Pictures of Lily

It was an ok book. The idea was good and interesting but the execution only ok. I felt that the beginning dragged for to long. I couldn’t wait for the story to skip back to the present. But then the story didn’t go anywhere until the rushed HEA. Maybe I’m too old for that but I can’t believe that the love that was built in 2 months when you were 16 is kept alive for 10 years and then be strong enough to have an impact on your life without more then a few talks. Maybe if present day relationship had more meaningful substance I could have been more connected to the story.

Lily have all of her life suffered with her mom’s tendency to follow her new fly by the moment ideas – which she gets a lot of. The newest one is internet dating. Her mom meets a cute australian man, and within short time they are moving from England to Australia. It say itself that 16 year old Lily is no fan of this, and before they even have arrived to Australia, she is already planning on moving back when she is 18.

Despite how much Lily wants to hate it in Australia, she ends up loving it. Her mom’s boyfriend works in a Conservation park, where she fall in love with all of the animals. All the cute kangaroos and coalas.

And it’s here she meets Ben, 12 years older than her, and they become really good friends. Ben is the first person to listen to her, and encourage her to follow her passion for photography.
She didn’t plan it, but she falls in love with him, but there is so many things wrong with this situation. One is; he is much too old, and an another is; he is about to be married.

When she hear Ben telling a friend that he think he have developed feelings for an another girl, she decides to fight for him. But how can a 16 old girl convince him, when the friend already convinced him it’s just wedding nerves. Nothing for him to worry about, and it’s normal.

Ben moves to London to get married, and like Lily’s heart my heart broke too.

We follow Lily ten years after, right from the moment her boyfriend ask her to marry him. She panics a bit about the whole marriage thing, and it doesn’t help when she suddenly one day runs into Ben again.

I love how the story repeats itself, only this time Lily is the one to be married, and Ben is single.
I love how all the thoughts Ben have been going through that time ten years ago, Lily is going through too. It helps one to understand why it’s not that simple. That there are more to the situation than their age difference. I felt sorry for how torn Lily was between Ben and her boyfriend, Richard. She have to make a tough decision that’s not that straight forward.

I was captivated from the first page, and I loved being in Australia with Lily. Paige Toon have always had a way with words. She really made me want to go to Australia one day.

A really cute summer romance with lots of surprices, and a fresh lift on the chick lit genre.

Pictures of Lily is my favorite Paige Toon book.

Paige Toon is one of my favorite authors. That’s why I shouldn’t have been surprised I was unable to put the book down once I read the first chapter before going to sleep, as I had planned. Instead I read the book in its entirety.

Paige has this way of writing that has you hooked from the moment you read the first page and keeps you hooked throughout the entire book. I was so torn between Ben and Richard. I really felt Lily had a really tough decision to make and I felt sorry for her too, to have to make such a choice. But in the end I think she made the right one, for the right reasons. There were lots of surprises along the way and the book never fell into the tried and tested traps in most chick-lit/women’s lit books.

Once again Ms.Toon has rendered another wonderful book!

I’ve been reading a few of Paige Toon’s books this week. I’ve enjoyed them all, but this one was a bit different. I liked it, but I think it wasn’t as exciting as her other stories. The beginning of this one really drew out. However, I still couldn’t put it down until I finished Lily’s story.

I love Paige Toon. After reading Chasing Daisy (still my favorite!) I have read all her books. This story is sad and elating at the same time. From all her different leading characters, these two almost feel like the deepest soulmates through their forbidden love. I love how she keeps updating us on her other characters from the other books (like Lucy from Lucy in the Sky).

Can’t wait for her next book!

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