That the truly wicked are the men hiding behind the guise of faith while committing the worst of sin….

This duet is a disconcerting psychological thriller. Lily drives the tension in unpredictable ways all while emphasizing the complex and tortured relationships between her obsessive and pathological characters.

Many abhorrent things have been done in the name of religion. It has been the catalyst for so many nefarious purposes. Lily’s daring willingness to write a book involving such a controversial subject matter is fearless. Such a topic is not always so receptive.

Both sides of the coin are never as shiny as they proclaim. Many cults cloak themselves behind the institution of religion, they twist and test the faith of their followers in order to fulfill their own narcissistic objectives. On the opposite side of the coin, the secular institutions are the breeding grounds for power hungry self righteous persons who conceal or cover up the darkness within the church. In Fear The Wicked you will see these beliefs tested and manipulated, you will see the corruption and wicked acts covered up and buried.

…..a set of twins standing on opposite sides - one light, one dark.

Elijah and Jacob, two brothers, identical twins. Both raised with a religiously heavy hand, but yet turned out differently. Both not unlike the church and the cult. One representative of each. Elijah akin to the ways of the cult, testing and twisting for his own purpose. Jacob and the church alike in their camouflage of the dark and wickedness within.

Toss in an instrumental innocent and angelic accessory and the story jumps to a new level of shameful sinfulness.

As expected, Fear The Wicked delivers dark themes, torture, tragedy and murder! It is socially deviant with generous helpings of seduction, lies, manipulation and control.

Lily White is a favorite author of mine and continues to intrigue and enrapture me with each and every one of her books. Say your hail mary’s and put your FAITH in Lily White!!

CONFESS!!

Peace be with you.. .......Your gonna need it!!!

Fear the Wicked is everything you expected and then some. All your questions will be answered in this one and more than you thought to ask.

Elijah/Jericho is one twisted sick individual who Lily created perfectly. Jacob is everything you want him to be, he's all he needs to be and a little hot I think!! I mean who doesn't want a man who knows what he wants. Eve/Sedra poor girl poor poor girl. Certain parts I just wanted to smack her and tell her to snap out if it. However, I needed to just let the story unfold.

The other supporting characters play thier part to a T. Richard, Joshua, Father Timothy all have important roles in the book. Some you wont even suspect.

I found the whole story fascinating, sickening, captivating, and twisted to perfecton. There were parts I literally gasped out loud and others were just hard on my stomach to read. But those are the benefits to reading a dark, twisted, Lily White book.

This just sulidifies Lily as a one click no questions asked.

Brilliant!!!

This story is so layered, and so in depth that you feel like you have been physically put through the ringer. They lives these characters live, and have lived will have you questioning how you would react if put through the exact same situations. This duet had me at hello. I love dark stories, and this is one of the darkest that I have encountered so far. The writing is fantastic and addictive, and the characters are so intense that you almost hit your own hard limits. I loved this story, but I also felt impatient to get to the end. I don’t know if it was sensory overload, or if I just enjoyed the first story more. Regardless this is a MUST READ. Read the first book first, obviously, but definitely read this book! This story is a true experience to read.

Background
Lily White has fast become one of my must-click authors, and having very much enjoyed reading the first in this duet, I was awaiting the second with much anticipation.

Cover
Much better than the first, this cover is dark and really grabs the attention whilst providing a small hint about what's to come.

Writing
White is, for the most part, a fantastic writer: thoughtful, concise, poetic. However, I found I struggled a little throughout this second part of the novel. Perhaps it was the writing style or perhaps it was just that I couldn't stand Elijah's POV (of which there was considerably more here).

Either way, everything just felt incredibly drawn out and repetitive, enough to provide me with the impression of someone enjoying exhibiting how clever and how much thought had gone into the characters and their deceit. This is the main reason this book was only rated three stars. It became a struggle and I really found myself wanting to finish it just so I could remove it from my 'Currently Reading' shelf.

Characters
Whilst Elijah and Jacob were developed nicely here (perhaps, in some respects, developed a little too well!), Eve just felt more like a doll, a prop along for the ride, despite her major role in the first novel. I understand the themes moving to the brothers and familial love, and uncovering the darkness of the past, but I prefer my characters to be more than just love interests, and be more interesting than that (and, indeed, stronger).

Conclusion
Although maintaining its intrigue, the slower pace of Fear the Wicked lets this second instalment down, making it drag and lost its power. This, and an ending that hints at a slight cop-out, leave this read as three-stars for me — Lily White, however, remains on my one-click list.

I loved this book, the character development was interesting and complex. The story was captivating too! It was well worth the read! This book was the best way to end this duet. It's addictive and not a book I'll forget in a hurry!

This is book two in the Illusions Duet. Make sure you read Illusions Of Evil first as this starts where book one finishes.

Wow I’m not sure I can put into words what an amazing captivating read this is. After reading book one I couldn’t wait to read this and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. From start to finish I was engrossed in the story. I didn’t wanna put it down. Told from multiple points of view we get the most out of this story.

The twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat and my heart in my mouth. If you love dark and twisted reads then I highly recommend the Illusions Duet.

All I want to do now is sit and re read both these fab reads again. Epic read. I can’t praise this author highly enough.

~~I was given this ARC in exchange for providing an honest review~~
This book was just as good as the first one. Jacob and Jericho (Elijah) were believable, interesting characters. And I thoroughly enjoyed watching them continue to evolve in this book.
Lily White, your writing is phenomenal, second to none. I loved how the story progressed, and it seemed all the characters came full circle.

Fantastic conclusion for this duet! Picks up right where Illusions of Evil left off, and we get to see more about Jacob and Elijah/Jericho and how they ended up being the men we meet in this series. If you've read Lily White's works before, you're already familiar with her writing style. If you've not had a chance to read her books, you are missing out. But just know that her books are NOT for the faint of heart, and this story isn't an easy read. The depths of mental illness that is reached was, for a lack of a better term, simply mindblowing. But underlying the story is how each child was subjected to abuse and the different paths they chose in life as a result of said abuse.

This was a phenomenal conclusion to a very crazy and twisted story that began with Illusions of Evil, so you'll want to be sure to read that book first.

I really enjoyed the backstory in this one as it gives us a glimpse into why the boys are so messed up.

There are so many twists & turns that just when I thought I had it all figured out....WHAM!! Things have headed in another direction.

This was an incredibly exciting book that I found very difficult to put down.

This book was given to me at my request and I provided this review voluntarily

This is book 2 and you must read book 1 of the Illusions Duet before starting this one. It’s a Wicked ride and you most definitely want to buckle up for it!

Picking up right where we left off in Illusions of Evil, we now get to learn of what these boys went through to become who they are today. Not a pretty picture, that’s for sure.

This story had me trying to think am I rooting for the good or am I standing up for the evil? There is plenty of evil here, that’s no doubt!

It’s a book that you must go into with an open mind and let it seep into your head slowly. Taking in each and everything that happens. One that at times I was wanting to put a brown bag to my mouth so that I could breathe better.

#BookBistroBlogApproved

I received a copy of this book to review for Stephanie's Book Reports.

Fear the Wicked is the second book in Lily White's Illusions Duet. You must read Illusions of Evil before reading Fear the Wicked or you are going to be beyond lost.

CONFESS.....it is what he said to me across his altar, what he demanded so that I would be pure. In the moment he blessed me with his virtue, I was no longer the woman I had once been. I was Eve. His light. His salvation. His bridge to Heaven's gate. I failed him because my faith was not strong enough. He punished me for not giving in. Resisting temptation is never easy. Not when his hands, his teeth, his heat and hunger were the greatest of my sins.

Holy cow you better buckle up and hold on because if you like me you will need something to hold yourself in your seat from all the ducking I did thinking God was going to strike me dead at any minute. I'm not a huge fan of reading something that is so crazily in my opinion said about God. However I did not let that affect the way I reviewed or read this book. There is a lot that goes on in this book to so you need to pay attention.

In Illusions of Evil we were introduced to Elijah/Jericho and Jacob. See I told you you had to pay attention as I found that I got the names confused a few times. Elijah is running a cult but he was also growing up known as Jericho and is Jacob's twin brother. So poor Eve, bless her heart is not able to tell them apart which leads to where we are no in the book with Jacob thinking he killed her and Elijah fooling him to run him off from his Parish. Elijah/Jericho is determined to get his revenge and in Fear the Wicked you find out exactly why. You just need to be prepared. I have never read another book tackling this subject matter. Abuse should never be tolerated ever and it broke my heart many times during this book. Not only was this person abused but heaped out abuse in spades. This book is dark and if you have triggers you might just want to skip it. However I thought that Lily White wrote a story that sucked me in till the very end and I was really happy with the ending. So if you hang on till the end the reward is well worth the squirming.

Yes!
I was an emotional mess after I read this book & I love it.
Author Lily White is my go to of dark and suspenseful reads.
Many things are answered in this book from book one and I loved all the feels I got as I turned each page waiting to find out what would happen next. Multiple POV's which made the story flow and get a good understanding to each character.
You will feel it all: Suspense, drama, madness, hate, desire, intense pleasure.

Go #oneclick this book!

5 Cherries Popped!

3.5-4 ★★★★ Stars

Genre: Dark Erotic Suspense
Type: Book 2 of 2 from Illusions Duet
POV: First Person – Multiple


"The people dressing themselves in the shroud of being good men that can commit the most evil…Those men would be better off opening their eyes to the truth that stands them, because to see it is to fear the wicked."

Fear the wicked; continues the journey of manipulation and deception; of what is wrong and right. Is hard to review this book without giving away spoilers for book one so I am going to try to keep it short. I personally liked knowing the main reason one of the characters turns out the way he is; I don't even blame him for trying to get justice of his own; however some of the things he does were just difficult to justify.

"The best method of trapping a victim and forcing their silence is to make them believe that they, too, were dirty."

I had very high expectations for the heroine on this book as for I didn't really liked her in book one; I was really hoping her character would step up but instead I was annoyed by her and very disappointed. I must say there was one character that turned around and surprised me; he wasn't even one of the main characters but he had some common sense and figured things out better than others and I liked that about him.

"It's not the fault of the faith that we've sunk so far, it's what's been done with it in the hands of power hungry men."

On this second book and the conclusion of the duet we get answers to so many questions we had from first book. I did however wished instead of retelling us what happened I would have enjoyed it more if we had gotten actual things happen. I liked how Jacob decided to find his own answers and do what he thought it was right even if that meant sacrificing his life for what he believed. Overall; I liked the premises of the story and the illusions as the titles itself. This book would be appealing to readers who are open minded about faith, believes and deceptions.

what she writes. In Fear the Wicked we get the continuation of Jacob, Eve and Elijah’s story. This is not a romance, but rather an erotic psychological thriller.

This time around, we learn more about Jericho/Elijah’s past and motivations. This man is a monster, but what made him this way? His manipulations and depravity have no limits. Can a man like this find redemption or is he too evil?

Jacob goes in search for answers, believing the worst in himself. Will he find what he is looking for or will what he finds be the final nail in his coffin? He is not a good man, but is he truly evil or a product of his background?

Eve has been completely brainwashed by Elijah. She no longer has concept of what is right or wrong. What will truly be her salvation or is she already lost to all the wickedness surrounding her?

This was one wicked and dark story. There are no heroes or heroines in this story. My heart broke for all the characters, even as some were so evil, you knew there was no redemption for them. Everything is about to come to a head. Who will survive and who will fall?

Fear the Wicked is told in multiple point-of-views that provides us a full look at the evil surrounding these characters. The story was heartbreaking and heart stopping. Though this is a very dark story, Lily White’s writing is captivating from start to finish!

This book had a LOT of WTF moments for me, and I seriously only have one HARD LIMIT when it comes to books and this book touched on that subject a few times and I will be honest here I had to skim through a couple of pages to pass it over. That being said I will now go on with my review.

If you like dark books I think you will enjoy this one especially if you enjoy your books more on the taboo side of things. You MUST read the first book in the duet "Illusions of Evil" before you read this story otherwise you will not only miss out on a great read (I enjoyed the first book more than this one) but you will be missing a good chunk of the story line. We pick-up where the first book left off with Jacob leaving and Elijah still the head of the "Family" but now he is setting his sights on the town folk as well.

Eve, my goodness this poor girl is truly at the hands of the devil being with Elijah. Evil knows no bounds when it comes to his evil ways.

Elijah, truths about his past come to light and now that we know his secrets I have an understanding of his cruelty but in no way condone it, he has seriously gone into the deep end with his retaliation.

Jacob, my heart truly went out to him in this book, he finds out the secrets about why his brother left their family home and what happened to him when they were just young children. The love he felt for his brother was never clouded although you would think it would be, he didn't agree with what Elijah was doing but he loved him and hoped he could help him.

This was a good ending to the duet. This needs to be mentioned and please understand that there are NUMEROUS triggers in this duet. This is a DARK, EROTIC ROMANCE, which includes Non-Con and Dubious Sex, Religious figures that have sex even though they took a vow not to, and a cult leader that will do ANYTHING he wants to ANYONE he wants. If any of these things offend you DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. That being said, if this is your cup of tea I highly recommend this duet.

Lily White is a fairly new author to me, I have only read the two books in this duet plus Her Masters Redemption , but I must say now that I have a true taste of her dark and perverse mind I will go straight to her list of books when I am in the mood for a dark or taboo read.

4 YOWZA stars!!

In book one, I learned about the cult that Elijah had created and witnessed how confused and brainwashed Eve became under his influence. I felt her pain, disillusionment, fear, and need. I also saw her devout faith and belief in the ism that Elijah had created. Elijah was clearly a monster, but this book made me see him so much more clearly. I finally got to understand his motives and his story broke my heart. Is it odd that I was truly sympathetic to this character? I really wanted him to get some help and finally obtain a happy ending. His twin, Jacob, wasn’t a true ‘hero’, but he was willing to sacrifice himself in order to stop Elijah’s evil machinations. These boys suffered immeasurable abuse by those who were tasked with protecting and nurturing them. How they turned out doesn’t seem like such a surprise anymore. Then there’s Eve. Or should I say Sedra. I felt so sorry for this girl. I’m strangely drawn to all things ‘cultish’ and I truly believe that this author nailed the darkness that lives within it.

There was no good in this world, only the wicked, and they were the most beautiful, the most charming, the most deceiving…


Fear The Wicked was creepy, painful, heart-wrenching, and dark. This author takes you right into the head of a psychopath whose mind is full of anger, hate, lust and revenge. She also lets us find hope in the hopeless and light in the darkness. If you’re looking for a read that will send tingles down your spine and take you out of your comfort zone, look no further than the Illusions Duet!

Release Date: November 29, 2017
Genre: Dark Romance
POV: Multiple - 1st person
Heat: 3.5 out of 5
Type: Part 2 of the Illusions Duet

I'm am so going straight to hell for loving this series.
If you haven't read Illusions of Evil do so before starting this one.

So in true Lily style she has once again messed with my head.

In this book we learn more about the brothers and what they experienced in the past, what made them the way they are today.
It's truely a great read. I'm keeping this short so that im not giving any spoilers away.

Faith could help people find an anchor in life, but it could also give an unimaginable pain. What would happen when the wicked walk freely among them? In the battle of good versus evil, will faith save them or lead them astray?

The concept of faith is a fascinating one for me. I always find it interesting to see how one chose a certain path to live. And this book is basically the hows and the whys the things in Illusions of Evil (Book 1) happened.

I didn't like Eve in book 1 and I still didn't like her now. I had expectations for her that didn't happen.

Between the two male characters I have my favorite since book 1. But there were parts in this book that shook my faith in him a little lol! In the end he remained my favorite.

Both of them were similar in a way, but completely different from each other. I like seeing how each of them rationalized and coped with the situations.

I enjoyed the story overall especially the manipulation parts. However, like in book 1, there was too much telling for my liking. The characters kept explaining what they were doing. Personally, I find more satisfaction when I figure it out myself.

Fear The Wicked is a story of finding a purpose in life. The series would appeal to readers looking for story of faith and manipulations.

“There was no good in this world, only the wicked”

What can I say… I’m a bit disappointed in book 2. It was not what I had expected, it dragged somewhat. There was a lot of repetition; about their childhood, the actions of their father and the lack of action of their mother. But we also get answers to the questions we were left with in book 1.

Fear the wicked opens right where Illusions of Evil left off.
Feeling distraught by the events in book 1 Jacob Hayle has fled his parish and, very likely, lost his Faith.
But Jacob is digging in their past, wondering and needing to know what happened to his twin. He goes back to his childhood home looking for answers while facing his own demons.

This book reveals more about Jericho, why he became Elijah, a cult leader, reveling in his ability to brainwash people to make them blindly do he wanted and believe everything he says.
"I was more deceitful than the Devil himself, more convincing than the holy-roller evangelical preachers who'd become wealthy in their wicked games."
But in spite of everything that he did, I was rooting for him, I wanted a different outcome.

"It’s the people dressing themselves in the shroud of being good men that can commit the most evil."

The book is told in several POVs giving the reader different angles into the actions of the MCs.
The re-uniting of the brothers is a very intense and defying moment that I would have liked to have more drawn out. The ending felt rushed but still realistic.

"Because, in the end, it’s the deceivers that are the most horrendous of all, and if good men do really exist in this world slowly slipping into Hell, then those men would be better off opening their eyes to the truth that stands before them, because to see it is to fear the wicked."

Ooomph! FEAR THE WICKED seriously tested my boundaries. And even though I was raised a good conservative-Catholic girl it’s not even the church-aspect that had me gulping and almost giving – or throwing up, more accurately, but the evil that a certain character conducted in this story. My stomach was in total knots, felt like it was digesting itself at around 92 percent, and had I not been so close to finishing the book, I don’t know if I’ve had it in me to go on. Lily White, you were able to absolutely terrify me – and I don’t believe this has ever happened before. Your twisted, evil, warped mind really knows no bounds. Gulp. Kudos for that, woman!

First things first: You don’t need to pick up the book if you haven’t read ILLUSIONS OF EVIL first. It won’t make sense if you didn’t. Believe me.

And like in my previous review, I won’t talk about the plot of the story – like, at all. No character names, no character relations – nothing. Go in blind and experience this nightmarish religious mess of a story in its entirety yourself.

Oh, I’m going to give one tiny spoiler: This one is multiple POVs – you get to glimpse into the sickest, most twisted of minds of this world. And while it help leaving no questions unanswered, it will shock you to your core, jaw dropping to the floor. Once again, I’m astounded and frightened in equal measure by the wild and utterly dark pictures / souls / storylines Ms. White is able to conjure.

If you’re not afraid of the dark and have a strong stomach you will absolutely love this sickening, forbidden, cunning and definitely scary as much as fascinating tale of a cult story.