This is the third installment in my Auto Buy Author series.

What makes someone an auto buy author?

1. Writing. I love it when a book is well written. Sometimes the writing doesn’t have to be stellar for me to enjoy a book’s plot or characters, but when the writing is excellent, that is definitely a bonus. Auto buy authors always have, at the very least, prose that isn’t clunky.
2. Plot. There are certain types of plots that I really enjoy. I love books that keep me guessing. I love angst. I love dark academia. I love it when the writer alludes to things that have yet to be revealed to the reader. I love to be surprised.
3. Characters. I love it when I love the characters, when they feel as though they could be a friend of mine. When I root for their success (or sometimes their demise). I love characters that feel like real people.
4. The feels. I love a book that punches me in the gut, makes my eyes burn with unshed tears, or a book that makes me sob. I love a book that grabs me by the throat and shakes me until my teeth rattle, a book that makes me read way past my bedtime, until my eyes are burning.
5. The unexpected. I love a twist, especially when it’s not contrived. I love it when a book breaks my heart.

This month: Amy Engel.

Before writing her first novel for adults, Amy Engel was a YA writer…although I have never read any of her YA. (Or even encountered any, for that matter, although I do read a lot of YA.)

I think I discovered her quite by accident. Her novel The Roanoke Girls was plucked from my TBR shelf where it had been languishing for – well, I have no idea, really. According to my review, I bought it in one of those 3 for $10 sales at Indigo. Who knows why books end up in the bargain bin, but if it hadn’t, I might never have discovered this author. Engel talks about the novel here.

This book had all the things I loved: great writing, a compelling main character who is damaged, but fierce and smart, a never-ending air of menace and unease, a hot, broken guy and a lot of twists.

So, based on how much I loved this book, I was definitely on the hunt for anything else by this author. Next up, The Familiar Dark.

The Familiar Dark is almost un-put-down-able. Eve’s past has hardened her; Junie, her daughter, was the person who had smoothed out her rough edges. But now Junie is dead. Engel leads the reader and Eve down a dark path, where Eve is forced to ask questions she may not want the answers to. There are some true surprises along the way and the ending is devastating.

I waited forever for a new book by Engel after I finished with The Familiar Dark and did what I do only when I can’t wait any longer: I bought it in hard back. That book was I Did It For You. Maybe if I hadn’t read The Roanoke Girls or The Familiar Dark first, I would have liked I Did It For You more than I did. I read a lot of thrillers, and this one stacks up just fine against many of them. But I was really hoping for the sucker punch The Familiar Dark offered or the dark family secret hidden in the depths of The Roanoke Girls. For me, this just didn’t have the same emotional depth as those two books.

BUT. It was still an enjoyable read and definitely makes Amy Engel an auto buy author for me.