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ПРИСЛУЖНИЦАТА
Лили Трехърн е лейди, но сега тя трябва да се примири с живота на прислужница, живот в непреодолима бедност... и безпрекословно подчинение на господаря на имението.
ГОСПОДАРЯТ
Девън Даркуел заплашва сигурността на Лили точно толкова, колкото и възбужда нейните чувства. В обятията му тя ще позная бурната страст, горчивата безнадежност и извисяващата радост, която ще ги примирява, преди да ги завладее силната на любовта!!!
Лили Трехърн е лейди, но сега тя трябва да се примири с живота на прислужница, живот в непреодолима бедност... и безпрекословно подчинение на господаря на имението.
ГОСПОДАРЯТ
Девън Даркуел заплашва сигурността на Лили точно толкова, колкото и възбужда нейните чувства. В обятията му тя ще позная бурната страст, горчивата безнадежност и извисяващата радост, която ще ги примирява, преди да ги завладее силната на любовта!!!
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First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Patricia Gaffney
40 books319 followersPatricia Gaffney was born in Tampa, Florida, and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, and also studied literature at Royal Holloway College of the University of London, at George Washington University, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
After college, Gaffney taught 12th grade English for a year before becoming a freelance court reporter, a job she pursued in North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., for the next fifteen years.
Her first book, a historical romance, was published by Dorchester in 1989. Between then and 1997, she wrote 11 more romance novels (Dorchester; Penguin USA), for which she was nominated for or won many awards. Many of these previously out of print classics are available again today as digitally reissued classics, including the author's most recently re-released and much beloved novels in The Wyckerley Trilogy.
In 1999, she went in a new direction with her hardcover fiction debut, The Saving Graces (HarperCollins). A contemporary story about four women friends, the novel explored issues of love, friendship, trust, and commitment among women. The Saving Graces enjoyed bestseller status on the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and other lists.
Circle of Three (2000), Flight Lessons (2002), and The Goodbye Summer (2004) followed, all national bestsellers. Gaffney’s most recent novel was Mad Dash (2007), a humorous but insightful look at a 20-year marriage, told from the viewpoints of both longsuffering spouses.
More recently, Pat's been indulging her purely creative side in a brand new format for her -- novellas. With friends including J. D. Robb, she has contributed stories to three anthologies, all New York Times bestsellers. In "The Dog Days of Laurie Summer" (The Lost, 2009), a woman in a troubled marriage "dies" and comes back as the family dog. "The Dancing Ghost" (The Other Side, 2010) brings together a pretty spinster and a shady ghost buster in 1895 New England. And in "Dear One" (The Unquiet, 2011), a fake phone psychic (or IS she?) meets her match in a stuffy Capitol Hill lobbyist -- who couldn't possibly be that sexy-voiced cowboy from Medicine Bend who keeps calling the psychic line.
Patricia Gaffney lives in southern Pennsylvania with her husband.
After college, Gaffney taught 12th grade English for a year before becoming a freelance court reporter, a job she pursued in North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., for the next fifteen years.
Her first book, a historical romance, was published by Dorchester in 1989. Between then and 1997, she wrote 11 more romance novels (Dorchester; Penguin USA), for which she was nominated for or won many awards. Many of these previously out of print classics are available again today as digitally reissued classics, including the author's most recently re-released and much beloved novels in The Wyckerley Trilogy.
In 1999, she went in a new direction with her hardcover fiction debut, The Saving Graces (HarperCollins). A contemporary story about four women friends, the novel explored issues of love, friendship, trust, and commitment among women. The Saving Graces enjoyed bestseller status on the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and other lists.
Circle of Three (2000), Flight Lessons (2002), and The Goodbye Summer (2004) followed, all national bestsellers. Gaffney’s most recent novel was Mad Dash (2007), a humorous but insightful look at a 20-year marriage, told from the viewpoints of both longsuffering spouses.
More recently, Pat's been indulging her purely creative side in a brand new format for her -- novellas. With friends including J. D. Robb, she has contributed stories to three anthologies, all New York Times bestsellers. In "The Dog Days of Laurie Summer" (The Lost, 2009), a woman in a troubled marriage "dies" and comes back as the family dog. "The Dancing Ghost" (The Other Side, 2010) brings together a pretty spinster and a shady ghost buster in 1895 New England. And in "Dear One" (The Unquiet, 2011), a fake phone psychic (or IS she?) meets her match in a stuffy Capitol Hill lobbyist -- who couldn't possibly be that sexy-voiced cowboy from Medicine Bend who keeps calling the psychic line.
Patricia Gaffney lives in southern Pennsylvania with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
October 8, 2025
4 stars
Well. I cried.
Well. I cried.
Read
July 3, 2019Oh. My. God.
This is on so much crack I cannot even. It’s pure, unadulterated, ridiculous melodrama. Which I kind of simultaneously enjoyed and was made uncomfortable by. So I guess how much pleasure you’re likely to derive from Lily is directly connected to what you find problematic, and the degree to which you can put aside problematic things in the name of balls-to-the-wall exuberance.
So, where to start? The book opens with Lily Cinderella-ing for her wicked uncle and her wicked uncle’s horrible son. Said wicked uncle wants her to marry said horrible son for reasons he doesn’t quite articulate – but, of course, it later turns out she has an inheritance he wants to snaffle. She’s sufficiently reluctant to marry … I think the dude’s name is Lewis, Lewis Soames. Which, y’know, I would not want to marry a man named Lewis Soames either. Anyway, in order to avoid this miserable future, she ends up pokering her uncle in the head and running away with basically nothing. Because she’s a heroine. And that’s what heroines do.
While hiding at an inn, convinced she’s murdered her uncle and is going to be arrested and hanged, she overhears The Worst Woman In The Universe (who also has a horrible son, by the way) lamenting the fact she can’t get any servants to work for her. Not surprisingly considering she is blatantly The Worst Woman In The Universe and she works at a place called Darkstone Manor. Needless to say, Lily forges her references, fakes a terrible Irish accent and manages to secure a position working The Worst Woman In The Universe at Gothicarama Hall. On arriving at Murderdeath Grange, in the dark and the pouring rain, the first thing she witnesses is the master of the house, who emerges drunkenly from a room, with his shirt undone, and shoots a chandelier in paroxysm of overwhelming manpain. This is Devon Darkwell (yes, this is actually his name) and it is the best thing he does in the whole book.
And this is like page 50. From there, Lily reels from misfortune to misfortune, mostly at the hands of Dark McDark of Darkness Hall, who was married to a Bad Woman who did Bad Things to him, and consequently acts like he has a cosmic mandate to be a total prick. To some degree this was interesting because Lily is working as a servant and he treats her like a servant and basically has no interest in her life or the well-being of other servants under his employ. It takes a very, very long time for him to consider her as any sort of real person at all. And I felt was kind of grittily realistic, except I was frustrated because it didn’t feel like the book offered much challenge to Devon’s sense of his own unquestionable right to Lily: as a master over a subordinate, a social better over a social inferior, and as a man over a woman.
Partly, I think, this is because the book is so packed with melodramatic incident (fires! interrupted weddings! smugglers! wreckers!) that there’s very little room for emotional growth or change. Essentially Devon never really responds to Lily herself so much as the terrible, awful, dreadful things that constantly happen to her. As for Lily, she reminded me of de Sade’s Justine more anything: she is person who suffers and is not, really, affected by that suffering. She just sort of continues to endure it. Obviously there’s no question that she’s an incredibly resilient person (and I liked her a hell of a lot more than Dark McDark) but her role is incredibly—though also perhaps necessarily—passive. She flees, she suffers, she flees, she suffers ad infinitum. It doesn’t help that her virtue (in the broad sense, not just virginity sense) is presented as actively contrary to her well-being. And, obviously, that’s probably a deliberate comment on the role of women in an oppressive society but from a purely reader-perspective it gets very wearying as Lily will never ever do anything to help or protect herself.
I’ve seen Lily compared to Jane Eyre here and there, and it certainly has Jane Eyre-ish aspects, especially when it came to atmosphere and the relationship between a socially-powerful gentleman and the woman with nothing at all. And both Jane and Lily, at one, point run out onto a moor and nearly die. But a significant point of difference for me was that Jane is Rochester’s moral and spiritual superior and this is something he himself is very aware of, so actually the power balance between them shifts in Jane’s favour very quickly. And Jane’s virtue, her goodness, and her strength are never bad for her. They get her out of trouble (for example when Rochester tries to seduce her into being his mistress after the truth of his marriage comes out) not into it. For Lily it’s the exact opposite.
For example, there’s a bit, where Dark deflowers her (with her non-enthusiastic semi-consent) by making her believe he actually likes her. But, no, he is just being a Romance Hero and immediately afterwards hands her quite a lot of money and dismisses her. Now, instead of taking the money and getting the hell outta dodge like any sensible person, she instead sticks around, working as a drudge at Doomngloom Towers and doing some extra suffering. And I understand she felt she gave herself to him in good faith and if she takes his money she’ll be a whore … but, for God’s sake, at that point the only reason to stick around, cleaning for a pittance the fireplaces of a man who treated you with such absolute contempt is because you know you’re a romance heroine and he’s going to be very sorry and marry you later.
I’m not sure whether I’d recommend Lily or not. It’s definitely a rollercoaster and the chandelier shooting is A+. For me, I found it most interesting as the precursor to To Have & To Hold, which is a book I find troubling and fascinating and return to time and time again. They have many themes and elements and even scenes in common (for example, they both contain a sequence in which the hero attempts to force the heroine’s body to respond passionately to him, and is utterly defeated), and at their heart they both concern a man without goodness and a woman without power. But, unlike THATH, I don’t think Lily quite manages to get to grips with one of its central conceits: how does a man who has no reason to care about anyone or anything—who lives in a world that actively rewards him for not doing so—change.
This is on so much crack I cannot even. It’s pure, unadulterated, ridiculous melodrama. Which I kind of simultaneously enjoyed and was made uncomfortable by. So I guess how much pleasure you’re likely to derive from Lily is directly connected to what you find problematic, and the degree to which you can put aside problematic things in the name of balls-to-the-wall exuberance.
So, where to start? The book opens with Lily Cinderella-ing for her wicked uncle and her wicked uncle’s horrible son. Said wicked uncle wants her to marry said horrible son for reasons he doesn’t quite articulate – but, of course, it later turns out she has an inheritance he wants to snaffle. She’s sufficiently reluctant to marry … I think the dude’s name is Lewis, Lewis Soames. Which, y’know, I would not want to marry a man named Lewis Soames either. Anyway, in order to avoid this miserable future, she ends up pokering her uncle in the head and running away with basically nothing. Because she’s a heroine. And that’s what heroines do.
While hiding at an inn, convinced she’s murdered her uncle and is going to be arrested and hanged, she overhears The Worst Woman In The Universe (who also has a horrible son, by the way) lamenting the fact she can’t get any servants to work for her. Not surprisingly considering she is blatantly The Worst Woman In The Universe and she works at a place called Darkstone Manor. Needless to say, Lily forges her references, fakes a terrible Irish accent and manages to secure a position working The Worst Woman In The Universe at Gothicarama Hall. On arriving at Murderdeath Grange, in the dark and the pouring rain, the first thing she witnesses is the master of the house, who emerges drunkenly from a room, with his shirt undone, and shoots a chandelier in paroxysm of overwhelming manpain. This is Devon Darkwell (yes, this is actually his name) and it is the best thing he does in the whole book.
And this is like page 50. From there, Lily reels from misfortune to misfortune, mostly at the hands of Dark McDark of Darkness Hall, who was married to a Bad Woman who did Bad Things to him, and consequently acts like he has a cosmic mandate to be a total prick. To some degree this was interesting because Lily is working as a servant and he treats her like a servant and basically has no interest in her life or the well-being of other servants under his employ. It takes a very, very long time for him to consider her as any sort of real person at all. And I felt was kind of grittily realistic, except I was frustrated because it didn’t feel like the book offered much challenge to Devon’s sense of his own unquestionable right to Lily: as a master over a subordinate, a social better over a social inferior, and as a man over a woman.
Partly, I think, this is because the book is so packed with melodramatic incident (fires! interrupted weddings! smugglers! wreckers!) that there’s very little room for emotional growth or change. Essentially Devon never really responds to Lily herself so much as the terrible, awful, dreadful things that constantly happen to her. As for Lily, she reminded me of de Sade’s Justine more anything: she is person who suffers and is not, really, affected by that suffering. She just sort of continues to endure it. Obviously there’s no question that she’s an incredibly resilient person (and I liked her a hell of a lot more than Dark McDark) but her role is incredibly—though also perhaps necessarily—passive. She flees, she suffers, she flees, she suffers ad infinitum. It doesn’t help that her virtue (in the broad sense, not just virginity sense) is presented as actively contrary to her well-being. And, obviously, that’s probably a deliberate comment on the role of women in an oppressive society but from a purely reader-perspective it gets very wearying as Lily will never ever do anything to help or protect herself.
I’ve seen Lily compared to Jane Eyre here and there, and it certainly has Jane Eyre-ish aspects, especially when it came to atmosphere and the relationship between a socially-powerful gentleman and the woman with nothing at all. And both Jane and Lily, at one, point run out onto a moor and nearly die. But a significant point of difference for me was that Jane is Rochester’s moral and spiritual superior and this is something he himself is very aware of, so actually the power balance between them shifts in Jane’s favour very quickly. And Jane’s virtue, her goodness, and her strength are never bad for her. They get her out of trouble (for example when Rochester tries to seduce her into being his mistress after the truth of his marriage comes out) not into it. For Lily it’s the exact opposite.
For example, there’s a bit, where Dark deflowers her (with her non-enthusiastic semi-consent) by making her believe he actually likes her. But, no, he is just being a Romance Hero and immediately afterwards hands her quite a lot of money and dismisses her. Now, instead of taking the money and getting the hell outta dodge like any sensible person, she instead sticks around, working as a drudge at Doomngloom Towers and doing some extra suffering. And I understand she felt she gave herself to him in good faith and if she takes his money she’ll be a whore … but, for God’s sake, at that point the only reason to stick around, cleaning for a pittance the fireplaces of a man who treated you with such absolute contempt is because you know you’re a romance heroine and he’s going to be very sorry and marry you later.
I’m not sure whether I’d recommend Lily or not. It’s definitely a rollercoaster and the chandelier shooting is A+. For me, I found it most interesting as the precursor to To Have & To Hold, which is a book I find troubling and fascinating and return to time and time again. They have many themes and elements and even scenes in common (for example, they both contain a sequence in which the hero attempts to force the heroine’s body to respond passionately to him, and is utterly defeated), and at their heart they both concern a man without goodness and a woman without power. But, unlike THATH, I don’t think Lily quite manages to get to grips with one of its central conceits: how does a man who has no reason to care about anyone or anything—who lives in a world that actively rewards him for not doing so—change.
April 11, 2025
I could totally understand another reviewer hating this book. The hero, Devon, is a villain of the highest order: he’s swimming in brandy, pays not a whit of attention to the plight of his overworked, underfed, poorly housed, and terrorized servants, allows his younger brother to endanger his and others’ lives by smuggling, and when the lovely new house servant, Lily, crosses his path, assumes she’s free for the taking.
Because she was a servant, a part of him had reasoned—unconsciously or not, it didn’t matter—that her body was his, and that he was entitled to at least a one-time use of it.
And if a reviewer wanted to bash this book for being outlandishly over-the-top, well, it is. Lily is a bad luck magnet with a “Kick Me” sign on the back of her dress. She’s victimized so many different ways by so many different people, including and especially by the so-called hero who loves her, that this review would end up novella-length if I tried to list them all. Suffice to say it’s astonishing that this ends with an HEA instead of a funeral.
Throw in a few occasions when people did things that didn’t even make sense—like Devon’s mother’s sudden flip-flop on Lily, Cobb’s questionable regret, and Lily’s bizarre sojourn with an artist/witch on the moors—and no one could be blamed for giving this a thumbs down.
So why did I love it? Why was I so enthralled? Because this stirred up ALL the emotions. Anger and outrage: I wanted Devon to suffer for the way he treated Lily. Horror and concern: I wanted Lily to find a safe place so badly. I laughed a few times, I cried many more. I got irrational: I wanted Lily to crush Devon because he had it coming, but I didn’t want to see Devon hurt anymore. I wanted Devon to atone, and the only fitting atonement he could offer Lily would have destroyed him.
However you feel about this book, the one thing you probably won’t feel is boredom.
Because she was a servant, a part of him had reasoned—unconsciously or not, it didn’t matter—that her body was his, and that he was entitled to at least a one-time use of it.
And if a reviewer wanted to bash this book for being outlandishly over-the-top, well, it is. Lily is a bad luck magnet with a “Kick Me” sign on the back of her dress. She’s victimized so many different ways by so many different people, including and especially by the so-called hero who loves her, that this review would end up novella-length if I tried to list them all. Suffice to say it’s astonishing that this ends with an HEA instead of a funeral.
Throw in a few occasions when people did things that didn’t even make sense—like Devon’s mother’s sudden flip-flop on Lily, Cobb’s questionable regret, and Lily’s bizarre sojourn with an artist/witch on the moors—and no one could be blamed for giving this a thumbs down.
So why did I love it? Why was I so enthralled? Because this stirred up ALL the emotions. Anger and outrage: I wanted Devon to suffer for the way he treated Lily. Horror and concern: I wanted Lily to find a safe place so badly. I laughed a few times, I cried many more. I got irrational: I wanted Lily to crush Devon because he had it coming, but I didn’t want to see Devon hurt anymore. I wanted Devon to atone, and the only fitting atonement he could offer Lily would have destroyed him.
However you feel about this book, the one thing you probably won’t feel is boredom.
July 28, 2021
The plot: I don’t know where to begin. As the title says it’s about the adventures of our heroine, named Lily. She’s a well bred lady whose uncle wants her to be married to his son. He threaten her to report her as a thief if she won’t to as he likes, and she runs away. She is employed as a maid in a dark castle, where she’s seen by the master, Devon, who makes her his mistress. Nothing is easy in this book, the poor girl really endures every kind of abuse from everyone, even - especially- from Devon himself. Description are vivid and sometimes raw, her brutal treatments described in details. At a certain point I had to stop reading because I was feeling sick, but anyway you have to read it until the end, even if you want to kill some of the characters. This is how a book is meant to be for me, strong emotions, head spinning and thinking for all day about it. No light reading, no jokes, very gothic and graphic. Vote 10/10
Hero: Devon. He is arrogant and stupid, treats the heroine like a slut because he believes she is one of his servants, he is ready to think the worst of her even when she saved his life. He abuses her and even in the end he doesn’t believe her but is another person who makes him change his mind. Unforgivable ass. I would have dropped him without a thought. Vote:1/10
Heroine: Lily. How many abuses did she go through??? I liked her until the end, when she forgives that stupid man and marries him. I liked her so much when, after ruining her in front of all her relatives and friends, Devon understand he has misjudged her and he goes after her, and she tells him that she is pregnant but she doesn’t want him any more and he will never see his child. This is what he deserves. Why why why did she change her mind??? She could go away with her son and her father’s money, and be happy with a good man. Anyway I loved loved this book! Vote: 8/10
This is a book with many triggers.
The author is not one to spare vivid description of cruelty even in gory details. She enjoys her heroines to suffer unbearable pains. He heroes are past redemption.
I don't know why.
Here the heroine, Lily, of course, is a lady who has to run from a vicious uncle who wants her money and wants her to marry his son. When she refuses, he threatens her that he will call the guards and he will tell that she stole from him.
Poor Lily has to run away and she ands in the hero's house as a maid. Since she's pretty the hero notices her and decides he will seduce her, coldly.
He's a classist male chauvinist, he isn't in love with her, he only wants her for sex. That's clear.
He also has a younger brother who is a smuggler and he's always trying to protect him; when one night he's shot to avoid the guards the heroine lies to protect him.
His governess is a sadist woman who beats the maids with the help of her more sadist pervert son. Of course she hates the heroine and one day she and her son almost succeeds in beating her to death. This scene made me feel sick. I had to stop because it was really bad, I was almost fainting and I'm not one easily impressed. I can even read Stephen King without a blink.
The hero saves her just in time, then he makes her his mistress, because of course he would never marry her.
I don't know why she never told him who she was and what her uncle did to her.
Whatever.
One night the hero finds his brother senseless with a hole in his head and near him there's a paper with the name Lily written.
Of course he believes she's guilty.
Why, every day a man is shot in his head and is able to walk, take paper, pen and write the name of the man who shot him. Of course.
So the heroine, after being accused cruelly by the hero and threatened again to be thrown into jail or better, to be executed, runs off and decides to go back to her uncle and marry her cousin.
But the hero finds her and slut shames her on the day of her marriage in front of the community.
So she's kicked out of her house without a penny.
This scene where she, alone and scorned, walks away without a hope in the world was really extreme. So extreme I couldn't even feel sympathy, nasty b**ch that I am. Enough is enough.
Then she meets a woman with a dog who helps her and they all live together in a hut in the middle of nothing.
I read Odyssey when I was at school. It is a bland and boring book compared to this.
Meanwhile the zero has leartn from the doctor that it's impossible that his brother could have written the heroine's name after being shot, so he's trying to find her.
Eventually he finds her, almost dead. Ah, of course she's also pregnant.
I think that this book should have the title: Lily VS the world.
We could also make a good videogame where she gains points when she's abused, but not killed.
After the hero found her I'm very glad to say that the heroine shows all her distaste and hate for him and goes with him only to save her child.
But she doesn't want to have anything to do with him.
The hero tries to make amend, he also manages to give her back her father's inheritance so she will be not rich but well fixed.
Sadly in the end she will accept to marry him, even after he told her that he only believed she was innocent after the doctor told him.
I don't know what to say.
I can only hope he will die young and she will be a rich and merry widow.
This is a book I can't recommend to sensitive people, only to those who are really bad sucker for angst reading.
For this reason for me it was wonderful.
Hero: Devon. He is arrogant and stupid, treats the heroine like a slut because he believes she is one of his servants, he is ready to think the worst of her even when she saved his life. He abuses her and even in the end he doesn’t believe her but is another person who makes him change his mind. Unforgivable ass. I would have dropped him without a thought. Vote:1/10
Heroine: Lily. How many abuses did she go through??? I liked her until the end, when she forgives that stupid man and marries him. I liked her so much when, after ruining her in front of all her relatives and friends, Devon understand he has misjudged her and he goes after her, and she tells him that she is pregnant but she doesn’t want him any more and he will never see his child. This is what he deserves. Why why why did she change her mind??? She could go away with her son and her father’s money, and be happy with a good man. Anyway I loved loved this book! Vote: 8/10
This is a book with many triggers.
The author is not one to spare vivid description of cruelty even in gory details. She enjoys her heroines to suffer unbearable pains. He heroes are past redemption.
I don't know why.
Here the heroine, Lily, of course, is a lady who has to run from a vicious uncle who wants her money and wants her to marry his son. When she refuses, he threatens her that he will call the guards and he will tell that she stole from him.
Poor Lily has to run away and she ands in the hero's house as a maid. Since she's pretty the hero notices her and decides he will seduce her, coldly.
He's a classist male chauvinist, he isn't in love with her, he only wants her for sex. That's clear.
He also has a younger brother who is a smuggler and he's always trying to protect him; when one night he's shot to avoid the guards the heroine lies to protect him.
His governess is a sadist woman who beats the maids with the help of her more sadist pervert son. Of course she hates the heroine and one day she and her son almost succeeds in beating her to death. This scene made me feel sick. I had to stop because it was really bad, I was almost fainting and I'm not one easily impressed. I can even read Stephen King without a blink.
The hero saves her just in time, then he makes her his mistress, because of course he would never marry her.
I don't know why she never told him who she was and what her uncle did to her.
Whatever.
One night the hero finds his brother senseless with a hole in his head and near him there's a paper with the name Lily written.
Of course he believes she's guilty.
Why, every day a man is shot in his head and is able to walk, take paper, pen and write the name of the man who shot him. Of course.
So the heroine, after being accused cruelly by the hero and threatened again to be thrown into jail or better, to be executed, runs off and decides to go back to her uncle and marry her cousin.
But the hero finds her and slut shames her on the day of her marriage in front of the community.
So she's kicked out of her house without a penny.
This scene where she, alone and scorned, walks away without a hope in the world was really extreme. So extreme I couldn't even feel sympathy, nasty b**ch that I am. Enough is enough.
Then she meets a woman with a dog who helps her and they all live together in a hut in the middle of nothing.
I read Odyssey when I was at school. It is a bland and boring book compared to this.
Meanwhile the zero has leartn from the doctor that it's impossible that his brother could have written the heroine's name after being shot, so he's trying to find her.
Eventually he finds her, almost dead. Ah, of course she's also pregnant.
I think that this book should have the title: Lily VS the world.
We could also make a good videogame where she gains points when she's abused, but not killed.
After the hero found her I'm very glad to say that the heroine shows all her distaste and hate for him and goes with him only to save her child.
But she doesn't want to have anything to do with him.
The hero tries to make amend, he also manages to give her back her father's inheritance so she will be not rich but well fixed.
Sadly in the end she will accept to marry him, even after he told her that he only believed she was innocent after the doctor told him.
I don't know what to say.
I can only hope he will die young and she will be a rich and merry widow.
This is a book I can't recommend to sensitive people, only to those who are really bad sucker for angst reading.
For this reason for me it was wonderful.
June 17, 2008
Sheer, unadulterated BOREDOM (and I can't stress that enough!)—that’s what comes to mind after having read this beyond tedious story. It is endless. The author is in desperate need of a competent editor because this book could have been shortened in so many areas and easily whittled down to 300 pages tops.
Things happen but don’t happen and take forever to happen and when you think something good is going to happen you’re left saying: “That’s it???!” It is filled with pages and pages of annoying narration that rarely add to the story and act as filler. There are secondary stories that serve no purpose at all except to annoy the reader.
The number of times the heroine forgave the hero is enough to send even a very forgiving person over the edge. The hero, Devon, was horrible in so many ways and still Lily loved him even if at one point you think she’s gotten herself a clue and stays mad at him for a while only to forgive the sob yet again. I didn’t think he was a forgivable or a redeemable hero. Then there’s this whole forest scene with some weirdo witch-like woman and you’re thinking “What the--??? Where did she come from and why is she here????” And there's also the Cornish splattered around like word vomit--because that's even remotely understandable!?! Holy irritating!
The ending is wrapped up nice and pretty all of a sudden which was about the only good thing in this book what with all the wavering and lack of direction. It’s not a tight story. It’s as if it was a first draft that went to print.
It's not the easiest book to come across as it's out of print--and I can soooo understand why now....
Things happen but don’t happen and take forever to happen and when you think something good is going to happen you’re left saying: “That’s it???!” It is filled with pages and pages of annoying narration that rarely add to the story and act as filler. There are secondary stories that serve no purpose at all except to annoy the reader.
The number of times the heroine forgave the hero is enough to send even a very forgiving person over the edge. The hero, Devon, was horrible in so many ways and still Lily loved him even if at one point you think she’s gotten herself a clue and stays mad at him for a while only to forgive the sob yet again. I didn’t think he was a forgivable or a redeemable hero. Then there’s this whole forest scene with some weirdo witch-like woman and you’re thinking “What the--??? Where did she come from and why is she here????” And there's also the Cornish splattered around like word vomit--because that's even remotely understandable!?! Holy irritating!
The ending is wrapped up nice and pretty all of a sudden which was about the only good thing in this book what with all the wavering and lack of direction. It’s not a tight story. It’s as if it was a first draft that went to print.
It's not the easiest book to come across as it's out of print--and I can soooo understand why now....
January 27, 2016
Wasn't sure how to rate this one. Too bad you can't give half stars, because I'd have gone with 3.5 I have to give a nod to the quality of the writing and the fact that the story drew me in and I kept reading. HOWEVER... I think this is my last Patricia Gaffney novel. I tried to read To Have and To Hold, but never could finish it and Lily just left me with too many icky/angry feelings.
To Have and to Hold was well written as well. (In a way, it was even better as far as the strength of the writing goes.) But, it's not romance and I expected a romance, which is the crux of my problem with this writer's work. There's just something I find disturbing about her books and too many plot choices that are not to my liking. Obviously, that's a personal, objective opinion and your mileage may vary. For example, what was up with the deflowering scene? Apparently he didn't even know/couldn't tell she was a virgin. It was weird... and then he tried to give her money. I realize not everyone bleeds, etc. But HEY! that's one of my most cherished clichés!
The attraction in Lily was much more believable to me than in To Have and to Hold (that attraction was just weird). Although Dev was a class-A SOB, it was still your standard romance novel - "I love her, but won't admit it because my evil first wife/mother/girlfriend/grandmother/nanny/favorite female pet/etc hurt me" plot line. He was attracted to her from the first moment they met and constantly fighting it. I'm not sure why she loved him so much, though, since he was such a SOB. Of course, he could be really sweet at times too. And they call women the moody ones...
Anyway, what I love most about the novels with the unbelievably cold and ruthless SOB hero is their OMFG moment. That moment when they realize how horribly they misjudged the h and how awful they have been to her. But, in another odd plot choice (IMHO), we are deprived of that here. The OMFG moment happens off stage. I'd have forgiven it if this was a one person/first person POV, but that wasn't the case. We did get into the H's head some, so what a missed opportunity that was!
I did love how bitter and angry Lily was toward Dev in the last part of the book. She did make him pay for several months and didn't just take him back with open arms. However, I felt the HEA was rushed and once again we were deprived of a great scene when they skipped the reconciliation and went straight to the epilogue. I was sorta confused it flipped so fast.
To Have and to Hold was well written as well. (In a way, it was even better as far as the strength of the writing goes.) But, it's not romance and I expected a romance, which is the crux of my problem with this writer's work. There's just something I find disturbing about her books and too many plot choices that are not to my liking. Obviously, that's a personal, objective opinion and your mileage may vary. For example, what was up with the deflowering scene? Apparently he didn't even know/couldn't tell she was a virgin. It was weird... and then he tried to give her money. I realize not everyone bleeds, etc. But HEY! that's one of my most cherished clichés!
The attraction in Lily was much more believable to me than in To Have and to Hold (that attraction was just weird). Although Dev was a class-A SOB, it was still your standard romance novel - "I love her, but won't admit it because my evil first wife/mother/girlfriend/grandmother/nanny/favorite female pet/etc hurt me" plot line. He was attracted to her from the first moment they met and constantly fighting it. I'm not sure why she loved him so much, though, since he was such a SOB. Of course, he could be really sweet at times too. And they call women the moody ones...
Anyway, what I love most about the novels with the unbelievably cold and ruthless SOB hero is their OMFG moment. That moment when they realize how horribly they misjudged the h and how awful they have been to her. But, in another odd plot choice (IMHO), we are deprived of that here. The OMFG moment happens off stage. I'd have forgiven it if this was a one person/first person POV, but that wasn't the case. We did get into the H's head some, so what a missed opportunity that was!
I did love how bitter and angry Lily was toward Dev in the last part of the book. She did make him pay for several months and didn't just take him back with open arms. However, I felt the HEA was rushed and once again we were deprived of a great scene when they skipped the reconciliation and went straight to the epilogue. I was sorta confused it flipped so fast.
December 13, 2025
This is bordering on self-flagellation
I don't know what penance Patricia Gaffney was trying to pay with this book, I'm only glad she shared it with us.
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🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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I don't know what penance Patricia Gaffney was trying to pay with this book, I'm only glad she shared it with us.
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🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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October 6, 2024
5 Stars to Lily (& Devon)
“Let go o’ your pride, lamb. What good is being right if you’re alone?”
From one of my favorite scenes, a very emotional one.
I loved Lily. It had the kind of angst I'm always desperately looking for. The drama, the anticipation, the sexy times, the grovel, the romance, all of it, it's what I needed. All the feels!
I'm too lazy to leave a better review...I also can't wait to jump into another of Gaffney's books.
Personal Notes:
Definitely add to reread pile
Chapter Seventeen, 55%
Hoopla borrowed ebook
“Let go o’ your pride, lamb. What good is being right if you’re alone?”
From one of my favorite scenes, a very emotional one.
I loved Lily. It had the kind of angst I'm always desperately looking for. The drama, the anticipation, the sexy times, the grovel, the romance, all of it, it's what I needed. All the feels!
I'm too lazy to leave a better review...I also can't wait to jump into another of Gaffney's books.
Personal Notes:
Definitely add to reread pile
Chapter Seventeen, 55%
Hoopla borrowed ebook
May 30, 2024
5++++++++ Stars
This was soooooo gooood!!!!!!!
I can't say that enough. I came for the Jane Eyre vibes, but stayed for the insanely intense and very unique gothic (technically regency) romance. Did this end up being like Jane Eyre? No, but it was better tbh.
I've read one other of Gaffeny's historical romances called "To Have and to Hold", which was really good. It's about a rakish viscount who becomes the towns magistrate (judge) and offers a woman who had been wrongfully accused of murder to become his mistress instead (she accepts). That was a good book, because the characters and premise, as well as the execution was really well done.
However, what makes Lily better in my opinion is that the H in this story the Lord Devon Darkwell
of Darkstone Manor (what a name) is a complete a**hole to his servants, which ups the angst in this book x100000000. Lily basically becomes a maid in his house after running away from her distant cousin who is trying to marry her off to his son. Once they meet, the pure angst between them is pure ***chef's kiss***. Daemyra mentioned in her review that this is one of the most realistic master/servant books that she's read, and I have to agree. The whole seduction plot by Devon had me screaming as well as when he actually falls in love with Lily and has to earn her love again.
I also like the groveling Devon does by the end of the book, it's realistic and doesn't seemed forced. The whole book is great really and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a highly emotional-angst filled historical romance.
Gaffney is a great writer and I will be reading more from her going into the future.
This was soooooo gooood!!!!!!!
I can't say that enough. I came for the Jane Eyre vibes, but stayed for the insanely intense and very unique gothic (technically regency) romance. Did this end up being like Jane Eyre? No, but it was better tbh.
I've read one other of Gaffeny's historical romances called "To Have and to Hold", which was really good. It's about a rakish viscount who becomes the towns magistrate (judge) and offers a woman who had been wrongfully accused of murder to become his mistress instead (she accepts). That was a good book, because the characters and premise, as well as the execution was really well done.
However, what makes Lily better in my opinion is that the H in this story the Lord Devon Darkwell
of Darkstone Manor (what a name) is a complete a**hole to his servants, which ups the angst in this book x100000000. Lily basically becomes a maid in his house after running away from her distant cousin who is trying to marry her off to his son. Once they meet, the pure angst between them is pure ***chef's kiss***. Daemyra mentioned in her review that this is one of the most realistic master/servant books that she's read, and I have to agree. The whole seduction plot by Devon had me screaming as well as when he actually falls in love with Lily and has to earn her love again.
I also like the groveling Devon does by the end of the book, it's realistic and doesn't seemed forced. The whole book is great really and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a highly emotional-angst filled historical romance.
Gaffney is a great writer and I will be reading more from her going into the future.
September 14, 2022
I couldn't put this book down and I adored the heroine, so I'm going to give this story a higher rating than it probably deserves. Despite being so well written, the conclusion of this romance didn't feel entirely believable to me.
The reconciliation between Devon and Lily needed at least a hundred more pages to fully develop, considering all the trauma Lily was put through. Devon's first noble act of
Still, with all my complaints, I found this love story fascinating and I would recommend it if you don't mind unlikable main characters. Lily is a saint, to be perfectly honest, but Devon is flawed and ignorant and sometimes cruel. His development is a major part of the novel, and he ends up better than what he started out as personality wise, but he's definitely not your traditional romance hero or even dark romance hero. I really felt for him because he's a very traumatized person who is obviously driven by all his negative emotions. He won't be for everyone though, so I do get the low ratings.
The first half of this novel showcases the beginning of a tender and funny romance, while the second half is dark and angsty and heartbreaking, which is another reason why this story could be polarizing to some readers. I enjoyed it all (even if I did find the Judith McNaught type of big misunderstanding plotline aggravating, to say the least) and the side characters were all so memorable, especially Devon's sweet younger brother and the evil domineering housekeeper Mrs. Howe. She was so freaking terrifying.
TW: lots of dubious consent, with some brief non- consent in the latter half of the novel, attempted assault, and graphic physical abuse
The reconciliation between Devon and Lily needed at least a hundred more pages to fully develop, considering all the trauma Lily was put through. Devon's first noble act of
Still, with all my complaints, I found this love story fascinating and I would recommend it if you don't mind unlikable main characters. Lily is a saint, to be perfectly honest, but Devon is flawed and ignorant and sometimes cruel. His development is a major part of the novel, and he ends up better than what he started out as personality wise, but he's definitely not your traditional romance hero or even dark romance hero. I really felt for him because he's a very traumatized person who is obviously driven by all his negative emotions. He won't be for everyone though, so I do get the low ratings.
The first half of this novel showcases the beginning of a tender and funny romance, while the second half is dark and angsty and heartbreaking, which is another reason why this story could be polarizing to some readers. I enjoyed it all (even if I did find the Judith McNaught type of big misunderstanding plotline aggravating, to say the least) and the side characters were all so memorable, especially Devon's sweet younger brother and the evil domineering housekeeper Mrs. Howe. She was so freaking terrifying.
TW: lots of dubious consent, with some brief non- consent in the latter half of the novel, attempted assault, and graphic physical abuse
December 30, 2013
I loved this book. The best book I've read in a long time!!!! It has so many twist and turns and hardships for poor Lily but...through it all she triumphs in the end. A wonderful story about a gently born woman who is being forced to marry her awful cousin by her religious uncle. She flees and goes into hiding as a maid in a big household. Eventually she makes friends with the Master of the house who is a wounded man by his horrible dead wife and dead child. He is a mess!
So many things happen ....I don't want to ruin the story for you all. REad it you'll like it....A LOT!!
So many things happen ....I don't want to ruin the story for you all. REad it you'll like it....A LOT!!
September 20, 2015
I only got to a little over half-way thru this book, which was a lot considering it is 448 pages long. While I think the author did a great job describing the way of life for women and/or servants back then, it was a little too much for me. The heroine had to endure so much violence, beatings, physical pain, etc that I felt that I really wasn't reading a romance story. The bad guys in this story were very evil, and did not make for a lazy comfortable read. There were other little things that were irritating, but for the most part, I stopped reading because I did not enjoy reading about the violence.
March 2, 2020
What impressed me the most about Patricia Gaffney’s Lily was Devon the asshole hero. I think this was one of the more realistic depictions that I've read of what happens when the lord of the manor falls in love with his servant. Granted, Lily wasn't actually of a lower class but Devon treated her like she was, for the most part. Devon was hypocritical in how he treated Lily and he was supremely vindictive. The reasoning wasn't all there but if it got us to Devon doing one of the most dastardly things I’ve ever seen a hero do at a wedding, I'm not complaining!
Similar to To Have and to Hold in terms of a lord and a household servant falling in love and the heroine having the worst luck but there were unique tweaks. A bit of a smuggling plot here, which I’m not partial for. Gothic elements through the description of Darkstone Manor and the strange characters that inhabit it.
A minor note is the depiction of poor people in the story. The poor people were all stereotyped to be dumb animals or greedy, vicious creatures that were jealous of protecting their status (lady’s maid versus a parlour maid). I thought this was interesting to read but I don’t know why the sermonizing was harsh on the poor people and the rich people who play with maids was swept under the rug. Lily does at one point serve Devon and his family tea to reveal the hypocrisy of the situation, I suppose, but nothing much is really said or shown besides that.
Similar to To Have and to Hold in terms of a lord and a household servant falling in love and the heroine having the worst luck but there were unique tweaks. A bit of a smuggling plot here, which I’m not partial for. Gothic elements through the description of Darkstone Manor and the strange characters that inhabit it.
A minor note is the depiction of poor people in the story. The poor people were all stereotyped to be dumb animals or greedy, vicious creatures that were jealous of protecting their status (lady’s maid versus a parlour maid). I thought this was interesting to read but I don’t know why the sermonizing was harsh on the poor people and the rich people who play with maids was swept under the rug. Lily does at one point serve Devon and his family tea to reveal the hypocrisy of the situation, I suppose, but nothing much is really said or shown besides that.
October 30, 2021
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
This is a difficult book to rate, On one hand, the writing is great and highly engaging. If you love To Have and To Hold, you're going to enjoy this one as well. On the other hand, the main characters are not those whom you can root for.
Lily is simply too spineless. She kept forgiving Devon despite his abominable treatments towards her. Devon is, simply said, a jerk. The main difference between Devon and Sebastian from 'To have and to hold' would be that Sebastian had a fantastic redeeming arc. Devon, not so much. I was hoping that some other guy would come along and rescued Lily instead of Devon.
This was an emotional read though. If you're looking for angst, then this is the right book.
This is a difficult book to rate, On one hand, the writing is great and highly engaging. If you love To Have and To Hold, you're going to enjoy this one as well. On the other hand, the main characters are not those whom you can root for.
Lily is simply too spineless. She kept forgiving Devon despite his abominable treatments towards her. Devon is, simply said, a jerk. The main difference between Devon and Sebastian from 'To have and to hold' would be that Sebastian had a fantastic redeeming arc. Devon, not so much. I was hoping that some other guy would come along and rescued Lily instead of Devon.
This was an emotional read though. If you're looking for angst, then this is the right book.
August 2, 2016
This book is a roller-coaster ride of melodrama and angst -- a romance obviously inspired by Gothic classics like Jane Eyre and Rebecca, in which the heroine is constantly put upon and goes through hell, and the brooding, tormented hero really doesn't deserve her at all. Lily lacks the polish and depth of characterization of Gaffney's later novels like To Have and To Hold (with which this book has a lot of similarities) and Wild at Heart, but I still got easily and happily swept up in the story.
Gaffney's heroines are amazing women, and Lily Trehearne is no exception. She is put through the wringer time after time: by her controlling cousin who wants her, for his own self-serving reasons, to marry his son; by the housekeeper at the manor house to which she escapes and finds work as a maid, who makes Mrs. Danvers seem warm and fuzzy; and by the hero, Devon Darkwell (That name! Did I mention this was a Gothic romance?), who treats her abominably for most of the book and, frankly, isn't good enough for her. Lily really loves him, though, so I couldn't help pulling for him to get his act together so she could finally have her heart's flawed desire.
Devon has a tragic past, having been abandoned by his wife years before. She only married him for his money and status (he's a viscount), and eventually ran off with another man, taking her and Devon's 8-month-old son with her. The baby died due to the wife's neglect, followed soon after by the wife and her lover. Devon doesn't trust women at all. He especially doesn't trust working-class women, having married below his station and been burned. So when Lily comes along, he is constantly fighting between his attraction to her and his inability to believe she could really be a good or trustworthy person.
It doesn't help that Lily actually is lying to him from the beginning, hiding her true name and identity after escaping from a big mess at home. Still, she is a caring, strong, intelligent, lovely woman, and he treats her so badly. Here's what he says to her at the end of the book,
Yep, that's about the size of it! He's a mess. She does at least make him suffer and grovel for a while before she forgives him, which is more than Rachel does with Sebastian in To Have and to Hold.
Even though the hero is a jerk, I enjoyed the heck out of this book. Aside from the head-hopping POV issues (which become less glaring as the book goes along), it's beautifully written and full of high drama and emotion. The story's setting on the windswept Cornish coast and the harsh, desolate moorland of southwest England is vividly described, and the secondary characters like Devon's brother Clay and Lily's housemaid friend Lowdy are well-written and interesting. Patricia Gaffney is so talented. I only wish she were still writing historical romance!
Gaffney's heroines are amazing women, and Lily Trehearne is no exception. She is put through the wringer time after time: by her controlling cousin who wants her, for his own self-serving reasons, to marry his son; by the housekeeper at the manor house to which she escapes and finds work as a maid, who makes Mrs. Danvers seem warm and fuzzy; and by the hero, Devon Darkwell (That name! Did I mention this was a Gothic romance?), who treats her abominably for most of the book and, frankly, isn't good enough for her. Lily really loves him, though, so I couldn't help pulling for him to get his act together so she could finally have her heart's flawed desire.
Devon has a tragic past, having been abandoned by his wife years before. She only married him for his money and status (he's a viscount), and eventually ran off with another man, taking her and Devon's 8-month-old son with her. The baby died due to the wife's neglect, followed soon after by the wife and her lover. Devon doesn't trust women at all. He especially doesn't trust working-class women, having married below his station and been burned. So when Lily comes along, he is constantly fighting between his attraction to her and his inability to believe she could really be a good or trustworthy person.
It doesn't help that Lily actually is lying to him from the beginning, hiding her true name and identity after escaping from a big mess at home. Still, she is a caring, strong, intelligent, lovely woman, and he treats her so badly. Here's what he says to her at the end of the book,
Yep, that's about the size of it! He's a mess. She does at least make him suffer and grovel for a while before she forgives him, which is more than Rachel does with Sebastian in To Have and to Hold.
Even though the hero is a jerk, I enjoyed the heck out of this book. Aside from the head-hopping POV issues (which become less glaring as the book goes along), it's beautifully written and full of high drama and emotion. The story's setting on the windswept Cornish coast and the harsh, desolate moorland of southwest England is vividly described, and the secondary characters like Devon's brother Clay and Lily's housemaid friend Lowdy are well-written and interesting. Patricia Gaffney is so talented. I only wish she were still writing historical romance!
April 29, 2012
I cried with this story!
Mrs. Gaffney is a true master at writing dark, Gothic stories with brooding and wounded heroes.
Although, I personally prefer my stories with a little bit less of angst and misunderstandings, the story was very well crafted. But to speak frankly, if I were Lily, I would never have forgiven Devon for the horrible things he did to her; he was a true ¡*^@*!. Sorry to say, but I am just not that forgiving.
Mrs. Gaffney is a true master at writing dark, Gothic stories with brooding and wounded heroes.
Although, I personally prefer my stories with a little bit less of angst and misunderstandings, the story was very well crafted. But to speak frankly, if I were Lily, I would never have forgiven Devon for the horrible things he did to her; he was a true ¡*^@*!. Sorry to say, but I am just not that forgiving.
October 1, 2011
This was a fairly painful read in many respects.
The heroine Lily, finds herself at the mercy of her uncle, a religious zealot, upon her father's death. He tries to force her to marry his son and threatens to accuse her of theft if she fails to do so. There is an altercation and he is knocked out. Lily flees in a panic, with hardly any money and no clothes.
She ends up gaining employment as a maid to an evil housekeeper, Mrs Howe. The housekeeper is miserly and deliberately cruel to the staff, setting them maliciously burdensome tasks, refusing food and pay for minor infractions and also resorting to beatings on occasions.
The viscount hero , called Devon, takes a notion about lily. He sees her emerging from the lake naked and decides try and seduce her. Lily resists his pursuit. Devon gets wounded whilst helping his brother escape from the Revenue, and Lily hides the evidence of the wound and caters for him. Through at least some of this time, she suffers lack of sleep, deprivation of food, and imposition of constant and brutal tasks by Mrs Howe. Devon hardly notices and his self absorption is an unlikable character feature. When he gets better, he again tries to seduce lily but is discovered in the act by Mrs Howe's son. during most of this time Devon treats lily as dirt and makes it clear that she would only be a meaningless tumble for him.
Mrs Howe falsely accuses lily of stealing £14 and confronts Devon about same. He then succeeds in seducing lily but then spoils the whole thing by being cold the next day and offering her £20 for her lost virtue. Lily is humiliated and storms off, desperate to escape from the estate. She and Devon barely speak except on one occasion when she approaches him to say that Mrs Howe is abusing the staff. Devon is dismissive but says he will speak to the housekeeper, which he never does. Lily is 20mins late after sending a letter at the post office to her uncle. mrs Howe uses the opportunity to beat and whip Lily. Her son also punches and kicks her and then tries to rape her. Devon interrupts the beating but lily has fractured ribs and is in significant pain. The Howe's are fired. Devon gets medical treatment for lily and is remorseful as regards his neglect of his staff. he seduces lily again. She asks him if he will marry her- he makes it clear that this is not on the agenda. His brother is shot, and due to a fake note, Devon believes that lily shot clay. He drags her upstairs and accuses her of doing so so that he can steal money. He tells her that he will see her hang or kill her himself.
Lily escapes and returns to her uncles home, where she agrees to marry her cousin, due to her awareness that she is pregnant.
Devon comes to her the night before the wedding and blackmails her into sleeping with him. He then turns up at the church and announces that she is not a virgin, that she was his mistress, and that he had slept with her the previous night. Lily is thrown out and wanders onto the moors when an old lady takes her in. when the old lady dies, Devon finds lily , he tells her that he has come to his senses and realises that she had not shot clay. He brings her home. her pregnancy is advanced at this stage but she cannot forgive him his previous actions. The identity of clay's shooter is revealed with a plot line that results in lily being placed in peril, devon saving her and then her giving birth in a cave. The baby is born. They marry.
The live hea?
I had been looking forward to this after reading To have and to hold but Unfortunately was fairly disappointed.
I think my real problem in some respects was the ending and the fact that neither Devon nor lily appeared worried about the stigma of illegitimacy that would surround their child's imminent birth. despite the fact that Devon said he wanted to marry her and that he wanted the baby and also that lily had been willing to marry her cousin in order to ensure her baby had a name, neither of them really discuss the matter and nor is any consideration given to the need to secure the bab's future. Devon was a viscount and so issues of inheritance would be of prime importance. A marriage after the baby's birth would not legitimatise the child and so the son would be deemed a bastard who was not able to inherit titles or land thereafter. I couldn't get over this and felt the cavalier attitudes were very unrealistic.
Also I should say - that after all Devon puts lily through, the reader is not exactly rooting for him - as he is definitely not the bees knees.
I suspect this may be one for the charity shop.
The heroine Lily, finds herself at the mercy of her uncle, a religious zealot, upon her father's death. He tries to force her to marry his son and threatens to accuse her of theft if she fails to do so. There is an altercation and he is knocked out. Lily flees in a panic, with hardly any money and no clothes.
She ends up gaining employment as a maid to an evil housekeeper, Mrs Howe. The housekeeper is miserly and deliberately cruel to the staff, setting them maliciously burdensome tasks, refusing food and pay for minor infractions and also resorting to beatings on occasions.
The viscount hero , called Devon, takes a notion about lily. He sees her emerging from the lake naked and decides try and seduce her. Lily resists his pursuit. Devon gets wounded whilst helping his brother escape from the Revenue, and Lily hides the evidence of the wound and caters for him. Through at least some of this time, she suffers lack of sleep, deprivation of food, and imposition of constant and brutal tasks by Mrs Howe. Devon hardly notices and his self absorption is an unlikable character feature. When he gets better, he again tries to seduce lily but is discovered in the act by Mrs Howe's son. during most of this time Devon treats lily as dirt and makes it clear that she would only be a meaningless tumble for him.
Mrs Howe falsely accuses lily of stealing £14 and confronts Devon about same. He then succeeds in seducing lily but then spoils the whole thing by being cold the next day and offering her £20 for her lost virtue. Lily is humiliated and storms off, desperate to escape from the estate. She and Devon barely speak except on one occasion when she approaches him to say that Mrs Howe is abusing the staff. Devon is dismissive but says he will speak to the housekeeper, which he never does. Lily is 20mins late after sending a letter at the post office to her uncle. mrs Howe uses the opportunity to beat and whip Lily. Her son also punches and kicks her and then tries to rape her. Devon interrupts the beating but lily has fractured ribs and is in significant pain. The Howe's are fired. Devon gets medical treatment for lily and is remorseful as regards his neglect of his staff. he seduces lily again. She asks him if he will marry her- he makes it clear that this is not on the agenda. His brother is shot, and due to a fake note, Devon believes that lily shot clay. He drags her upstairs and accuses her of doing so so that he can steal money. He tells her that he will see her hang or kill her himself.
Lily escapes and returns to her uncles home, where she agrees to marry her cousin, due to her awareness that she is pregnant.
Devon comes to her the night before the wedding and blackmails her into sleeping with him. He then turns up at the church and announces that she is not a virgin, that she was his mistress, and that he had slept with her the previous night. Lily is thrown out and wanders onto the moors when an old lady takes her in. when the old lady dies, Devon finds lily , he tells her that he has come to his senses and realises that she had not shot clay. He brings her home. her pregnancy is advanced at this stage but she cannot forgive him his previous actions. The identity of clay's shooter is revealed with a plot line that results in lily being placed in peril, devon saving her and then her giving birth in a cave. The baby is born. They marry.
The live hea?
I had been looking forward to this after reading To have and to hold but Unfortunately was fairly disappointed.
I think my real problem in some respects was the ending and the fact that neither Devon nor lily appeared worried about the stigma of illegitimacy that would surround their child's imminent birth. despite the fact that Devon said he wanted to marry her and that he wanted the baby and also that lily had been willing to marry her cousin in order to ensure her baby had a name, neither of them really discuss the matter and nor is any consideration given to the need to secure the bab's future. Devon was a viscount and so issues of inheritance would be of prime importance. A marriage after the baby's birth would not legitimatise the child and so the son would be deemed a bastard who was not able to inherit titles or land thereafter. I couldn't get over this and felt the cavalier attitudes were very unrealistic.
Also I should say - that after all Devon puts lily through, the reader is not exactly rooting for him - as he is definitely not the bees knees.
I suspect this may be one for the charity shop.
December 7, 2022
Reread 2022 4 stars from 5.
This used to be one of my favorite bodice rippers of all time, but it didn’t age well.
For modern day romance readers, this was written 30 plus years ago, so of course it’s going to be too descriptive ( because authors back then bothered with character development), and it’s not politically correct.
If you don’t like wordy books, I recommend skipping this, it’ll bore you to death.
There’s force seduction in this book, and the h is treated like shit by everyone.
I still think this is a great book for angst lovers, but I doubt I’ll ever read it again due to triggers.
self note triggers
Spoilers
- beloved dead wife. H was obsessed with his ex wife, but she betrayed him so he couldn’t trust the h.
“Maura had been dead for five years, but he had forgotten nothing. He recalled with crystalline clarity the fierce heat in the beginning, his obsession with her, his compulsion to possess her. Just as clear was the memory of his bitter, withering disillusionment, the self-loathing and mortification when he'd discovered that the object of his most passionate and tender feelings was faithless and deceitful. She'd run off with his bailiff. They had stolen his money and his baby.”
- heroine in pursuit (some parts).
- H had a son with dead ex who also died.
- pathetic pining h. I didn’t find her a doormat because of the time period and her class. Me, a person who calls most heroines a doormat, not calling this pathetic fool one should tell you how the author hooked me into the story. Mainly, I felt bad for her situation and just wanted to tell her to move on, but then there wouldn’t be angst.
- Cheating H ( this is the main reason why I won’t ever reread this).
H went to a whore house (off page) - after taking the h’s virginity - with his brother planning to use a whore. (To get over the h)
It was planned the day before and he did go the next night (while the h was getting beaten by his housekeepers son. Which made this scene even more disgusting to me).
However, he came home early.
The book did NOT say, he couldn’t use a whore, or if he had been with one, only that he left early and that he felt sick. It’s left to the readers interpretation what that meant.
Me, stupid gullible self 20yrs ago, must’ve read this as him not having sex with a whore, but I’m too jaded now to think the H hadn’t.
I’m sure this is the reason why other reviewers haven’t mentioned cheating.
He only said “he left early.”
- h is slim and quietly beautiful, so not stunning.
- H is of course rich, gorgeous blah blah…and not a manwhore.
- the h was more in love, than he her.
This used to be one of my favorite bodice rippers of all time, but it didn’t age well.
For modern day romance readers, this was written 30 plus years ago, so of course it’s going to be too descriptive ( because authors back then bothered with character development), and it’s not politically correct.
If you don’t like wordy books, I recommend skipping this, it’ll bore you to death.
There’s force seduction in this book, and the h is treated like shit by everyone.
I still think this is a great book for angst lovers, but I doubt I’ll ever read it again due to triggers.
self note triggers
Spoilers
- beloved dead wife. H was obsessed with his ex wife, but she betrayed him so he couldn’t trust the h.
“Maura had been dead for five years, but he had forgotten nothing. He recalled with crystalline clarity the fierce heat in the beginning, his obsession with her, his compulsion to possess her. Just as clear was the memory of his bitter, withering disillusionment, the self-loathing and mortification when he'd discovered that the object of his most passionate and tender feelings was faithless and deceitful. She'd run off with his bailiff. They had stolen his money and his baby.”
- heroine in pursuit (some parts).
- H had a son with dead ex who also died.
- pathetic pining h. I didn’t find her a doormat because of the time period and her class. Me, a person who calls most heroines a doormat, not calling this pathetic fool one should tell you how the author hooked me into the story. Mainly, I felt bad for her situation and just wanted to tell her to move on, but then there wouldn’t be angst.
- Cheating H ( this is the main reason why I won’t ever reread this).
H went to a whore house (off page) - after taking the h’s virginity - with his brother planning to use a whore. (To get over the h)
It was planned the day before and he did go the next night (while the h was getting beaten by his housekeepers son. Which made this scene even more disgusting to me).
However, he came home early.
The book did NOT say, he couldn’t use a whore, or if he had been with one, only that he left early and that he felt sick. It’s left to the readers interpretation what that meant.
Me, stupid gullible self 20yrs ago, must’ve read this as him not having sex with a whore, but I’m too jaded now to think the H hadn’t.
I’m sure this is the reason why other reviewers haven’t mentioned cheating.
He only said “he left early.”
- h is slim and quietly beautiful, so not stunning.
- H is of course rich, gorgeous blah blah…and not a manwhore.
- the h was more in love, than he her.
January 6, 2025
4.5 stars. Very nearly perfect. You know me, nothing is every really dark enough for me, but I loved this from start to finish. I loved all the characters other than the obvious bad guys. Would have preferred a little more jealousy and possessiveness on the MMC's part but still thoroughly enjoyable.
A definite reread for me!
A definite reread for me!
July 25, 2015
I really loved this book. There were so many twists and turns. This is my first book by Patricia Gaffney but it won't be the last.
December 25, 2018
Lily by Patricia Gaffney is one of those novels that lifelong romance readers will come across, either in a list of books to avoid, or a list that is at the other extreme end. I believe that with Lily, there is no middle ground to be had. You either fall in love with the story, the heartache, the imperfections, the hero who borders on anti-hero material, and the heroine, who is a pillar of strength with courage of the kind that we would all like to possess.
Lily is the sort of book that one has to experience to get the full impact of what the story entails. It is not the kind of story you can read with your emotions detached from what is taking place. It is not light and fluffy, nor is it humorous. But there is love, an abundance of it, especially from Lily’s end towards a man who is deep in denial, a man who has undergone tremendous pain and betrayal, a man who has been bitten once, and is more than twice shy.
Lily Trehearne is caught in a fix when her last male relative upon the death of her father and becomes the executor of her father’s estate and her legal guardian for thirteen more months, winds up wounded from an act of self-defense. Believing that the death of Reverend Soames would probably see her hanged or worse, Lily flees her home, and finds herself hired as a scullery maid in the household of a viscount.
Lily’s paths cross with Devon Darkwell, Viscount Sandown, the master of Darkstone Manor, the very first night that she arrives at his household. The anguish and rawness of the pain that Devon was leaking from his very pores at that moment strikes something deep inside her. But as a mere servant in a household that is run under the iron fist of Mrs Howe, the housekeeper who hires her, Lily believes that there is futile chance of their paths crossing again.
However, life does not prove to be so “fortunate”, as Lily finds herself rescuing the master of the house, taking care of him, and lying for him when the authorities come calling. Even with Devon feeling like he is waking up from deep sleep of the nightmarish variety when Lily is close to him, Devon does not want to believe in the goodness of the human heart, not with a past that keeps mocking him for his reckless behavior and the price an innocent life had paid for it. Devon’s scars run deep, his wounds never did heal, and it is Lily that pays the ultimate price for it all.
There are many occasions upon which any sensible female would have given up on Devon. But Lily sees beyond the anger, heartache, and the unwillingness from Devon to move on. So love him she does, enough for both of them, or so she thought, until the moment arrives which makes it easy for Devon to kick her loose, all because he was afraid of confronting his own feelings that run amok when it comes to Lily.
What Devon does to Lily in the guise of revenge is pretty much unforgivable, but in the end, he does pay the price for it. Lily is no doormat heroine, though I suppose some might see her that way. But for me, the strongest of us are those who can love, and love so deeply, even when it leaves them vulnerable to a wealth of hurt and pain. That is what Lily endures, time and yet again at the hands of Devon, until truth comes calling, and Devon realizes the fatal mistakes he has made along the way. All because he could not move on from the betrayal that had marked his life so terribly.
Nothing absolves or excuses Devon’s behavior towards Lily, especially that last act of betrayal on his part which nearly costs Lily her life. But once again, it is her own strength and the help of kindred spirits along the way that keeps her going, putting one foot in front of the other, to keep moving, until she is able to live again. Lily definitely makes Devon work to earn her forgiveness. I believe as readers, we might never understand how Lily was able to forgive Devon when all was said and done, but I believe that for someone like Lily, whose heart is pure and her love for Devon the kind that blazes from deep within her soul, it was a foregone conclusion.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, Lily is the type of book where you need to live through the ups and downs of the story to become whole again. Its not easy. But then love is never easy. That is the lesson that Lily leaves readers with. I believe that I as a reader, find profound meaning in that message.
Recommended for those readers who don’t shy away from anti-heroes and the heartache and pain they can cause along the way.
Final Verdict: Lily is the kind of book that will crush your soul, break your heart, and oft times your spirit. Through it all, Lily shows the remarkable strength of true love, the kind that never falters, even in the face of the greatest of tragedies.
Rating = 4/5
For more reviews and quotes, please visit www.maldivianbookreviewer.com
Lily is the sort of book that one has to experience to get the full impact of what the story entails. It is not the kind of story you can read with your emotions detached from what is taking place. It is not light and fluffy, nor is it humorous. But there is love, an abundance of it, especially from Lily’s end towards a man who is deep in denial, a man who has undergone tremendous pain and betrayal, a man who has been bitten once, and is more than twice shy.
Lily Trehearne is caught in a fix when her last male relative upon the death of her father and becomes the executor of her father’s estate and her legal guardian for thirteen more months, winds up wounded from an act of self-defense. Believing that the death of Reverend Soames would probably see her hanged or worse, Lily flees her home, and finds herself hired as a scullery maid in the household of a viscount.
Lily’s paths cross with Devon Darkwell, Viscount Sandown, the master of Darkstone Manor, the very first night that she arrives at his household. The anguish and rawness of the pain that Devon was leaking from his very pores at that moment strikes something deep inside her. But as a mere servant in a household that is run under the iron fist of Mrs Howe, the housekeeper who hires her, Lily believes that there is futile chance of their paths crossing again.
However, life does not prove to be so “fortunate”, as Lily finds herself rescuing the master of the house, taking care of him, and lying for him when the authorities come calling. Even with Devon feeling like he is waking up from deep sleep of the nightmarish variety when Lily is close to him, Devon does not want to believe in the goodness of the human heart, not with a past that keeps mocking him for his reckless behavior and the price an innocent life had paid for it. Devon’s scars run deep, his wounds never did heal, and it is Lily that pays the ultimate price for it all.
There are many occasions upon which any sensible female would have given up on Devon. But Lily sees beyond the anger, heartache, and the unwillingness from Devon to move on. So love him she does, enough for both of them, or so she thought, until the moment arrives which makes it easy for Devon to kick her loose, all because he was afraid of confronting his own feelings that run amok when it comes to Lily.
What Devon does to Lily in the guise of revenge is pretty much unforgivable, but in the end, he does pay the price for it. Lily is no doormat heroine, though I suppose some might see her that way. But for me, the strongest of us are those who can love, and love so deeply, even when it leaves them vulnerable to a wealth of hurt and pain. That is what Lily endures, time and yet again at the hands of Devon, until truth comes calling, and Devon realizes the fatal mistakes he has made along the way. All because he could not move on from the betrayal that had marked his life so terribly.
Nothing absolves or excuses Devon’s behavior towards Lily, especially that last act of betrayal on his part which nearly costs Lily her life. But once again, it is her own strength and the help of kindred spirits along the way that keeps her going, putting one foot in front of the other, to keep moving, until she is able to live again. Lily definitely makes Devon work to earn her forgiveness. I believe as readers, we might never understand how Lily was able to forgive Devon when all was said and done, but I believe that for someone like Lily, whose heart is pure and her love for Devon the kind that blazes from deep within her soul, it was a foregone conclusion.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, Lily is the type of book where you need to live through the ups and downs of the story to become whole again. Its not easy. But then love is never easy. That is the lesson that Lily leaves readers with. I believe that I as a reader, find profound meaning in that message.
Recommended for those readers who don’t shy away from anti-heroes and the heartache and pain they can cause along the way.
Final Verdict: Lily is the kind of book that will crush your soul, break your heart, and oft times your spirit. Through it all, Lily shows the remarkable strength of true love, the kind that never falters, even in the face of the greatest of tragedies.
Rating = 4/5
For more reviews and quotes, please visit www.maldivianbookreviewer.com
August 25, 2021
This is a hard book to rate! I spend a lot of time reading more recently written historicals where the main conflict is "I'm a rake and I don't want to get married," so uh, lower stakes. This was an epic gothic suffer-fest with a chandelier-shooting hero and and a long-suffering heroine that just doesn't know when to say "Enough!"
Devon Darkwell is the Man of the Manor, a broody viscount who wears his suffering like a badge of honor. He sees his maid, Lily Trehearne, skinny dipping, and he's surprised to realize he desires her. Lily is a former gentlewoman in hiding, and Devon - no fool- realizes this instantly, but does not care. He doesn't care much for her at all, aside from using her as a plaything.
After he's injured, Devon insists on Lily and only Lily attending to him, having no inkling of the amount of havoc this wreaks belowstairs. He does not know the amount of abuse she endures for his attentions because he cannot fathom the inner lives of servants. In this, he's a typical gothic hero: aloof, casually cruel, and supercilious.
I've seen some comparisons between this book and Patricia Gaffney's upsetting masterpiece To Have and To Hold, which makes sense because this is another viscount/servant romance with a cad of a hero and a heroine who simply has to endure. The key difference is that Lily works as a twisty-turny adventure story, while To Have and To Hold is more of an emotional character study that somehow sells you on an enduring love that was borne from an abusive relationship. The romance in Lily is held up almost entirely by Lily herself, who has an unearned devotion to Devon that the book never quite justifies. If there was an epilogue where Devon fell off a cliff, I would be okay with it.
Devon Darkwell is the Man of the Manor, a broody viscount who wears his suffering like a badge of honor. He sees his maid, Lily Trehearne, skinny dipping, and he's surprised to realize he desires her. Lily is a former gentlewoman in hiding, and Devon - no fool- realizes this instantly, but does not care. He doesn't care much for her at all, aside from using her as a plaything.
After he's injured, Devon insists on Lily and only Lily attending to him, having no inkling of the amount of havoc this wreaks belowstairs. He does not know the amount of abuse she endures for his attentions because he cannot fathom the inner lives of servants. In this, he's a typical gothic hero: aloof, casually cruel, and supercilious.
I've seen some comparisons between this book and Patricia Gaffney's upsetting masterpiece To Have and To Hold, which makes sense because this is another viscount/servant romance with a cad of a hero and a heroine who simply has to endure. The key difference is that Lily works as a twisty-turny adventure story, while To Have and To Hold is more of an emotional character study that somehow sells you on an enduring love that was borne from an abusive relationship. The romance in Lily is held up almost entirely by Lily herself, who has an unearned devotion to Devon that the book never quite justifies. If there was an epilogue where Devon fell off a cliff, I would be okay with it.
Want to read
May 5, 2020I decided to read this book because there was so much buz about it on the Amazon threads. For about the first 150 or so pages I thought..."what is so amazing about this book?" It's not that the begining was bad or anything just nothing out of the ordinary. Soon after though, it became a book that I just couldn't put down. Devon has few redeeming qualities, but thats how I like them.lol He's loving with his family but has had a scared heart and will never love another woman again. That is until Lily gets hired on to work at his house. She's on the run, thinking that she killed her cousin on accident and her plan is to work there and earn some money and then move on. Of course that doesn't work out and she falls in love with Devon. I really liked the background characters, Clay,Meraud and Gabriel the dog. =)
January 29, 2022
Patricia Gaffney has done it again, she has written another utterly detestable and irredeemable hero 👏 well good for her my guilty pleasure is reading such kind of misguided pieces of shit.
However Devon didn't just hurt Lily only once he hurt her countless times, humiliated her, wrenched out her and my heart then stamped on it.
His actions were far beyond unforgivable and even if he spent begging for forgiveness it wouldn't be able to absolve him.
“I would never deliberately hurt you. I’m me, Lily, I’m not like anyone but myself. And I love you so much.”
“But I don’t want your love.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want. It’s free, I give it to you.”
September 10, 2021
“Lily” is aptly named! It was indeed really about the h. What an angsty, spicy read!
It had a bunch of elements I love (in fictional romance only, ok? thanks) : cruel hero, H that lusts over h extremely and keeps pursuing her sexually, pregnancy, and extreme angst that makes your heart ache.
The description of Lily’s mental suffering when she was pregnant and alone and felt like she was losing her sanity was incredible and i felt the pain deeply! I hate Devon so much at one point and honestly found him unforgivable but he groveled a lot and redeemed himself in the end.
It had a bunch of elements I love (in fictional romance only, ok? thanks) : cruel hero, H that lusts over h extremely and keeps pursuing her sexually, pregnancy, and extreme angst that makes your heart ache.
The description of Lily’s mental suffering when she was pregnant and alone and felt like she was losing her sanity was incredible and i felt the pain deeply! I hate Devon so much at one point and honestly found him unforgivable but he groveled a lot and redeemed himself in the end.
February 8, 2021
Reread February 2021 for the third time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ but this book breaks my heart.
July 10, 2018
I had lost hope in finding perfect books. My faith is restored.
February 10, 2025
I loved- To have and to hold- I still remember that 5 star book to this day so I thought I’d try another book by PG. This one is slow to get going, it has angst but the timing is off as the book jumps from one bad thing to the next with Lilys character. I think if the book would’ve been written without all of the Irish and Cornwall dialects it would’ve been better too— that was just annoying. Also maybe if this book was cut down to 300 pages It would have stopped my skimming spree! Any way Lily runs away after her father dies and her evil cousin tries to force her into a moc. She becomes a maid for Devon who has an evil housekeeper. Devon wants to use virgin Lily for sex. Lily has alot of bad stuff happen to her. Devon is a douche bag. Later he grovels and some more bad stuff happens to Lily. Then she has a baby in a ca e at high tide, later they get married go on a two day honeymoon and live hea.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 23, 2012
Very nicely written, and I enjoyed the Gothic overtones of the opening chapters. After awhile, though, I was rather fatigued with the sheer quantity of trials and tribulations the heroine endured, and how she never just went, "Fuck it, I'll take the money." I mean, I know I'm reading romance, and I know that's totally against the rules for the romance heroine to take a pragmatic attitude, but her determination to just 'give her body' out of "love" for the hero (meanwhile being a drudge in his house) made me just want to roll my eyes. It's hard in one respect to put my finger on why I found her tiresome; on the up side, I guess it could be argued that she's stoic (based on her actions), but her attitude made her just seem wimpy. And in her relationship with the hero, she's a (vaguely spoilerish description ahead) .
The hero, meanwhile, was kind of a pill. I'm not sure what the attraction was there, but it wasn't working on me. He drinks a lot, is totally self-centred, and doesn't seem to have a life. The premise for that is a Great Grief in his Past, but there wasn't enough evidence to suggest that he was really all that different pre-Grief.
In terms of plot, there's a lot of stuff that happens, but some of it seems to trail off (a bit involving the housekeeper and the valet seems only semi-resolved) and some of it seems pointless (a bit involving a friend of the hero's brother) and some of it kind of comes out of nowhere (a bit involving another household employee). And the angst level builds to a crescendo, then poof! it's a massive happy ending. The shift between the final scene with the protagonists figuring stuff out and the epilogue showing how great everything is was jarring.
So, all in all, it had some satisfying angst, but it didn't totally work for me.
The hero, meanwhile, was kind of a pill. I'm not sure what the attraction was there, but it wasn't working on me. He drinks a lot, is totally self-centred, and doesn't seem to have a life. The premise for that is a Great Grief in his Past, but there wasn't enough evidence to suggest that he was really all that different pre-Grief.
In terms of plot, there's a lot of stuff that happens, but some of it seems to trail off (a bit involving the housekeeper and the valet seems only semi-resolved) and some of it seems pointless (a bit involving a friend of the hero's brother) and some of it kind of comes out of nowhere (a bit involving another household employee). And the angst level builds to a crescendo, then poof! it's a massive happy ending. The shift between the final scene with the protagonists figuring stuff out and the epilogue showing how great everything is was jarring.
So, all in all, it had some satisfying angst, but it didn't totally work for me.
August 19, 2009
How to explain how I feel about this book?
I'm very very sick of BIG MISUNDERSTANDINGS, angst-ridden alpha heroes, virginal--can do no wrong--really really good and beautiful heroines who endure terrible circumstances and STILL have a heart of gold. STILL keep returning to the poor hero who had some horrible woman in his past that did him wrong thereby justifying the crappy way he treats the current heroine.
Why is it that the heroines can have the suckiest of lives and always still maintain their "heart of gold," and yet the hero is always justified for his behaviour based on the bad deal he got in the past?
Even so, even though I'm really sick of this type of story, I remain convinced the Patricia Gaffney is an excellent writer. I recently read a later book of hers (The Saving Graces) that I loved loved loved. Lily is one of her early novels, and this type of melodramatic story filled with sucky past lives and big misunderstandings is what was popular in the time period it was written.
Even though I'm sick to death of this type of book, I was enthralled with the story. Even though I could feel the big misunderstanding coming on and it made me want to puke....I clenched my teeth and read through it because the writing is good and the characters are likeable.
I'm very very sick of BIG MISUNDERSTANDINGS, angst-ridden alpha heroes, virginal--can do no wrong--really really good and beautiful heroines who endure terrible circumstances and STILL have a heart of gold. STILL keep returning to the poor hero who had some horrible woman in his past that did him wrong thereby justifying the crappy way he treats the current heroine.
Why is it that the heroines can have the suckiest of lives and always still maintain their "heart of gold," and yet the hero is always justified for his behaviour based on the bad deal he got in the past?
Even so, even though I'm really sick of this type of story, I remain convinced the Patricia Gaffney is an excellent writer. I recently read a later book of hers (The Saving Graces) that I loved loved loved. Lily is one of her early novels, and this type of melodramatic story filled with sucky past lives and big misunderstandings is what was popular in the time period it was written.
Even though I'm sick to death of this type of book, I was enthralled with the story. Even though I could feel the big misunderstanding coming on and it made me want to puke....I clenched my teeth and read through it because the writing is good and the characters are likeable.
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