Lily – Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

From the outside looking in, Lily Lockwood, popular star of the hit TV show St. Joe’s, has it all. Recently nominated for an Emmy, her star is definitely on the rise. She shares her gorgeous Malibu beachfront home with her even more gorgeous actor boyfriend. Perfect, right? Not so much! Within a matter of just a few days, it all falls apart. The wind is knocked out of her when she finds out that her boyfriend, on location shooting a western, is riding horses all day and his curvy co-star all night. Before Lily can catch her breath, she gets word that her mother, best-selling author Daisy Lockwood, is in intensive care after a near-fatal accident. Lily flies across the country to be by her side. The girl, who has a hard time deciding if her Chai Latte should be Grande or Venti, is now faced with making crucial life and death decisions. While rifling through Daisy’s papers, she comes across shocking information about her mother that threatens to shake her very foundation. Lily embarks on a journey of self-discovery and closure as she seeks to unlock the mysteries of her mother’s past.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

My Review

Lily Lockwood seems to have it all. She’s a famous actress on a TV show called St. Joes, she’s got the perfect boyfriend, her mother is her best friend and she’s just become nominated for an Emmy. All seems completely perfect to her. BUT within a few days everything turns upside down. Her boyfriend is cheating on her with his busty co-star and her mother, best-selling author Daisy Lockwood has been in a fatal car accident and is in a coma. Everything has fallen apart and now Lily has the crucial decision over what to do. While trying to sort out Daisy’s papers for the hospital, she discovers things about her mother’s past that she never knew of and it takes her on a journey of self-discovery and closure as she starts to unlock the secrets of her mother’s past.

The story starts off with Lily at her mother’s hospital bed, sobbing and asking her to wake up. As she waits for the doctors to tell her the news of her mother’s condition, Lily begins to reflect on her life and relationship with her mother, who brought her up single-handedly and supported and helped her into the Hollywood world – always being there for Lily throughout everything in her life. As the days pass by, and with tests and operations being done on her mother, Daisy’s close friends come to be with her and Lily to await the news of Daisy’s condition and to support Lily.

I really felt for Lily, because Daisy, although her mother is her best friend and the only person that she can lean on, and for her to be in a coma – it was so sad to read as she just wanted her to be okay and wake up. My mum is one of my best friends too and I would be completely lost without her if anything happened to her, which I’m sure everyone can relate to as well, so yes, I definitely felt for Lily having to go through this. As much as she’s a famous TV star, she’s still a scared, vulnerable little girl inside; scared about what is happening to her mum.

Although this book is focused on Lily and her self-discovery, it’s all centered on Daisy, You never get to read Daisy speaking in the present, but you do in the flashbacks and stories that Lily thinks about throughout the book. You do get a feel that you know Daisy as her voice is pretty strong and even if she is in a coma, I did fell like I knew her, regardless of her not speaking. You also get to know more about Daisy in her diary entries, which Lily finds and reads. They give Lily and the reader an insight into Daisy’s childhood – one that she has never told Lily. You find out many a secret about Daisy and there’s a huge shock of a secret which I was not expecting at all!

It was great to see the supporting characters coming to the hospital to visit Daisy and support Lily throughout the ordeal of the accident. The friends were completely special to read about and definitely felt like a small family to Lily and Daisy to me. Her Auntie D, who is childhood friends with Daisy, was such an amazing character to read. She was there for Lily when she was younger and is still there for Lily years later. Her and Daisy have been through a lot in their past and they are still best friends to this day. It was brilliant to see so much support and love coming from Donna, even when she was hurting because her best friend was in a coma. You can see that Donna will always be there for lily, no matter what happens.

Alison’s writing style comes to life. You can see she has really researched all the hospital scenes and the jargon used in this book. She writes about a colourful and lovely mother-daughter relationship that you just want for yourself and it’s the bond of the two that really gels this book together. It’s the heart of the book. It seems exceptionally realistic, especially the hospital scenes as you could really feel yourself acting the way Lily was with the Doctors (Who was a bit of an arsehole) and just wanting to know what was happening with her mother. I felt every single emotion she conveyed and this book actually got me thinking about if I was in Lily’s position. The story really did make Lily stronger, in a way, and really make her see life as being precious. It’s a great book to read and I would definitely recommend it as it was difficult to put down once I started it!

Synopsis

In the not too distant future, after the huge successes of role playing games and virtual worlds such as The Sims, Second Life, and reality shows such as Big Brother, it was only a matter of time before somebody took the next step. A remote island. An android population existing only to entertain. Their lives broadcast around the clock and around the globe. Their actions dictated by their owners. It’s the world’s biggest game played by thousands. Welcome to Gameworld. Dean 3012 is a good guy living on the Island. He loves his girlfriend, Lily, and with their first baby on the way, life is perfect. But when things take a sinister turn, the couple is plunged into a world of darkness and despair. Dean must take control and fight for all their lives.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

My Review

Automation is about a virtual world called Gameworld. It takes place on a remote island, where an android population exists to entertain. Their lives are broadcast 24/7 around the world and their actions are dictated by their owners. It’s highly expensive to buy a character, yet thousands of people are playing it. It is the biggest game in the world and everyone is watching.

The book concentrates on the island and the ‘real world’ where you get to meet the owners, the characters and the maker of the game. Dean and Lily are two characters who are together. They are in love and are expecting a baby together. They truly are a great couple, but Dean’s owner, whose own life is depressing him, has other plans for Dean, which doesn’t bode well with Amelia, who is Lily’s owner. Nope, not at all.

I really did like Amelia – the human gamer- at the beginning. She had grown up with her Character Lily from a young age and she simply loved her, thinking of her more as a best friend or sister, than a character. But then she become obsessed and in my opinion, a little bit psycho over Lily and her boyfriend, Dean, and what the gamer of Dean’s character was doing to the couple and to Lily’s feelings. She hates to witness Dean’s actions on her screen and feels anger towards Dean’s owner, wondering why he would try to destroy the couple.

Dean’s owner, Luke is a lawyer, currently trying to get a murderer off his charge. The only thing that he looks forward to is Gameworld when he comes home from work. But because his life is depressing, he feels that Dean should be a bit naughty in the game. Amelia doesn’t like this one bit and tracks down Luke. You really have to read the book to find out what happens between these two, but my god, it is clear to see how out of touch the owners become and how involved they are with the game they would do anything to see their characters happy. They literally immerse their own lives into the game. Which is completely unhealthy on so many levels.

Throughout the book, I actually felt that Lily and Dean were more than characters. It was easy to forget they were entertainment and a game and easy to believe they were human and not in a show such as The Truman show with all the mics and cameras in the game. They lived a normal life, apart from when their owners intruded and made them do things, but other than that, they literally had no idea they were a game. They actually though that was how they were meant to be living; with all these rules and regulations and ‘evil demons’ making them feel and do things they knew was wrong, yet they couldn’t be stopped.

I really felt for Dean and Lily. I just wanted everyone to stop meddling in their relationship. It certainly got to a point, near the end, where the heartbreak Dean felt was awful to read. What Amelia did was so horrible and then what Dean did…Dear god, you can see how easy it would to become too involved in a game such as this one. It really is terrifying to think that this game or one like it could happen in the future and how captivated we, as a nation, could become to it.

This book really does highlight the obsessions of online gaming with virtual worlds and it did remind me of games such as The Sims and Second Life. Amelia’s obsession with the game is something that can be seen around the world with many gamers in today’s society. With people spending hours a day confined to their computers or games consoles, playing all the new games and making new ‘worlds’ where they can control the characters to do whatever they want.

Cheryl Davies’ writing style flowed with ease. I was drawn in on every single page, desperate to know what was going to happen to each character, both real and in android form. The story is well written and captivated me. I started reading today and finished it a couple of hours ago. When I read a book that completely draws me in, I have this urge to finish it so I know how it ends. It becomes too hard to put the book down and when I spent 4 hours in work today, all I could think about was reading this book and continuing the story. There really are twists in this story that will have you shocked and the one that really did shock me was near the end with Dean and Lily. I’m not going to say what happens as I don’t want to spoil it, but you really need to read this book. Much like the Awaken series by Katie Kacvinsky, this scenario could very well happen someday in the future.

I definitely recommend this book. It will really get you thinking.