Member Reviews
Crazy Madly deeply by Lily White
5 Stars
Crazy, Madly, Deeply was a great story. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking at times. It mad you think It was a well written book with an interesting plot that kept me turning pages. I loved everything about this story.
I loved the characters. Holden was one of my all time favorite hero’s. He was a genuine good guy. He loved his sister fiercely. Michaela had it all: looks, money, popularity, and social status; however sometimes looks can be deceiving.
I loved that this plot had several twists and turns to keep me guessing what was going to happen next. I cannot wait to read more from this author.
If you have never read a Lily White book before, dive into this one ASAP! Crazy Madly Deeply had me on the edge of my seat , navigating the twists I couldn’t see coming, white knuckled and gasping until the very end. This is a romance unlike any you have read before!!!!
My first Lily White book and it didn't disappoint. This book totally blew me away! I went through every emotion reading this story. I wanted to read it quickly yet savor every page! Well done Ms. White!
Sadly, I couldn't get into this story. I'm not too sure what is it exactly, but I struggled while reading it.
Lily has easily become a go to author. This. Book. I can't even!!
Gut wrenching, heartwarming edge of your seat story and you will need tissues!
I went into the world of Holden and the way Lily writes it just sucked me in and I felt like I was there. My heart hurt for him. I felt so many emotions reading this book literally down to my gut. But, love comes and heals. Michaela and Holden's love is like no other. I ended up loving Michaela and was cheering her on. This is so much more than a Contemporary Romance to me. This book is everything I look for when seeking out books. I need depth and suspense and real-ness. Crazy Madly Deeply delivers ten fold!
"It's too late for me to love you. It's too late to admit I was wrong. It's too late to tell you how wonderful you are despite everything this town has done."
"That's what large people do. They're so big and so deep and so wonderful that grudges and resentment and anything deemed ugly are crushed beneath the weight of their virtue" (this right here is amazing literature)
"If you truly love someone, you feel them in every cell of your body."
Lily your words are amazing!!
This story is pure tragedy and full of sorrow but the way the author writes it gives it a feeling of being poetic. With all the injustice that is happening in this town Holden still manages to survive. With how realistic this story is, that means that he is surviving but crumbling. He has been affected in the worst way left and right but he is big and strong. The healing process takes a long time but thank God he doesn't have to do it alone. When the town is beating him down it is also without intending to, giving him a new family and support system. You will read a lot of injustice and unfairness in this book but a lot of love a devotion too. Even when he is being shattered, his pure and radiant soul manages to change others into a better and stronger version of themselves. Into people to be proud of. He is the kid everyone treated as worthless and maybe he even believed it at some point, but with every page you read it is evident that he is the most valuable one.
A little too young for me. It is more of teEn book. Which is fine. Except i am a little old for a teen book., so it didn’t hold my attention for very long.
A story that makes you feel. The characters are multilayered, and you will need to get to the end as fast as you can, so that you know what happens next. I love this author, and I am never disappointed when she puts out another new story. This story is great!
I loved this book Crazy Madly Deeply. This story is one that really makes you think about the cause and effect of every decision you make, the reacion to every action, and how warped and wrong perceptions can be.
I'm not going to bother with a summary of the plot; there are plenty of other reviews that will do that. But I will say that Holden and Michaela's story is far from your typical romance. Depsite the fact that they are from opposite sides of the tracks, these two broken souls cry out for one another, and heal one another so beautifully. My heart ached for Holden so many times over. He lost so much. And Michaela surprised me in so many ways. What you see is not always what you get. In many ways, she's just as much a victim of the rich who run Tranquill Falls as Holden is, even though Michaela is one of them. And that fact, combined with what she does to save and protect Holden, honestly, is what saved her in my mind as being good enough for him. Because at first, I was having a very hard time wrapping my head around how or why these two were going to work as a couple.
The surpising twist that this book takes tore me up. It was not something I expected to happen. This gut-wrenching story went above and beyond the heartache I was expecting. This plot is so unique, so unlike anything else that I've read in the past. Give this book a chance. It will give you a lot to think and mull over, and you, too, will fall in love with Holden crazy, madly, deeply.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review
It’s been a while since I had my Lily White craving and a fill. I think I forgot what her writing brought to my life; Intensity and her ability to completely blow my mind.
Crazy Madly Deeply was such a painful, gut wrenching read about a boy( Holden) who wasn't the richest person but loved his sister unconditionally. Holden is talented, protective, different and caring. All he wanted to do was elevate and care for his sister Delilah.
Michaela was very spoiled and afraid to be herself. She had a kind heart but always wanted to be with the popular kids so she did and said anything to fit in. She endured so much pain and heartache. At the beginning of the story I wasn’t impressed with her character at all. Some of her choices just drove me insane.
Both characters seemed to be different from the outside looking in but they had so much in common.
Fast forward to the peak of this story.
The twist in this story is HUGE!!!.
I didn’t see it coming and when it did hit me, I had to sit for a minute and process it all. Leave it to Lily White to play with my emotions and turn me around in circles.
Crazy Madly Deeply had a great pace and even with the tragedy in this book you can’t help but cry and feel complete at the sheer love between the main characters. This was truly an uplifting but heartbreaking read.
I really enjoyed it and I know if you love a good plot twist and suspense then you will love this book.
*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review by NetGalley*
So clearly I'm the minority with this book. It's not that I thought it was a bad book (it was actually quite entertaining), but that there are just too many of my pet peeves present. Like people seeing bullying happening and not do anything, or 'tortured main character that does everything perfectly the first time. Like who's like that in real life?
But not all were bad things. In fact, most things were positive, like the plot-twists or some of the writing.
This NA is allright but don't go looking for realism in it.
Crazy Madly Deeply is absolutely heartbreaking and heartwarming at times. A phenomenal book that has touched the depths of my soul. The story itself is amazing and entertaining, yet thought-provoking. Is More Than Just A Story.
Holden is the best HERO I have read in a long time and deserving of his HEA. Honest, noble, sincere, authentic, respectful, and he loves his sister. He stayed true to himself, and had more integrity than any other character in the book.
Michaela had it all. Money, popularity, good looks, social status. A privileged happy life, however looks can be deceiving.
Author Lily White's uncanny ability to bring her stories to life, has managed to churn the very depths of my soul in this emotionally gripping and absolutely fascinating story that got me sobbing on and off throughout the book.
The storyline plays out so well with the twists and turns of the plot while weaving in a believable, palpable and heartwarming emotional journey of love, forgiveness, strength, and learning to trust each other while their relationship develops.
This is an amazing story you have to experience for yourself!!
ARC Kindly provided by Publisher via NetGalley!
This book was excellent. It was full of feels and deep writing. I loved everything about it. Told from dual point of view lovers who love heavy feels would fall madly crazy in love with this story!!
4 Small Stars
this book is about Holden and the horrible things he had to endure because no one opened their eyes. This story is beautiful, raw and creative. I really never connected with the main female Michaela. I don't think her smallness ever went away but it was just accepted. and maybe its a bias .. I don't think you can go from small to big so quickly. I also think some aspects needed more explanation. I mean truly what happened?? (view spoiler) I mean I don't think the what happened is really necessary but it seemed so brushed under the rug. I wanted to love this book I did. It had some deep emotional moments and good life lessons. But it ended up a bit smaller than I wanted. I can't wait to read this author again because I can see she does have a way with her audience and capturing attentions.
It's too late for me to love you.
It's too late to admit I was wrong.
but the part I loved of this book... it showed just how real love is... and its not rainbows and butterflies.
This book was nothing like I expected and that was in such an amazing way. I had never read a Lily White book before this one, but I'm starting to wonder why I didn't start sooner. Holden hasn't had an easy life. Always seen as an outcast and as crazy, because he doesn't follow the social rules of a rich town. For some reason someone is out to get him and he loses everything he knows and loves in a short amount of time. Michaela has always been a popular girl, but her parents have kind of always controlled her life. What she did, with who, etc. She always was the good girl who followed along and never stuck up for herself. This made Michaela notice Holden. He was the only one she knew who didn't care what others thought. Their lives intwine one night when their worlds turn upside down. The more Michaela gets to know about Holden the more she realizes she needs to be her own person and stand up for herself. Her parents only want to use her for their status and reputation. The both face their devils and past and grow together. Holden finally opens up to her and is ready to feel loved. This book is full of plot twists I didn't see coming and help from corners that are very unexpected. This town is wrong on so many levels and got away with it way too long. Lily White's writing had me on the edge of my seat and I couldn't put this book down. I can't give too many details without spoiling, but people really need to read this book!
Intense. That's the best word to describe this book.
It is divided into two parts. I was holding my breath while I was reading the first one. Waiting, appreaciating what a wonderful job Lily White had done.
Holden is an outcast. Just because he refuses to be trated as a lower class citizen. Struck by tragedy too many times. And Michaela, too coward to get out from an imposed life. Even though she is suffocating in it.
Some events, which I will not reveal, change the story. Completely.
And when I was thinking that things couldn't get worse, they just did. And I just sat there, in front of my ebook, thinking : this is NOT happening...
This story traps you. It will make you think about the way some people are treated. And it will surprised you.
It's sad, yes. But it's beautiful and hopeful, too. Don't miss it.
3.5 Star I feel this book is more teenage than adult. Maybe a good YA
At first it threw me off I thought it was a girl speaking. I just didnt get sucked in like most of Lily's books. I feel maybe Im to old just seemed geared more towards teenagers.
Holden and his family were just not upscale enough for the Rich , Spoiled and Elite of Tranquil Falls. The Rich owned the town and their kids ran the school. If you weren't with the end crowd you got picked on or harassed. Holden didnt want to be in the in crowd he knew what they did and wanted nothing to do with them. Its almost like a Butterfly effect one incident caused a trickle of effects for Holden and his family. Holden fighting in the cafeteria to stick up for his sister changed everything in that one moment.
Delilah Holdens sister didnt really fit in with the in crowd but Michaela's mom helped Del with Ballet. So she hung with the in crowd and Holden watched her from the sidelines. He didnt trust anyone to watch out for her and he would do anything to keep her safe till he couldnt.
Jack When your The Golden Boy in town and can do know wrong. Jack Rich Brat can not be touched his parents own that town and the town loves him. Little do they know there golden boy is not golden but a Loser, Junkie , abusive and rapist. No one cares what the kids do in town they all look the other way. No one wants to be outcasted. So when he wanted payback for Holden fighting his friend. He got an opportunity that night to get Holden back and That changed everyones life.
Michaela Jacks gf the town princess. Everyone wants to be her but her. Shes always doing what everyone else wants her to do or be. She has no say in anything. When its time for her to stand she has to make a choice to Stand with the Town or with Holden. Can she stop being weak and small and be strong.
I love Angela the owned of the diner. Everyone needs someone like her.
"What does Small mean? It means that there's nothing inside you worth notice. That to pretend to be something better than everybody else, you have to drag the good people down to your level instead of rising up to meet the bar they set."
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lily White is an author that never fails to show the reader just how talented she truly is. Crazy Madly Deeply was such an emotionally driven read. Lily takes on a myriad of subjects that are so relevant today, mental illness, peer pressure, bullying, acceptance. Some of it is tough to read. It will break your heart, make you mad, all of which it should. Then it will give you hope, it will help you understand, it will help you see things from a point of view that needs to be shown more of....the one that all this happens too. Holden's story isn't your typical Lily dark, but it does have some elements that aren't exactly rainbows and butterflies.
I highly recommend going in to this story blind, because it's one of those stories that each reader will get something different out of. It makes you think, it makes you cry, it makes you smile, and it will make you want to be a nicer person.
I bawled my eyes out on this book, Michaela has been party to horrible things she always thought them wrong but she was to afraid and beat down to speak up for the injustices of the town she and Holden lives in. Holden poor Holden has lost everything in his life and he is larger then life, a beautiful person painter and guitar Player. One faithful night a bad man comes and trys to ruin Holden one more time. But this time with the help of his family and Michaela maybe he can move on and save the town and himself in process. Finally move on and live his life somebody so big shouldnt let small minded people and town hold him down.. Holden is ment for so much more!