Secrets of the Catalogue - Amelia Spencer

When Emerson Blackwell discovers a secret library in New York City where the books are doorways into magical worlds, it seems like she's found the perfect adventure. But as Emerson begins to explore the Catalogue, she is drawn into a world filled with secrets and more questions than answers.

Genre: Fantasy, romantasy

Pages: 320

Series: Book one of The Librarians series

Blurb:
Emerson Blackwell’s world shattered the night her mother perished when their cottage in Maine burned to the ground. Unable to face her new reality, Emerson booked a one-way train to New York City. For eight years, she found solace in New York's bustling streets and tried to forget the trauma of her past, but it all comes rushing back when she discovers a hidden library deep within the heart of the city.

Guided by the cryptic Librarian, Ezekiel Glasberg, Emerson discovers that the books from this Library are not ordinary reading material. They are portals to parallel universes and the Library’s Catalogue allows readers to physically enter its books.

Inside one of the books, Emerson encounters her mother, Iris, and learns that she didn’t die in that fire eight long years ago. Iris reveals that the Catalogue is governed by The Central Library, which has been pursuing her for publishing supposedly dangerous and unsanctioned books.

Emerson finds herself thrown into an adventure where the books she reads often become too real for comfort and she is forced to confront her tragic past. Along the way, she rekindles a romance with her first love, who reveals that he is working with Emerson’s mother against The Central Library. However, tensions rise when Emerson finds herself drawn to the son of The Central Library’s Head Librarian.

It’s up to Emerson to determine whether her mother is a villain pushing dangerous books into the Catalogue, or whether The Central Library has something to hide.