Review: A Kiss For Emily by JP Galuska

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

Publication Date

January 2012

Publisher

Self-Published

Available At

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Emily didn't know that falling in love would place her smack-dab in the middle of chaos, or question her own sanity. But after the strange occurrences turn into the unbelievable, it becomes a race against time to save Emily from none other, than the good-guys.

Review

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Mystery, intrigue, romance. That is what you will get when stepping into A Kiss For Emily, but that's not all, there is also an element of the paranormal. You may ask, what? But all I can say is that it's not vampires, werewolves, or fae.

I wasn't completely enamored of Emily, but I did like her. She was smart, but also naive. She was strong, but also weak(not in physical terms). She was deep, but also shallow. In other words, she seemed real, at times outshining my expectations, others falling into them. There was one thing in particular that I absolutely detested about Emily. I'll try to be as vague as possible. When Emily finds out something unappealing she cringes away instead of reaching out to help, she judges on a level that she has no right to and she does all this basically because she's too wrapped up in something else to think properly. She does end up feeling remorse, but it was too little, too late and she easily drops the issue without a second thought. That was my only major dislike, the part that won't allow me to completely love Emily as a character.

The other characters, I absolutely adored. Galuska has captured family dynamics in a way that simply catapults the story. Often times in YA books the parents are either absent or oblivious, Emily's parents are neither. They were the glue that held this book together, the family stuck together as they worked together. The reader can feel the effusion of family love as it seeps off the pages and into our hearts.

The plot was so incredibly twisted that when each new twist would appear, I was left shocked. The first part of A Kiss For Emily was somewhat slow as the reader is allowed to acclimatize to the characters, gaining few insights as to what the paranormal may be. Once the twists start piling up, they hit hard. The reader will easily be swept away by the intrigue. The romance was just pure sweet, the take-your-breath-away kind that is pure swoonable. Humor is also laced within, adding a needed reprieve from the many serious situations that present themselves. 

Once the book ends the reader will be eager for the next, I know I am. Recommended to all paranormal lovers that are itching for a new, refreshing story to blow your mind.