The Secrets of Lily Graves

With the intrigue of Pretty Little Liars and plenty of romance, bestselling author Sarah Strohmeyer weaves a story of secrets and lies—set in a funeral parlor. Growing up in a house of female morticians, Lily Graves knows all about buried secrets. She knows that perfect senior-class president Erin Donohue isn’t what she seems. She knows why Erin’s ex-boyfriend, hot football player Matt Houser, broke up with her. And she also knows that, even though she says she and Matt are just friends, there is something brewing between them—something Erin definitely did not like. But secrets, even ones that are long buried, have a way of returning to haunt their keeper. So when Erin is found dead the day after attacking Lily in a jealous rage, Lily's and Matt’s safe little lives, and the lives of everyone in their town of Potsdam, begin to unravel. And their relationship—which grew from innocent after-school tutoring sessions to late-night clandestine rendezvous—makes them both suspects. As her world crumbles around her, Lily must figure out the difference between truth and deception, genuine love and a web of lies. And she must do it quickly, before the killer claims another victim.

Whoever named this book needs to get fired.

Because The Secrets of Lily Graves? This girl ain't got no secrets! Not even one! Instead it was the people around her with the secrets!

The novel opens with Lily working in a graveyard when this crazy girl rolls up and is all,
"OMG! You stole my boyfriend!" and Lily (and the reader) is all, "What?"

Because if Lily doesn't know what she's talking about neither do we! So they get into a little fight before the crazy girl takes off.

It's not until after the fight we learn that the boyfriend (or now ex-boyfriend who's name is Matt) and Lily are not platonic friends like she was making it seem. Instead we have a little bit of emotional cheating going on. While Matt is with the Crazy Girl, he gets tutored and sends his afterhours all up in Lily's DM's when he should be with his girlfriend.

She's sat in his lap, there's some sexual tension but no actual physical touching. So I don't know why Lily was acting like she didn't know Matt was into her when she so knows.

Anyway, the next thing we know Lily's parents are telling her Crazy Girl Erin is dead. Not her parents I mean. Her mom and her mom's boyfriend, the town's chief of police.

There's two reason Lily knows this before anyone else in town.

1. See above about maternal boyfriend's career choice
2. Lily's mom and fam run this funeral home in their small town.

She's all in love with death and the color black and wants to go into this exact same career choice when she's older.

All I can think of is the smell those frogs you dissect in school smell like thinking about this, We don't learn if she has a particular reason of why she's in love with all-things-death, just that she is. So she wears black and lace all the time and people don't fuck with her.

Except Sara.

Sara is her best friend.

I remember wondering about Sara's parents but initially decided not to look at them because they seemed to be too wrapped in their religion (sometimes those are the worst ones) and...actually that may have been the only reason. The whole Erin interning at their place of work just seemed a little suspect to me but I should've stayed with that line of thinking.

But I shouldn't have. It turns out that Sara's dad and Erin were messing around. Then if I remember correctly either she gets pregnant and/or threatens to tell everyone so he kills her.

And not only does Sara know this but her mom does too. So when Lily Graves discovers this, her best friend and fam try to kill her.

Of course she doesn't die, the bad guys are arrested and she and stupid-boy live happily ever after.

The boring end.

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids (Sarah Ockler)

The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d’Abreau was destined for stardom—until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can’t sing. She can’t even speak. Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend’s invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse’s home in the Caribbean isn’t: An ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry—except for one. Christian Kane is a notorious playboy—insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He’s also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn’t treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life.  When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove’s high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn’t the only thing making waves, though—swept up in Christian’s seductive tide and entranced by the Cove’s charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn’t what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who’s best known for breaking them . . .

A woman-of-color as a YA protagonist!

And-no white washing the cover!

A book about a black girl in a retelling of the Little Mermaid!

No shade, but I feel like white girls take for granted all the novels that have girls that look like them on them. Trying to find YA books that feature girls of color (without focusing on their color too) is sooo rare. So when I saw this book I was too excited. I couldn't wait for it and hoped I wouldn't be disappointed. And I was not!

This book takes the Little Mermaid (Disney and otherwise) and turns the tale on its head. Nothing is what you would expect it to be.




Ursula is a loving aunt here, Vanessa isn't trying to steal the Mermaid's man, she's all good on him! Sebastian isn't a crab but the prince's brother who is obsessed with mermaids. Like I said before, the tale of the Little Mermaid is twisted. One huge way is that it's the mermaid that is somewhat evil not Ursula. 

The book stays pretty close to the movie and legend. Elyse, the "mermaid" has six sisters she's close too, she loves singing and she's actually from Trinidad! But she fell off a boat and when her sister and her boyfriend pulled her up, she wasn't breathing. Trying to save her life, her sister cut a hole in her throat but in the process severely damaged her vocal cords and there was nothing surgery could do to get them back.
That's when she moves to Atargais Cove with her aunt Ursula and her cousin . The story weaves in and out of reality and fantasy. Ursula is a witch of sorts here, there is the mermaid Atargonis who is stalking Elyse. Other than that, the story is very grounded in reality.
Now the prince: a man-whore named Christian Kane who I liked but didn't love or hate. I wasn't entirely convinced of why he starts treating Elyse differently then other girls. One of my favorite, fresh features of this series was that even though our first glimpse of Vanessa is something along the lines of this:

She's not a rival for Christian's affections, not the mean-girl troupe you would expect her to be. Not only was she a behind the scenes champion for Christian and Elyse's relationship, she and Elyse are friends.
Christian gets roped into a racing contest for the fate of Atargatis Cove. His jackass of a father and the sexist (but not racist as the story makes a point to point out) mayor make a beat about this Pirate's sailing race the cove has every year. To keep this little seaside town quaint and not a tourist trap, Christian has to win. He'll even get his best friends (the mayor's sons) boat as a prize. Unwilling to go back home, Elyse finds the motivation to try and fight her fear of the sea and becomes his first mate.

This brings the two of them together, brings Sebastian who (unlike the blurb suggests) thinks Elyse is the legendary mermaid Atargatis but only brings it up twice, and wants to participate in the Cove's mermaid parade which is traditionally only for girls. But Elyse finds a way to sneak him in to his father and the mayor's anger/annoyance.

Next is the Pirate's Regatta.

Unfortunately, Elyse has a freak out during the race that causes them to be second place. And the bet was strategically made that even though the mayor's son lost to, the point was Christian lost. This is when the story officially meets its climax. After a night of sex on the boat, Elyse gives herself to the sea and fights for her voice realizing that losing your physical voice isn't the only way you can lose yourself or your voice. And the mermaid really isn't evil like we believed she was.

Anyways, this book stands out in so many ways past just diversity. 

There's sex, there's masturbation, there's a young boy who crosses social ideas of gender norms and a girl who embraces her sexuality without slut-shaming.

I also felt like Elyse's heritage was wonderfully explored. We hear about her culture, her family's economic and social status as well as her racial heritage. I really felt like the author properly explored and researched Elyse's Trinidad heritage and I really believed that this girl was a girl of color.

Anyways, can we pleassseee have more books with girls of color like this? Please, oh book gods, please??

Although one con: (aka the whitest line ever) "It's not a race thing."

Other than that: read this book!