Standalone Sunday is a feature created by Megan@bookslayereads where each Sunday a standalone book (not part of a series) that I loved or would recommend will be featured!
I love that meme as it takes little time to do (I’m always running like the real busy bee I am) AND I get to promote a book I really loved. This is the perfect idea for me!
If you want to play, feel free but don’t forget to tag Megan’s blog.
This sunday I’ll choose a book that got mixed reviews. Midnight Lily by Mia Sheridan.
Some loved the book some did not understand or like it much. I presonally loved the book but that’s true it has a confusing edge. I would say if you’re fan of some gothic novels not exactly with ghosts but some kind of etheral and dreamy quality, this should be your cup of tea even if it’s a contemporary one.
Just judge by yourself.
5+ stars.
Where do I begin? It’s been hours since I finished this book and I’m still…away, lost somewhere else.
It touched me deeply and I’m in awe right now with Mia Sheridan’s skills. It was everything I expected and nothing I expected. I know I’m not making sense and I won’t explain it as the best way to understand this book is just to read it.
I’ll stay purposely vague about the plot as it’s so brilliantly executed it will take you completely by surprise. My first questions only came when I was halfway through the book and from that moment on, I doubted everything I read.
I’ll just give you the beginning of the story: our hero is mourning the loss of his best friend. He chose to cope with his grief in taking drugs. To help him get his bearings, another friend drops him in the middle of nowhere Colorado. He is left alone in a lodge, miles away from civilization.
As he tries to recover, he’ll meet a beautiful but mysterious girl in the woods, walking alone at night.
“I got lost in the comfort of being touched gently. Nothing in my recent past had felt gentle. And that’s what Lily was: gentle and pure. Being with her made me starkly aware of how harsh and dirty my own life felt. “
There were so many quotes I loved in this story, so many feelings .. so many burdens to shoulder.
“Deserve it? Do any of us deserve what we get in this life? Is that how it works?” … “I just . . . why do I have to be this way? I just want to be free of it all. God, I just want to cast it all off.” “You can’t. Some things must be carried, and that’s just the way it goes. It’s not for us to know the why. Listen, baby, life is a series of things we choose and things we carry. The things we choose, well, those are ours. But we don’t get a vote on the things we carry. Some are heavier than others, some we can put down eventually, and some are ours to keep. We don’t have a choice in the burdens we’re given to bear, but we do have a choice in how we hold them. We can strap them to our backs and walk through the world hunched over under the weight like someone who should spend his or her days in a bell tower. Or we can stand tall and straight like one of those African queens carrying a woven basket on her head.”
It was intense, it was gorgeous, vibrant and at the same time had a dream-like quality. It was achingly beautiful. I don’t have enough words to describe all the feelings this book made me experience. I’m awed by the audacity of Mia, for choosing to make us “see” these characters. I think this quote is just perfect for what Mia Sheridan achieved with these extraordinary heroes:
“Think about what it means to be a writer, for example—you have to create an entire world in your head and then fashion characters so believable you know their every thought, their every dream, every intention, every potential, every motivation. You have to live in their head enough to understand them, to tell their story. You have to make them so believable that sane humans actually fall in love with that character. Or mourn their losses, or feel anger on their behalf, feel authentic emotion for them. I think a writer needs to be at least partially crazy to manage something like that.”
That’s what Mia did brilliantly: she made me live, breathe and love them both completely. Thank you Mia for what you did. You made me see that love is universal and that everyone has a right to be loved unconditionally for who he is.
Convinced? Grab it HERE
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