ARC Review: Hurricane Lily by Rebecca Rogers Maher
HURRICANE LILY BY REBECCA ROGERS MAHER
Lily Sawyer flees her controlling, wealthy family in New York City for a solitary existence on Cape Cod. Three months later, a mounting anxiety binds her to the house she can no longer leave.
With hurricane season approaching, Lily hires Cliff Buckley—an angry carpenter with an immediate disgust for his elitist employer—to storm-proof her house.
Cliff soon discovers they have more in common than he thinks, as well as a raging spark between them could either destroy—or save—everything they care about. The question is, can either of them survive Hurricane Lily?
This short novel is an ode to liberal, university educated angst. Warfare played out between the sheets as the wealthy but fragile Lily attempts to tame her anger by mis-directing it at equally angry Cliff, the Vassar educated handy-man who longs to write for a living. The sex is steamy and the concept intriguing. Lily, a shy damaged woman overwhelmed with anxiety caused by the suicide of her mother and her father’s neglect seeks refuge in the childhood vacation home she shared with her mother. She distracts herself by stock piling supplies with the hope that enough stock piles will keep her from having to interact with the world outside her bungalow. An agoraphobic’s heaven steeped in childhood memories and isolated from her family and friends.
Cliff is the righteous contractor who disdains the wealthy summer residents that are the mainstay of his business. Simmering under his angry exterior is the niggling thought that he may have more in common with the rich clients he holds in contempt than he does with the blue collar island regulars he employs.
The story is short. The sex scenes are hot. The story line of wealth and privilege as certain means to bankrupt morality and greed are just a bit much. The characters are quite content to complain about society’s ills without any attempt to eradicate them. These moments are the weakest in the story and leave me to wonder what could have been achieved with a defter touch. After all, this is a classic theme in literature – opposites attract and love over comes all. But does anyone really buy into the idea that an Ivy League educated contractor with his own company is really a bad boy from the other side of the tracks?
This novella hits the stands on April 14th and is currently priced at $1.99.
