Customer Reviews

Love According to Lily

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Young Lily Langdon was raised in a somber household. Her parents' marriage was not a happy one, yet somehow, Lily grew up with spirit, along with a childhood adoration for her brothers life long best friend, the Earl of Whitby, Edward Wallis. Whitby was her hero, and he in turn had a great affection for his friend's little sister which was one of the reasons he hadn't noticed her as a woman all grown up. To him she was still considered as another `little sister' and not the spirited woman she'd become. Additionally, Whitby enjoyed his rakish lifestyle with no entanglements and the freedom to do as he pleased.

At the annual shooting party that her brother James and wife Sophia hosted, Lily's mother was working hard at maneuvering a proper match between Lily and the youngest son of an Earl. Sophia knowing of Lily's feelings for Whitby suggested that Lily use her feminine wiles to make Whitby take notice of her as a woman. As Lily's campaign towards seduction began showing promise, tragedy struck as Whitby's fast lifestyle seemed to catch up with him and he was struck down with a mysterious illness. As Whitby, hovered between life and death, and the prognosis of his illness seemed dire. Lily resolved that she would do whatever she had in the time that was left to win his heart, and provide him an heir before his title passed to his hated cousin Magnus.

Whitby's honor raged against his body's reactions to Lily's seductive offer, but honor be damned - Lily was too passionate to resist. They married intending to make the most of the time that was left to them, then as mysteriously as it had came on, the illness went into a remission - Whitby would live! Lily's joy was marred over concern that Whitby would now feel trapped especially as she now suspected that she was pregnant. Whitby always knew that at some time he'd settle down, but thinking he was dying he entered into the marriage thinking he wouldn't be giving up his freedom. Now, knowing he would live he had was finally realizing that it wasn't the freedom he was clinging to so much as learning to overcome the dread of opening his heart to love.

*** This was another terrific Victorian romance from an author who has the ability to break down her characters souls and feed their emotional struggles onto the pages. The reader will feel the despair, the heartbreak, passion and the joy of Whitby and Lily in this very excellent character driven romance as Lily, thinking her love alone would be enough for both of them struggled while waiting for Whitby to discover the truth of what she knew lay in his heart. Lily and Whitby were first introduced in the first of MacLean's Victorian era series TO MARRY THE DUKE - and readers should be thrilled to find their story at last. MacLean continues to offer sizzling and seductive romance with a masterful touch.
[...]

I was hooked from the beginning. Page after page I just got sucked in deeper until I closed the book with a happy sigh. It was a totally engrossing read. I found the characters to be multi-dimensional. It was written with an amazing level of intensity and feeling that my heart was pumping furiously with the palatable passion in the story. Full of enjoyable supporting characters and stories. This book had great dialog, hero , heroine , plot, background characters & character development. Lily and Whitby's love for each other builds slowly and deepens until you can almost feel it. Both characters felt "real" and made me believe they were in love with one another deeply. Both had great senses of humor too, which is always a plus. This book had everything you need to create a good romance: a dashing hero, a beautiful heroine and, most of all...PASSION! MacLean developed Lily and Whitby's personalities and motivations very convincingly, to the point where you feel as though you know them well enough to be friends by the time you finish the book. Lots of laugh out-loud, I-can't-believe-they-did-that scenes and oh so plenty of heart warming moments. Love According to Lily was an emotional roller coaster, and I felt all the pain and joy they did. I was so engrossed, I read it in a day. The love scenes are ample & steamy, and the plot is a good one. A fast paced book with an intricate plot that I cannot help but enjoy. Love According to Lily has a strong (but not obnoxious) heroine who is in no way ordinary, a back story which is compelling but doesn't get in the way of the love story, and of course a wonderful hero. Both the hero and the heroine have secrets of their own, which are slowly brought to light by the author, like layers being peeled from a (very good) onion....

...from this book to make it truly romantic and emotional. Whilst I am a fan of unrequited love stories, and found Lily to be a somewhat engaging character, within her own book it seemed as though she was reduced to a doormat willing to do anything to get Whitby to notice her. While I am glad that the author refrained from throwing in another "suitor"(who always ends up being EVIL!), there was a void between the protagonists that caused me to feel no sense of urgency between the relationship of Lily and Whitby--no reason that Whitby seeing Lily as a woman and returning her love would change his life for the better and he hers. In the end, Love According to Lily was merely a nice read. Nothing spectacular or emotional or heartrending, just an entertaining-for-the-moment read.

Why Why Why does Mrs. MacLean feel she must in every and I mean every book invent a hero who is so CRUEL. The first book I read by her was "To Marry A Duke" need I say more and now we have our current problem I don't mean that nicely. The descriptions she protrays of her heros are just down right horrible. Poor Lily scraps by in this (love) story for some ounce of love from husband and recieves none till then very end and it was just not convincing for me in the least. I did read the other reviews (I always do) and I can't understand at all why anyone would who reads romance would find it romantic for the hero in the book to be cruel and the heroine to have no backbone and just take what she gets. Would you? Please!I love romance novels, mystery, supsense novels but if I am reading a romance am I not supposed to feel that while I am reading it. This author seems to be failing me at every turn.

Lily and Whitby were my favorite characters from MacLean's first novel, TO MARRY A DUKE, so I was highly anticipating LOVE ACCORDING TO LILY even before its release. This book, however, didn't live up to my expectations. Although the beginning started well, the story became flat and dull soon after. I was so disappointed! This story of unrequited love had so much potential. Yet it lacked the emotional intensity and passion I craved. I couldn't believe how Lily was transformed into such a whimpy and needy character. (She was so delightful in TO MARRY A DUKE). Also, I disliked how her love was so one-sided. Whitby did show genuine affection for Lily (treating her almost like a little sister). However, his love for her was never convincing. Although I have read only two MacLean novels, both have been total disappointments! Don't think I'll read another MacLean novel again.

I'm a huge fan of Ms. MacLean and I purchase her books in advance the second they're available for purchase. This effort without a doubt is my favorite so far. Her characterization and story development here was wonderful and I was truly sorry to see the end of the story come.

Lily has always loved Whitby. From childhood to adulthood he's the one that she's always wanted. When he comes to her brother James' hunting party she realizes that he has changed. She has no idea that Whitby thinks he's going to die. When he falls ill she is there to see him through and at the same time realizes that she will do what ever she must in order to give him what he needs. She loves him and when they end up married and Whitby ends up not dying they are both faced with a marriage that only one of them wants. Will Lily's love be enough to pull Whitby back from his darkness or will she love in vain?

Whitby and Lily are wonderful characters. I truly enjoyed visiting again with Sophia and James, and was totaly captivated by the sensual romance between Lily and her prince Whitby. Ms. MacLean truly knows how to create a romance that will pull a reader in and hold their attention. This is one effort and one author that I highly recommend.

Official Reviewer for Romance Designs

After getting to know the characters in Judith MacLean's trilogy about three American heiresses who sweep into London high society (To Marry the Duke is the first in that series, and a great read), I was so excited when I saw Lily's story had finally been published. Perhaps my expectations were too high, because as much as I expected to love it, I was disappointed.

I didn't think the protagonists had quite enough chemistry. We of course know that Lily's loved him all along, but I wasn't convinced that he ever really returned her feelings. And since her feelings seemed more like infatuation more than love, I couldn't even muster much sympathy for Lily's situation.

Everything about the plot seemed slightly too calculated. Being a romance, we of course know that they'll end up together, but there wasn't any real suspense in seeing how they would get there. And frankly, I didn't really care. The characters just didn't engage me. I thought the hero was preoccupied and selfish (I can't even remember his name now), and I never saw Lily develop from the lovesick girl in the previous books into a woman in love.

I almost gave this two stars, because compared to the others by this author, this one was far beneath them. But in fairness, had I not had such high expectations, I might not have been quite so disappointed. Based on comparison to the other MacLean stories it was a 2 star, but when compared to all the romances I've ever read this is probably a 3 start. Really not a bad book, just a let down. I've read much worse.

Normally I really enjoy stories in which the characters know each other from childhood, but I couldn't warm up to this story. Try MacLean's other stories if you haven't already, but finishing with this one was a disappointing good-bye to these characters.

I felt disgusted at Lily the whole time. If she had been a man and acted the way she did she would have been labled as creepy. No matter how many times he rejected her and told her NO she kept throwing herself at him and it was akward to read...until he gave in unsuprisingly when she gave herself to him. It seemed he only married her out of pity and the fact that he thought he was dying and she was ok with that! Desperate! Lily was just everything you don't want to be as a woman. I didn't even like Whitby very much. I couldn't finish this one.

I'm usually a little apprehensive about purchasing books by a new author (by that I mean new to me). I usually do something wrong, like pick out a dud or one that's actually in the middle or at the end of a series that the autor has previously written. In this case, it was the latter. Surprisingly to me, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite having missed others that came before it. I didn't have any problem following the story and I felt like I knew the secondary characters, that had already had their own stories, very well.

Set in the late 1800's, the heroine in this astonishingly good book is Lily Langdon, daughter of a wealthy and prominant duke. She's a twenty-one year old spinster who harbors a secret love for her older brother's closest and dearest friend, Edward, Earl of Whitby. With the encouragement of her closest friend, her sister-in-law, Sophie, she sets out to make her secret love known to Edward, trying to bolster her courage enough to come out of her shell and make him notice her. At least, notice her as something other than the child and sister-like figure he has always thought her to be. Lily has quite a task ahead of her, not only because of problems from her own past (not to mention certain disapproving family members), but most especially because of the personal demons Edward himself is wrestling with. When Lily makes her interest known to him, he is shocked, worried and unwillingly intrigued. Determined to take anything she can get from him, for she believes that is all she really needs to be happy in life, Lily persues Edward with a satisfying amount of gumption for a female lead.

This book grabbed me from the very first page of the prologue till the last page of the author's note. The sheer emotion that this book wrenched from me was what prevented me from being able to put the book down till I'd finished it all in one day. I felt instantly drawn into Lily and Edward's story, as if observing them for real. I ached for them both, although I wished I could have smacked them both at times for being hard headed, especially Edward. And as for Edward, I have probably never read a romance book where I've felt that the hero's emotions, thoughts, etc., were portrayed with all the depth and emotion that the heroine's almost always are. Sure, we usually get strong impressions of how hunk-a-licious the hero always is, but Edward was all that and more. He had real feelings, he had real fears and he had real wants.

It's a great book. All I can say in conclusion is if you like a good, emotional, heart-tugging historical, with characters that leap off the pages, buy it. Or get it at the library. Or buy it used somewhere. Buy it from Amazon! Just get it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading other books by this author.

This is by far the best of this series. I have read all but the Portrait of a Lover and the others were a little disappointing except the last one in the series about Martin, James' brother. I have to say I have never never cried so much over a book before. It was such a sad story. I have to agree that MacLean makes her heros very cruel to their ladies about giving them their love. I am able to look past that in this book since he is fighting the fact that she is his best friends sister. He does try and give her all that he can emotionally and she knew that going into the marriage. Very good read, need lots of tissues for this one!!!