Author: Joann Swanson
Genre: young adult, realistic fiction, contemporary
Published: July 14, 2014
Publisher: Cranky Owl Books
Just because you survive doesn’t mean you’re alive.
One moment fifteen-year-old Lily Berkenshire is sitting in her bedroom, favorite song blaring through her earbuds, history book open on her lap. The next, her alcoholic father is shooting and killing her mother. Then he’s pointing the gun at Lily and pulling the trigger. Click. He’s out of bullets.
For now.
When she moves to Seattle to live with her aunt, Lily retreats into peaceful, dissociative trances to escape the shattered nightmare that is her life. Soon, though, she discovers a beautiful boy who wants to take her out, a therapist who wants to help her heal and new friends who believe she can find wholeness again.
But her father wants something else entirely. He is hunting her and unless Lily confronts and heals the devastation inside her, she’ll forfeit her life to a father determined to end it.
From the first shot to the final, terrifying showdown, Tin Lily is an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller.
* * *
Tin isn’t very interesting just flat. It’s got a lot more character when it’s been stressed and molded. The only way to do that is to bend it until it cries.
* * *
I love realistic fiction. I love realistic fiction that deals with so much emotion. It doesn’t have to be something dramatic. Or something that has to make me cry. Sometimes it just has to be something beautifully written that would make me fall in love with the character and make me want to hug her all night long.
Tin Lily is easily a heartbreaking psychological thriller. It started with Lily’s father breaking into their house, killing her mother, and almost killing Lily as well. It easily made me feel sorry for Lily. Swanson’s writing really brought me into Lily’s shoes and feel scared as hell when Lily’s father pointer the gun to her.
It’s about hopelessness. It’s about moving on. It’s about standing up. It’s about being strong. It’s about embracing yourself. It’s about counting on the people around you. It’s about seeing the beauty of life. It’s about living life.
Tin Lily is a psychological thriller that really put me at the edge of my seat. It’s not one of those action stuff that would make you jump all around nor is it one of those horror stuff that would make you not want to stay in the dark for long. It’s one of those thrillers that would make your heart beat faster whenever you see yourself in the shoes of the heroine.
As Lily tells the story, there are times that I’d just want to hug her until she feels all better. There are times I’d feel scared with her as she sees Hank and those not-Hanks (you’ll understand this once you read it). There are times when I’d pull my hair out when Lily would just push people away. There are times when I’d just make that sad face, bite my lip, and truly understand what she’s going through. Hands down to Swanson’s writing.
The climax was truly heart pounding and the ending was heartwarming :) The climax was like a race. While everything before it was quite subtle, the climax was a real page turner. It was something I had to read all the way through. It made me want to know what will happen. And all these were wrapped up nicely in that well written and unforgettable ending.
* * *
What I Like: (1) the well written psychological thrill, (2) Lily as a strong heroine, (3) the great people around Lily, (4) the nicely written getting over process, (5) the nail biting climax
What I Didn’t Like: nothing in particular
~this book was provided in exchange for an honest review~
ABOUT JOANN SWANSON
website | goodreads
Hi! I'm Joann Swanson and here are some semi-interesting tidbits about me:
I was born and raised in Ogden, Utah, where I attended old Catholic schools with spooky boiler rooms and even spookier nuns. These things have understandably influenced my dark novels.
I work full-time as an instructional designer. Instructional what? Instructional Designer. I swear it's a real career. I also teach two undergraduate classes online for a university.
Sometimes I wish I could fly, but not always because I'm afraid of heights. Or of falling. Perhaps falling more than heights.
Besides writing, teaching, and designing, I'm an avid reader of just about every genre (plenty of YA, a smidge of Sci-Fi, buckets of horror, a dash of literary, even some graphic novels). Hubby and I splurge and do a big vacation once a year—so far, Victoria and Vancouver BC, Vegas, the Oregon coast, and Maui. Someday we hope to go to Sunnydale, CA. Why? Because Hellmouth.
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