NEW RELEASE
Pictures of Lily - Paige Toon (2010)
English schoolgirl Lily arrives in Australia, as her mother pursues yet another romance. They move in with Michael, who gets Lily holiday work at the local conservation park. There she falls for sweet-hearted koala hander Ben - only problem is he's 12 years older and about to join his fiancee in England. Ten years later, when Lily's boyfriend Richard proposes, she can't help but wonder about Ben. With the story split into the two time zones, the budding romance between Lily and Ben was really sweet but the second half dragged towards its predictable conclusion. And as usual, watch out for mentions of previous Toon characters - from Lucy and Nathan, to rock star Johnny and racing car driver Luis.
Paige Toon's Pictures of Lily is about a woman who has never gotten over her first love - how can she say yes to another man when her heart is saying no. The summary says: "Sixteen-year-old Lily has just moved to Australia, dragged by her lovesick mum to the other side of the world. She's desperately homesick, away from her friends and life in London. Then she meets 26-year-old Ben. Despite the age difference, they have a lot in common. Ben is gorgeous, protective of her, teaching her to drive and encouraging her love of photography. But when Lily suddenly discovers that he is engaged to a woman back in England, she is heartbroken and Ben, despite having feelings for Lily, follows his head and not his heart back to England to marry. Fast-forward 10 years and Lily is living in Sydney, working as a receptionist for a magazine publishing company, her dreams of being a photographer abandoned. When her boyfriend, the cool and confident Richard, proposes to her at the reception of their friends' wedding she says yes. Lily has never got over Ben, but thoughts of him consume her, turning him into an almost mythical figure - the one that got away - and now that she's going to get married, she feels like he's lost to her forever. Then one day she is amazed to bump into Ben. When he tells her that his marriage broke down five years ago, something stops her from telling him that she's engaged. But Lily will have to make a decision - will she go with her heart?" Pictures of Lily is out in July.