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A review by eesh25
The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings by Lily Morton
4.0
And once again I find myself trying to review a Lily Morton book. But this one's a bit different from the others. For one, the genre is horror and mystery along with romance. And the amount of humour is reduced for the sake of a more tense environment. It's still there—this is Lily Morton—but toned down.
The story follows Levi Black and Blue Billings. Levi has just inherited a very nice house. Except it's haunted. Levi learns, pretty soon after moving in, that living there is going to be difficult.
That's where Blue comes in. He leads a ghost walk in the town and Levi approaches him, initially, to get some answers about the history of his house. And even though Blue has learnt, over the years, to prioritize looking out for himself, he can't leave Levi to face such a dangerous situation alone.
Levi finds Blue gorgeous and fascinating and wants to help him. And Blue thinks, rightly so, that Levi is one of the nicest people ever to exist. And once Blue decides that he'll help Levi with the house, a sweet bond starts to form that leads to a beautiful slow-burn. Levi and Blue care so much about each other, a concern that's heightened because their lives are literally in danger from a ghost that might try to kill them at any point. In fact, there were some pretty spooky and tense scenes in there.
Both the horror and romance elements are very well done. They provided kinda provided some contract, with a heartwarming romance taking place in a house where objects might start flying through the air at any point. The mystery... I found the identity of the ghosts to be easily guessed. But the person I read the book with didn't. So I can't say how your experience will be.
Now, going back to horror and humour for a second, I liked both elements and how they were executed. The amounts of spooky and levity are just right. But there were a couple of times the protagonists seemed to stop in the middle of a charged scene so they could exchange witty remarks. It's a classic Lily Morton move and, in this case, it took away from the atmosphere the author had created in those scenes. And it was impractical too. A ghost is trying to kill you! Chit-chat can be saved for later.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and I'm glad it's the first in a series. I would love to read more about Levi and Blue, and I'm excited to see what's in store for them. I definitely recommend this book. Just don't read it alone in the dark at 3 a.m. Maybe not the best idea.
The story follows Levi Black and Blue Billings. Levi has just inherited a very nice house. Except it's haunted. Levi learns, pretty soon after moving in, that living there is going to be difficult.
That's where Blue comes in. He leads a ghost walk in the town and Levi approaches him, initially, to get some answers about the history of his house. And even though Blue has learnt, over the years, to prioritize looking out for himself, he can't leave Levi to face such a dangerous situation alone.
Levi finds Blue gorgeous and fascinating and wants to help him. And Blue thinks, rightly so, that Levi is one of the nicest people ever to exist. And once Blue decides that he'll help Levi with the house, a sweet bond starts to form that leads to a beautiful slow-burn. Levi and Blue care so much about each other, a concern that's heightened because their lives are literally in danger from a ghost that might try to kill them at any point. In fact, there were some pretty spooky and tense scenes in there.
Both the horror and romance elements are very well done. They provided kinda provided some contract, with a heartwarming romance taking place in a house where objects might start flying through the air at any point. The mystery... I found the identity of the ghosts to be easily guessed. But the person I read the book with didn't. So I can't say how your experience will be.
Now, going back to horror and humour for a second, I liked both elements and how they were executed. The amounts of spooky and levity are just right. But there were a couple of times the protagonists seemed to stop in the middle of a charged scene so they could exchange witty remarks. It's a classic Lily Morton move and, in this case, it took away from the atmosphere the author had created in those scenes. And it was impractical too. A ghost is trying to kill you! Chit-chat can be saved for later.
Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot and I'm glad it's the first in a series. I would love to read more about Levi and Blue, and I'm excited to see what's in store for them. I definitely recommend this book. Just don't read it alone in the dark at 3 a.m. Maybe not the best idea.