Author Recommendations- Emily McKay

Emily McKay

The Farm Trilogy, Storybound

About a decade ago, I did a speech for the state librarian’s association about the value of romance novels. I ended with a list of romances that I described as, “If you don’t love at least one of these books, you’re dead inside.”
That’s how I feel about romance novels. Obviously, not every book is the right book for every reader. But if the list is long enough and you don’t love at least one of the books … well, I don’t know what to say to you. I mean, other than, “You’re dead inside!”.
Who knows what amazing book I’ll be reading next and need to add!


This is an oldie, but a goody. The hero is special needs, which makes it unique. It’s on my list for several reasons. First off, it’s on several “Best of romance” lists. I think it gets a lot of attention because of the special needs aspect. But the reality is, Jess is an amazing hero. I don’t think anyone other than Pam Morsi—whose voice is laid back and full of comfort—could have written this book. I include it here because it defies expectations. Though, I should say, it’s not my favorite book of hers. That slot is reserved for Something Shady (in romance) and What Was and Might Have Been (in women’s fiction). Did you see what I did there? How I slipped three books into one recommendation? Yeah. That’s because Pamela Morsi is that good. If none of the three I mentioned tickle your fancy, try a different one. They’re all good.

This is another book that’s at least a decade old. I don’t have the emotional distance to tell you whether it ages well. I just love it. SEP has a knack for dealing with emotionally complex issues in a way that is light-hearted and palatable. I can’t take vast caverns of angst. I can take angst dusted with candy sprinkles of humor. And that’s the way this book serves the angst. It’s deep enough for me to really feel it, but still bearable to read. This book is my favorite reread. Like, once a year reread. I just can’t get enough of it.

This one dates back all the way to 1989. It’s set in Austin, TX (where I now live) and it’s perfect in every single way. It starts with a down-on-her-luck reporter doing a piece on a romance novelist convention. A famous novelist decides to take her under her wing as a writer. And then decides the heroine is the perfect girl for the writer’s brother who is … recovering from leukemia, I think? Anyway, it’s hilarious. It’s portrayal of Austin in the 80’s is spot on. The glimpse into the romance industry in its heyday is unforgettable. There is so much to love here! The movie, DON’T TELL HER IT’S ME is based on this book. The movie is also good … but the book is perfect. And it’s been rereleased digitally. So buy it now!!!!

I love a lot of her books, but—OMG—this one is perfect. It’s a retelling of Romeo and Juliet from the point of view of Benvolio and Rosaline. For me, the trick to a perfect retelling is when the author makes it feel like this version is the true story.
Caine does that. Reading it, I felt like, “Okay, sure, that Shakespeare version of the story is very good. But he clearly didn’t know what was really going on.” Plus, Caine makes her writing feel like Shakespeare, but it never reads clunky. It’s very accessible to a modern reader. This book is soooo underrated, I can’t even tell you! As a bonus, the audio is so beautiful it will make you weep.

And winning the award for the best book that’s underrated because it’s title is shitty … But, no, seriously. I love this book so hard. It’s a book that I stayed up until 4 on Christmas morning reading. Like, Christmas day and I’m feeding a house full of people on two hours of sleep because I could not put it down. And then … as soon as I was done, I reread it. And I’ve continued to reread it every so often because it’s amazing. And it makes me feel like Cassandra, warning the ancient Trojans about that damn horse, because no matter how often I tell people to read this book—now!—no one ever reads it! Okay, except my mom. I told her and she read it. Also, I read it because my niece put it in my hands and said, “You must read this now.” So there you have it. Three generations of women in my family have loved this book. And when my daughter has kids, I will make him or her read it too.

There are three books here, Illuminae, Gemina, and Obsidio. Someday the rest of the world will realize how amazing this story is. They will make movies and TV shows from it. The world will rejoice. And the books will—as always—still be better. All three books are YA Sci-fi. They take place in a distance future, where humanity lives far from Earth. I don’t want to say much more about the plots, but just know that they are beautiful to read in book form (because they include some unique graphics) and beautiful to listen to (because the audio has a full and amazing cast). They are terrifying and lovely. The romances are fantastic and never feel forced. The books are like a master class in writing likable characters. You’ll want to read them over and over again.

Author Recommendations- B.B. Easton

B.B. Easton

The Rain Trilogy, 44 Chapters

I devoured The Hobbit back in middle school. 

I've been craving a story about the forest and magic and maybe even fairies. Something that would transport me out of this house I've been quarantined in for the last month and into a completely different world. So I picked up A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I...AM...HOOKED. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I had escaped from this modern, mask-wearing, pandemic lockdown and was free to roam the icy wilderness of a wild new world. 

Dark Romance



Romantic Suspense



Emotional Romance



Romance with a message



Romantic Comedy



Rock Star Romance

Top 12 Films of 2019

Top 10 Books of 2019

Crushed Blog Tour

17th May 2019- This is my stop for the Crushed blog tour

Phoebe stands on Pulteney Bridge, tights gashed from toe to thigh. The shock of mangled metal and blood-stained walls flashes through her mind as she tries to cover her face so she won't be recognised. It wouldn't do to be spotted looking like this. She's missing a shoe. She feels sick. Phoebe thought murder and murder happened. Thoughts are just thoughts, they said. Now she knows they were wrong. At home, Phoebe arranges the scissors and knives so they point toward her mother's room. She is exhausted, making sure there's no trace of herself - not a single hair, not even her scent - left anywhere in the house. She must not let her thoughts unravel, because if they do, there's no telling who might be caught in the crossfire, and Phoebe will have to live with the consequences. 

Why is so much death affecting the 3 main characters- Orla, Phoebe and Grace? Are they really witches who can influence the events that occur around them?

The action started in the vert first scene/chapter of this novel with someone dying in a car accident. However, the action was very spaced out throughout the whole of the novel. A few death scenes did occur throughout the novel but they were spaced apart and few and far between. The death scenes were basically the only action scenes throughout the whole of this novel. In some places the overall story did drag and was very slow paced. 

In terms of characters I did not feel that there was much of a character profile/backstory for Orla. I would liked to have found out more about her character. I found Phoebe's character quite annoying in a lot of places as her character wasn't very happy at most points in the novel. I also found one of the relationships in the plot line very weird and did not enjoy reading about it, especially how that story line ended. 

A lot of the novel was too descriptive and they did not improve my enjoyment of reading the novel. There was too much description of their surroundings and things in my opinion that didn't really need to be described. That's why I found the overall plot slow and lacking. 

Overall, I gave this novel 2.5/5 stars. I found it very slow paced with not enough action and too much description. However, other people will like this novel because of the magic involved throughout the story line and the action/death scenes featured in the story.

     Rating 2.5/5

  .5

Before She Knew Him Blog Tour

21st March 2019- This is my stop for the Before She Knew Him blog tour

Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace. 
But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either. Could her neighbor, Matthew, be a killer? Or is this the beginning of another psychotic episode like the one she suffered back in college, when she became so consumed with proving a fellow student guilty that she ended up hurting a classmate? The more Hen observes Matthew, the more she suspects he’s planning something truly terrifying. Yet no one will believe her. Then one night, when she comes face to face with Matthew in a dark parking lot, she realizes that he knows she’s been watching him, that she’s really on to him. And that this is the beginning of a horrifying nightmare she may not live to escape. . . 

This novel had quite a slow start but as soon as the action stated the novel picked up pace. It was a gripping story line as you didn't know if Matthew really did what Hen accused him of doing and if he did then why did he commit this crime. You really wanted to be on Hen's side as you believed she was telling the truth even though she was on medication so no one else believed her, not even her own husband.

Matthew was a bit unlikeable at times as he would just hurt any man, even though it was for the reason that said man had hurt women. He also said that he would never hurt women. However, Matthew has a brother called Richard and he likes to hurt women. You had to feel sorry for Matthew's wife Mira as sometimes she didn't have a clue what her husband was doing or the trophies he liked to collect. Lloyd was also a bit of an unlikeable character as he never believed what his wife was saying about their neighbour and you could guess that he was having an affair with someone as he never wanted to be with his wife much.

Hen was a likeable character as you knew she was telling the truth about her neighbour and she just wanted other people, like the police, to believe her. She would do anything to find out the truth even if that meant putting her own life in danger because of it. Mira was a bit of a sad character as she would let her husband get her drunk and she didn't have a clue what was going on in her own home most of the time.

The action was spread throughout the novel which gave it a good pacing. The twist at the end of the novel was so unexpected and I never saw it coming. That was a total shock to me. I won't say what the twist is and if you want to know you will have to read the novel for yourself. Matthew knew how to make people think that he was telling the truth when all along he wasn't. He wanted people, especially his wife, to think that Hen was just a crazy lady living next door.


Overall, I gave this novel 4/5 stars. It is a great thriller with lots of twists and turns the whole way through. Definitely a read if you like your novels twisty and dark with lots of parts to get you thinking about what is really going on. A psychological thriller for those with dark minds.

                        Rating 4/5
   

The Puppet Show Blog Tour

28th January 2019- This is my stop for the Puppet Show blog tour. 

A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District's prehistoric stone circles. He leaves no clues and the police are helpless. When his name is found carved into the charred remains of the third victim, disgraced detective Washington Poe is brought back from suspension and into an investigation he wants no part of. Reluctantly partnered with the brilliant but socially awkward civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw, the mismatched pair uncover a trail that only he is meant to see. The elusive killer has a plan and for some reason Poe is part of it. As the body count rises, Poe discovers he has far more invested in the case than he could have possibly imagined. And in a shocking finale that will shatter everything he's ever believed about himself, Poe will learn that there are things far worse than being burned alive... 



Washington Poe was dismissed from the police for mixing up evidence in an investigation. Now there is a serial killer murdering people, setting them on fire and stringing them up like puppets in stone circles. Can Poe and his team find the killer before they claim more victims?

As the story went on the characters became more likeable. Especially as you found out more about each character as the story progressed. Poe wasn't a very likeable character at the start as he liked starting fights with people and enjoyed being on his own. Then you started to like him more as he would do everything he could to protect his friends. Tilly was a very likeable character as, although she was different from everyone, she just wanted to be liked by people. She was very smart and gained street smarts towards the end of the novel through events that happen within the story line.

The killer in the story was a bit of a surprise twist, especially when you found out who it was at the end of the novel. I was not expecting this person to be the killer. However, it did make sense when you found out the person's backstory and why they did what they did to the victims they chose. One character I didn't like was Gamble as he just wanted to take credit for the whole police investigation and wouldn't let the other officers do their jobs as he believed he was right all the time.

In terms of description there was a bit too much at some points. Such as describing every part of the scenery and not enough of the actual crime scene. You would find out everything the characters could see away from the victim's body and not the body itself. However, I did like the gory nature of describing the bodies when they were described. the overall pacing of the novel was good and I enjoyed that the action/death scenes were so spread out in the overall story. The action started from the first page of the novel and continued right until the end of the novel.

Overall, I gave this novel 4/5 stars. I enjoy reading crime stories and thriller stories. I will definitely be reading the next novel in this series when it is released later this year.

                         Rating 4/5