Review: Silly Lily
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 4, 2010
I usually avoid anything that hints at romance like the plague but the excerpts I had read of this story seemed to promise something more than a bodice ripper. There was the 40ish woman with rebellious teens and a marriage crumbling under the pressure. I could identify with her. I've been there.Lily, though, is lucky enough to find a way to escape her miserable life via some ruby jewellery and finds the gorgeous Daniel who is willing and able to fill the gaps in her life.After several trips to and fro she confesses to her husband. I am not giving anything away here because the author tells us this early on. I could not figure out why Lily would tell her husband. Her experience was so incredible that it could well have been a dream but she still feels that she should be honest. He was a pig anyway. He was remote and cold-hearted and quite happy to make Lily jump through hoops to keep him.  At one stage he even threatens that he will leave once their boy is independent. Lily should have told him to buzz off right then and there in my humble opinion.  The man is just short of abusive.  He undermines her at every step, ignores her, treats her as his household slave and a dog's body and yet she falls over herself to please him and re-ignite their love. Puhlease.  I just could not see the appeal in him.  Her children were spoilt brats and obnoxious.  I felt like shaking her.She seemed to change her character as well. In the present she was a doormat, in the past she was a pert, annoying, thoughtless individual who thought nothing of turning Daniel's life upside down. It worked out well for him in the end but I could not understand that bit either.I saw no point in the dog either. For a long time I thought the author had forgotten the dog. It appeared, and then, like a child in a soap opera, took itself off-stage for most of the story. Why was it there anyway?There were many 'huh?' moments in this story for me. Why, after experiencing the lack of essential items in the past, would you not return with an armful of toilet paper, canned food and a flashlight or two?  No, silly Lily takes her mobile phone and a cut-out from a newspaper.The writing was good enough but it could have done with some editing. There was also quite a bit of repetition in description.  It also annoyed me that a 60 year old was described as elderly. I don't think my 60ish trendy and fun-loving friends would be pleased to be told they are elderly.