Reviews
Remain In Light
Great as a standalone book, or even better as part two of a grander whole, this is the rare sequel that easily outperforms its predecessor in just about any way you can name, and it comes with a highly enthusiastic recommendation. - Chicago Center for Literature & Photography
Collin layers history, mystery and travelogue to create a story that is thoughtful and substantial... immensely readable. - Marshall Moore
Filled with what-will-they-say-next characters, a suspenseful pace, and intertwining plots Remain in Light is a wickedly fun read. - Lambda Literary Review
Remain In Light is a wonderfully dark, sombre mystery steeped in Parisian culture as well as American know-how, creating its own little world you'll be glad to inhabit. - Out In Print
I settled right in and immediately felt comfortable and thrilled to be back in the world of Martin, Diane and Irene. - Baby Got Books
Remain in Light ditches the guide books and takes us on a thrill ride tour through the seedy underside of The City of Light. Fraud, squalor, prostitution, the illegal drug trade it s all here. The characters crackle with life, none of them without sin, and each of them seeking some form of absolution. Collin Kelley has crafted a story that will appeal to a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons, but I can tell you this, Remain in Light is a first class suspense novel. - Grant Jerkins, At the End of the Road and A Very Simple Crime
Remain in Light is a complex book with very real characters. It harkens back to the work of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, leaving the Champs-Élysées and prowling the back streets of Paris. The plot is full of twists and turns, dark corners and alleyways of both Paris and the human psyche. If you're looking for a light, fluffy read, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a book you can sink your teeth into, re-read and find things you missed the first time, then I highly recommend Remain in Light. -Rochelle Weber, Rock Bound and Rock Crazy
I'm in love with the characters in Remain in Light, the good, the bad, the duplicitous.. Collin Kelley has created a group of people real enough to be in the next room. The intrigue and connections are unforgettable, and the feel of Paris rings true enough to slip into a guidebook. - Jessica Handler, Invisible Sisters: A memoir
Conquering Venus
An intriguing story and fantastic writing. - Baby Got Books
Conquering Venus is an ambitious first novel. - The Next Best Book Blog
Collin Kelley's debut novel is an irresistible read. Conquering Venus is a compelling mystery and love story told through well-crafted prose. - Suite101.com
It's a compelling read, with prose that adheres to what I consider the highest standard: it flows without drawing undue attention to itself. It's a page-turner without being lighter than air and containing nothing but pleasant-smelling vapors. The characters are meticulously drawn, as is the Paris setting. There is a palpable sense of tension in the book that never boils over but keeps things moving along at an engaging simmer. Yes, I really liked it. - Marshall Moore
Kelley does a wonderful job of creating the atmosphere of Paris in the 1990’s and Paris under siege during street revolutions in the 1960’s under DeGaulle. Mr. Kelley finds a compelling way to wind each character’s story around and back from the past to the present. - Nanette Rayman-Rivera
The pages still kept flying by because the writing is delightful. It’s meaningful, truthful, and beautiful. Tons of –fuls. I really didn’t expect any less because Collin Kelley is also a poet, and it’s only natural that beauty in words would transpire into fiction. - Naughty Book Kitties blog
This stunning debut novel is everything—a poetic page-turner, a wonderful mystery, and a compelling story of self-realization. - OutSmart Magazine
Paris and The Louvre come alive in Conquering Veus, providing the scenic as well as symbolic backdrop for what is a beautifully written and absolutely riveting story about love, desire, and the conflicts that ensue as a consequence of conflicting desires. - Vanessa Daou
Kelley does an excellent job of taking us seamlessly into the paranormal scenes and back to reality, neither missing the proverbial beat or losing one bit of his hold on the reader. - New Southerner
The writing is crisp and the novel’s pace is a swift and compressed one, with finely detailed dreams, gypsy readings, hospital apparitions, undiscovered journals, and an abundance of metaphors. - Out in Print
Collin Kelley really knows how to spin a story, and we think that maybe you could benefit from being so spinned. So please do take a look, because it just might change your life. - Ben Tanzer
Kelley does quite a nice job, turning in a tidy story that was obviously well thought out and thoroughly researched; not only does it have a tight internal logic but also presents Paris in a highly realistic and evocative way - Chicago Center for Literature & Photography
Kelley carefully and masterfully creates characters who must deal with the difficult situations in their various pasts — broken marriages, betrayal, sexual confusion and dishonesty, death, suicide, and family acceptance or denial of these — and a plot that draws them together on a trip to Paris. - Helen Losse, Blogcritics
Addictive? Yeah. Poetic? Yes. Compelling? Absolutely. - Stacey Lynn Brown
Great as a standalone book, or even better as part two of a grander whole, this is the rare sequel that easily outperforms its predecessor in just about any way you can name, and it comes with a highly enthusiastic recommendation. - Chicago Center for Literature & Photography
Collin layers history, mystery and travelogue to create a story that is thoughtful and substantial... immensely readable. - Marshall Moore
Filled with what-will-they-say-next characters, a suspenseful pace, and intertwining plots Remain in Light is a wickedly fun read. - Lambda Literary Review
Remain In Light is a wonderfully dark, sombre mystery steeped in Parisian culture as well as American know-how, creating its own little world you'll be glad to inhabit. - Out In Print
I settled right in and immediately felt comfortable and thrilled to be back in the world of Martin, Diane and Irene. - Baby Got Books
Remain in Light ditches the guide books and takes us on a thrill ride tour through the seedy underside of The City of Light. Fraud, squalor, prostitution, the illegal drug trade it s all here. The characters crackle with life, none of them without sin, and each of them seeking some form of absolution. Collin Kelley has crafted a story that will appeal to a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons, but I can tell you this, Remain in Light is a first class suspense novel. - Grant Jerkins, At the End of the Road and A Very Simple Crime
Remain in Light is a complex book with very real characters. It harkens back to the work of Hemingway and Fitzgerald, leaving the Champs-Élysées and prowling the back streets of Paris. The plot is full of twists and turns, dark corners and alleyways of both Paris and the human psyche. If you're looking for a light, fluffy read, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a book you can sink your teeth into, re-read and find things you missed the first time, then I highly recommend Remain in Light. -Rochelle Weber, Rock Bound and Rock Crazy
I'm in love with the characters in Remain in Light, the good, the bad, the duplicitous.. Collin Kelley has created a group of people real enough to be in the next room. The intrigue and connections are unforgettable, and the feel of Paris rings true enough to slip into a guidebook. - Jessica Handler, Invisible Sisters: A memoir
Conquering Venus
An intriguing story and fantastic writing. - Baby Got Books
Collin Kelley's debut novel is an irresistible read. Conquering Venus is a compelling mystery and love story told through well-crafted prose. - Suite101.com
It's a compelling read, with prose that adheres to what I consider the highest standard: it flows without drawing undue attention to itself. It's a page-turner without being lighter than air and containing nothing but pleasant-smelling vapors. The characters are meticulously drawn, as is the Paris setting. There is a palpable sense of tension in the book that never boils over but keeps things moving along at an engaging simmer. Yes, I really liked it. - Marshall Moore
Kelley does a wonderful job of creating the atmosphere of Paris in the 1990’s and Paris under siege during street revolutions in the 1960’s under DeGaulle. Mr. Kelley finds a compelling way to wind each character’s story around and back from the past to the present. - Nanette Rayman-Rivera
The pages still kept flying by because the writing is delightful. It’s meaningful, truthful, and beautiful. Tons of –fuls. I really didn’t expect any less because Collin Kelley is also a poet, and it’s only natural that beauty in words would transpire into fiction. - Naughty Book Kitties blog
This stunning debut novel is everything—a poetic page-turner, a wonderful mystery, and a compelling story of self-realization. - OutSmart Magazine
Paris and The Louvre come alive in Conquering Veus, providing the scenic as well as symbolic backdrop for what is a beautifully written and absolutely riveting story about love, desire, and the conflicts that ensue as a consequence of conflicting desires. - Vanessa Daou
Kelley does an excellent job of taking us seamlessly into the paranormal scenes and back to reality, neither missing the proverbial beat or losing one bit of his hold on the reader. - New Southerner
The writing is crisp and the novel’s pace is a swift and compressed one, with finely detailed dreams, gypsy readings, hospital apparitions, undiscovered journals, and an abundance of metaphors. - Out in Print
Collin Kelley really knows how to spin a story, and we think that maybe you could benefit from being so spinned. So please do take a look, because it just might change your life. - Ben Tanzer
Addictive? Yeah. Poetic? Yes. Compelling? Absolutely. - Stacey Lynn Brown
