{Book Review} Lilies in Moonlight

Happy Monday!  Today I bring you a book review for Lilies in Moonlight by Allison Pittman.

Synopsis from Goodreads.com.

He’d lost his zest for life. She was just lost. Will they find the healing and love they long for?

After a roaring night on the town, fun-loving flapper Lilly Margolis, dazed and disoriented, twists her ankle and falls into the backyard of a wealthy family where the effects of the Great War—over for more than half a decade—are still endured. Inside the walls of the BuHe’d lost his zest for life. She was just lost. Will they find the healing and love they long for?

After a roaring night on the town, fun-loving flapper Lilly Margolis, dazed and disoriented, twists her ankle and falls into the backyard of a wealthy family where the effects of the Great War—over for more than half a decade—are still endured. Inside the walls of the Burnside mansion, Cullen Burnside, a disillusioned and disfigured veteran, and his widowed mother, Betty Ruth, who daily slips a little further into dementia, lead a lonely existence … until Lilly. Whimsical, lighthearted, and beautiful, she rejuvenates their sad, disconnected lives and blossoms in the light of their attention.

But Lilly, like Cullen, is hiding from a painful past. And when Cullen insists on returning her to her faraway home, their budding attraction seems destined to die on the vine. The resulting road trip becomes a journey of self-discovery—but what will Cullen and Lilly find at journey’s end?

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My Review

Lilly, a carefree and wild flapper in the 1920's, is trying to make a life for herself and have fun while doing it.  She parties, drinks, flirts with men for affection, trinkets, a free meal, or drink.  One such evening ended with her face down in the Burnside's backyard, where they found her the next morning.  The ailing Mrs. Burnside insists Lilly be brought into their home and cared for.

I must admit, this book did not immediately grab me.  Lilly, the main character, was just too ditzy and overly flirtatious for me to find appealing. In fact, it didn't really kick in for me until around Chapter 19, page 168.  What did it?  Mrs. Burnside had a vision that her son Cullen, disfigured in World War I, would be "healed" if he went to the World Series and took a turn at bat.  Before the war he played in the majors and earned some memories, and statitistics, that were less than favorable.  He had never actually hit the ball on his home field.

Baseball, a crazy (but completely loveable and sweet) mother and her vision, and a roadtrip with a hodgepodge of passengers?  Yes, please!  Of course, there's the whole underlying story of a blossoming romance to follow between Cullen and Lilly.  Naturally. 

I found Cullen to be the most interesting and complex character as he possessed some depth and life experience.  Somewhat hardened and jaded, but likeable.  By the end of the book, I did find myself enjoying the story and I even warmed up to Lilly, probably because we get a pretty good peek at what her childhood must have been like and what made her the way she was.  At least that's what did it for me.  I felt compassion for her, and that turned to character likeability for me. 

All in all, it was an enjoyable, light, easy, surface read with excellent imagery and descriptions. 

No profanity.  No sex.

First line:

"Just ten o'clock in the morning, and already Lilly Margolis could feel the trickle of sweat sliding between her shoulder blades."

Favorite quote:

(Cullen is grilling Lilly, asking how exactly she wound up in Florida, on his lawn, in this predicament.)  "She looked at him, straight into his eyes, which were now unveiled.  With these people, she would always tell the truth.  'I ran out of road.'"

Finally, just because I like it and because more times than not in other books we just get chapter numbers, the title of Chapter 1:

"She walks in beauty, like the night...And sometimes, she just walks in."

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Christian

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You can find out more about he author, Allison Pittman, by visiting her website.

Find me on Goodreads!

***I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions expressed are my own.***