Secret Sky by J P McLean, a Book Review

324 pages, paranormal, fantasy, romance

Karen’s Magic Review

This book recently appeared in my series About a Book and something about it really appealed to me.

It’s the first time I’ve read one featured here, and another first, is that I am going to quote myself after reviewing a good book called Confined Spaces. I suddenly found myself yearning for something more gentle and this is what I said:

 I wanted romances. I wanted to be lulled, courted, and caressed. I wanted to watch as he traced a path with his finger down the contours of her neck. I wanted to go with them as he led her to the bedroom where they make gentle love as he takes her to the moon and back.

Two books later, I found it. I absolutely loved Secret Sky. I would say it is my best read this year, and therefore a contender for the Best Read of 2021.

Told in the first person narrative, Emelynn keeps rising upwards at the most inopportune times, and has no idea why. It turns out she is a Flyer, and it is a gift, when she learns how to use it, that is.

Three hundred and twenty four pages is a long book for me. After two hundred and fifty my interests usually wanes. This story was so beautifully written, I devoured it.

Everything I complained of missing, I found within the pages of this story. There was not a crude word in sight, yet everything was beautifully described. The words making love were soft, subtle, and lulled me into the intimate moments.

This was prose at its finest. A couple of times I had to use the dictionary on my Kindle to double check on the meaning. I learnt as I went along, and it reminded me of how alluring our language is when explored in all its variations. It brought the story alive as the author painted her words on a canvas thus enabling me to visualise every aspect of Emelynn’s life.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t buy any more books, and instead use Kindle Unlimited. Unfortunately, I broke that promise with this one, and as there are six books in The Gift Legacy series, I can’t keep buying them, and it’s disappointing to find a series I would love, that isn’t included.

#Picturestellingstories – I enjoyed doing this one. We all want to fly, and unfortunately it’s only in our dreams that we can. A lot of time is spent on Jackson’s boat when Em falls in love for the first time. It’s a beautiful cruiser and the reader spends a lot of time enjoying the vessel just as Em does. The cottage on the sea shore is the one she lived in with her parents before she and her mother left to live in Toronto, after her father died. When Emelynn moves back, she finds her father’s red sports car in the garage, and has it restored. The last picture shows how the book begins, with an accident that almost killed her.

An entertaining book that I cannot recommend highly enough. If you read it, I would love to know what you think, so please come back and comment on this post.

Description

Everybody wishes they could fly—until it happens. When Emelynn Taylor wakes up in the emergency room, her injuries present Dr. Avery Coulter with more questions than answers. Who is this guarded young woman? Why was she found in the middle of Sunset Park? How can she have injuries consistent with falling from above the tree line? Seemingly from nowhere? And, more importantly: Why is she lying about it?

The truth is stranger than anyone could have imagined – least of all Emelynn herself.

Nine years earlier, during the same summer she’d lost her father, 12-year-old Emelynn accepted a ‘gift’ from a mysterious woman called Jolene. Now, as she recovers in Dr. Coulter’s emergency room, she’s left wondering if that blessing was really more of a curse. Jolene’s gift planted the seeds of incredible power within Emelynn – but what’s the point of such abilities if you can’t control them? Her emerging gift of flight, for example, nearly killed Emelynn when it sent her plummeting to the sidewalk in Sunset Park. Next time, she might not be so lucky.

But Emelynn is determined to master her abilities, and returns to the seaside cottage where Jolene had once granted her this ‘gift.’ There, Dr. Coulter guides Emelynn in uncovering a secret society of others just like her, who inhabit a mysterious world-within-a-world that challenges everything Emelynn thought she’d known. But the more she uncovers, the murkier the truth becomes. Soon, Emelynn is left questioning the motives of those she’d trusted the most – and is forced to rely on her barely mastered powers in a desperate fight for survival.

Secret Sky is the first book in the thrilling, otherworldly The Gift Legacy series by JP McLean. Seamlessly blending paranormal mystery, fantasy, and romance, this beautifully written and deeply resonant adventure will swoop you into a vivid, new reality and leave your imagination soaring.

Secret Sky is a dark supernatural thriller, perfect for fans of JR Ward, Deborah Harkness, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, and Keri Arthur.