Review : The Secrets of Lily Graves by Sarah Strohmeyer

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Secrets of Lily Graves
Author : Sarah Strohmeyer 
Publication Date : May 13th 2014
Publisher : Balzer + Bray
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

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

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

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

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

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

Personal Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5



Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Teen for the e-ARC of The Secrets of Lily Graves.

 

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