Author Spotlight: M. Verano

Cover art courtesy of Goodreads

Here's the first of hopefully many author spotlight posts! Upon reading two books of his, I had to go a little more in depth on the mystery and books surrounding author M. Verano.

I've read 2 of Verano's 3 Diary of a Haunting books, the first one Diary of a Haunting, and the upcoming third one Book of Shadows. These books are definitely not for the faint of heart, and you really need to love thrillers to even pick them up (how about those creepy covers huh?). The premise behind these novels is that they are diaries detailing horrific paranormal events, the first following a family that lives in what seems to be a possessed house and the third following a group who engages with a demonic book. I really enjoy horror/thrillers, so I was immediately drawn to these books.

Cover art courtesy of Goodreads

The first, the original Diary of a Haunting, was pretty good. Paige, her brother, and her mother recently moved into an old house and things start to go wrong, and fast. The ending of this book was a crazy twist, and overall earned a 4 star rating from me.

The third, Book of Shadows, followed 4 teenagers, Melanie, Caleb, Lara, and Lucas, as they entangle their beginner practices of witchcraft with a powerful demonic Book of Shadows and all hell breaks loose. This was definitely not as good as the first. I didn't connect with the characters as much, and the writing left something to be desired, so I only gave it 3 stars.

The second book, Possession, is still on my radar to read!

Cover art courtesy of Goodreads

That leaves the author, the mysterious M. Verano, who is supposedly a professor of history and a purveyor of the paranormal at the University of Idaho. But Verano is also a character in his own books...so are they fiction or nonfiction? Obviously fiction, but then who is the author? From the beginning I knew M. Verano had to be a pen name, and after a little digging I found I was right. M. Verano is actually Amy Ross, and it doesn't appear that she's released anything other than these 3 books. Not sure how I feel about the whole pen name bit, because although I love the mystery surrounding it, I always end up disappointed when I find out who the real author is.

Have you read any of the Diary of a Haunting books, and what did you think?

Thanks so much to Edelweiss+ and Simon Pulse for the advanced digital copy of Book of Shadows! Book of Shadows was recently released on September 19th!