Target This by Lily White

I’m not sure what I was thinking that day.

It was a normal Thursday, nothing new or exciting had occurred in the morning.

I’d risen from bed, taken a shower and brushed my teeth. I’d then jumped on the 8:05 bus that ran a short distance between my house and the county library where I worked.

The ride took its usual 15 minutes before it left me standing fresh faced in front of a building of gothic construction that was my favorite place in the world.

After straightening my knee length skirt, I pushed open the door that led into the interior of the library.

It was at that moment that my world would change – impossibly and forever. It was a fateful movement of wood that collided with the shoulder of a man that would alter my very existence.

It wasn’t fear that I felt at that moment – more like the feeling of being watched. It was the feeling of knowing that danger lurks - the sensation of the hair standing on end at the back of your neck.

Looking back on a moment that happened so many months ago, I now realize that I should have listened to that feeling.

As I would later find out, the man standing in front of me referred to himself as Master Lucas…

…and I was his next target.

During the first half of this book I was constantly asking myself how this could be a Lily White book? I had grown to expect the twisted and dark scenes from her writing on page one and this story started out as a “normal” book.  It wasn’t till half way through when things started picking up that I realized, I had been Lilyfied (yes that is my new term for her books) from the beginning, and I just hadn’t realized it yet. 

The story is about Autumn and Master Lucas, along with characters Sarah and Mary Beth, who will explain to the reader why the topic of erotic books can be so controversial and confusing.   There is no way to give a short synopsis of the story in my review without spoilers but I can give you the backgrounds for the characters and allow you the chance to let your mind wonder as to how they all fit together. 

Autumn works in the local library; she is a conservative type woman.  She is full of modesty and morals that prohibit her to explore the world.  She doesn’t even have an educated guess as to what is out there because she has limited herself to only thinking about things that would surround her with rainbows and sunshine.  She works hard to hide her beauty, to stay in the dark of what lays ahead of her.  While she thinks she is being cautious to the dangers that lurk, she is really isolating herself do to what she sees as right versus wrong.

Master Lucas is a well-known author.  He writes books of the erotic nature with the dark scenes of torture, kidnapping, and crimes against women.  When he moves to the small town he takes up space at the local library to do his research.  This is where he meets Autumn and challenges her beliefs in his genre of books.  Upon proving his points over and over she agrees to read one of his novels and is horrified to read the encounters between the men and women in his stories.  Convinced she is ready to demand censorship of his books; she becomes aware that there is something in them that she can’t put down either. 

Mary Beth is Autumn’s coworker and a huge fan of Master Lucas.  She would be willing to do whatever it takes to get him in her grasps even for one night, but he isn’t interested in her.  She is too easy; he is focused on convincing Autumn that his books come with merit and reason. 

Sarah is the assistant to Master Lucas.  She does whatever he needs to create the research and environment that is required to write his book.  She knows his temperament and habits well enough to predict his next step before he is even aware of what he needs.

As you can see we have four very different personalities and Lily White meshes them together to create a story of censorship, restrictions and just how far a person will go to validate their beliefs.  Even to the point that you are taking away another person’s freedom so you can gain more power for your cause.  The blinders are heavy here in this story and if you read with an open mind you will see that there really isn’t a right or wrong answer to this. We need to consider allowing each to decide what they would like to believe and read as an individual right, amazingly this goes for us as individuals as well.  We should allow ourselves to try new things if we desire to without the constraints and restrictions that are placed on us.

I also felt Lily White brought to the story an idea of fighting for your right to think for yourself.  We have all found ourselves manipulated by others, some we trusted and they betrayed us, sometimes it is that role model that you follow blindly out of admiration.  Everyone in life has a time when they have to accept that our submission and willingness to follow is a gift we give. It is also something we will reap the rewards from or suffer the consequences.  There is always that moment when we have to stop playing the role of the sheep and start deciding if our freedom to say no is worth the fight and confrontation.

This book, while it is fiction, does mimic many real life issues going on today.  So many will follow the direction of their favorite musician, actor, yes even author to the point they won’t even know why they are doing what is asked and yes even demanded of them.  I won’t even go into this issue with religion and politics; you are smart enough to draw the parallels.  I feel Lily White is trying to help us see two things with her story.  First, we can think for ourselves. We can decide what we want to read, what we want to do and who we want to give our submission and loyalty to and how much we are willing to give, without the outside chatter of opposing views.  Second, I think she is trying to tell us, there is no shame in being manipulated by the best.  The real shame occurs when we finally see that we have been used and abused and we continue to let it occur out of fear.   I would highly recommend this book, but please give it the respect it is due and read it with an open mind.  Will you come out with more answers than questions, NO, but you will at least have the correct questions to ask yourself when you come face to face with the manipulation from society…………….whose agenda are you benefiting?