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Haunted Lily The Nightmare Ball Sidney Fox Books

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Haunted Lily The Nightmare Ball Sidney Fox Books

`Haunted Lily' is the first book in Sidney Fox's `The Ghost Memories' series.

Darby McGregor's life is changed forever when his fiancée dies on their wedding day. Deep in grief and seeking some kind of solace, he investigates an American woman who claims she can see ghosts. Darby even watches video evidence of Lily Dufrene conversing with `spirits'. . . and when Darby is haunted by a spirit of his own, in the form of a rotting corpse bride, he doesn't hesitate to seek Lily out.

What Darby finds in Lily Dufrene is a charming and vivacious young woman who has overcome a traumatic childhood. As Darby follows Lily across the United States, filming her encounters with spirits for a possible documentary, the two fall reluctantly in love. . .

I kept seeing `Haunted Lily' on book blogs. The haunting skeleton/mannequin cover was cropping up everywhere and I was intrigued.

A few things about this book didn't work for me, and unfortunately they're rather big things -mainly the `romance' and the finale. But if there's one thing Fox did well. . . it was to scare the beegezus out of me!

Lily, Darby and a cast of secondary characters journey on a giant bus investigating various supernatural happenings around the United States. The crew find ghosties in the strangest (and scariest) of places. Like at the Crystal Beach amusement park, where the ghost of an ex employee haunts the rollercoaster, reaping havoc on the ride. Or in the swimming pool of an old New York building. Or even in an abandoned high school.

`Haunted Lily' is one of the scariest books I have read. It's not that there's blood and gore. . . it's just that Sidney Fox's visuals are so precise and eerie - she draws on the simplicities of fright reminiscent of `The Sixth Sense' or `The Others'. She doesn't write for the big, obvious frights. The scares are there in the details - like the smell of sulphur and rotting flowers that permeates the air when a spirit is near. It also helped that I read this book at night, allowing my imagination to run rampant.

This is a scary book. . . and as if regular ghosts aren't scary enough, Lily has been haunted by one scary ghost in particular. A Bulgarian clown (and paedophile) called Varton Muntz has been following Lily around since she was a child. . .

Clowns are my weakness. They scare the crap out of me! Ever since I watched `Poltergeist' and that little bugger crawled out from under the bed, clowns have been a great fear of mine (I'm kind of like Phil Dunphy that way). But Varton Muntz is ten times scarier than your regular freakazoid clown. He's burnt and scarred for one. . . and his entire being is reminiscent of John Wayne Gacy's clown alter-ego, Pogo. Cripes - Varton Muntz is hands-down the best bad guy I have ever read!

I loved the scary parts of `Haunted Lily'. What didn't work for me so much was the `romance' between Darby and Lily. . .

I, personally, didn't read enough foundation for the romance. I expected the romance to be central to the plot (from the blurb's promise of "their bond grows") and I kept waiting to read flirtation and chemistry. . . but it just wasn't there for me. And so when Lily and Darby decided to be together, I thought it was very out of left-field and not very believable. I found their `relationship discussion' to be very mechanical and convenient.

I didn't think Darby and Lily had any heat. Maybe it was a case of Fox spending so much time on the (fantastic) scary parts that the romance fell by the wayside. But I think the romance really needed to be more of a focus if it was going to be included at all. . . because not only is Lily fighting her attraction because her `baggage' includes dangerous ghosts, but Darby's fiancée (who he loved so much!) died recently. That's two forces really pushing those two apart. . . and because of all the reasons for them *not* to be together, I needed more convincing with the romance. I needed smut (yes, my head remains firmly in the gutter) and more relationship discussion. I mean, Lily never once questions Darby about whether or not he's ready to move on from his fiancée. Wouldn't that be a point of discussion with someone you want to get romantic with? `Am I a rebound from your dead fiancée?'

The other part of the book that didn't work for me was the ending. Obviously I can't give anything away. . . I'll only to say that a lot of action is confusingly jam-packed into the last two chapters. I was left reeling, and somewhat deflated by the sombre ending.

I did like `Haunted Lily', I didn't love it, but I was scared by it and liked it. The horror is top-notch and if you like being constantly surprised and scared stupid - then this is the book for you! I would have liked more romance and a cleaner (somewhat happier?) ending. . . but otherwise this was a good thrill-ride.


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Haunted Lily The Nightmare Ball Sidney Fox Books Reviews

When British filmaker Darby McGregor's fiance tragically dies in a car accident on their wedding day, he soon begins experiencing strange things in his home - a restored eighteenth century gothic church. He hears the horrible sounds of sobs and moans coming from the basement at night (and, in a freaky scene, right outside his bedroom door!) and even follows a tortured female apparition up his stairs before bolting out of there. He wonders, could this be his dead fiance? He also wonders if he may be going mad...

Witnessing an enchanting young girl on an old televised program about the paranormal, he tracks down this Lily Dufrene and decides to do a documentary on her special abilities to communicate with the deceased. He didn't know what to expect on his quest for the truth but he sure as hell got a lot more then he ever bargained for...

To read a relatively unknown book by a promising new writer, check out Sidney Fox's HAUNTED LILY THE NIGHTMARE BALL (spookpalace.com). There's some real creepy paranormal bits in this book (including one sick and twisted villain), but I did think the added romance in the end was a bit on the corny side. This is a real page turner, though, and is definitely worth the read if your looking for an entertaining, fast paced book full of spooks and thrills!

It says on the front cover that HAUNTED LILY is book one of the ghost memoirs so I am hoping to read more installments in the future, and hopefully they will answer some unresolved questions I had.
Books that are truly scary - i.e. the kind that make readers actually jump at every little sound they hear - are (unfortunately) few and far between. Happily, though, this book is one of them. The characters are all interesting, with personalities that make them seem (for lack of a better word) real. The various ghosts that are featured all have intense back-stories, and their interactions with the living make for some very creepy moments.

Fox did very well in terms of the atmosphere she created, and the general sense of foreboding that lasted for the duration of the book. My issues are mostly of a nit-picky nature, but some of them were repeated so often that I couldn't give the book the full five stars. Throughout the book, the author overuses (to the point where I rolled my eyes a few times) italics in order to emphasize words. Then, there is the fact that an overabundance of commas and quotation marks serve to sort of break up the rhythm of some of the dialogue and expository paragraphs.

All of that, while a bit annoying at times, is mostly superficial, but there is a bigger problem. Fox included a love story in the book, which would be fine, except for the fact that, while it was expected, there wasn't all that much build-up to it. The characters interacted several times, and there was obviously a mutual attraction, but they wind up going from those interactions to declaring their love for one another in such a way that it feels more like a requisite plot device than a relationship that develops organically. That said, the characters themselves are likable enough that this can mostly be overlooked.

Overall, I would recommend this book, for the aforementioned atmosphere and the fact that the story was interesting and suspenseful, and Fox succeeded in creating genuinely creepy ghosts. Plus, it definitely makes one anxious to read Fox's next book.
`Haunted Lily' is the first book in Sidney Fox's `The Ghost Memories' series.

Darby McGregor's life is changed forever when his fiancée dies on their wedding day. Deep in grief and seeking some kind of solace, he investigates an American woman who claims she can see ghosts. Darby even watches video evidence of Lily Dufrene conversing with `spirits'. . . and when Darby is haunted by a spirit of his own, in the form of a rotting corpse bride, he doesn't hesitate to seek Lily out.

What Darby finds in Lily Dufrene is a charming and vivacious young woman who has overcome a traumatic childhood. As Darby follows Lily across the United States, filming her encounters with spirits for a possible documentary, the two fall reluctantly in love. . .

I kept seeing `Haunted Lily' on book blogs. The haunting skeleton/mannequin cover was cropping up everywhere and I was intrigued.

A few things about this book didn't work for me, and unfortunately they're rather big things -mainly the `romance' and the finale. But if there's one thing Fox did well. . . it was to scare the beegezus out of me!

Lily, Darby and a cast of secondary characters journey on a giant bus investigating various supernatural happenings around the United States. The crew find ghosties in the strangest (and scariest) of places. Like at the Crystal Beach amusement park, where the ghost of an ex employee haunts the rollercoaster, reaping havoc on the ride. Or in the swimming pool of an old New York building. Or even in an abandoned high school.

`Haunted Lily' is one of the scariest books I have read. It's not that there's blood and gore. . . it's just that Sidney Fox's visuals are so precise and eerie - she draws on the simplicities of fright reminiscent of `The Sixth Sense' or `The Others'. She doesn't write for the big, obvious frights. The scares are there in the details - like the smell of sulphur and rotting flowers that permeates the air when a spirit is near. It also helped that I read this book at night, allowing my imagination to run rampant.

This is a scary book. . . and as if regular ghosts aren't scary enough, Lily has been haunted by one scary ghost in particular. A Bulgarian clown (and paedophile) called Varton Muntz has been following Lily around since she was a child. . .

Clowns are my weakness. They scare the crap out of me! Ever since I watched `Poltergeist' and that little bugger crawled out from under the bed, clowns have been a great fear of mine (I'm kind of like Phil Dunphy that way). But Varton Muntz is ten times scarier than your regular freakazoid clown. He's burnt and scarred for one. . . and his entire being is reminiscent of John Wayne Gacy's clown alter-ego, Pogo. Cripes - Varton Muntz is hands-down the best bad guy I have ever read!

I loved the scary parts of `Haunted Lily'. What didn't work for me so much was the `romance' between Darby and Lily. . .

I, personally, didn't read enough foundation for the romance. I expected the romance to be central to the plot (from the blurb's promise of "their bond grows") and I kept waiting to read flirtation and chemistry. . . but it just wasn't there for me. And so when Lily and Darby decided to be together, I thought it was very out of left-field and not very believable. I found their `relationship discussion' to be very mechanical and convenient.

I didn't think Darby and Lily had any heat. Maybe it was a case of Fox spending so much time on the (fantastic) scary parts that the romance fell by the wayside. But I think the romance really needed to be more of a focus if it was going to be included at all. . . because not only is Lily fighting her attraction because her `baggage' includes dangerous ghosts, but Darby's fiancée (who he loved so much!) died recently. That's two forces really pushing those two apart. . . and because of all the reasons for them *not* to be together, I needed more convincing with the romance. I needed smut (yes, my head remains firmly in the gutter) and more relationship discussion. I mean, Lily never once questions Darby about whether or not he's ready to move on from his fiancée. Wouldn't that be a point of discussion with someone you want to get romantic with? `Am I a rebound from your dead fiancée?'

The other part of the book that didn't work for me was the ending. Obviously I can't give anything away. . . I'll only to say that a lot of action is confusingly jam-packed into the last two chapters. I was left reeling, and somewhat deflated by the sombre ending.

I did like `Haunted Lily', I didn't love it, but I was scared by it and liked it. The horror is top-notch and if you like being constantly surprised and scared stupid - then this is the book for you! I would have liked more romance and a cleaner (somewhat happier?) ending. . . but otherwise this was a good thrill-ride.