Review: ENCORE TO AN EMPTY ROOM by Kevin Emerson

     After finishing EXILE last summer, I was having a hard time waiting for ENCORE TO AN EMPTY ROOM to come out. I was fortunate enough to meet Kevin Emerson last fall at LitConf, and of course I told him how much I loved his book, and he was kind enough to send me an ARC of book two later that year. I was absolutely stoked to crack into it, and book two did not disappoint.
     After finding the first tape from Eli, Dangerheart is walking on a tightrope. There are more tapes out there-- or so they hope-- but juggling school, gigs, finding the tapes, and an offer they might not be able to refuse may be too much for even a group like themselves. Not to mention, Summer is struggling with college decisions, her parents wanting something for her that she's not sure she wants herself, and she finds herself between a rock and a hard place. She must choose-- Music, finding Eli's lost tapes, and Caleb... or college, and building a life for herself.
     A fantastic sequel, ENCORE explores so much of the band life that I was left (Once again) wishing that I, too, were in a band. It's the perfect mash-up of music, romance, and mystery, and I definitely hold this one high on my rec list. I give it a four star review, and sincerely hop ethat you guys will check it out!

Review: EXILE by Kevin Emerson

     I'd been wanting to read EXILE for quite a while when I finally picked it up. I wasn't sure what to expect, as it was to be my first music-y book and I am musically challenged, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I got.

     Summer's life revolves around music. She attends a school for future stars, and she loves to manage bands. The last band she managed ended up leaving her in the dust for a record deal, and she is on the prowl for a new job. 

     That's when she meets Caleb Daniels-- killer vocalist, dark and mysterious, with a big secret that got him exiled from his last band. With a little help from his new manager, Caleb gets a band together, and that's when Summer goes from band manager to band-manager-and-girlfriend-of-the-lead-singer.

      That's also when Caleb drops a bombshell on the band that lands them in the middle of something bigger than just playing music. Suddenly, the band is wrapped in a mystery they never imagined being a part of, and it gets harder and harder to keep the band together.

     EXILE has easily become one of those books that just makes you happy, for me. It's a love story, and a mystery, all swaddled in a blanket of music, and I give it four stars, easily. Not who I am. Not where I'm going. But I'll meet you there.