USA Today bestselling author Rainy Kaye

As part of my ongoing effort to be more inclusive on this blog, and not restrict it solely to the genres I am personally interested in (romance readers and others are people too and shouldn’t be ignored), I am today showcasing Rainy Kaye, USA Today bestselling author of paranormal romance and her book Summoned, the first in the summoned series

Rainy Kaye is an aspiring overlord. In the meantime, she’s a USA Today Bestselling author who writes paranormal novels.

She is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA, and has been traditionally published by Bastei Lübbe. Her works include the Summoned series, The Deepest Black, and The Withering. She has also co-authored several novels.

Her lair is located somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona, which she shares with a variety of furry creatures. You can follow them on Instagram and find out more about the author on Twitter –  Facebook – and her site

SUMMONED

Twenty-three year old Dimitri has to do what he is told – literally. Controlled by a paranormal bond, he is forced to use his wits to fulfill unlimited deadly wishes made by multimillionaire Karl Walker. Dimitri has no idea how his family line became trapped in the genie bond. He just knows resisting has never ended well.

When he meets Syd – assertive, sexy, intelligent Syd – he becomes determined to make her his own. Except Karl has ensured Dimitri can’t tell anyone about the bond, and Syd isn’t the type to tolerate secrets.

Then Karl starts sending him away on back-to-back wishes. Unable to balance love and lies, Dimitri sets out to uncover Karl’s ultimate plan and put it to an end. But doing so forces him to confront the one wish he never saw coming – the wish that will destroy him.

A dark twist on genie folklore, SUMMONED follows a reluctant criminal as he unravels the mystery of the paranormal bond controlling him.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes

 

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before-and survival, for her, is second nature. The Hunger Games is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever…

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This book is wonderful, I can’t think of any other way to describe it. Katniss Everdeen is a really great character, really well written and with plenty of emotion; she’s tough but caring, just the sort of character I like to see and read about. You don’t see as much of the other characters, so you know less about them, but that’s deliberate because the book is written in first person and everything is seen from Katniss’ perspective, but what you see is written well and nicely descriptive.

The storyline is interesting, despite the rumours that it’s a copy of a Japanese plot, and it flows well enough that you’re through the book before you realise it. The death scenes are varied, and never more graphic or gruesome than is necessary, with what I feel is the right emotion elicited with each one.

It doesn’t happen often, but the moment I finished reading this book I wanted to go back to the beginning and read it again. I think this is as good a compliment as I can give.

The Client

John Grisham

While sneaking a cigarette, 11 year old Mark Sway has the misfortune to get mixed up in the suicide of Jerome Clifford, a lawyer who is connected to the murder of a US senator. The police, the press, the public, all are interested in what Clifford might have told Mark before he killed himself, and so is The Mob, who were behind the murder; Mark’s only hope of protection lies in Reggie Love, the lawyer he hires, but she has never handled a case like this.

This is my favourite Grisham book by a mile, the characters are brought to life through the wonderfully descriptive writing, to the point that whenever I re-read the book I picture them easily and feel as though I’m right there at their shoulder, seeing everything they see.

Mark Sway and Reggie Love are the main characters, and the best, but no matter how minor a character is they get the level of description they deserve, as do all the scenes. Such is the job done by Grisham that you get caught up in Mark Sway’s swings from confidence to fear.

In some books the descriptiveness can overpower the plot and keep the story from flowing comfortably, that isn’t the case here. The technical side of things, in terms of helping the rear to understand the legal aspects of what is going on, which is so important in a Grisham novel, is neither invasive nor distracting, as is sometimes the case in his books.

If you haven’t tried a Grisham novel before, and you’re tempted, this is a good one to start with.