Beautifully illustrated, Nick Lake has conjured up a haunting tale of family, illness, fears and change that feel like a creepy fairytale. Lily finds herself dealing with strange and deadly non-parents in her house all while having to face up to her illness and how her life is different no matter how much she wishes it was as it used to be.

A story of acceptance and moving forward and being hopeful. My daughter loved this book, especially enjoying the animal helpers.

Locked Out Lily is a beautifully atmospheric, dark and tense tale of family and friendship. A story of facing up to your fears, and having the courage to accept changes even when these are difficult and painful.

Lily’s life has changed due to a chronic illness which means she needs regular hospital treatments. She resents that further change will be brought into her life by the arrival of a new baby, feeling that she is being replaced. When her Mum goes into hospital to have the baby, she asks Lily’s Granny to look after her. However, Lily does not want to stay at her Granny’s house and sneaks out at night …

She returns to her home only to find that there are strangers there – strangers who look exactly like her parents, but with coal-black eyes, and they have a new baby. Lily finds herself an outcast in her own home, but is determined to evict her replacement parents, and bring her real parents back. Luckily, Lily finds help from the most unlikely of friends: a mouse, a crow, a mole and a snake …

Will these new friends be able to help Lily face up to her fears, and accept the changes that have happened in her life? Will she have the strength and courage to defeat the insidious intruders and regain her home?

I adored the blending of deliciously dark, creepy folk tales with a modern reality. The replacement family is perfectly portrayed: menacing, detached and ever so chilling – definite shivers down my spine! The other fantastical element within this magical realism adventure is the animals that Lily needs to help her overcome The Replacements. I really enjoyed how Lily’s friendship with these animals develops, each being able to offer her help and giving her the courage to believe in herself, to find courage, strength and acceptance in her reality.

The illustrations are simply stunning and complement the evocative story-telling perfectly.

Locked Out Lily is a stunning, heart-warming tale, woven with a blend of fantasy, realism and allegory: enthralling, tense and utterly brilliant!

Beautifully illustrated by Emily Gravett, Nick Lake has conjured up a haunting tale of family, fears, illness and change that feels like a dark fairy tale. As Lily finds herself dealing with strange and deadly non-parents in her house, she is also having to face up to her illness and how her life is different despite all her wishing for everything to be as it was. Very much a story about acceptance and moving forward, this is hopeful without being sentimental. I loved the animal helpers and all the characters worked well with each other, helping to move the plot along convincingly. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

This is a lovely magical realism/fantasy middle-grade novel. I particularly liked how Lily came to terms with her illness, and found her own strength. Emily Gravett’s illustrations are beautiful. I’m hoping to see this book in the shops soon so I can get it for some middle-graders in my life.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

I found it took a while to get into the book, but I am glad that I persevered as I really enjoyed the second half of the book. It deals with Lily’s emotions as her parents go into hospital to give birth to a new sibling. She is sent to spend the night with her grandmother, but decides to bike home to find out which hospital her parents are at so she can go and find them. But things at home are getting spooky. She sees new versions of her parents who have taken over the house, with black eyes and black hearts. With a mixed band of unlikely animal friends, she tries to claim back the house and find her real parents before they can replace her with the new baby. The book deals with themes of having a new sibling, dealing with illness, battling the subconscious and finding courage within.

Lily is, or was, or has been, very ill, and to give her parents relief she's been told to stay with her grandma for a few days. The parents need the relief as Lily's baby sibling is just about to be born – a child Lily swears she hates already and wants nothing to do with. But on tracking back home for word of her parents (and her plush toy so she can sleep) she finds simulacra of her parents, and the babe-in-arms, already installed. These devilish interlopers need to be ousted to get the family back intact, even if it's not the family Lily wants – and all she has to help her in the task are some talking animals – Crow, Mole, Mouse and Snake.

This has a peculiar elevator pitch, then – Coraline in the Willows, perhaps. That's not to say the critters go round here in motorcars or things – no, they more or less bicker and quibble about being differently abled. But they are firm characters, all with the intent on helping Lily in her locked-out situation. I guess they provide for a certain sense of humour, too, but for much of this I could take or leave that. What I did like was the way this short novel jumped straight into the action, action that still managed to hold on to ancient lore regarding keeping ill from our homes, and where magic comes from.

But ultimately it is about family. Lily's illness and her hating the idea she might lose her place in the parental affections top and tail this novel, meaning you get a heck of a lot of fantasy drama, and a heck of a lot of relatable, hard-hitting emotion when called for. It's a quite splendid mix, all told – a very readable book covering serious topics with, yes, a Mole demanding a change in diet from just worms, and a Mouse trying very hard to be brave. And yes, that is an ungainly mix, so just think on how much conviction must be on the page for me to rate it as I did – with four and a half stars.

Lily doesn't want to be sick anymore and she doesn't want her baby sister to arrive. She wants her life to go back to how it used to be, when it was just her and her parents and no hospital visits, for either Lily or her mum. But that's not possible.

It's not possible because Lily isn't getting any better. It's not possible because her mother's waters have broken and her parents have left Lily alone as they rush to the hospital to give birth. And it's not possible as figures who look like her parents, but who definitely aren't them, have taken over their home while they were gone.

These creepy, Gothic MG stories get me every time! There were very obvious [book:Coraline|17061] similarities here but I thought Nick Lake did a great job of creating a novel that never felt like a copy of something that had come before.

The distinct and unique personality of the book was crafted by the special, magical creatures that aided Lily on her quest to rid her home of the spectres now inhabiting it. This was such an eerie tale but these adorable inclusions helped to alleviate the tone and make this an entirely engaging story, that went from spooky and sinister to wholesome and hopeful.

I loved the illustrations that accompanied it. They were the perfect blend of beautiful and spooky, to match the tone of the story and to aid in bringing this to life.