"A fabulous Victorian romance"

In 1884 Lady Lily Langdon knows she has always been attracted to her brother's best friend Lord Whitby, but he never seemed to notice her as more than just a little sister. As an adult, Lily realizes that her adulation has turned into a full love, but Edward Wallis treats her as a younger sibling.

When Edward becomes gravely ill from what seems like Hodgkin's disease which killed his father, Lily, encouraged by her American sister-in-law (see TO MARRY A DUKE), decides to take matters in her hands so that she can always remember her beloved. Meanwhile Edward detests that his odious cousin Magnus will inherit and probably destroy his sister Annabelle. Lily offers Edward an alternate plan to give him an heir, which he considers not just for Annabelle's safety, but also because he wants Lily in his bed even if in some ways that feels like incest. She seduces him and they agree to marry, but miraculously the illness goes into remission leaving Edward to either disdain or rejoice with his now pregnant wife.

LOVE ACCORDING TO LILY is a fabulous Victorian romance that grips the audience with what does not occur as much as what does. Cryptic as that sounds the story line is character driven as the lead couple struggles with his pending death from illness (thankfully not a drawn out attempted homicide) and their attraction especially on his part for one another. Edward is realistically portrayed as he displays anger and impatience behaving like a young person facing mortality. Fans who have waited for Lily to star for a few years will appreciate her love story.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 20, 2005

Summary

Being raised in a strict, humorless household did nothing to dampen Lady Lily Langdon's romantic nature -- nor cool her lifelong affection for Edward Wallis, Earl of Whitby, her elder brother's oldest, dearest friend. But Edward cannot see the lovely woman she's become for the wild schoolgirl she once was. So with lessons in flirtation from her American sister-in-law, Duchess Sophia, Lily means to open Edward's eyes and win his heart.

But just when her seduction begins to take hold, tragedy strikes. Edward has lived a rakish life, believing he would never grow old -- and a terrible twist of fate threatens to prove him right. Yet adversity only strengthens Lily's resolve to find the ecstasy she knows is waiting in Edward's arms -- and to prove to the handsome, haunted earl that it is never too late to fall desperately in love.