A really enjoyable read. Darker than expected, but not necessarily a bad thing. Quite the opposite. Thank you for the early access!

This was darker than I expected! I’m glad I gave this one a chance. Full of mystery and magic! Thank you for the opportunity to read.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to read this book. Maybe I needed to save it until exactly this moment. Whatever, I'm absolutely, utterly and completely blown away. This book has the most exquisite writing, extraordinarily appealing characters, and an absolutely beguiling narrative. Is that too many superlatives? Not that I care. It deserves them all. My book of the year, I think.

Very good story. I like the stories with a bit of magic and mystery. Enjoyed reading this. But I found the second half a bit dragging. With Jen continously postponding the decision. And I was not happy the way the story ended.

I couldn't accept the way Lily and Jen faced the problems they felt and is finding relief that they will never be found.

There was no proper conclusion on Marianne or the relationship with Marianne's father or grandfather.

A good story but missed a proper conclusion and didnt like the way it ended.

Magical, secretive and addicting, you'll stay up all night unraveling the secrets that lay within Lily's House.

Oh boy, I was not expecting that.

I thought Lily’s House was going to be quite light-hearted based on the simple title and rather pretty cover. I was lulled into false expectations.

Lily’s House ends up being much darker than I was prepared for. Brilliant but quite dark.

I loved the way the author handles Jen and her daughter’s grief about Lily’s death. This came across as quite realistic and is painful to read at times.

I liked the way the novel is structured interweaving current events as Jen sorts out her grandmother’s estate with flashbacks to the past of Jen’s life and memories of Lily.

I knew something was off about Jen’s husband Daniel from the start. His behaviour is obsessive and possessive, texting her constantly, wanting to know where she is every second, freaking out if he doesn’t hear from her for a few hours, always needing reassurance from her and making grand statements about how he couldn’t live without her. Some might see this as signs of how much he loves her but I found it disturbing. When the truth about their marriage is revealed I was gob-smacked.

I thought Lily’s House was brilliant.

A beautifully woven story which starts out as a story of a grandchild returning to her grandmothers house following her death but not is all as it seems.
Jen who is deaf has gone with her daughter to her grandmothers house in n Cornwall to sort out her funeral and estate.
Her husband Daniel who has not gone with them is continually texting her and would appear concerned and loving but is this the case.
Through flashbacks in her life it soon becomes evident that although there are happy memories there are also darker elements at play.
A real page turner that I could not put down.

**3.5 stars**

Jen travels down to Cornwell with her 12 yr old daughter Marianne to clean out the house of her estranged Grandmother Lily. Her husband, a struggling musician who thinks he is on the cusp of a big break is left at home. We slowly come to learn why Jen was estranged from Lily, as she was very important to her during her earlier life. I had so many questions about this story, why was Jen so rude to Lily's neighbour, why was the only form of communication with her husband via txt and I found him so suffocating? These were things I originally couldn't understand and it actually lessened my enjoyment of the novel. I had so many other questions about other characters but that is for the reader to find out, although I eventually understood.

This is a very deceptive story that snuck up on me, then everything I thought about it was turned on it's head. It's about families and what lengths we go to protect secrets. Let's just say that a lot of it I just didn't see until I was 'told'.

An enjoyable way to pass the time, much darker than I expected but I think my earlier irks of understanding the characters impeded my ability to really settle into the story.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review.

The words are beautiful and the story is dark. A very interesting contrast. There are things I loved about this book. Ultimately it's a depressing piece but it feels like a dark and twisted fairytale. There is magic at the root of the story and the thread continues till the end. Now I need to read the author's other books. A unique book and well worth the time to read.

One of the best books I've read in a while. I loved the deft handling of the the unfolding details and whoa! did NOT see the ending coming. Loved it!

A little disappointing, as I loved the idea of this book. At times I really felt like giving up on it - not really my cup of tea, especially the bizarre supernatural twist.

LILY"S HOUSE by Cassandra Parkin has been chosen as The Marvelous Novel of the Month for February 2017 by The Marvelous Site. The review below is a reviewaka, based on an ancient Japanese poetry form.

Lily’s House /
by Cassandra Parkin /
c2017 //

finely layered depths /
after her grandmother’s death /
secrets still remain //

gorgeously descriptive with /
an edge that flirts with darkness //

MM

I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this book, but I found it very gripping. I was surprised at the depth of the topics that it dealt with, and the weight of emotions. However, I felt that it sketched over some things, particularly those relating to deafness. But a very enjoyable read.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I requested this book to review, but it certainly wasn't what I've just read. This book far exceeded any expectations I had. The writing is beautiful and almost dreamlike at times. The descriptions immersive (especially of food and flowers/plants/herbs and trees), and the characters executed wonderfully. The book isn't exactly a dual time story, but the writing does flow back and forth between when Jen was a young girl and visiting her Grandmother Lily, at her house by the seaside, for the summer holidays. The time slip is unlike any I've read before, it webs in and out with ease into the story as Jen is suddenly drawn back into the past by a memory triggered by a smell on the breeze, or by the sight of something she's not seen by in years.

The story is all told from Jens perspective who is married to David and a mother to 12 year old Marianne. I enjoyed the fact that this is the first book I've read where the main character is slightly different. It wouldn't be a proper spoiler for me to say why, but it's something I think a reader should read to suddenly understand themselves. It certainty gives another angle to the story.
I particularly loved the other worldly vibe that sometimes seeped into the story. There was a sense that there was some unseen magic at work, not in the true magical realism sense such as in books by authors Iike Sarah Addison Allen, but definitely a touch of magic was hinted at throughout the book. This had the effect of making it feel even more whimsical in a way, with the reader unsure if there's some type of magic at work, or simply coincidence, intuition, or simply a child's overactive memory.

The book does touch on some dark and difficult subjects, obviously I'll omit what they are. There are plenty of surprising revelations that slowly unravel themselves as the book goes on, but the pleasure is also in the detail with this story. Family and what it means to people is a theme explored in depth throughout. Relationships between mothers and daughters, grandparents and grandchildren, husband's and wives, estranged family members etc all play a huge part in the storyline. It is a really touching book that also makes you realise some people you meet in life are similar to vampires; blood suckers that drain the life out of others. While other people seemingly give themselves completely and selflessly put others they care about before their own dreams and desires.

I really do hope that this book is given the exposure and recognition it truly deserves. Cassandra Parkin is a wonderful wordsmith, her way of writing is simply exquisite. It's one of those books you can escape fully into and emerge after a few hours wondering where the time went. I enjoyed Lily's House so much it is a book I will definitely revisit, which is a rare thing now with so many books to read and so little time!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Legend, and the author Cassandra Parkin for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

This book was a pleasant surprise. The title drew me in as I have a grandmother called Lily. The synopsis had me requesting the book from the publisher via Netgalley and I could not wait to read it. Jen and her daughter Marianne visit Jen's grandmother's house after she passes away. The book is dark, scary engrossing amusing and at times tender. It explores human relationships well and each of the characters is very well fleshed out with clear personality traits and quirks. The story has a hypnotic pace and kept me reading and pining for the characters yet waiting happily for the next plot twist. I was left wanting to read more by Cassandra Parkin and was sad the book was over by the end. The attention to detail throughout the book makes for a realistic and unforgettable read.

I enjoyed some of this book but felt that the character Daniel, Jen's husband spoilt it for me. I really didn't like him and think maybe that's why Jen was reluctant to leave Lily's house. I liked reading about Jen as a little girl, living with her grandmother, Lily.

I cannot remember the last time I walked unsuspectedly into a forest of words and got my feet ripped out from under me without a warning of any kind.

I started out expecting a gripping family drama, which it was for sure, with a little bit of secrets, a few shady and shiny characters, and a mesmerizing plot: the usual cocktail of tragedy, love and hope. Meeting the characters brought the normal feeling of expectancy for a new adventure and it took a while to decide if it was going to be worth the time and trouble to learn more about Lily, Jen, Marianne, Daniel, James Moon, Margaret, Stanley, Richard and Amanda - the branches of a family tree that produced only one young green shoot, Marianne, who was only twelve years old by the time the late Lily bequeathed her beautiful old house to Jen. It was such an act of normalcy to do that...

I had the usual sense of normal people with abnormal circumstances to look forward to.

What else could be expected of a book that started out slowly, snailing quietly to a dramatic crescendo, for both the characters and the reader, with Jen taking control of her journey through heart and mind. She did not only travel hours and hours by train with her daughter to her much welcomed new property by the ocean in Cornwall, but as the miles piled up, so did the memories and perspective on a life that took a long time to spell itself out in words Jen did not want to be confronted with by anyone, including herself.

However, twelve-year-old Marianne, wise above her years, was waiting for the right moment to reveal what she knew about her mom, Jen, and dad, Daniel. And that's where my euphoric bubble collapsed into thin air. Somewhere around the middle of the book my emotional trance was broken. An unforeseen darkness collapsed onto this metaphoric forest.

Lily knew what she was doing when she left clues for Jen to even more secrets to this family tree that was slowly shedding it leaves and branches to leave only one hopeful shoot behind. Young as she was, Marianne was at a point where the battle between optimism and pessimism was at its raw peak, waiting for Jen to make a choice for all of them.

Marianne was like the young determined branch of this particular tree that broke through the smothering vines of a creeper sucking the very life out of the tree as the poison of manipulation, narcissism, and dependency wind their way into the heart of the tree.

Lily was there to push Jen into the direction she had to go. For Marianne's sake there was no compromise to be made between past and future. There was only NOW ...

It would take a fresh eye, to bring about a triumph over tragedy, or perhaps tragedy over triumph. After many years of absence, Jen came back to discover, reconsider and reroute with Lily's ever-omnipresence even in her after life.

Lily had her ways of dealing with the vines, and the forest, and the magic of seeking natural solutions to life's natural, raw truths. Trees, including family trees, did not only have natural enemies to face, they also provided their own solutions to the dangers facing them. Lily knew the secrets. She kept her own council from a distance. She saw what the members of Jen's family did not reveal. She found her own solutions and she had the final say, even after her own death. It was all there for Jen to discover.

Daniel accused Lily of being a witch. Daniel did not like her. Daniel did not trust her. But Jen did... even after Lily's passing.

This book might end up in many people's forgotten TBR mountains, which will be a monumental tragedy if it remains there unread. The brilliance of the plot, character development, suspense, continuing drama, and the unexpected deeper dimensions added without warning through stirring prose, result in a quiet masterpiece on all levels defining excellence. It's emotionally disturbing, even shocking.

Lily's House is one of those quiet sinister psycho-thrillers which slowly creeps up on the reader, leaving a breathlessness and dumbfounded speechlessness behind. The ending left me hoping it was not true!

I deliberately did not provide any clues on the storyline, plot or characters, other than the necessary. Many other reviews did that, but the purpose of my brutalness was to try and recreate the almost touchable atmosphere, the melancholic ambiance of an innocent looking, intense and relentless, dark mystery affecting the reader in unexpected ways. Lily's House was undoubtedly a major surprise and a most gratifying experience.

The author's youth was a revelation in itself. Such wisdom and insight into the dark inner world of human behaviour was not expected. She reminds me a lot about Anothony Marra, who surprised the world with his insight and experience at such a young age.

The future for Cassandra Parkin as an author of literary suspense thrillers looks bright and brilliant.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Thanks to Cassandra Parkin, Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book. What a delight!

This is a beautifully written book. It tells about Lily's immense love for Jen and the reason why she left her her flat. There are so many secrets in this family both past and present. This is the first book I have read by Cassandra Parkin and it will not be my last. This book well and truly deserves 5 stars.

After her grandmother Lily's death, Jen takes her daughter Marianne to sort through Lily's things, presumably to sell the flat and get enough money to support Jen's husband's musical career and extravagant spending habits. Jen hadn't seen Lily in years, and Marianne never met her great-grandmother. As they work through Lily's belongings together and spend more time in the almost magical town that Jen spent many summers in, they will uncover a multitude of secrets - some dark, some about Lily, some about Jen and Marianne themselves.

This novel stuns in its ability to constantly be surprising the reader. With each new unfolding plot twist, more is revealed about the main characters and their relationships with each other, none quite what they initially seem. While characters may come off as confusing or ridiculous at first, the plot masterfully unfolds and answers these questions. Some of the plot twists are less of a surprise to the reader than the characters themselves and one will occasionally despair over Lily and Marianne and Daniel, but the actually process of reading through the entire story forgives these frustrations and makes the storytelling all the better. Written in the present with flashbacks to Jen's childhood and with a splash of magical realism, Lily's House delivers a very well written and beautiful story. It is a to-grandmother's-in-the-woods-we-go tale mixed with some of the brightest and darkest elements of humanity and a dash of magic.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance digital copy in exchange for a fair review!