Killing Lily by Jillian Gardner – Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit

March 10, 2025

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Demons of the past aren’t easily left behind…

At Sunnyside, women serve in silence. Mae—an outspoken, rebellious outcast—has a penchant for getting in trouble. Her only ally is Lily, the perfect follower. When their husband dies and the cult’s new leader claims Lily as his bride, the facade of peace crumbles. Mysterious deaths haunt the commune, and Mae’s attempts to protect Lily only get her banished to the woods, leaving Lily vulnerable without her protection.

Faced with a heartbreaking choice, Mae makes a desperate decision the night before Lily’s wedding and escapes the cult. But the past clings to her like a shadow. Heartbroken and alone, Mae meets Charlotte, a true-crime podcaster obsessed with uncovering the dark secrets of Sunnyside. Charlotte offers Mae a chance to start over, but only if she’s willing to talk.

As Mae begins to reveal the cult’s sinister secrets, she comes dangerously close to admitting the truth about what happened the night she fled—something far more twisted than anyone can possibly imagine. And it’s only a matter of time before the past catches up to her and she’s forced to confront the nightmare she thought she’d left behind…

My Review

Killing Lily was absolutely brilliant. I love anything to do with cults and this certainly did not disappoint. It has always fascinated me how people get sucked in, but for Mae and Lily, they were born at Sunnyside, so didn’t know anything about life ‘outside’. That is, until true crime podcaster-posing-as-dove-breeder Charlotte arrives the day before Lily’s wedding.

At Sunnyside there are ‘good’ women and ‘bad’ women. Good women will find eternal salvation in heaven, while bad women will go straight to hell. Lily is good, while Mae is bad. Bad women suffer punishment at the hands of the terrifying Lou, including beatings and Thought Correction. If anyone leaves, their possessions are ceremoniously burnt.

The men, or Orators, can do and say what they like within the confines of The Sunnyside Scriptures, while women must be subservient – I am sweet, I am gentle, I am happy, I am blessed. The Scriptures come from the one true parent known as Father God. It’s all so crazy and mixed up.

The story is told from two points of view – Lily before the wedding, and Mae after she escapes. Charlotte’s housemates don’t exactly represent a perfect religious family, so Mae is thrown into a life totally opposite from the one she is used to. Plenty of drinking and swearing for starters, neither of which Mae has been exposed to before, especially when it’s mostly the women!

Totally brainwashed from birth, Lily and Mae both really believe they will be damned for all eternity – Lily because she knows she can’t be the perfect wife and Mae because she is breaking every rule in the Sunnyside book. How I wept for the two women and what they were going through. I must also say that the twist at the end was mind-blowing. I didn’t expect anything like it.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of the #KillingLily blog tour.

About the Author

Jillian has been crafting stories in her mind ever since she was a child, but she didn’t write her first novel until the month before her thirtieth birthday. She told herself she would write one book and get it out of her system. Many years and manuscripts later, Jillian can’t imagine a world in which she’s not pouring words onto the page.

Her love of books comes from her mother, an author herself and avid reader. Jillian enjoys reading most genres, but psychological thrillers are her favorite because she loves guessing plot twists (and she’s often wildly wrong).

KitKats and coffee are her preferred treats while she’s writing and editing—although she’d never say no to Twizzlers. Jillian lives in Northern California with her husband, two children, and four overflowing bookshelves.