What does the heart truly want?

Synopsis

Lily Forshaw stands on the brink of a bright future. A future she fought for, cried for, and risked her heart and soul for.

Yet, despite her fairy tale life, a deep scar remains etched upon her heart. It’s a wound that will never truly heal, a lingering memory and a haunting hope of what might have been.

Now, Lily faces challenges that will threaten her friendships, her career, and her blossoming love. Can she find a way through?

Meanwhile, the man she left in the past, holding a piece of her heart, has found his way back to her at a time when nothing else seems to make any sense.

Will Lily fight for what she might lose, or will she embrace a new beginning?

Catch up with Lily, Cassie, Zack, and Luke in the eagerly awaited sequel to ‘For The Love of Lily’.

My review

Lily had recently made the most difficult possible choice ever… But now her life seems to go truly forward. She has lost a lot for it, but the sacrifice was worth it, as now she is taking steps forward.
Yet she cannot shake the feeling of loss, and she fears the heartbreak will never completely heal.
What Lily doesn’t know is that there are still many changes and challenges waiting for her, on a personal level and also career-wise. And when unexpectedly an old face reappears, it will shift the cards once again, and Lily stands once again on a crossroad…
Where lays Lily’s future? With the choice she already made, or is her heart pointing in another direction?

When you reach the end of a romance book, it’s always taken for granted that the main character has reached the much sought for happily ever after. Even when someone has to choose between two love interests, we always assume that her final decision is the right one and that is the end of the story.

But what happens in the aftermath? Was the made choice the right one? Can the couple move forward, without any doubts, regrets or mistrust? So I was happy to read what happens after ‘The End’, as that is something that is often not thought about.

Initially it seems that Lily is happy with her current life. She is deeply in love with Zack, and they are even making plans for a joined future. Career – wise everything is going smoothly too, even if there are few hiccups there. But in general, Lily cannot complain.

Or at least we think so…. Because there is a hole in her heart. And it makes sense, because choosing is losing. And it’s not that she lost a love interest, she also lost one of her best friends. So seeing Lily mourn that loss, or reminiscing those moments with Luke.

It may seem like Lily doesn’t know what she wants. She made Zack a promise, yet she seems to be longing for Luke. And it may seem that she wants to have her cake and eat it too. But the more I read, the more I understood that that is not true.

Lily made an impossible choice (or was forced to), but isn’t it human to question yourself, having in a way still some doubts, when the feelings were so big? And it’s not just about the love – love, but she also lost her best friend because of the evolved feelings. Before everything, Lily and Luke were also friend, and now she is in a Luke – free world. And as a friend, she is worried about Luke, but she also knows that she cannot reach out to him like she usual would…

I have to admit, at some moment, I got a bit frustrated with Zack. In a way I could understand his uncertainty, but I didn’t like his own insecurities projected on Lily. If he were a bit more understanding, less pushy at some moments, perhaps things would have gone differently?

While I struggled with Zack, I liked Luke’s behaviour. He got his heart broken, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about Lily. He needs distance, but also understands that Lily needs distance.

I know for sure that I wouldn’t like to be standing in Lily’s shoes, as she is trying to understand what it is that her heart wants.
She has done in the past what she thought would be the best, wanting to make someone else happy. But while that is a noble thing, how can you make someone else happy if you aren’t 100% happy. Before you think about someone else’s heart, you must prioritize your own heart. Because if you ignore or don’t understand what it’s saying, you will never be happy…

At first, I thought this would be a story about a woman torn between two men. But this is more about Lily understanding herself, learning and prioritizing. Through her whole journey, she can luckily count on the support of her friend Cassie, who is often the voice of reason.

This was an easy book to like, because it shows that life isn’t a walk in the park. No matter what you do, who you choose, in one way or another, heartbreak will always be there. So I found it a realistic book, where perhaps doing the right thing is wrong, and doing the wrong thing is right?