin’s ex-boyfriend, hot football player Matt Houser, broke up with her. And she also knows that, even though she says she and Matt are just friends, there is something brewing between them—something Erin definitely did not like.

But secrets, even ones that are long buried, have a way of returning to haunt their keeper.

So when Erin is found dead the day after attacking Lily in a jealous rage, Lily's and Matt’s safe little lives, and the lives of everyone in their town of Potsdam, begin to unravel. And their relationship—which grew from innocent after-school tutoring sessions to late-night clandestine rendezvous—makes them both suspects.

As her world crumbles around her, Lily must figure out the difference between truth and deception, genuine love and a web of lies. And she must do it quickly, before the killer claims another victim.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary, Romance, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 2014

About the author

Sarah Strohmeyer is the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of 18 novels for young adults and adults, including the Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series, SMART GIRLS GET WHAT THEY WANT and THE CINDERELLA PACT, which became the Lifetime Movie, LYING TO BE PERFECT.
Her first mystery, BUBBLES UNBOUND, won the Agatha Award and Romantic TImes Award for Best First Mystery. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY PROPOSAL was nominated for a prestigious RITA™. Her books have been translated into German, French, Italian, Turkish, Taiwanese and a bunch of others.
BUBBLES REBOOTS - #7 in the Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series - will be published June 26th in Kindle, Nook and Kobo (pre-order now!) It is an homage to her dearly departed high-school friend, Josh Simon. So 10% of the profits will go to organizations he approved: The Cancer Research Institute & Planned Parenthood.

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 2 out of 5]

“You know what I think?” I said. “I think whoever killed Erin knew about you and me and her.” I carefully sidestepped the term love triangle, since I didn’t want to go there.

Girl, you went there.

This wasn't a terrible book, but it was completely generic, lackluster, and half-assed in every way. There's kind of a love triangle, and there's kind of cheating, but not really, because the two main characters kind of made swoony eyes at each other and literally nothing else for 99% of the book. There was no romance. Don't come in here expecting a love story of any sort. It's emo teenaged wangst, and that's it. Despite the tantalizing hint of a grand romance, there really wasn't anything of the sort, and trust me when I say that I'm the first to jump up and yell "THIS BOOK HAD TOO MUCH ROMANCE IN IT!" This book just had no love.

The mystery is half-hearted. It was solved with an overreliance of deus ex fucking machina in which the main character is privy to everything that the police knows. There was a not-terribly-Mean Girls clique. There is a half-hearted stalker. There are people who would blurt out very convenient information with the slightest of provocation. There is a love interest who might be the killer, and who is luurved by the main character, but he's roughly as dangerous as this bunny.



He is just so uninteresting and completely dull in every way that I just didn't really give a flying fuck when the main character is all "I KNOW ALL THE EVIDENCE POINTS TO HIM BUT HE DIDN'T DO IT BECAUSE I KNOW HE DIDN'T DO IT. NYAH!"

This book also has a somewhat offensive portrayal of Christians. Let's get one thing straight, I'm not Christian,fuck , I'm not the least bit religious. I'm against organized religion in general, and even I felt like this book portrayed Christianity in a very negative light. The type of Christianity portrayed here is the far-right, very religious type with daddy-daughter "Weddings" and "Purity Rings" and fanatically religious Mormons. This book doesn't name the religion outright, but it's pretty fucking obvious that this book talks about Mormonism. If you're easily offended by that, don't bother with this book.

The Summary:

I would never see Erin again.
At least, not alive.

Lily Graves is just having an average day, cleaning up the cemetary in a Morticia Addams-style gown when the school Queen Bee and her archenemy, Erin Donohue shows up. Erin goes batshit crazy, blames Lily for her breakup with school jock/boyfriend of three years, Matt and proceeds to scratch and claw the fuck out of Lily.

...yanking my black hair, slapping, biting, and finally digging her nails into the delicate flesh of my forearm.
I reared back in pain and horror as blood gushed out in rivulets, running over my wrists onto the browning grass. Her nails had been filed into seriously badass points.

Erin finally leaves, with a :DDDDDD bye! See you Monday! ^_^_^_^_^_^ (the "bitch!" is implied), only Lily will never see Erin again, because that night, Erin commits suicide.

Or so they say.

It turns out that not all is well with the picture-perfect Erin. For starters, Erin's boyfriend Matt has been engaging in a secret flirtation with Lily. It all started with a tutoring session, which leads to driving lessons...on his lap.

“You honestly want me to sit on your lap?”
“And put your feet over mine. That way you’ll get the feel of how and when to release the clutch.”

Well, one thing's for sure, she'll know when he releases HIS clutch...all over her thighs.

I don't know about you, but teaching someone to drive a manual shift while sitting on his lap is all sorts of stupid and dangerous. From personal experience, if a somewhat decent looking girl with a decent face with a nicely cushioned arse sits on a guy's lap, it's going to end in an erection 92.8% of the time. But Lily is charmed! She learns to drive! Hopefully not with HIS stick shift, but whatever.

Erin found out about Matt & Lily, she's furious. She told everyone. And now she's dead.

Naturally, the main suspect is Matt. When a woman disappears, chances are it's one of the main men in her life who did her in. Also naturally, Lily doesn't believe Matt's guilty at all. She sets out to prove his innocence.

“Let it go.”
How could I let go of something so nightmarish as a nice guy being framed for a murder he didn’t commit?

The thing is that evidence keeps mounting against Matt.

For one thing, Matt didn't even need tutoring---he lied about his parents and he lied to his parents---Matt wasn't going to fail his classes at all. So why did he have Lily tutor him?

“What if I told you, Miss Graves,” Zabriskie continued with a touch of glee, “that there wasn’t a chance that Matt Houser would have been benched this season?”
Goosebumps rose on my arms. “Why?”
“Because he finished the class with a B.”

And then there's the issue of Matt arguing with Erin on the night she died.

“The guy Mrs. Krezky saw arguing with Erin that night sounds exactly like Matt. Short brown hair, Potsdam Panthers jacket, and everything.”

And then it turns out that Erin was pregnant. Matt was her boyfriend. It's not rocket science to assume he's the father.

I tried not to think about Matt having sex with Erin.
“It’s a statistical fact that women are more likely to be victims of domestic homicide when they’re pregnant,” Sara said.

Matt is a suspect, Lily is being told by everyone to stay away from him. Naturally, she can't.

“Matt is a boy with...”—she bit her lower lip—“bad intentions, I think. The more distance between you two, the better.”
But I would never distance myself from Matt. And Mom knew it.
You could tell by the fear in her eyes.

The Side Characters:

We’d dubbed them the Tragically Normals, because they were truly living the ultimate high school experience. Good grades? Check. Lettering in sports? Check. Nice cars, cute boyfriends, adorable girlfriends, clear skin, ideal physical proportions? Check, check, check, check, and check.

Clichéd, clichéd, clichéd, clichéd. We have here the Mean Girls and Boys. They're bright, shining on the outside. Outstanding students, young pillars of the community who are secretly assholes to everyone beneath them. They're petty, they're foolish, they do illegal things, they're hypocrites, they get away with it.

There's the stoner, who says stuff like “You know, when I was at that pit called Potsdam High, you were the only one I thought might be able to understand my interests, seeing as how you too were mocked and ridiculed for yearning to be among the dead.”

There's no depth at all to the side characters.

Deus ex fucking Machina:

TO: Robert R. Amidon, Chief of Police
FROM: Detective Joe Henderson
RE: REQUEST FOR THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE CRIME LAB
DEPARTMENT USE ONLY—CONFIDENTIAL
It appeared to be an internal police memo. It was so unlike Perfect Bob to release something this top secret, much less fax it to Mom.

To be fair, I'm not quite sure if this qualifies as deus ex machina, but the plot is helped along by so many convenient excuses, it's hard not to label it as such.

Lily's mother is dating the chief of police. Thanks to that convenient little fact, Lily constantly gets tips from the police that she's not supposed to know. She works at the family mortuary so she's got details on the body (Erin's) that she's not supposed to know or see.

It was odd to see Erin this plasticized and defenseless, her newly washed red hair in a halo around her vacant face, her mouth glued into a pleasant smile. On closer examination, I noticed her inner thighs were riddled with scars, as were her waist and breasts.

Total conflict of interest, but whatever, right?

To top it off, everyone gives Lily the information she wants.

“Talk to me.” This was my one window of opportunity and I had to make the most of it. “What happened at Erin’s house Saturday night?”
Allie sighed feebly. “It was a big mistake that’s going to haunt us for the rest of our lives.”

Mean girls? Check. One little interrogation and they're blurting out their heart's secrets to her. This is entirely unrealistic, given that the Mean Girls (or "Pathetically Normals") are Lily's sworn enemies.

The Suspects: Never entirely well-thought out at all. Random suspects are thrown out of thin air, others seem to be complete red herrings that aren't subtle and witty as much as they're tremendously annoying for the reader.

Lily:

“This you, Lily Graves?”
“Yup. I’m in my Halloween costume today.” Dark-wash skinny jeans, bright-blue mock turtleneck, and a kicky black-and-white herringbone jacket—all from J.Crew.
“What are you supposed to be?”
“The scariest thing I can think of,” I said. “Normal.”

Lily Graves is one of those teenagers who wear all black in school and is fascinated with death. It doesn't really make her any interesting to me, because I was one of those morbid teenagers myself. My problem's not with the fact that she tries to be different, it's the fact that she has no personality and no purpose for looking and dressing the way she does. She is superficial, despite the fact that she criticizes others for being superficial. She's a normal teen who chooses to dress differently, that's all. I didn't feel that there was anything particularly special, interesting, or especially likeable about her.

The Romance: I really can't bring up any quotes about the romance, because despite the fact that this book is based on the rumor of a romance between Matt and Lily, there was none.

Matt is not a nice guy. We're led to think he's a nice guy, but he's not, because he cheats on his girlfriend of 3 years with Lily. It's a mental cheating, but he's trying to get to know her WHILE he has a girlfriend.

“I did it because...because I wanted to get to know you, and I was too stupid to think of any other way.”

HELLO, YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. Matt kept on dating Erin until the very end. He didn't have the courtesy to break up with her, having acknowledged his attraction to Lily. It's not a decent thing to do.

Despite his cheating, there is an absolute lack of romance in this book. Lily and Matt do absolutely nothing but make sad puppy dog "I DIDN'T KILL HER" eyes at each other. If you're going to give us a tragic couple, make it worthwhile.

Overall: A halfhearted attempt at a mystery that just bored me to death.

[Sarah Strohmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only did I read it. I wrote it!

[♥Rachel♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lily Graves lives amongst a family of morticians and plans on becoming one as well. Add in her dark, gothic sort of wardrobe and it’s no surprise that she’s regarded as a freak in school. This doesn’t bother her at all.

Life gets complicated for Lily when Matt, a jock and part of the popular crowd, asks her to tutor him in History. They form a friendship and more through their tutoring sessions, but Matt has a girlfriend, Erin. Erin is part of the popular crowd as well, and she’s far from nice to Lily or anyone not part of the “Tragically Normals”. Matt breaks things off with Erin and Erin hunts down Lily to confront her, which turns into an ugly meeting. Soon after Erin turns up dead and all eyes turn to Matt and Lily in suspicion.

The Secrets of Lily Graves was a mix of mystery, romance and some suspense. I had some fun with the mystery, but I had some trouble with the romance. I wanted Lily and Matt together of course, but I never really felt the mega swoon factor. There weren’t any moments I really felt a strong chemistry or longing come through, so their romance never conjured strong emotions in me.

A couple of things didn’t make sense to me either I didn’t get why Erin went ballistic on Lily in the opening scene after discovering Erin’s status with Matt. Also, how did Erin not know the true situation with Matt’s History grade when they were all in the same class and sitting next to each other? How did he justify the tutoring sessions? Maybe I missed a few things, I don’t know. I also felt like I missed out with these two in the end because things felt rushed.

I liked the side characters but no one besides Lily was really fleshed out, IMO, not even Matt.

I will say the mystery was fun. I had suspicions and there’s enough clues to keep the reader feeling engaged and part of the sleuthing. With some fun suspense and a dangerous reveal, I enjoyed this part of the story.

A copy was provided by Balzer+Bray through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

You can read this review and more at The Readers Den.

[Dear Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're going to pick up The Secrets of Lily Graves because you're looking for a kick-ass mystery-thriller read, it may be best to pack your bags and look elsewhere because this book is anything but brilliant. While it did not totally "suck" per se, there was nothing about it that really shone, either. All in all, it was an average read - with a bland and stupid heroine who kept emphasizing she was different, with a plotline that never felt had any proper build-up, and a romance that just never seemed to click with me.

The plot took off at a great start. We're in the cemetery with our heroine (who comes from a family of morticians), when suddenly, she is insulted and assaulted by Erin, the most popular and saintly girl in school, for supposedly stealing her boyfriend, Matt. The next day, Erin is found dead, and Lily and Matt get blamed for it (an easy scapegoat, as she is at the bottom of the high school food chain), but once it is hinted it may be a murder, our dead-loving heroine resolves to get to the bottom of this. It is at this point that perhaps things start tumbling down, little by little...

First of all, let's talk about Lily, the narrator of this book. Lily is the school outcast, mainly for her "weird" fashion taste and for her family business that revolves around burying the dead. We are reminded over and over again how different she was to the rest of them, but I actually found her voice annoyingly flat and dull. Like, I get it, she is sooo different compared to the others, but please don't just throw facts at me and rather show it to me instead. The narration felt too detached sometimes that I never found any depth to her character - like it was all dry bread without any butter. I wanted to get to know about her more, but there was really nothing that could make me connect to her at all, nothing to make me feel that she was a unique heroine, nothing that could make her personality shine... if there ever was one.

Like for example, it is heavily implied that she likes Matt, the jock who asked her to tutor him because he was failing History class, since the start of the novel. But why she likes him doesn't really get expounded, we're told she just does. This is probably the reason why the romance never clicked with me, because I didn't find their erm, "love", for each other convincing (but, but, but Matt likes her because she was different! Surely that counts? Errrrm, I would have bought it if she actually showed a personality, but I've yet to find it at this point).

Not to mention, her blind devotion to Matt was pretty annoying. You see, Matt was also suspected of possibly murdering Erin (how many times do we see domestic violence on the news? Too many, I bet). Any person with the right state of mind would be on their guard towards this person. Whether or not he really was the suspect, it's always wiser to practice some caution, but every time the heroine gets warned about him, she would instantly be on the defensive, denying any possibility that he was the killer.

I would never distance myself from Matt.

She says this after she is warned to stay away from a POSSIBLE murderer. Like, wow. She has no sense of self-preservation at all. She is super convinced he's not the killer, despite not having enough evidence to prove he's not. She even thought there was something wrong with her mother after she told her to exercise some caution! Reading her act like this was honestly quite disappointing. I know she doesn't have the perfect relationship with her "exercise-obsessed" mother, but thinking the mom was in the wrong for asking something reasonable was just pathetic. And seriously, it was reported later on that he lied to her about certain things, and she still insists on his innocence? Good lord... /smh

(She later is convinced a particular person is the killer for the simple fact she saw him interact with Erin once. And oh, because he spent time in jail. Go figure.)

Matt, on the other hand, was emotionally cheating on his girlfriend, Erin, and I didn't really appreciate it. I get it - you're unhappy with your relationship. You're more afraid that she'll hurt herself than you care for her because you do. Lily's not like the other pack of mean girls. But that's not an excuse at all to keep hanging out with the other girl and then not expect this to blow up to your fucking face. Other than that, he's really no better than the rest of the "Tragically Normals", a group comprised of one-dimensional mean kids who're good in everything and to teachers but downright difficult with everyone else. Mmmokay.

As for the mystery itself... I'm pretty mixed about it. At one point, I was on my toes regarding it, but at the same time, I had a foreboding feeling I knew who it was because one scene gave it away too quickly too early, and it was only a matter of how the book will deliver it. I thought it was handled kind of sloppily, though, because it seemed rush and anti-climatic, like there were no build-up before it (and there's also that uneasy feeling where you know an innocent man was arrested due to her stupidity...).

OVERALL...

* The heroine is stupid and bland, despite her insistence she's unique and different. In my opinion, she did not showcase any personality at all that would prove this claim, and her blind insistence on certain things took away any sort of enjoyment that I could have had. (If you're curious, they instead were spent raging about said stupidities.)
* The romance is unconvincing, and the secondary characters are all cardboard cut-outs of the same one-dimensional characters we see in other books.
* The ending feels rushed and anticlimactic. No proper build-up, leading to a climax that does not evoke any strong emotions. Booo.

Recommendation: Read it if you don't have anything else to read. It's quick, at least.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads

After adoring How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True, I was expecting another entertaining and cute novel with the addition of intrigue and suspense. Unfortunately, The Secrets of Lily Graves did not turn out as good as I has hoped.

Erin is dead. And everyone thinks it's Lily and Matt's fault. First it was said to be a suicide, after Erin believed that Matt was going behind her back to be with Lily. But they were wrong, it was murder. Here is your generic, murder mystery with Lily Graves on the case, determined to find out who was behind Erin's murder. My first quibble with The Secrets of Lily Graves appeared here. Nothing made any sense. The conclusions the main character made were absolutely logic-less and she was awfully dense. It would have made sense if Matt, Erin's boyfriend, killed her as they were going through a seriously rough part, but nope, Lily refuses to believe this because she is crushing on him. Then she believes it's someone else, yet I did not see how the heck she made that conclusion in the first place.

Secondly, the characters were one dimensional and cliché-ridden.Lily was fortunately the most likeable in the novel. Lily's family runs a funeral house ever since her father died and is used to seeing murdered and dead bodies. She's doesn't give a crap about what others think of her and does what she seems correct--even though several times her actions were idiotic, like I had mentioned earlier. Nonetheless, Matt and the rest of the "Tragically Normals" felt awfully shallow. The "Tragically Normals" were the golden group, pinnacle of fame at high school, got awesome boyfriends/girlfriends, had good grades and did anything as they please. And that's all, they're terribly typical and what kind of name is "Tragically Normals"? Matt just felt like a random love interest that I didn't care for at all. There should have been stronger backbones for these characters.

I'd also like to mention the ending. It was anti-climate and dreadfully...awkward. I knew who the culprit was a while into the novel, and when it was revealed, it just felt so poorly 'announced'. I was definitely expecting something better from Strohmeyer.

I was disappointed with The Secrets of Lily Graves, this is definitely one of Sarah Stohmeyer's weakest works. If you want a good mystery, I recommend We Were Liars, but if you just want a brainless but still interesting novel, this could be worth a try.

~Thank you Balzer & Bray for sending me this copy!~

[Giselle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters are fun and I especially enjoyed the MC's voice - she has a very intelligent way of speaking and I liked that she's honest and real with who she is. I also enjoyed the funeral home business aspect which was really interesting. The romance is meg, we've got the hot jock who falls for the odd girl storyline. Though mostly I found the love interest boring.

The plot itself wasn't overly impressive. It was fun while it lasted but it doesn't have any memorable qualities - especially for someone who's read hundreds of mystery novels. As soon as we met the killer I knew who it was, and it was overall a pretty cliché, run-of-the-mill mystery as far as motive and general storyline.

Full review to come.

Maybe.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually find young adult thrilling novels lacking but this one had personality and tension on every page.

Lily Graves is destined to be a mortician, being a member of a family who has prepared the dead for funeral for decades. Lily is a odd character, she dresses in dark gothic clothes and feels most comfortable with the dead. She spends her summer tutoring Matt Houser for a history exam and they become close, much to her best friend Sara's and Matt's girlfriends disappointment. Erin confronts Lily about their relationship which turns into a nasty cat fight and everything starts to go wrong from there.

I liked Lily, she wasn't afraid to be herself and she was nice to everyone whether they tormented her or not. Her sense of style was interesting, I loved how her mum tried to get her to wear normal clothes and Lily called it her Halloween costume. I thought her relationship with Matt was nice but a little out of the blue. I didn't understand why he would randomly want to get to know Lily, especially when it would be obvious he would get found out in the end that he didn't need a re-sit on his exam! The atmosphere of the book was good, I liked how Lily spoke about her home. It's a spooky place as the bodies are kept below where the family live however Lily made it sound like a sanctuary.

The mystery was interesting but I felt a little distant from it because I really didn't care what happened to Erin. Once I found out she lived basically a double life, cheated on her boyfriend and was obviously horrible to everyone she came into contact with who was a little different or vulnerable I felt disinterested in her character. The police where a little stupid at times, anyone could see that Lily was a victim and Bob should have had more faith in her. The plot took a drastic turn at the end and we are given all the answers. It made logical sense but the killer was more sinister than I originally imagined.

This was a fun read which I'd recommend to anyone looking for a thriller with a light hearted main character.

[Trisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Never a dull moment," I said as we bounced out of the field and onto County Road. "Not with Lily Graves."

For a light, silly mystery, this might be a good one to read. But I read too much mystery for this one to have been good.

Lily Graves is the daughter of a mortician mother. So she's embraced death and wears all black, pentagram jewelry and is appropriately angsty. She's bullied at school by the "normals." Those kids who are having a perfectly "normal" high school experience - perfect grades, perfect complexion and bodies, perfect car, etc.

But when one of them gets all jealous because Lily has been hanging out with her boyfriend and scratches her, Lily starts to realize maybe these other kids don't have perfect lives. When the same attacking "normal" girl ends up dead, Lily is the top suspect - right along with the ex-boyfriend she's been hanging out with!

The police procedure in this book was absolutely laughable! They took a coffee cup from Lily and actually used it for evidence - no issue with chain of evidence. I didn't find the main character likable and I hate that she didn't have the "ah ha" moment I hoped she would - when she would possibly realize that no one is "normal" - we all have our struggles. So for a light fluffy read, sure - this one works. I didn't find any substance or or a good mystery.

[Rashika (is tired) · Rating 3 out of 5]

***This review has also been posted on Tangled in Pages

The Secrets of Lily Graves can easily be summed up as addicting. Can I pack my bags and go now? Drat. I have to say more? But I don’t know what to sayyyyy because really, while The Secrets of Lily Graves was fun, it wasn’t anything special. It was a quick read and I finished it in around 2 hours and the ending confused me a little but other than that, I never really thought about it as soon as I put it down.

The author makes use of common tropes but she does it in a way that doesn’t grate on you, so while there are the popular mean girls and there the girls who are bullied by these ‘mean girls’ they also see each other as humans. When Erin dies, the main character is shocked; this person wasn’t nice to her, at all, but a young life was lost and Lily understands the significance of that.

Lily as a character was really fun. She is original, she likes weird things and she is proud of it. She doesn’t want to be normal and it doesn’t matter how much crap people give her, she aien’t gonna change. Hell she dressed up as a normal human being for Halloween because that’s the scariest thing she can think of. I mean doesn’t that make you like her already?

The love interest, Matt is definitely one of the better love interests I've come across. The author takes the jock trope and puts a spin on it. He’s a jock, he probably isn’t all that smart, but he isn’t a complete bully. When one of his friends was bullying a girl for her weight, he started making fun of his friend in a friendly manner to take the attention off of the girl. This also happened before Lily registered on his radar so he gets the brownie point. He isn’t an asshole either! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? He doesn’t pull the passive aggressive shit. He does have depth to him but it doesn’t turn him into a character you pity but instead one you cannot help but like because it makes him more human than his status as a jock does.

I love her family too. They are an odd bunch with her mom being over protective, her aunt being really cool and her grandma just being silly. They don’t play a major role when it comes to the actual happenings but I like that the author attempted at making them seem somewhat normal seeing that they live in a funeral home (which by the way is kind of awesome).

The romance is adorable. It’s almost non-existent but that’s because there is a mystery to solve. These two are not a case of insta-attraction or even opposites attract. They became friends over the course of the summer when Matt asked her to tutor him for a history re-take because he failed the first time around. When Erin is found dead, he is the number one suspect and Lily doesn’t doubt him for a second because she knows him well enough to know he wouldn’t kill her. He hardly had the guts to break up with her, why would he kill her? So over the course of the book, little by little, they become even closer. Don’t go into this book looking for a lot of romance, go into this book expecting a nicely developed romance that is adorable.

The plot is where things get interesting. You have a bunch of amateur sleuths trying to figure out the truth behind how Erin was murdered. The primary suspects are Matt and Lily because everyone assumes they were an ‘item’ and so one of them might have ‘offed’ Erin so the two could be together. Lily, who aspires to join the family business, knows that only a professional could have done it because of the accuracy of the cuts on her wrists. The problem is that no one is telling the whole truth, everyone is hiding something and it’s up to Lily to figure out who murdered her since the police is too busy looking in the wrong direction. Slowly, Lily starts unravelling the mystery.

It’s the twist at the end that kind of throws you off; it’s not so much as unpredictable as it is just… awkward. The author puts hints throughout the whole book so it doesn’t come out of nowhere but at the same time, I am not completely sure how I feel about it. Even after thinking it through I am not sure whether I am annoyed or whether it makes sense. I’ll figure it out one day when my mind wanders to this book again.

All in all, if you’re looking for a quick comfort read, grab this and devour it like I did. It’s fun, it’s got good characters, no slut shamming and the romance was cute. The mystery was pretty fun too and really, what else can you want from a comfort read?

[merr · Rating 3 out of 5]

To preface, I did enjoy this book for the most part. And it definitely would have been a higher rating on my end if the book was tweaked better. In the story, one of the main characters friends has an arm deformity and a big part of her story is that the main character defends people bullying her cause of the arm deformity. However, the same character uses the R word in the book. It pops up once, but still, there wasn’t a need at all for that word to show up in the book so that automatically kind of turned me off. And it happened so far in that I was like you’re kidding why even do that. And again, I think knowing your audience is a big thing for how the dialogue is wrote. This book is aimed towards the young adult audience, but some of the writing doesn’t reflect that. I had to do a double take of where the author was based out of because maybe it was a geographic thing, nope. It just is bad writing.

The story follows Lily Graves, who comes from a family of morticians. Lily is what her classmates would say is “weird”, she seems to obsessed with the dead, she only wears the color black, and she lives above dead bodies. However, Lily is tutoring the most popular boy in school and they are friends. All the popular kids think she must have used witch craft or something to make him like her so much, they all think Lily wants to steal him away for herself. So after a fight with his girlfriend, when she ends up dead suspicion ends up on Lily and the boy. You follow along as Lily sets out to prove their innocence, survive high school, and find out whodunnit.

I will say that the book does a good job of connecting everything together. However, at one point there was a huge section of story that didn’t necessarily add to the story as a whole. Like it gives so much background in this flashback, for like one sentence to connect back to what was actually important to the story. Don’t get me wrong, it was interesting. But it definitely could have been shorter and summed up better. So I will say that the book does stay entertaining from start to finish and its full of plenty of twists and turns throughout.

The ending is a huge shock. I definitely thought I knew who it was and like where it was going (I did guess the ending somewhat), but it definitely throws you off the trial and does a good job not giving it away. Even if you do guess the who, there’s even more twists you won’t see coming. And I appreciate that writing, like I felt like I had a clue of who, it throws you off, then comes back and ties it together and those little detail moments come back to make even more sense if you were paying attention.

I would read this book at your own risk. I would say give it a try, you might hate it you might love it, but overall it’s a fun read. But again read at your own risk. Although it doesn’t dive into too much detail, there are slight trigger warning of suicide in the book. The best way I can describe it is kind of like Heathers. Like it implies maybe they killed themselves. There is a slight section that a character does harm themselves and it says like she superficial cut her wrists, but then again it is brought up so take caution. I will say it isn’t too gory. If what I had issues with was tweaked, even with just the R word not being used, this book would have been rated way higher from my opinions. Still worth a read though!

[nick (the infinite limits of love) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Secrets of Lily Graves was, as expected, a wildly entertaining read with quirky characters. The murder mystery wasn't all that unpredictable, but Lily makes the book worth a read!

Lily Graves is a girl who is going to capture your heart with her strange ways from the first page. She's undoubtedly an odd-ball because she works with her very female-centric family as a mortician. While everyone at school finds her freaky, Lily herself enjoys her work. I don't know about you guys, but I have a thing for characters who differ from the norm. Lily was such a quirky character and while I do not understand how she can even stomach being a mortician (*shudders*), I loved her to death (no pun intended). She is passionate about her work (She even plans to go to college to earn a degree in Mortuary Science so she can takeover her family business in the future!) and I adore characters who love what they do. Not only that though, Lily was a genuine, compassionate and down-to-earth character. I also loved the bond she shared with her family members. They are a tight-knit family that truly care about each other and it warmed my heart to see that Lily had family members who cared about who she hung out with. I did wish, however, that we had more character development when it came to her family members. They weren't underdeveloped, but I found them so interesting, that I wanted to know more about this fun bunch.

The plot of the story consists of a murder mystery. I speculated about who the murderer was very early on, but quickly changed my mind as the story progressed. Eventually, I came to the realization I was right both times. The hints to as to who it was were all over the book, but I do think you had to read under the lines at times to find out. Still, despite the book being predictable, I was thoroughly entertained while reading because of Sarah Strohmeyer's addictive writing style. Plus, there were plenty of twists and turns that had me and many other readers gasping in surprise.

My only qualm with The Secrets of Lily Graves was the romance. The relationship between Lily and Matt was undeniably very cute, but I wanted to know more, especially when it came to Matt's side of the relationship. He wasn't the most expressive and open guy and I honestly couldn't get a full grasp of his personality. He was a sweet-heart though and I wish we would have gotten to know him on a deeper level. Regardless, the few moments that the two of them shared were cute, especially in the flashback scenes.

This is only my second Sarah Strohmeyer book and a completely different genre from the first book I read of hers, but The Secrets of Lily Graves has solidified her spot on my favorite entertaining YA author books. It's a fun, wacky and an amusing read, perfect for all readers!

[Gisbelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provided by the publisher via Edelweiss

I loved Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer, and since this one was written by the same author, I was really excited. She didn't disappoint as The Secrets of Lily Graves was such an intriguing book.

First off, I have to say the title didn't seem to fit the book. The book was amazing all right, but I'm not sure if I missed anything or there wasn't anything about Lily's secrets. Well, she was observant and knew a lot about people around her, but those were other people's secrets, not hers. Anyway, it wasn't big of a deal.

It started out a little slow, but still pretty nice and not at all boring. The pace did pick up close to the end of the book when finally the murderer was reveal. The twists were great and surprising, but I did, however, know already who killed Erin.

The characters, on the other hand, were well-developed. I loved that each of them had certain personality that differentiated them from the others. It made the book more realistic that way. I loved Matt, Lily and Auntie Boo the most among all the characters. Sara was also a great character.

Overall, I think this book was a real nice young adult suspense. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes a nicely-written book with interesting characters and plots that keep you guessing.

Blog: YA Obsession

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
17-year-old Lily Graves is the daughter of a mortician, and lives above her mother’s funeral home. Unfortunately this gives the other kids at her school plenty of ammunition to use against her, although Erin has another complaint – she thinks her boyfriend Matt broke up with her to be with Lily.
When Erin is then discovered dead, and it looks like a homicide, Matt and Lily are both suspects.
Who killed Lily? And why?


This was a good YA murder-mystery story, and I didn’t guess the killer.

I liked Lily, and I felt really sorry for her and the way everyone treated her. It wasn’t fair that she was picked on because of the way she dressed, and the way that people assumed that she had caused Erin’s death was unfair. I liked how she didn’t give up on finding out the truth, even when things got rough.

I liked the storyline in this, and I especially liked the mystery. I liked the way that the little twists were thrown in, and I liked that it wasn’t easy to guess the killer, even if several people were acting suspiciously.
There was a bit of romance, but not a lot, although it was difficult to know whether the love triangle was important to the murder.
The ending was good, and I really didn’t guess who the killer was until right at the end!
Overall; a good YA murder/mystery story,
7.5 out of 10.

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

2025

2024

2021

2020

2019
What a mystery! Every time I thought I had figured it out, every time I was sure I knew who the killer was, new information would come to light and I'd realize I had it all wrong! I suspected everyone the entire time! Every single person. Poor Lily, if she had been anything like me, she would have been a basket case by the end. I had no idea who she could trust. I didn't figure she should trust anyone. Every time she trusted someone my mind screamed, "It's a mistake!" But Lily knew what she was doing (or at least did an admirable job of keeping herself together).

And the mystery was solved.

I would like to say that I knew who it was all along (I did guess this person, but I also guessed about 10 other people, so I can't say that I had the victory).

The author set up an excellent mystery. The clues and the suspects and the plot just raced along. Every page brought new information. And I, for one, could not put it down.

[Jasprit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this book was definitely not what I was expecting it to be, I really don’t know what I was expecting, but what I got was a solid, funny mystery story which left me wanting more. I’m a real difficult person to please when it comes to reading books which deal with a mystery plot line, mostly because it will take ages to convince me to give one a go and secondly I hate guessing who is behind everything early on. With The Secrets of Lily Graves this was not the case, as I was quick to make a few assumptions early on, but was glad that they were quick to be thwarted and a few extra revelations were thrown along the way for extra measure.

Erin Donohue ends up dead soon after a altercation with Lily Graves, Lily isn’t the most popular girl in school, so of course people are quick to point the finger in Lily’s direction, more so when Erin’s death is seen as suicide and everyone knew Lily was after Erin’s boyfriend Matt. Lily was a cool character as she decided to take all of this in her stride and do some digging of her own, her mother would be involved in Erin’s funeral and her mum’s boyfriend was a cop, so there were several ways for Lily to get to the information. But as more and more evidence began to come through, I really didn’t know what to believe, it was cool because you thought you knew about what really had gone down on the night of and leading up to Erin’s death but there was so much juicy back stories yet to come.

The cops of course were those who never knew how to do their job, accusing the wrong people; Lily and Matt. Both Lily and Matt as high school students actually did a much better job digging around than the cops actually did. They could be hugely frustrating at times when they seemed to believe that they only knew best, even though Lily was able to uncover things they didn’t know about. For me what I enjoyed the most about this story was the relationship between Matt and Lily, it was a hard time for both of them especially with several revelations coming out along the way, but there was just an unexplainable spark between them, it certainly wasn’t the right time for them, but with the snippets that we got into their back story, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I was hoping that there would be a chance for Lily and Matt to be together.

Strohmeyer did an excellent job of keeping the killers identity from me until the very end. The last couple of pages were just awful to read, Strohmeyer kept us tensely waiting for things to calm down, it was one ending that I never expected. The Secrets of Lily Graves was one of the most surprising yet fun reads that I’ve read this year. I highly recommend giving this book a go, if you’re expecting something different from a mystery sort of read!

[Jenni Arndt · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having a long stint of bad luck when it came to murder mysteries The Secrets of Lily Graves came at me like a breath of fresh air. It’s engrossing, it’s twisty and it managed to take me completely by surprise.

Lily Graves hasn’t had the most traditional of upbringings. She’s been raised in a small home attached to her families business which just happens to be a funeral home. She’s grown up fascinated with the dead and has even worked on embalming bodies at a very young age. I loved how quirky and unconventional Lily was. She had a good sense of humour and she was really smart. Sure she got a little love sick over Matt (the boy she’s crushing on) but what teenaged girl doesn’t go through that. Making this matter much more complicated is the fact that Matt is the longtime boyfriend of perfect poster-girl, Erin. Once Lily starts tutoring Matt for him to pass a make up exam and to continue to be able to play football their feelings start to grow until everything takes a turn for the worse. After attacking Lily in the cemetery over Matt, Erin turns up dead of an apparent suicide. But things can’t be that clean cut in a YA murder mystery, it soon comes to light that Erin’s death was a homocide that was staged to look like a suicide.

What was so perfect about this book was that I wasn’t able to see any of the twists coming. I can honestly say that I had pretty much no freaking clue at any point in the novel who was responsible for murdering Erin. I knew for sure who DIDN’T do it, but I couldn't, for the life of me, put my finger on who DID do it. What’s even better is that when it does come to light it is so perfect and makes everything that happens in the novel make so much sense. Helping this mystery keep you engrossed is the pacing, it’s very quick and doesn’t really let up. Even in the chapters where Lily is remembering her budding romance with Matt things stayed interesting and didn’t slow down at all. At first when I had seen that there were entire chapters dedicated to her remembering things I was worried that I would get bored but in the end that was a silly concern because it just didn’t happen. I think every little minute detail that added to the mystery was revealed at just the right time and as I said, the way it all comes together is just perfect.

If I had to say that anything was a bit lacking in The Secrets of Lily Graves it would probably be in the way of character development. We don’t really get to the heart of our characters here but that wasn’t something that left me wanting more because the focus was on the mystery of the story. I felt like I got to know Lily really well and I even came to really like Matt. The character who I thought was the most fun was Lily’s aunt Boo. Seriously, what is it with quirky aunts? I always end up loving them and wanting so much more from them! This novel is deliciously dark and supremely twisty and I think anyone looking for a good murder mystery will appreciate the ride it takes them on.

--

For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I start? The Secrets of Lily Graves is one of my favorite 2014 reads so far. It was so unique and addicting. I actually started it at one early morning thinking I would read a chapter or two then get back to studying, but I ended up finishing the book by the afternoon. What does that mean? it means you need to go buy this book ASAP. It combines so many elements I enjoy in a book, murder mystery, a smart and likable protagonist, a cute potential romance, memorable plot, and lastly, the most important, being able to keep you at the edge of your seat trying to figure out the mystery. Lily Graves comes from a family of morticians. Her family is seriously cool and I love that Lily embraces this aspect of her life. She doesn't shy away from being related to her mortician family and dresses the way she likes, and is content with her life. That is the one thing that is usually missing in many of the main protagonists's lives.. contentment with what they have and are.

Beware, once you read the first chapter, you will be hooked. I loved how the first chapter got us straight into the plot.. no slow introductions, it's like ACTION! BAM! MURDER! MYSTERY! THERE YOU GO. All that in the first chapter or so. I loved the progression of the mystery and the little tidbits of clues that were thrown our way. I personally had some suspicions on who the killer could be but it was much more intricate than that. As for the romance, it isn't really a big part of the plot, but i really enjoyed it. I think Matt is just so cute and sweet and surprisingly protective of Lily and I loved that Lily treated him like any boy, because him being so popular means nothing to her. Lily is true to herself and I applaud her for that. Basically, this book is a quick, fun, and thrilling read and I definitely recommend it to all contemporary and mystery fans, you won't be disappointed!

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning of the story started of strong,but went downhill after that. The writing style surprised me, cause it was so elementary, it did not have a strong pull like other romantic books. I guess you can say that I expected it to be more engrossing due to the luring synopsis. Also the characters were very undeveloped, thus I did not really care about their contribution. Let's start with the main character, why was she needed? Okay that sounds harsh but really she was filler for the most part, even the minor characters had a more impact than she did.

Boy crushes, flirtation, deep secrets,etc? Honestly this book had thismuch potential, it was just not all that memorable.

Very deserving of the two stars that it received.

[Celeste_pewter · Rating 5 out of 5]

MIND BLOWN.

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

My local indie book store had an ARC copy of this book that they sold to me in exchange for donating to a charity. So, I have to say - I DID have an ARC copy that I read, even if it's a decade too late...

Regardless, I liked this book! It's a fun, pre-teen, dark Pretty Little Liars-esque story with a lot of drama. The dots connect along the way to figure out the mystery, and MAN, I was and wasn't expecting it all at the same time.

If you don't take this book too seriously and just want a read to slip away into, this book is great. If you want the best YA book of all time, this thriller isn't it. I think it's a fun book, but lacks a few pieces to make it the bestseller it could have been. The romance in it is very weak, but man do we read a lot of gorey details. So it's not for pre-teens technically, but the tone it is written in matches a pre-teen feel.

I feel like the side characters could have been given more attention to build them out. Lily was the lead and felt like the only character we focused on. Her best friend was there but kind of wasn't. Matt existed solely as the love interest and there wasn't much love. I felt like this book just needed a little bit more editing and we could have gotten a real hit.

I say all of this while also loving it for the book I needed it to be. I wanted a dramatic YA book that I could read and not have to think or worry about the outside world. It did just that. I didn't have to take it seriously and I just had a fun time reading it. I definitely liked it as a YA thriller and I want to read more by Sarah soon. But I can see many readers not enjoying this book for what it is.

Three out of five stars.

[Saoirse · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secrets of Lily Graves is a thrilling book, if not boring at some points. It was highly entertaining in its sense of ‘mystery’ and questionable set of characters. It’s not exactly an original novel, seeing as to how it was quite predictable even for me (who is not much a fan of thrillers), I still had a good time nevertheless. The plot twists and the intricate patterns of the suspect’s whereabouts were something that kept me enthralled. I did see the Pretty Little Liars essence to it although it wasn’t fully fledged out by the author (which is a good thing). I actually had a hard time putting this book down because I was totally hooked with the story. THERE. I said it. It’s a strange thing because most people have thought otherwise (which just proves that I’m really a contradictory person). With that having been said, this is a one-time hit.

Lily insinuates a whole new experience for me whilst reading this book. She’s quite different because she interpolates a dark disposition that I could actually see and not just read. Strohmeyer did an awfully good job with the development of this character because Lily has deep emotions and it just made her seem realistic. But I also can’t help but compare her to Elena Gilbert, minus the diary and more sexy black dresses. I mean, the facts are just there:

a) likes to hang out in the graveyard
- apparently, she likes talking to the dead because they are awesome
b) always found alone
- that is, if her best friend is not around
c) which is to say, she only has one friend
- some friend she was
d) is an outcast in the school
- doesn’t really fit in with her ‘gothic’ persona

That isn’t my problem exactly because Lily does have a unique personality compared to Elena. She was raised by an idiosyncratic family. It doesn’t require any thinking that her fondness for the dead comes from her family’s business. Being a daughter and a niece of a family of morticians, having to talk/sit beside (though it didn’t really happen)/live upstairs with the dead is an everyday thing for Lily, pretty much the same as you do with washing your hair before going out. For Lily, death was normal. It was inevitable.

What may seem as a cool business to me seems to be a mediocre of jokes and taunts for Lily at her school. This causes to her to have that outcast factor that I’ve pointed above and so she doesn’t really get well with many people, but of course with that exception of her best friend. But when Lily started to tutor the school’s most-loved jock of all time, Matt, for his failing History grades, things get messy. For the most part, although Lily had some minor crush (who wouldn’t?) for the guy, she doesn’t really think she’d get a chance for his spotlight, not when she’s at the lowest rank of the food chain AND when he already has somebody around. That somebody is coincidentally (not really) Lily’s childhood enemy, Erin. But when Matt suddenly took things off between him and Erin (let’s just say for obvious reasons) in dubious timing, Erin had a few notions up in her sleeve.

This part here is where the book first started. It opened up with Erin creating a scene with Lily at the graveyard, throwing insults and starting to pick up a fight. They both ended up with bruises and cuts and blood stains. While Lily blatantly denies that there’s nothing going between her and Matt, it’s up to no use for Erin. So when news got out that Erin had killed herself the next night, all the blame goes to Lily. But when the so-called suicide turned to murder and then to homicide, Lily sets foot on the chase for the killer.

Sadly though, the magic that paved at the start began to deteriorate as soon as the book began engaging on the mystery. It didn’t exactly shock me to the extent of gasping for my dear life. I certainly hoped it would happen but it didn’t much to my dismay. I think that the hints that the author had hid between sentences and words might have ruined for me. I mean, it wasn’t that obvious, but for someone who is paying close attention to it and is actually interested in knowing, it became sort of a bomber. BUT (that is a huge but there) there is however a twist to it. And somehow, that twist came in handy because it served the predictability justice. I was freaked out (and, okay, grossed out and disgusted) when the big revelation happened. I was majorly surprised to be honest.

It doesn’t just end there though. To put it in a way, the attraction thing going on between Lily and Matt wasn’t fleshed out really well. The flashbacks might have helped a little bit but I don’t think it really had that overwhelming factor for the plot. It felt like the romance was there because, really, would there ever be a YA book without it? So, the main point here is that there isn’t really much of a substance in the romance. I was a bit turned off and a bit skeptical with Matt. I also think that with Lily being ultimately defensive for Matt when authorities started to question his part of Erin’s life is completely stupid. She barely even knew the guy and she was already out defending his existence.

My standing forThe Secrets of Lily Graves pretty much sums up my expectations for it. I never really put much thought to it when I started this so I wasn’t disappointed. I was surprised, yes, but I’ve read a fair share of good mystery books (ha, I’m kidding). This is overall recommendable and perfect for those who wouldn’t mind a light thriller read.

[Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Wasn't super impressed with the writing or the storyline. Matt had a case of the "too good to be trues" and Lily annoyed me. I figured out part of the ending really early on-- and the red herring stuff that was thrown in was just too dramatic to be for real. So yeah, MEH is my rating for this book.

[Patty (IheartYA311) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very simple. I expected it to be more in depth but it was a quick read. It would have been 3 stars but the MCs hasty conclusion bugged me. Kind of disappointed.

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I absolutely LOVED Sarah Strohmeyer's Smart Girls Get What They Want and I liked How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True, so when The Secrets of Lily Graves appeared, I just KNEW I had to read it - regardless of the fact that this was not a fluffy romance but a mystery. Sadly, Strohmeyer's foray into a new genre didn't work too well for me.

Lily Graves is a murder mystery. Lily's classmate Erin is found dead. First it is assumed to be a suicide, but quickly it becomes clear that there was foul play involved. Lily is one of the last people who saw Erin alive - in fact, they had rather a dramatic encounter, because Erin was suspicious of her boyfriend, Matt, being too close with Lily. And Lily, being the daughter of a family of morticians and the best friend of a crime series addict, can't help but try to find out what happened.

I'm sad to say that I lacked a spark from the main character, Lily, that I did have with Strohmeyer's other main characters. Lily is more subdued and kind of gothic, but she came off as rather bland. Very sporadically she made sarcastic remarks that made me giggle, but I just didn't feel a connection to her at all. In fact, I was really annoyed with her and her fixation on Matt. A common problem for me is when we're thrown into the middle of a story and then find out about how the current state arose through flashbacks later. That was what Lily and Matt's relationship was like. At the beginning, you just see that Lily has these feelings for him, but you don't really get why. Through flashbacks later, you see what their history is like, but messing with the chronology like this is one way to get me to not ship this romance.

I didn't buy it for a second, and in fact, I was pretty suspicious of Matt from the outset. He was in an unhappy relationship, and it quickly becomes known that Erin was last seen arguing with a guy of his exact description, by one of her neighbors. Lily knows this, and yet from page one it never even crosses her mind to be suspicious of him. Her family and her friends tell her to be cautious, but all she'll say is, "It wasn't Matt. It definitely wasn't Matt." Her naivete about this seriously bugged me. I mean, YOU weren't the guy's alibi, and you knew he and Erin were in a rocky place. How can you not for even a SECOND doubt this guy?

At that point I just wanted him to be the killer, if anything to prove that Lily was a dumbass who needed a reality check. Lily, on the other hand, completely fixates on this random suspect. She saw him talk to Erin once, weeks ago, and is completely convinced that he is the guy. Why? I... honestly couldn't tell you. There wasn't a smoking gun or anything. It made no sense, especially when the police later follow up on her "tip" - like they completely believe her. Guys. This is not how crime shows work. You have to show me some freaking evidence.

So basically, what I'm saying is this mystery is a hot damn mess. It's trying to build suspense that the audience can completely see through. Then it whips out the truth at once trying to surprise you. It won't work on everyone. In a way, I was both surprised and not surprised. The killer had crossed my mind, but I wanted it so badly to be more complicated than that, so I kept searching for other explanations. In that way, I was absorbed in reading it, because I did definitely need to know who did it. In the end, it did surprise me a little, but that surprise lasted mere minutes before I shrugged my shoulders and moved on with my life.

Summing Up:

*sigh* I'm really sad this one didn't work for me. I want so badly to shout from the rooftops that Strohmeyer is one of my favorite authors, but one success does not a favorite author make. To be honest, I don't do mystery often, so it's not really my thing, but stepping out of your comfort zone is not a bad thing. Unfortunately, with lackluster characters, an annoyingly naive main character, and unimpressive plot twists, The Secrets of Lily Graves is average at best.

GIF it to me straight!


Me to Lily


*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review.

[Lisa (lifeinlit) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What first attracted me to this story was the cover. There was just something about it that made me want to find out more. Also the idea of it being a mystery. When I was younger, I read A LOT of mystery books, which actually began my love of reading. Nowadays I read far fewer. So when one catches my eye and I end up really enjoying it, it brings back those wonderful memories and reminds me why I used to read so many mysteries.

Lily Graves has one of the hardest family businesses for peers to accept… her mother, aunt and grandmother are morticians. They own their own funeral home, which they all live in as well. Aside from Lily’s wardrobe consisting of primarily black, she’s also known as the “freak” by the cheerleaders and popular crowd. Though Lily has a tough skin and doesn’t let it bother her as much as others might, she’s still affected by the negative behavior and name-calling. Especially when she’s suspected of killing her enemy, Erin. Erin’s BFF’s are anything but nice when it comes to making Lily’s life miserable for allegedly killing their friend. Lily sets out on a mission to find out who killed Erin, and she won’t stop until the answer is revealed.

My goodness!! The parts of this story involving Erin’s death were pretty gruesome, and I was pretty surprised this was categorized as a YA book. Now, let me be frank here… yes, I’m in my 30′s, and I’m also a total wimp when it comes to gruesome, torturing or scary things. So maybe that’s why this bothered me a little (and may have given me a nightmare… or two). But Sarah Strohmeyer didn’t shy over the subject of Erin’s murder at all. Every torturous detail came out at one point or another.

Though overall the story was pretty realistic and definitely entertaining, at times I felt that things just came together too easily. I’m sure my experience of working in the court system for over 10 years has shaded me a bit on this topic, but I just kept thinking “No way! That never would have happened!” I had to remind myself that the story was fictional, and that sometimes those types of things are necessary to make a story even better. Sooooo… I gave in and went with it. >.<

I first became a fan of Sarah Strohmeyer while reading How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True, which was super adorable and so much fun! I can definitely see where her fan base comes from. She’s a hugely talented author, and one I will most definitely be reading more of in the future. If you’re a fan of YA mystery, I would say you should give this book a try. Just know that there are silly parts, parts that aren’t very realistic and maybe a bit over-the-top, but overall very entertaining and a fun read. A whodunit that many will enjoy!

(Thanks to Balzer + Bray & Edelweiss for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I have to get this off my chest. OMG this book is just pure awesomeness! The twists, the little details, everything was perfect!

It all starts with a fight between Lily and her frenemy Erin, and ends in Erin's suicide, or was it suicide??
Suddenly everyone has a motive and everyone is being checked out by the police.

I loved, loved Lily, she was a really great character. I really like the fact that she comes from a family of morticians, that gave the story a little more edge. I am sure I wouldn't have loved the book if Lily was a cheerleader or something else equally boring. And I loved how she dressed, in black lace, like Morticia Addams. Truly kudos to that! She never gave up, even though a lot of things turned against her. She was however at times quite naive, never once noticing that those tutor lessons were just an excuse for something else.

I also really liked Matt and Sara, and how well those characters were crafted. Matt the jock, who was the boyfriend of Erin... well until he found out certain things. I didn't however like that he was flirting with Lily while he was still in relationship with Erin. I found that a bit tacky.

Sara, ah Sara, the best friend and so much more. She loved to watch Crime Investigation shows and helps Lily with a lot of things regarding the whole Erin business.

And then we have the wonderful, super awesome ending! I was totally correct on who was the killer and who helped the killer, that made me cheer a bit. Though it still stunned me that I was actually right, I kept hoping that it wouldn't be true, since it would be quite a shock to various characters in the book.

In short, the book was just epic, awesome and a real recommendation to everyone who likes these kind of novels.

[Sheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story way more than I thought I would. Which is great because alot of the books I've read lately haven't been that good.

Summary: Lily Graves grew up in a house full of morticians. And even though she's been picked at alot because of it she knows that one day she'll take over the family company. She knows all about death and and she's use to it but it comes as a shock to her when one of her school mates is murdered. Especially when she just had a fight with that school mate and now she and that school mates boyfriend are suspects.

Characters: Lily is kick ass! I don't know how she did it but being that she helped out with the family business and she got picked about about it she managed to stay sane. And then to add on to that she becomes one of the suspects to a murder! I know she wanted to prove that she was innocent but I would've been too scared to get involved and try to figure out who the murder was. She didn't have that many friends but she did have Matt. Even though he was the popular jock and she was an unpopular future mortician I thought they were perfect together. He was alot deeper than people thought and he needed someone like Lily in his life. As for the other characters Erin (dead girl) was a bitch. Yeah she didn't deserve what happened to her but she was a bitch. Her friends didn't have a mind of their own and they all got on my nerves. I liked Sarah but she pissed me off big time. And why are the detectives/policemen always so stupid in these books!?

Writing: Great writing with no errors that I can remember. I thought I knew what was going to happen but I didn't expect the ending at all. It was a good story and I don't really have any problems with it but I do hope that it turns into a series.

[Liviania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily Graves is a mortician's daughter, and she lives up to potential stereotypes with her love of fancy black dresses. She's also tutoring a local football star, Matt, for instance. Then, when she's cleaning up in the cemetery (her mom makes her volunteer), Matt's girlfriend Erin swings by and attacks Lily for breaking them up. By the end of the day, Erin is dead. It's up to Lily to prove that she and Matt had nothing to do with it.

THE SECRETS OF LILY GRAVES is Sarah Stohmeyer's first foray into mystery, and she does a good job of it. There is a dark tone to this book, which only increases as Erin's secrets come out. There are many more potential suspects than there seems to be at first, and I know I found the resolution surprising. I guessed a little of it, and it made sense, but I still didn't see it coming. Nor does Lily, who gets most of her clues through the policeman her mother is dating.

The romantic plotline, between Lily and Matt, wasn't quite as good as the mystery for me. It was very nice that Lily trusted Matt, but I still couldn't believe she would go off with him alone so often while he was suspected of murder. (Especially after he proves to be somewhat less than honest. And even if she does take a scalpel with her.) I did appreciate that, as they both said, nothing happened before Erin's death. I'm not big on cheating plotlines.

I also appreciated that Stohmeyer didn't forgo her roots entirely. THE SECRETS OF LILY GRAVES is frequently funny. There's also lots of delicious irony from the contrast of Erin's post-death sainthood and the truths that Lily uncovers. This book might be dark, but it's not depressing.

So throw THE SECRETS OF LILY GRAVES into your bag this summer, to add a little shade to your beach reading.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars on this one. What is with authors sucking at endings? The way the ending was written was just so clinical and distant compared to the rest of the book. And I really loved the conversational, snappy tone of this whole novel until like the last twenty pages. Disappointing. Again.

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this book shouldn't be called 'The Secrets of Lily Graves'. It should be called 'The Secrets of Everyone that Lily Graves Knows'. Jesus, what a wild ride this book was.

This book follows Lily Graves, a 17-year old girl who comes from a family of morticians. Lily has been tutoring star athlete and total hottie Matt Houser to help him pass History (if he fails, no more football). Unfortunately for Lily, Matt has a girlfriend, Erin, who just so happens to be Little Miss Perfect herself. Now, this sounds like one of those books where the 'ugly/weird' girl and the 'hot' boy fall in love, despite their many glaring differences, while the 'mean girl' ex-girlfriend plots to split them up before moving onto another 'victim', leaving the mis-matched couple to live happily ever after, right? Wrong. You see, at the beginning of the book, Erin turns up dead of a suspected suicide, which eventually turns out to be murder. And the main suspect? Mr Matt Houser. But did he do it? Poor Lily finds herself embroiled in the whole sordid affair and takes it upon herself to solve the murder, and clear Matt's (and her own) name.

For about the first 80-85% of the book, this was an okay read. I didn't really connect with any of the characters but I didn't completely hate them. There was just enough in this book to keep me interested in finding out what went down, but it wasn't blowing me away. Until THAT twist. THAT twist changed everything for me. I can't even describe how I was feeling during those last couple of chapters.

SHOOKETH.

Amazing. Did not see it coming, but it wasn't completely far-fetched. 4 STARS.