Official Review: Lilly? by Marie Washtag

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Rosemary Wright
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Official Review: Lilly? by Marie Washtag

Post by Rosemary Wright »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Lilly?" by Marie Washtag.]
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1 out of 4 stars
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Lilly?, by Marie Washtag, is a fictional novel. Lilly and Sasha are childhood friends, who ran away from Serbia to Hungary due to a war. Now, Lilly has a decent job while Sasha is involved in organized crime. Later on, Sasha and his business buddies land in trouble, and Lilly, being his closest friend, finds herself in a quagmire.

Exploring the themes of the consequences of crime and keeping bad company, this novel would've been intriguing and engaging if the author had narrated it in depth. Though it has a bit of suspense, it's incoherent. As I was reading, I felt that the author had a good story to tell, but she just didn't know how to craft it. The writing style is immature and therefore, the book is cumbersome. Summarizing the plot was really hard for me because it was poorly developed.

The narrative revolves around drug abuse, the selling of drugs, and sexual assault. Some parts of the story are unrealistic. For example, Lilly, her boss, Eve, and some other persons drank coffee and went to an Italian pizza place to have breakfast soon after they found Adam, Eve's boyfriend, dead. I didn't notice that instant grief, shock, and confusion.

There are many personae in the tale, but the author supplied minor details about them. As the narration progresses, suddenly, you'll see a new character with little or no information about them. The focal characters, Lilly and Sasha, are not left out. I only saw few details about their personality, background, and physical characteristics. Hence, I couldn't connect to them and the rest of the personae.

Furthermore, the book is not formatted; there are no chapters and scene breaks. The dialogues are not enclosed in quotation marks. Although some new authors write in this manner, it was difficult for me to follow the story. Sometimes, I couldn't determine whether a particular statement was a reported speech or part of the author's description. While reading, I found some grammatical and typographical errors, such as "Sasha looked at him with no words coming out if his mouth" and "eight-moths-old baby." Included in the narration are some graphic rape scenes.

In conclusion, I rate this narrative 1 out of 4 stars. I couldn't rate it higher because of the above-mentioned flaws, and I can't recommend it for anyone now. It lacks integrity and thus, shouldn't be set in a bookstore until the author revises it.

******
Lilly?
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JR Mercier
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Post by JR Mercier »

This sounds like a mess. I really don't know what else to say about that. I don't know how you finished that read but I applaud you. Your review will save a lot of readers a lot of time.
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Post by Cecilia_L »

I have to agree with JR, above. As we say in the South, it sounds like a hot mess!
As someone who punctuates text messages despite the opposite current trend, having to sort out who is saying what because there aren't any quotation marks would drive me nuts. Good job reviewing what sounds like a challenging read.
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Post by crediblereading2 »

The plot sounds very interesting but I the author should have developed the flow and the characters in a more meaningful way. Thank you for your honest review.
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Post by Corhan2 »

Thanks for the review!! Hats off to you for powering through the mess!! :tiphat: Editorial and grammar errors are not for me!!
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Post by bookierme »

This sounds terrible although I am quite intrigued by the plot. Thank you for your honest review; I'm sure many who might have wasted their time in reading this book, are highly appreciative. Great job!
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Post by Samantha Simoneau »

JR Mercier wrote: 08 Jul 2018, 10:36 This sounds like a mess. I really don't know what else to say about that. I don't know how you finished that read but I applaud you. Your review will save a lot of readers a lot of time.
I was in the midst of typing, "What a mess," when I saw this comment. JR Mercier, you nailed it. I'll pass on this book - yikes.
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Post by María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda »

It´s so sad that this book has so many flaws. I think I could overlook some minor formatting issues but the lack of depth in the plot and in the characters is really not something an author can afford to do when addressing such important issues like drug abuse and sexual abuse.
Thank you for an honest review!
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Post by daydreaming reader »

Hopefully the author revisits it and takes the time to tell the story. Thanks for honest review.
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Post by tanyas33 »

Thank you for your honest review! It’s such a shame that this book lacked the necessary plot and character depth, as these are the most important factors of a good book. I myself don’t think I’d give this book a read due to the points you’ve mentioned within your review, and due to the graphic scenes of rape and mentions of drug abuse and addiction.
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Post by Manang Muyang »

I was debating with myself on whether to review this book because it intrigued me in many ways. I devour C/T/M/H books. The story is apparently very short, only several pages as advertised. Why is there a question mark in the title? The soldier on the cover has a woman's profile superimposed. Why? Now I find that Adam's girlfriend is named Eve. Would the pizza place be named Eden?

But it seems I have to wade through incoherent dialogue and catch a wandering narrative to find the buried treasures. Lilly? I think not.
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Post by Kate S »

You know, the cover really did catch my attention. The red "Lilly?" title just seems...haunting, especially if Sasha and Lilly are childhood friends. It sounds like the book had the basis of a really good plot, but the execution was a complete, utter disaster. Thanks for the warning about the graphic rape. This book is going to be a hard no from me.
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Post by Dawud Adaviruku »

Thank you for your honest review. I don't think this book is probably good for anyone to peruse due to it's obvious shortcomings such as not being professionally edited and presence of graphic scenes. It's also disappointing to note that the book is not well organized.
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Post by Adedayo+23 »

I think I'll pass on this one. Sounds like its one big mess of a book. Thanks for your honest review.
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