A Girl Named Lily

Rating:
Summary: Clever but needs refining
Review: Unsure about which way her life is destined, Lily lives with expectations of what she thinks it should be. While dating her beau of two years, Romance, Lily is faced with the decision of trying to overcome her insecurities and quirks within her relationship. What transpires, however, is something entirely different than what she expected.

Romance, in love with Lily, only wants the best but doesn't know how to show it. Instead of tackling the problems head-on, he constantly puts himself first and not the relationship. When things become heated, he proposes instead of trying to resolve their differences. Lily, never taking the opportunity to confront Romance with her true feelings, finally lets him know how she feels, which results in a major argument. Licking her wounds, she runs into Will Dickson, or Dick, as his friends call him, and their relationship becomes more than what she bargained for.

Dick and Lily are soulfully connected from the very beginning, and Lily begins spending time with him, not anticipating the proposal from Romance. When Lily does decide to accept Romance's proposal, she writes them both a letter; one a poem to Romance professing her love, and the other to Dick, breaking things off. The letters get switched and everything goes awry.

Realizing her relationship with Romance is definitely over, Lily pursues something more with Dick. Not wanting to settle for what Dick is offering, Lily moves to Kansas City where she meets the man of most women's dreams: Wealth Fulmore. Not really feeling Wealth, Lily still continues to date him, at the same time harboring feelings for his twin brother, Winston.

What ensues is the realization of coming full circle. As Lily realizes that she truly does love Dick, she has to deal with him being in the arms of another woman. Although every woman would love to have Dick, Romance and Wealth at their disposal, the real question one must ask is: at what cost? Through poetry and life changing events, Lily finally discovers who she really is.

While the concept of the novel was creative, there were too many grammatical, typographical and stylistic errors. This remained constant throughout the reading, distracting from the overall intent of the story. The storyline was also a little far-fetched, but the poetry was excellent and thought-provoking. A good try for CaS Siegers, but the work definitely needs to be edited.

Reviewed by T. Belinda Williams for Loose Leaves Book Review