My Watch List: Authors You Should Be Reading

There are three things that I love most in life: Reading a good book, making a long “To Do” list, and trying a new flavor of potato chips (I’m a Chip-Connoisseur – I can often be found trying a new chip while reading a good book in a country recently checked off my “To Visit” list). Today, let’s focus on my first two loves: Reading and Lists. Everywhere I go, I see “Must Read” lists for 2013. I already feel like I’m falling behind. My lists just keeps growing and growing. Now, I know that everyone out there isn’t as obsessed with list making as I am, so I thought I’d share mine with you! This particular list is of authors I want to KEEP reading. If they want to share it, I want to read it!


Here is My Watch List Part One of BookRix authors you should be reading (and why).




1. Stanley Mcqueen

Just one of his many stories (free and for sale) found on BookRix!

Stanley’s stories are filled with humor, life lessons and the realities of back country life. They are just so darn charming that the charm often seeps off the pages of my Kobo and ends up all over me and I’m suddenly saying “Howdy” and “Y’reckin?”, calling my cowboy of a father up on the phone just to chat about car reconstruction and “the good ol’ days”. When you finish reading the first one you realize you’re holding an open-ended ticket to Muddy Fork, longing to return to the corn fields blowing in the breeze of a sunny afternoon and the wild country parties with moonshine smuggled in your britches. You can read ‘em all in The Folks of Muddy Fork, or try out one or two sold separately (he also has free books!). Here is a great quote from “A Kevin Review: The Folks of Muddy Fork“:

These are very diverse stories executed with wit, depth and sensitivity. I feel like I’ve known these people, their town, their concerns, for a long time. “Crazy” old codgers who’d survived a life of loneliness and isolation with the company of and caring for possums and a talking eagle who promised to fly the old boy “home”, when his time came to go, which reads like a tender Indian tale of the trip past the pain of physical existence and its suffering who was befriended, adopted and buried as family almost. Just plain beautiful.


2. Jess Wygle

Available in the eBook stores next week!

Jess writes a thriller that you can’t put down because you’re too worried what might happen if you do. After I finished Evol, I was looking behind me everywhere I went and checking the corners of my apartment for at least a week, until I had to finally convince myself that it was “just a book”. I’m not the only one who thinks Jess writes a good thriller, here is an excerpt from “A Kevin Review: Keep It Safe” from last week:

This “shortie” reads fast and tense, punctuated by a few short breaths and some panting… In a flash Parker’s life switches from routine boredom to blinking, open-mouthed amazement and she ponders what might’ve happened had she left just a minute or three later, “…I would still be so naive and oblivious to the evils and wrong-doings in this world.” According to Jess Wygle this is the first book she’s finished yet her ability to grab the shirt collar and sweep us along through Parker’s wide-eyed, naïve bumbling discoveries is impressive.

And it’s not just that she writes a good thriller, she also writes non-fiction and romance. If you’re looking for a heartwrenching short story, check out her free book Indelible.

3. Patrick Sean Lee (felixthecat)

Like nothing you've read before - this book has it all!

He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere. As a BookRix member, if you don’t already know felixthecat then you don’t really know BookRix. He’s a reader and a writer, stopping by to encourage fellow members on their latest work of creative genius, all the while writing non-stop pages of brilliance himself. Amazing! His book Valeriya recently won second place in the Flash Fiction contest and is absolutely worth a read. If you’re into nostalgia mixed with humor and adventure, visit some of my favorite recurring BookRix characters, Skip and Jimmy, in Frankensnake.  I never tire of reading about their crazy antics and it makes me wish I could be a kid again, getting in trouble without any real life repercussions. Those were the days! Also, make sure you check out his most recent book, that he’s sharing on the site one wondrous chapter at a time, Closer to Heaven.
Don’t take my word for it – check out one of his many rave reviews from a fellow BookRix member:

“Angels, vagrants, anti-ageing, teen romance, unrequited love. – This book has it all! The title of the book led me to believe its contents would be a blend of intrigue, excitement, passion, romance and enchantment. It was a pleasure to find the pages within contained this and more. My only regret is that I have taken so long to read this remarkable story.” -chrisc



Stay tuned for My Watch List Part Two – coming soon!