"Water Lily" Book Review

Title: Water Lily
Series: Standalone
Author: Crystal Packard
Stars: 4 out of 5
Book Blurb:
A fantasy adventure filled with magic, true love, and fate…

Seventeen-year-old Lily Harris is pretty sure she's going crazy. Weird things are happening.Scary things. A demented owl taunts her daylight hours, and her nights are filled with frightening dreams. On top of that, the two people Lily can count on in this world are gone. 

Her best friend is dead, and now Lily's grandmother, Meme is missing.

Lily retreats to her grandmother's home, hoping to find clues to her disappearance. Lily discovers more than she bargained for. Meme has been keeping secrets, lots of secrets–the biggest one being the painted mural on her bedroom wall. It's of a beautiful lake, nestled deep in a night forest. When Lily touches the painting, she is transported into another world. She's in Westmoorland. And she's not alone. The man that haunts Lily's dreams is there, warm and real . . . and familiar.

Lily's journey through Westmoorland brings her closer to finding Meme, but also to lasting friendships, to true love, and to powers within herself she never knew existed.

The truth of Meme's past and the secrets she's been hiding could destroy everything in Lily's future, including the greatest love she has ever known…

***

I tend to be one of those people who looks at the cover, blurb, and other reviews before I decide to read a book. The cover doesn't matter so much but if the blurb doesn't sound interesting or if there are too few good reviews, I won't read the book. I found Water Lily when browsing through Amazon and was drawn in by the cover. The blurb is interesting too, but there weren't many reviews to read. I decided to take a chance since it was on Kindle Unlimited and I'm glad I did! 

Lily is going to visit her grandmother Meme during the summer for two months before the start of her senior year of high school. She loves her grandmother, but has a challenging relationship with her mom who is very controlling and verbally abusive. Lily is sweet, caring, and has a strong artistic talent, like her artistic grandmother, but she's not perfect. She's struggling due to the death of her best friend and the pressure from her mom to be who her mom thinks she should be. At the beginning of the book, we see Lily wilt in the face of her mother's harsh criticism and she doesn't stand up for herself. 

When Lily arrives at her grandmother's house she soon discovers that her grandmother is not on a hippy retreat for three days like she thought, but is actually missing. At night when the mural her grandmother painted in the bedroom comes to life, Lily discovers a new world and sets out, determined to find and bring back Meme. In this alternate earth, Lily discovers new friends, love, and her own extraordinary abilities. Lily learns that she's braver than she knew as well. Whether Lily and Meme are reunited is up to you to find out! 

This book was entertaining, well-paced, featured a twist that I was not expecting! I didn't give five stars because there some things I wanted to see further developed or better resolved - like Lily's decision at the end of the book and the fact that Lily doesn't really think about her mom at the end; this woman who had such a huge impact on her life (though not positive) is just forgotten rather than addressed in some way to bring closure. While Westmoorland is pretty well described, there didn't seem to be that many differences in language. I would have thought that they'd have different phrases and slang just as the clothing and other aspects were different, but there was no noticeable difference beyond them having a different language that Lily magically understands. 

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book to fans of fantasy YA.