Remember in my last post that I started a second book right after finishing “The Paris Wife?” Now the time has come to explain.

It all started with Al. He was hired, on a freelance basis, to work as a graphic designer for this Virginia Beach-based company – Empress World Publishing.

After Al’s first team meeting, the owner & CEO Sirrico Whitfield (a.k.a. Rico) gave him several of the books that they have published. You can read Rico’s bio here. One of them was a novel that Rico wrote called “Luna Morba: What A Wonderful World.”

Let’s back up for a hot second. I’m a realist. I’ve never really been into fantasy, sci-fi, or horror. However, the description of Luna Morba reeled me in:

In Sirrico’s first young adult novel, Cameron Dewitt, who is fresh out of college, has the world at his feet. No longer chasing the love of his life that cheated on him, Cameron accepts a teaching job in Virginia in hopes that he can gain a fresh start at life. But when he stops at the I-55 North rest stop just across the Tennessee state line he doesn’t realize it will change his life forever. After a night full of events that he can scarcely remember, he wakes up in a local hospital, where he is told he was in a terrible car accident. The pieces will soon fall into place as Cameron meets Valena. He quickly learns that nothing could have prepared him for her. Their meeting will lead to Cameron being forced to choose between his past or embracing his future as he is thrown into a feud he has nothing to do with. An unexpected romance and unavoidable changes push him further into an unknown world where he learns many things about himself and his purpose in life.

Expect the unexpected as everything is not what it seems.

Al handed me the book and within minutes, I was hooked. Cameron’s character was as real as it got – and someone that I could relate to, in a way. I’ve never cheated, but I knew how it felt to graduate and start exploring an unknown world.

Long story short, I read through 7/8 of the book in just over two hours. It was so good! It was a great mix of tragedy and comedy. There’s a lot of love and loss, and plenty of plot twists.

As I mentioned in “The Paris Wife” review, I enjoy books best when I can see characters or scenes when I put the book down. “Luna Morba” went an extra step – Rico didn’t go overboard with physical descriptions/depictions of the characters – so it was surprisingly easy to picture the characters when I put the book down.

I was pleasantly surprised that I was so taken with this “supernatural thriller.” I look forward to reading more of Rico’s work – I hope he writes more novels!

I highly recommend this book – It has a little something for everyone!

5 out of 5 stars.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂