Book Review: Lilies in Moonlight by Allison Pittman

Lilies in Moonlight by Allison Pittman
ISBN: 978-1601421388
Publisher: Waterbrook Multnomah
Retail: $14.99

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 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?

The beginning of this book caught my attention right away. The sense of Lilly living for acceptance and unfortunately just looking for her next fun episode, most likely at the hands of a man looking for one thing in return, was very well done. There is no foul language nor explicit scenes in this book. Lilly is the picture of beauty and modernity (for the 1920s), she knows how to get what she wants from men but it means giving a little more of herself. I got the impression though that Lilly didn’t really know what she wanted in the first place.

I really enjoyed the exuberance that Lilly is given. When I read the portions where her life is described, even the mundane, it held an air of excitement. Soon, soon, something fun and exciting was going to happen. Just a matter of time. Then when we meet Cullen Burnside, the writing lends a more somber, subdued quality. Muted. Put these two together and it works great.

I found this book to be well written. The excitement of the ‘flappers’ during the 1920s can be felt through Lilly and Betty Ruth Burnside. But it is definitely more about finding what a person truly values and what they find to be worth going for than just being accepted by the world. For Lilly it was beauty on the surface but ultimately it was love and acceptance by even just one person. For Cullen it is somewhat the same; he comes to realize that he is not the scars that are the result of time spent in war.

Cullen’s determination to treat Lilly not like ‘one of those girls’ frustrates both himself (he is quite a gentleman throughout the entire book) and Lilly but in the end it helps Lilly to see things clearly; her life, herself, her faith. It does the same for Cullen; he can be loved, he walks out in faith, and sees more clearly about how he feels.

Other characters include Dina (Lilly’s ‘flapper friend’), Eugenia (Mrs. Burnside’s maid), Miles (the Burnsides’ driver), Ella (Lilly’s mother), the Tatters (owners of a cabin site where a road trip takes the main characters to near the end of the book), and a few others. A character that I gather is in Pittman’s other books is Dave Voyent- a sports journalist.

Pittman smoothly brings Jesus’ love into this book. Lilly realizes that Jesus sees past her sins, loves her and accepts her. That is worth more to her than the love of her mother or Cullen. I won’t spoil the ending but personally I expected a different end- some may not be surprised

I received a copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. I give it .