The perfect timing of a fairy tale is tied to its tragedy… about the amusement he took in manipulating Meadow’s sister.
Their interview is a battle of wills.
His story is a twisted web of coercion and lies.
And the tragedy is too perfect to be real.
Will Meadow discover all of Vincent’s secrets while she fights to protect her own?
more
5 “Everything comes with time” stars
All fairytales that have the Princes riding on White steeds to rescue the Damsels in distress….well Lily has upended them ALL! because she created her own Beauty and the Beast(s). A master storyteller redefining the distressed and the rescuers. Never thought I’d see the day to see myths shattered and Fables reinvented!
” In this particular fable – although there is a prince, there is a maiden, there is a villain, there is a kiss, and there is a sunset – the perfect timing is tied to its tragedy.”
I bet Lily doesn’t have Cookie Cutters in her kitchen drawers, cause they ain’t any in her writing shelves!!! Trust her to deliver one stunner after the other and all super mind bogglers. That’s the only constant and consistent ingredient in her books -ample amount of shock factor and generous dosage of mindfucks…enough to give you Heartburn. Cause she doesn’t create simple asshole alpha men, no sirreee….she makes them sometimes frustratingly indestructible (Aidan) or coal-hearted unredeemable(Joseph). Then there are times when an “almost tender” side of hers comes to light, she can also create the beautiful colourful soul of Holden Bishop and now we get Vincent Mercier. I don’t know how people will respond to this character but for me he was a weighed down soul.
Vincent is an arrogant ass of a business man, transplanted, rather reluctantly from his beautiful Paris home in a concrete jungle in the states.Though Lily doesn’t wanna name it, I’ll call it Chicago. And as all typical assholes go, he’s an overconfident, ruthless dominant, taking pleasure in cutting down his opponents to size and bringing women to their knees.
“Other people would refer to him as a sadist, a plague, a scourge that should be eradicated from the world for having so thoroughly polluted the men and women he ran across, but he was simply a scoundrel, one who could tantalize with a secretive smile, one who knew how to stroke and kiss, to mold and shape those who had the misfortune of knowing him.”
On a constant lookout for his next thrill, next readily submitting object of sexual gratification, and a missing “Je Ne Sais Quois” piece of the puzzle, an entity from his life .
The story has so many facets to it, so many interactions that happen between 3 main characters, it’s tough to demarcate the boundaries, because they’re intermingled. One dynamic has repercussions on the next one. All their lives are enmeshed together and interdependent. It’s like a Hall Of Mirrors, if it makes sense. What you see from an angle has another image hidden, visible from only another vantage. Very fluid and constantly morphing relationships, from lascivious to revivifying, pleasures of the skin clashing with remedies of the soul….its a constant tussle. I was rooting for all 3 at one point or the other.
In the midst of it all is a Game of Mexican standoff being played between Vincent and Penny. They’re both sitting down at the game of chess of secrets. Each move involves divulging truths and this dangerous Quid Pro Quo will bring the skeletons tumbling out of the closets. I had many a WTF moments listening to both recounting the fateful incidents that would forever change the lives of Penelope and Vincent and the people attached to them. I was looking for closure, turned out I opened Pandora’s Box and was so surprised at the troubles that poured out!!
Out of all the characters , i fell head over heels for tortured Vincent the hardest. He was a wounded soul trying to right the wrongs that had been done to him and his family. His volunteering for the Cross to bear was heart-rending and agonising to watch(read)
I bawled, real loud at the some scenes and that drove my hubs crazy with worry. He thought I was having chest pains. Well…i was having them, but for entirely different reasons !!*eyeroll*.his opinion-It’s just a book !*gasp* (I need a new bookish husband!)
Vincent is the most fascinating a character in Lily’s stable of alphas. He’s a rogue, a rascal, a handsome
“Other people would refer to him as a sadist, a plague, a scourge that should be eradicated from the world for having so thoroughly polluted the men and women he ran across, but he was simply a scoundrel, one who could tantalize with a secretive smile, one who knew how to stroke and kiss, to mold and shape those who had the misfortune of knowing him.”
I seriously had my heart stolen by him, crushed by him and bleeding FOR him , all in a matter of a few hundred pages. A very memorable person I’ve ever read.
Penelope or Penny was a butterfly, spreading her wings in borrowed sunshine
un papillon dans le vent. she’s a breath of fresh air, innocent and sometimes naive at heart, very compassionate and gracious. Her growth from a homeless girl to a homemaking soul was steady and gradual. Unaware of her own strengths, she became a crutch for others to lean on and that’s her hidden talent
There are a couple of other, very crucial characters that you have to read the book, to meet.
This book stands apart in Lily’s Treasure Chest,because it simply overflows with emotions. It soaks into your soul and flows out through your eyes and that’s a refreshingly different side of hers we get to see, and I LOVED it !!!
And then at the centre if it all is the Wishing Well ! Filled with so many pennies & so many secrets. Around it trysts take place, kisses are stolen,secrets are buried and identities are lost.
“Tu faites un vœu, et espérons que cela devienne réalité.”
You make a wish, and hope it comes true… just be careful what you wish for
I need to mention something here, I was expecting Vincent to turncoat or renege on some situations, and was horribly surprised by Penny turning over an old leaf !! This unusual change of characterisation is novel, yes. Unexpected , yes. And was it welcome, not by me !!!
So I’ll throw a penny and wish that Lily writes another book, cause even though it’s a complete standalone book, I want more !!
So buy the book, meet the indomitable Vincent Mercier, but be careful falling in love with him. Cause A) has MINE !! & B) he WILL shatter your heart in a million pieces, for sure !
A monster…
A beast…
A man too dangerous for the world…
Oh Come on now, would you expect any less from a #LilyCraft book !
Every book by her is anxiously awaited and acutely read, it’s with absolute, utter delight that I closed the BEST BOOK by her ,
“Es-tu diabolique ou divine?”
While I am tempted to rely on a favorite expression of mine after I read then try to review something so wonderfully extraordinary and masterfully written as this book. That expression being “I am lost for words.” Quite the opposite is true. There are so many ideas that this author has woven into this suspenseful, dark, brooding and violent fairytale, I need to keep myself in check and not over-share. I promise you this will be one of your reads of the year if steer clear of spoilers and allow yourself to read this book fully from front to back. I promise you will be thoroughly captivated with each moment as it unfolds. If you get to the end without reading it all, you will have missed the intense afterglow that is found in the whole story.
Naturally, as any thoughtful reader is wont to do, you will find yourself trying to second guess what is happening, what will happen and what has happened. Ms. White cures you fairly quickly of this affliction and by giving this up and giving in, it is then you begin to appreciate the brilliance of this story.
The story begins in a forth-right manner. Meadow, a journalist by profession, has been granted a 72-hour jailhouse interview with the charming millionaire, the deviant and self-absorbed Vincent who has been convicted of the murder of 4 people to include her sister, Penelope (Penny). Meadow is after the entire truth of what happened and why it happened and some sort of accounting or owning up of Vincent for her loss. She has researched Vincent extensively and has had the opportunity to thoroughly read Penelope’s diary in which she wrote of her view of the events leading up to her death. For his part, Vincent wants some truth about Penny from Meadow that she has garnered from reading Penny’s diary. They are locked in a battle of wills…each of them unwilling to show the cards they are holding in their hands.
“…Meadow was left to stare at a devil with the face of an avenging angel. Prison had done nothing to strip him of his masculine, feral beauty. With dark brown hair swept back and dusting his collar, Vincent leaned back in his chair, his shackles jangling against the table. Green eyes studied her, the emerald color glimmering beneath the lights above their heads. His cheekbones were aristocratic, his jaw square and dusted with stubble, and his lips as sultry as she remembered them.”
And so it begins…the story of how Vincent met Meadow’s sister Penny or Penelope as he liked to call her and what she was to him in the beginning and what she ultimately became for him. The story is told in alternating points of view. Meadow relating her dead sister’s experiences as she read them written down in Penny’s diary. We feel the gamesmanship between Meadow and Vincent. We hear how carelessly and callously Vincent took in a lovely dirty homeless girl (Dirty Girl) shivering in the rain and made her reliant upon him for her every basic need and how he manipulated her to become the sex toy he envisioned on a dare from a like-minded Dom who only “played” sexual games with submissives.
“Vincent was a gold medalist in attraction, temptation personified, a weapon of cruel seduction that had been honed until wickedly sharp. It was through desire that he distracted and addled the mind, unrepentant for the cheap use of human instinct.”
In an effort ease the discomfort Meadow had over Penny being so haphazardly chosen off the street for a casual bet he tries to lessen the blow for Meadow by saying:
“Every so often, fate has a hand in opportunity. With a flourish of delicate fingers, it swirls the air around your existence, creating temptations that are too great, challenges that appear to be insurmountable. But within those moments when you doubt how simple coincidence could have led you to clear waters when you are thirsty, to a banquet when you starve, to the heat of fire when your bones scream for warmth and your heart beats weakly beneath the ice that encases it, you understand that certain events were meant to be, were written in the stars, were deemed by the Gods to be worthy for your life even before you were a twinkle amongst mankind.”
As the interview progresses, more and more of the truth of all that occurred becomes clear with Vincent seemingly to lose his composure at times and Meadow loses her composure at other times. The retelling involves dark intense sex scenes on the edge of violence. Once he seduced Penelope, he tells her:
”I think it’s only fair I warn you that in the bedroom I am a man with particular tastes.”
He tells Meadow how he owned Penny’s soul because she kissed him willingly…she did all willingly.
“…Myths. Legends. Fairytales. They all betray the truth about a person’s lips, that their kiss is the means by which life can be given or taken away. It’s never in the physical act of dominance and decimation, it’s in the submission to whim, the simple caress of one mouth against another, the slide of a tongue, the passion that ignites when two people share that single moment of pure bliss. Even a whore will spread her legs for whatever a customer offers, but she won’t give her mouth to him, only because a person’s secrets, their hopes, their dreams, their heart can be found in a kiss.”
Meadow surprises and even saddens Vincent when he tells her that after awhile Penny grew tired of his games and manipulations and set herself free from him emotionally as she wrote in her diary:
“For the first time since coming to Wishing Well, the fly had pulled out her pretty silver scissors and snipped herself free of his tangled web. Damn, it felt good to be a fly.”
The idea that this story could ever be referred to as a fairy tale will confuse you and puzzle until the last word is read. However, Vincent reminds Meadow that this is indeed the case.
“The reason I always loved fairytales was because of their perfect timing, despite how unrealistic that timing might be. And this story is a fairytale, I hope you know that.”
And so, I hope that I have given you a taste of our diabolical dark anti-hero Vincent in this fairytale. His fate is inextricably entwined in having met his Penelope. I cannot tell you why, but I will always love Vincent. In fact, he will be forever one of my most favorite and loved dark diabolical Dominants I have ever met. Of course, he is not perfect and yes he was morally bankrupt at times but there is something in him that you will discover that may redeem him in your eyes as well. And I am not referring to his mastery of the sensual seductive arts…although not to lie…it may have a little to do with it.
“And he hadn’t been wrong to say that it was the too perfect timing that had made it possible for the story to end this way. As if fate herself had danced the streets of the city, the sway of her hips causing soft winds to blow and push all the characters into place.
Too perfect, that [beeyatch] we call fate and her timing.”
Dear future Readers,
This book was just as I expected…. – so me being scared was justified –
So this leaves me with the problem what could I tell other possible readers about this book ?
Other than it was #mindblowing ?
Actually to be honest ? NOTHING !
Simply because anything that I could tell would spoiler something that you should better read than hear it from me.
So this does not leave me with much to tell except – you may
– Expect to be dumbfounded
– Expect that nothing is as it seems
– Expect lies
– Expect tears
– Expect the unexpected
oh and in the total contrary to what the blurb might suggest (now here comes my spoiler of the day)
– Expect LOVE
BUT I cannot promise if you will get anything of what I tell you to expect
SO I will promise you
– You will be surprised
– You will not be able to guess what’s going on until the author is allowing it
– You will get well developed characters
– You will not be able to deny your connection to the characters
– You will have MORE than one WTF just happened here moment
And it will probably hurt – there is no denying – so I have to be fair and at least mention it.
And when you turn the final page of this book you will ask yourself what just happened
Lily White is just one of THESE authors – when you see she releases a new book you will know you need to read it and you know it will surprise you but you will never be able to guess how
No words for how amazing this book was. You will think you have it all figured out. Then you are HIT with that powerful ending! I was blown away.
his story trapped me in a revolving door of emotion. When it finally spit me out, it was with a heart shattered into a million pieces and having cried a river of tears
I really don’t know how to place this book, it fits into so many genres and yet doesn’t fit any at the same time. It will twist your mind, play with your emotions and take you on a journey unlike any other. I chose to read this book, which was an arc kindly provided by The Wandering Bookaholic, based solely on the blurb. Thank goodness I did as I’m not a huge fan of the cover art for this book, it wouldn’t have drawn me to read it and I would have missed out in a massive way.
In many ways I didn’t feel as though I got the book that the blurb suggested it would be, even though the blurb is accurate. For some reason I had expected quite an erotic read, especially once I had read a few chapters. Whilst it does have some steamy scenes it most certainly isn’t erotic or erotica. I finished the book an emotional wreck, floundering to ground myself and struggling to find words adequate enough to convey how simply amazing this book is. The strangest thing is that at some points of the book I almost gave up reading this. You have to battle your way through the initial chapters, not because of bad writing but because of the psychological impact of the book. Again, nearing the end I thought I knew all that was going to happen and could skim to the end. But no, I read and reread every single word, and boy did it upend all my preconceived notions and ideas.
Meadow, a journalist, is offered the chance to interview the man found guilty of murdering her sister. On the three days preceding his execution they discuss Vincent’s relationship with Penny and the events leading up to that fateful day seven years prior. Both have questions to ask and secrets to reveal, but just where will those revelations lead? And even as you read this and think you know the truth, the answers that come later make you realise just how little you really know.
Vincent literally picked a homeless Penny up off the streets, as part of a very depraved bet. My Fair Lady this most certainly wasn’t. Vincent didn’t want to make her a lady, he wanted a submissive slave who would amuse him for a while until he grew bored. He would then discard her to chase another adventure of his own making.
Whilst reading the first half of the book I did have to ‘step away’ a couple of times. I had to read some light, airy book to calm my brain and settle my nerves. This story is mentally and emotionally challenging. I vacillated between hating Vincent, and yes I do mean stab him in the eye hate him, and being immensely charmed by him. One minute he would do or say something that was vile and selfishly egotistical, the next his actions made me swoon and forgive him.
Whilst we meet Meadow in the interview room, the real heroine of the story is the murdered Penny. A young girl who was a mix of tough survivor and naive fool. We hear her voice through Meadow’s retelling of the diary Penny kept whilst at the Wishing Well. Penny seemed like a very normal girl for her age (19) and I loved hearing her point of view compared to Vincent’s.
As the story progressed so did my feelings for the characters in the book. In so many ways this doesn’t end in the way you want it to, and yet in others it ends perfectly. I found it quite harrowing to read at times, the characters emotions bled me dry and yet I wouldn’t have missed reading this for the world.
My favorite read of 2018!
Hauntingly seductive and totally captivating read!
Flawless writing this is insanely provocative suspenseful thriller that unfolded slowly and methodically! As the story develops and you begin to know the characters, you start questioning who’s who and what motivates people do do certain things.
The complex and complicated characters affirm the lesson that things aren’t always what they appear.
Another stellar read by an author that dares to push the envelope and give us thought provoking stories with enough subliminal messages that have us thinking about the story way after we’re finished!
This author is certainly a grand wizard at pulling at our emotions and make us think!
***5 ‘You Make A Wish, And Hope It Comes True’ Stars***
Lily White has done it again!
Wishing Well sucked in me from the start, frustrated the hell out of me numerous times (for reasons we’ll kind of address *BSEG*) gave me the FEELS (Yeah, didn’t necessarily expect that either) and left me with a weird mix of ultimate satisfaction with THAT ending while in my head I was thinking “But, but…” Simply put, the mind fuck was real and I absolutely adored it!
Vincent is an enigma, complex and yet simple, and that made him absolutely fascinating. The range of feels I had for this man were crazy. I was wary of him, hated him, hurt for him and in a strange way loved him. Meadow is tenacious and broken, but determined to gain some closure for herself and her twin. I loved her strength and the empathy I had for her as she learned of all that happened to her sister knew no bounds. The battle of wills these two engage in was as sexually charged as it was emotionally charge and reminded me of a fencing match where the opponents parried back and forth, teasing out the weak spot and then going in for the winning strike when the other least expected it.
As for the story. I was hooked, not gonna lie, but there were moments in the beginning where things moved so slow, it was excruciating and I had to put the book down. Not because I was frustrated as all get out, at least not totally, but because if I didn’t I would skip ahead (even to the end ~ I know bad reader/reviewer *slaps own hand*) and this is NOT a book you want to do that with because you will miss something. But then that point came where I didn’t want to put it down, in fact I got kinda pissy when I had no choice but to stop reading, and what you end up with is a story that is so much more than the sum of its parts and has you craving more.
I know, another vague, non spoilery and probably verbal vomit-y review, but it is necessary because (queue the groans) you HAVE to go into this book as blind as possible. As it is, I probably said too much, but it is what it is. This really was a well written and well balanced read. You get a little romance, a little smexy, some humor, and a good dose of heart even as your anticipating what will be coming next from the various players in this twisted tale. And that ending? Despite my inner…turmoil…it is a fitting end.
~ Copy provided by The Next Step PR & voluntarily reviewed ~
‘All good things come with time.’
Journalist, Meadow Graham, is invited to interview death row inmate, Vincent Mercier. Given three days to hear his sordid confession, Meadow seeks to learn why a wealthy hotel owner killed four people, including her twin sister.
Sensually exotic and enigmatic, Vincent details his deception while bragging about the amusement he took in manipulating Meadow’s sister.
Their interview is a battle of wills.
His story is a twisted web of coercion and lies.
And the tragedy is too perfect to be real.
Will Meadow discover all of Vincent’s secrets while she fights to protect her own?
The perfect timing of a fairy tale is tied to its tragedy…
I’m so sad! This is not the ending I wanted. I was soooo rooting and hoping for an impossible twist that would end in a HEA family! This is not just a battle of wills, it is the battle of spell casted by the master puppeteer, the spider weaving his web around the fly that desperately is looking for the scissors to cut free, the fly crawled into the spider’s web when he’d done nothing but crook his cruel finger to invite me
You don’t know fear until you’ve traipsed through darkness.
You don’t know desolation until you’ve been tossed to the wolves.
You don’t know pain until you’re shown just how disposable you are…
I really do not know how to review without giving away spoilers, I just highly recommend reading this masterpiece (again) from Lily White.
The story of the Mercier & Graham family will keep you pinned to your book, it will gut you and stay with you.
‘Psychopaths don’t love.
Sociopaths care only for what they can toy with as long as it amuses them.
Schizophrenics develop delusions that can, sometimes, make it impossible for them to believe that another person might love them in return.’
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2356128690
Need a book 2, PLEASE.
HOLY MOTHERLOAD OF TWISTS!!
~ All good things come to those who wait.~
BAM!!! Lily White has done it again. I haven’t had my mind manipulated like that in ages! She is the Monarch of mind fucks!! This is one psych trip you don’t want to miss! Wishing Well truly deserves more than the 5 star status that is allowed.
Like any good tale you cannot rush a Lily White story, so you just buckle in and allow the tale to flow through effortlessly guiding you along, building up the momentum to reach a pinnacle of multiple explosions that detonate the whole story! The way she can skillfully influence the reader’s mind is stupefying! It showcases her aptitude and excellence as an author. I can always trust and look forward to Ms. White’s ability to engulf me with her genius!
I think this is White’s best book to date and that’s saying something as all her work is top rate. The characters so intriguing and spellbinding, effortlessly drawing you in and connecting to your emotions.
Vincent Mercier is quite possibly my favorite all time character. A sensual sexually motivated man, he is arrogant and selfish, a deceiving dark horse. An afflicted soul with a veneer of an egotistical, pompous elitist.
Racing against his final judgement day, Meadow is granted an audience with the death row inmate who holds the answers to how her sister died. The game that ensues between the two, to see who can best the other, is a cross between a strategic game of chess and an elaborate game of cat and mouse. Secrets are traded tit for tat that unveil a tale of love, deceit, and murder.
If you like psychological reads, Lily White is the author for you to follow fervently! I have her on speed dial on my kindle and get absolutely giddy when I hear of a new release from her.
~The perfect timing of fairy tales are intricately tied to the happy ending. However, in this particular fable – although there is a prince, there is a maiden, there is a villain, there is a kiss, and there is a sunset – the perfect timing is tied to it’s tragedy.~
If I could write a simple review for Wishing Well it would be the following:
Meadow. Vincent. Death Row. Confessions. Secrets. Author Lily White. Need I say more?
But my thoughts are not that simple, and this book and the author deserves more than that. So, I will try to do it justice and hopefully, I won’t get kicked off the island. Wishing Well was a struggle for me. There, I said it.
Let’s start with the blurb. Wow! It’s awesome. It covers exactly what Wishing Well is about. Normally, I struggle to review Ms. White’s books because the blurb has so little to work with that allow me to give details of what I like, or dislike. In this case…Nailed it! Vincent is on Death Row with only three days left and he invites the sister of one of his victims to come and interview him. Meadow wants answers and the only way she can possibly get them is spend time in the presence of a killer. Both have secrets, both want answers and the only way either can get what they want is to play each other’s game.
Sigh. Well here ya go folks, this story is told in present and past tenses as well as multiple POVs. Normally, all that is a walk in the park for me. I mean come on, this is a confession, there is supposed to be a lot of backstories. I had a hard time with it, although, I can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe it was I just couldn’t get into Penny, maybe I found past Vincent too much of a contradiction. Or maybe I just preferred the current battle of wits between Meadow and Vincent more than I wanted to learn about the past, but for the first 40% of the book, I struggled.
And then things started to get interesting. Secrets started to come out. Lies became truths. The manipulation began to make sense. My waning curiosity began to surface. Meadow was still a MEH to me but Vincent…ACK! What was his game? Light bulbs began to click on the whys of Penny’s thoughts and action. The third-day confession comes along and WHAM! Baseball right into the forehead. That was when my humdrums took a hike and I was able to see why Ms. White took the route with this book that she did.
My struggles were real but that ending really was the tragedy that was too perfect to be real.
Read on Lily fans, read on. You won’t be disappointed with Wishing Well.
Ms White never ceases to amaze me. Sure she is a 1-click author for me and up to date she has not written a book that I didn’t love. Her imagination knows no bounds and her characters are never lacking.
Wishing Well is one psychological thriller that will keep you guessing. With so many twists and Ha ha moments.
Vincent Mercier is one of the best characters that has graced the pages of the book world. With an ego as wide as the Grand Canyon and a quick wit he is easy to fall for.
Then there’s Meadow Graham. Her role within the story is anything but dull. Faced with interviewing her sisters killer before his life is snuffed out she harbours the most revealing secret of all
Told in dual POV with an added bonus. While you think you know how this story will pan out Ms White will be shaking her head going wrong, wrong, wrong.
Just when I think there is no way to top her last book Lily does it again! So many twist and turns, so many emotions. This story puts your heart through the wringer!
What a beautifully twisted story this was!
When you start to read you mind goes in just the direction Lily wants you to, just like Vincent played Penny’s mind. The story varies between flashbacks and current day but it flows so smoothly. The alternate POV’s where amazing, it really brought you into the twisted mind of Vincent and the unbreakable spirit of Penny and the chaos that is Meadow’s.
Then Lily goes on to do something that rarely happens for me, she makes me fall hard for a character that wasn’t meant to be fallen for. She does it so brilliantly that you don’t even see it coming.
And talking about not seeing things coming! This book has surprise after surprise that leaves you actually gasping! (Yes I totally gasped at certain parts, freaking my family out!) I will not do the reader a disservice by spoiling anything but I promise that once you finish this story, you will go back and read it again immediately with a fresh set of eyes and mindset!
Yet again Lily is in the running to be on my Fave Books of 2018! She has yet to write something that hasn’t totally consumed me!
Your stories are amazing! Please don’t ever stop writing! I can’t wait to devour what comes next!
4.5 THRILLING STARS!!!!!!!!!
What another amazing twisted, thrilling tale Lily has spun. I was so sure I had worked everything out, but in true Lily form, I was so not right.
Meadow is a journalist, interviewing her twin sister Penelope’s killer on death row 72 hours before he is put to death. She needs answers from him as to how he came across her sister and what happened to her. Vincent is wealth, charming, cold and complete asshole. This all seems to be a game to him, as he tells Meadow the story of what happened from the moment he picked Penny up off the street.
This is an amazingly well written story that kept me on edge, dying to know what happens. JUST READ THIS BOOK!!
If I could make a wish come true, by dropping a penny in a real wishing well, I’d wish everyone would go into this story blind! The Wishing Well is an extraordinarily well written, suspense filled story that had me on gripping my E-reader to the point I was afraid it was going to crack. If you love books that make you have visceral and/or emotional feelings, then you don’t want to miss this story! With a huge “ohnoshedidn’t” moment, this story has more twisty turns than the famous Lombard Street! And make no mistake about it; this is a romance, definitely not the usual hearts-and-flower most readers lean towards, but the kind you won’t soon forget.
“Once upon a time, there was a dirty girl on the streets and the man who would make her his…”
Meadow Graham’s twin sister, Penny, was murdered by Vincent Mercier, a young and successful hotelier; she was one of four victims killed at his pride and joy, the Wishing Well Hotel. He has seventy-two hours to live, before being administered a lethal injection, and he’s decided to grant Meadow the only interview he’s ever given.
While some find it very morbid that she’s willing to talk to her sister’s killer, Meadow is anxious to know why he murdered Penny and she has a secret she’s willing to reveal to make sure he talks. Vincent isn’t going to make it easy for Meadow, he’s always loved playing games and taunting people, and he has nothing to lose. As he tells her:
“Not only that, but you are my last victim, the woman who will forever mourn the last life I took.”
And to think, it all started with a bet. Penelope Graham never had a chance; not with the dangerous games Vincent and his friend/business acquaintance, Barron, took perverse pleasure in playing. When he found the young nineteen year old she was living on the streets, too ashamed to call her mother and sister for help. He considered himself a master manipulator and it wasn’t long before Penny was another of his victims, unable to escape, after getting tangled in his web of deceit.
“It just seems like…”
“Seems like what?”
“Like you’re judging me…
Like I’m worthless to a man like you…
Like I’m some stupid mouse caught in a maze you built with a deck of cards…”
Why does Vincent agree to speak to Meadow, is it to play one last cruel game? Or does he want to atone for his sins? He makes it clear from the get go that this is a game of Quid Pro Quo. And Meadow’s all in, since she has an Ace up her sleeve. Or does she? This psychological thriller has layer after layer of secrets that you have to wait patiently to be peeled slowly, one by one, to reveal the next big surprise.
“Life has no meaning without death. And although Penelope lived a short one, she burned bright. Not many people can claim that. She was like fire, that one.”
“And you were the water that doused her.”
I can’t say anything else, I really don’t want to spoil the surprise. Just know this…you’re going to be amazed!
WISHING WELL by Lily White is the story a dark romance story with mystery and excitement.
Ms. Whites book bring so much more than just romance it usually a book that keeps you guessing what will happen next. Not everything is what it seems and yes there is some dark parts in this story.
Overall this was a great story that is very hard to put down!
Lily never ceases to amaze me. So many twists and turns, things you won’t see coming crafted into an amazing story.
Wishing Well is brilliant! I felt like I was watching a suspense movie. The flow of the book is awesome and the twists just keep you guessing.
“And you will carry that pain for a lifetime. My name, my face etched within the memory of it, alive and well even if I am no longer breathing.”
“You make a wish, and hope it comes true…”
Gah!! I need more stars to give, 5 isn’t enough!! I seriously don’t know how Lily White does it, everything she writes is golden!! And each time her newest masterpiece becomes my new favorite from her…..and Wishing Well is no exception. It was absolutely phenomenal!! I love how unique the story was, it had me white knuckling my kindle a time or two. It’s an edge of your seat thriller like you’ve never experienced before.
“Someone had to love this gentle beast of a man. Someone had to see the light that could exist at the end of his dark tunnel and then take him by the hand to show him.”
Yes! I loved every twist and turn of this story. And the characters, I was not expecting to have my feelings for a certain person change so drastically. The emotions brought out in this story are so unexpected. I cried for a man who turned out to be so compassionate and unselfish, my heart hurt for another, and all the while I kept holding out hope for so much.
“Will you stay with me?”
“Is it safe?”
“I won’t hurt you…and I’d like to know if you can chase away the nightmares.”
Lily White’s brilliant writing keeps you anticipating every word and twist of event. Another fantastic story by Lily White!
“You make a wish, and hope it comes true…”
I am speechless!
Lily White shouldn’t shock me anymore but then it wouldn’t be Lily White book.
My mind has been officially blown away.
I was up till 1;30 in the morning reading this story of Vincent & Meadow because I could not put it down till I was finished.
I had to know.
Get ready to be delivered a ride filled with tons of suspense, shockers and OMG moments that will leave you gasping for your next breathe.
Excellent characters, amazing plot & an ending that left me in a delicious book hangover.
Loved it all.
5 popped!