The Trunk by Linda Mooney

Category: Paranormal Romance
Publication date: 06/10/2019
Kindle Unlimited: No
Cliffhanger: No

OK, this makes me feel like a terrible person because there aren’t many other reviews for this book anywhere and I know that authors love their little book babies, and I’m not looking to hurt anyone’s feelings...but I’m a firm believer that reviews are for readers, not authors. So, it is only for you readers that I do this.

via GIPHY

Plot overview: Emlee survives on her own in an alien-devastated, post-apocalyptic world until she inexplicably is sent back in time to 2 days before the world went to pot. There she meets Mykail. That’s...pretty much it.

Look, I normally love post-apocalyptic fiction. I’m a huge fan of Sam Sisavath and his Babylon series. Add a little romance into the mix, and I love it even more. But this one...it was a hot mess, y’all. 

First of all, the whole “why” of the alien invasion is never even addressed. As readers, we find out nothing about the aliens. We don’t know what they wanted, why they chose Earth...nothing. We don’t even see any of them. Sometimes that works. I mean, it sort of works on The Walking Dead where we never really know for sure what caused the zombie apocalypse and all—but that’s only because the show does character deep-dives where we learn to care for everyone and truly get to know them. After reading this book, I’m not even sure what Emlee and Mykail look like, short of their hair color, let alone know anything about who they are as people. I didn’t even really know enough about them to care about them. That’s a huge problem in romance.

The romance was the second problem. Emlee and Mykail have barely met and had a couple of conversations (mostly that consisted of how and when the world was going to end) before they were having sex and “falling for” each other. It was super instalove-y. I didn’t buy it for a minute. 

The manner by which Emlee traveled back and forth through time was also super lame. (I won’t give anything away, but trust me. It was lame.) And we also never learned why Emlee traveled back through time. 

Also, if I’m in my house and some stranger breaks in, hits me with a broom, and tells me the world is going to end in 2 days, I’d be skeptical, to say the least. I probably wouldn’t cover for that person with the cops and listen intently to what they were saying. I mean, I’ve harbored as many Kyle Reese “I came across time for you” fantasies as the next girl, but even Kyle would have to explain some crap to me before I believed that he wasn’t a nut job. (A crazy-hot nut job, but still. I digress...)

via GIPHY

​But Mykail seemed to believe everything Emlee was saying really quickly. Because she was pretty? I dunno. I never really heard what she looked like. I can only assume, I guess.

(And as a brief aside to romance authors out there who include explicit sex scenes in their books. When doing so, it’s never sexy for a heroine to request oral sex by saying, “Eat me”, and then having the hero “nose her pubes” out of the way before diving in. The whole thing felt like it was written by a teenage boy and it icked me out a little. Not the oral sex—there’s nothing gross about that. But the way it was written was SUPER immature sounding. Don’t do that, authors. End PSA.)

via GIPHY

​Long-story-short, this one didn’t work for me as a post-apocalypse story, an alien invasion story, or a romance. There just wasn’t enough there, you know?  No meat on the bones, so to speak. 

Full disclosure: We received a free copy courtesy of NetGalley.          

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It’s not stigma-y, it’s just not...good.

Other reading suggestions