Lily’s Just Fine by Gill Stewart

Lily couldn’t have planned life better herself. She lives in the best house in town and she’s dating the most popular boy in school. Everything else she can fix. Mum’s apathy? On it! The stuffy gala committee? Watch this space! Tom has enough on his plate without trying to drag Newton St Cuthbert into the 21st Century. His sister is sick and there’s nothing anyone can do. Not doctors, not his parents, and certainly not Lily Hildebrand.

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***I was sent a copy of this book for review. Everything in this review is my own honest opinions.***

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I was looking forward to reading Lily’s Just Fine because it sounded like the perfect book to read in the warm summer sun. Even though I knew this book was going to touch on some delicate issues I still thought that this book was going to be perfect to read over the summer months. Now having read it I can happily say that this book did live up to my expectations and more.

I thought Lily as a main character was very well developed and really likeable, I enjoyed reading about her busy body life. You could see that beneath her perfect looking life cracks were beginning to show and I felt so sorry for her when things started to crash down around her. Tom is the other main character but I didn’t really connect with his story as much and thought it could have been a little more fleshed out. For some reason I just didnt feel as engaged with his character as I did will Lily.

This is my first Gill Stewart book and I will be picking up more of her books because I did enjoy reading her writing. I thought the way she dealt with tough topics was done with the upmost respect and she didn’t just put them in the book for the sake of it. One topic that really struck a chord with me was Lily’s Mum’s depression, I have read about depression in other books but it really hit home and made me think about depression more after reading his book. But there are many other issues raised in this book as well such as anxiety, ableism and homophobia, but for me they are all handled really well and with the up most respect.

I read this entire book in just a couple of sittings, once I really got into the story I couldn’t put it down. I will admit it did take a few chapters for me to get invested in the story and the characters but after a while the characters felt like they were friends and the story did become more engaging. If anything towards the end of the book I felt the story could have been a bit longer because I didn’t want to finish the book or leave the story and characters.

I would definitely recommend Lily’s Just Fine to all readers who love a relatable, touching and heart warming reading. The issues it addresses within the story are done with sensitivity, and made me think about them a bit more. I did go into reading this book thinking it was a standalone but I have now found out that this is book one in the series of four books, and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for this series.

I rate this book 4/5 stars