Thank you to Lake Union Publishing, author Sara Blaydes, and NetGalley for providing me the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Publication Date: June 4, 2024

4 STARS

The Secret of Lily Adams is nothing new in the story it’s telling. We follow a naive young woman pursuing her dreams in Tinseltown, only to see the darkness that lies beneath the facade. That said, the book was immersive, paced well, and atmospheric. I didn’t become bored at any point in the book—which I can say of very few books.

Author Sara Blaydes manages to pull off the dual timeline format flawlessly. Usually, I end up vastly preferring a timeline and consequently being bored and skimming the other. This book balances the present and the past by tightly connecting them and giving them different strengths. I’ve long been fascinated with the Golden Age of Hollywood and its studio system; the past timeline shines with its otherworldly dazzle dazzle and high drama. In contrast, the present timeline is aesthetically simplistic but follows Lily’s granddaughter, Carolyn, who has no less of a tumultuous inner life. Fresh off a divorce, Carolyn and her sullen teen daughter investigate the truth about the real Lily Adams and what happened to her murdered friend and film star, the glamorous Stella Lane. Therefore, the actions in the past timeline reverberates through the present as Carolyn reflects on her life and thereby drives plot advancement in the present timeline. Carolyn’s POV was also engaging because she’s relatable as a modern character but also as a reader/audience stand-in: consuming the mysterious tale of ingenue actress Lily Adams.

I was a little disappointed at the ending. The book didn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders as far as delivering an emotional or thematic punch. I did appreciate how the author had laid breadcrumbs throughout the book to properly set up the end revelations.

Overall, The Secret of Lily Adams was a solidly enjoyable reading experience, well crafted piece of fiction if a little predictable, and a pleasure for anyone who loves Golden Age of Hollywood dramatic tales.

Would recommend for fans of…
🎥 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
🎥 Kill Her Twice
🎥 Did You Hear About Kitty Carr?

As I’ve been dipping my toes back into the historical fiction genre I’ve been looking for books that add in elements of other genres I enjoy, namely mysteries and thrillers, and The Last Secret of Lily Adams, a dual-timeline, Old Hollywood story, has plenty of suspicion and intrigue.

The story opens in the present with Carolyn, a recently divorced woman who’s cleaning out her grandmother’s home when she and her daughter stumble upon a letter from her grandmother, Lily Adams. Lily was a starlet until she mysteriously disappeared after the death of her rival, Stella Lane. These chapters alternate with chapters set in the past that spell out Lily’s secret.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well balanced the mystery and historical fiction elements were, and the pacing was great – it’s definitely a book you can binge, and both timelines felt very fleshed out.

I’ve read a lot of stories similar to The Last Secret of Lily Adams over the past couple of years and while most of them have been enjoyable, they can blend together, and that’s definitely the case for Lily Adams. Even just a couple of days after finishing the novel, I was struggling to remember character names and plot points so I can’t say it left a lasting impression. That being said, I think this book would be great for someone who’s never read anything in this genre before.

The Last Secret of Lily Adams is out now. Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Secret of Lily Adams is a dual timeline book, told through two points of view—Lily’s, when she was a young starlet in the Old Hollywood studio system, and her granddaughter, Carolyn’s (present day) as she comes to clean out Lily’s house and personal effects after her grandmother’s death.

As a fresh-faced young actress, Lily had painstakingly climbed her way to cinematic success, partly due to her dancing prowess and becoming a fitting partner to another screen legend (much like Ginger Rogers). Just when she is poised to break out on her own, she disappears from the limelight and leaves Hollywood all together. At the same time, her some time rival and mentor, Stella Lane, is murdered and the circumstances around her death are never solved.

Carolyn is tasked with creating an exhibition of Lily’s life for a local Hollywood history museum and, as she goes through her grandmother’s things, she realizes she didn’t know Lily as well as she thought she did, and she is determined to find out what happened to make her grandmother leave her passion for the movies behind to lead a quiet life…and how her grandmother figured into Stella Lane’s life and death.

In the backdrop, we learn that Carolyn’s husband has recently left her for another woman, after she had given up her passion many years prior to marry him and have a child. She was never able to return to her first love (dance) and hopes that the answers she finds in her grandmother’s reasons might also help her figure out where she goes from here.

Part history, part mystery, The Last Secret of Lily Adams takes the reader behind the scenes of the power and corruption of the Old Hollywood studio system, what people will do to hold onto their position and status, and the courage it takes to follow one’s own compass.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

As Carolyn cleans out her grandmother's house after her death, she begins uncovering secrets from long ago and the woman her grandmother, the starlet Lily Adams used to be. Lily Adams, once known as a beloved girl-next-door during the Golden Age of Hollywood, left the Hollywood scene before her star could rise higher, leaving questions in her wake after another actress, Stella Lane, was murdered. Told in a dual-perspective, The Last Secret of Lily Adams is set in both the past and present showing insight to who Lily was and who Carolyn is.

With a captivating and engaging storyline, a well researched look into the Hollywood glamor of the 50's, and flawed, but realistic characters, Blaydes captivated me with her graceful writing.

As other reviewers have noted, The Last Secret of Lily Adams is very reminiscent of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - high praise, but very much deserved. This is a fantastic, engrossing mystery with a cast of compelling characters and really entertaining twists. If you're captivated by Old Hollywood and love a bit of glamour in your historical fiction, this is certainly for you!

A glamorous mystery with all the right trappings! I love the friends/enemies story of Stella and Lily as they struggle against the stresses of being in the spotlight. The Last Secret of Lily Adams sheds a light on the underbelly of the glamorous Hollywood machine for all its cracks and ruthlessness and what it truly takes to become a star.

I entered this book thinking I knew what a dual timeline book with this kind of name and cover would become, but it had a few unexpected turns. These may have been unexpected, but worked in the big picture.

Lily Adams was a popular actress who went quiet suddenly and became almost a recluse. Her granddaughter is clearing out her home to set up a museum of sorts when small things start to come to light.

In the present timeline we see the tumultuous relationship between a mother and daughter as they struggle with figuring out not just their own relationship but also that of a once -famous relative with her career. There are secrets that are waiting in the background and we get to see the possibilities in the past timeline.

Although the surprise factor works best in the future, I would have still preferred to have a single narrative set in the past. The current one was slightly disassociated with what they were uncovering.

I did enjoy the author's writing style and character building and would like to try other books as well. I would recommend this book to fans of dual timelines

I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Great story of the history of a movie star and a mysterious death being solved by grand daughter and great grand daughter .. really enjoyed how the story rolled out, and the relationships.

I’m going to be real honest when I started this book I could not get into it and I put it away for a few days & I’m SO glad I did because when I picked it back up I could not put back down! I loved the alternating timelines, especially Lilly’s and the Golden Age of Hollywood setting.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I kept reading this book because it kept me intrigued about what Lily's secret was going to be. I was able to guess it, but that made me excited and not mad. I found one of the storyline to be a lot more interesting than the other and found myself slowing down during these chapters. Overall, I had a good time and I would read from Blaydes again.

This story gave me Evelyn Hugo vibes, and that in itself is high praise because TJR is one of my favorite authors of all time. I really enioyed finding out what happened to Lily Adams, the actress who vanished when her success was peaking. The writing style made me feel as though I was peering over her granddaughter's shoulder as she unravelled the mystery of her grandmother. Super engaging story!

"I want to express my gratitude to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

This book is a glamorous mystery/drama that takes you back to the golden age of Hollywood. It's a thoroughly enjoyable read that captivates you from the very beginning and keeps you engaged until the very end."

In this fascinating dual-perspective historical fiction novel, readers follow Carolyn Prior and her daughter as they discover Lily Adams’, Carolyn’s grandmother, secrets from her time as the all-American girl in the Golden Age of Hollywood. As they discover why she disappeared from the spotlight and what she has to do with Stella Lane’s murder seventy years ago, Carolyn realizes that she and Lily have some remarkable similarities only discovered through Lily’s letter to Carolyn and her possessions in her Los Angeles house. With several brilliantly complex female protagonists and a fascinating historical mystery for them to solve, Carolyn and Lily are fascinating characters with complete and interesting backstories. The detail in Blaydes’ depiction of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the competition between and restrictions of women in the industry shows her research into the topic and the stress and challenges that these women faced. The characters are the star of the novel, and their characterizations are different without pitting them against each other unnecessarily. By splitting the novel between Lily and Carolyn, readers have the chance to solve the mystery of Stella Lane themselves, and the two perspectives balance each other perfectly in this incredible historical fictional mystery and dual-POV novel.

A really enjoyable and captivating read with a character that you really come to root for - a must for fans of Evelyn Hugo.

Thank you Netgally for the ARC! Fun read overall with vibes similar to the ’Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’. A quick and easy read with lots of great twists.

After her grandmother passes, Carolyn and her daughter move into her house in Hollywood to clear her estate. Carolyn knows her grandmother, Lily, was a golden screen star and when the local museum wants to do a special display, she starts going through Lily's momentos and finds a mystery. She wonders how her grandmother was connected to big star Stella Lane.

This was a really interesting dual timeline story - Lily's story was intriguing and it was enjoyable watching Carolyn and her daughter learn where they want their lives to go.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

This is a new author to me, but I’ll be waiting for more from her, as I couldn’t put this book down! Carolyn has come home to her grandmother’s house to curate items for a showing of her life while she was an actress in Hollywood. Carolyn, recently divorced and still reeling from the fact that he’s now with a much younger dancer than she, brings along with her their teenage daughter Em to help. Carolyn was mostly raised by her grandmother, and being back in her house brings back so many good memories for them both. However, it’s always been a mystery why her grandmother - the much loved Lily Adams - walked away from Hollywood just when she was making it big. The dual timeline flips from present-day with Carolyn and the Golden Age of movies with Lily, and the bigger-than-life star Stella Lane. With both women being controlled by the powerful men in charge of the studios, they still find ways to stand up for themselves. Newspapers reported that Stella was murdered in 1951, but the homicide has never been solved. The more Carolyn uncovers about her grandmother, the more she realizes that Lily had lived a whole other life she was unaware of, and the big question is whether her grandmother was involved in the murder, or was she trying to help by covering it up. I couldn’t read this one fast enough to see how it all played out! Out now, highly recommend this one!

Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid will LOVE this. Old Hollywood glamour is undershot with noir-ish glimpses of its seedy underbelly as Lily makes her way to the top, before abruptly abandoning her career. The contemporary timeline features a poignant and believable mother-daughter relationship, with both timelines coming to satisfying conclusions as secrets are revealed. A great summer read.

Absolutely loved it. It is a bit similar to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but totally different. Sure is a mystery. Fun read. Thanks NetGalkey for the ARC. Will push it to my patrons in the library!

What a phenomenal debut by author Sara Blaydes. The last secret of Lily Adams is THE book to read for fans of The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo that you didn't know you needed. Why? Because this one ticks the Old Hollywood glamour vibe also ✔️, this one ticks the scandalous box also ✔️, this one provides a deeply human element to an all too realistic fictional actress also ✔️ but... what this one provides which Evelyn Hugo lacked (and this is not a criticism of that book I deeply love TJR's books) is a mystery and an insight into the deeper dark workings of Old Hollywood and how they made movies, how they treated their stars especially their actresses and the disturbing lengths they would go to control the narrative.
This is a dual POV timeline. We have Lily the Hollywood actress from the late 40s/early 50s and her Granddaughter Carolyn 70 yrs later in present day as she tries to uncover who Lily Adams was before she left Hollywood behind and why does "It all starts and ends with Stella Lane" the Marilyn Monroeesque actress who was found brutally murdered all those years ago.
The book is very well researched which will amuse fans of the Golden Age of the silver screen. Although the characters are fictitious they feel all too real, the struggles, anguish, hopes and dreams. The abuse, choices, desperation, loves and hate. This book has it all.
Warnings of: sexual abuse, rape, abortion, eating disorders, drugs and domestic violence.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to review this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.