Carries Book Reviews

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**

After the last couple of weeks of barely staying below by goal amount I’m glad to have a week where I didn’t go too terribly crazy. I do have five new titles to share this week that all look great so let’s just hope the old towering TBR has room in it’s branches.

As always clicking the covers will take you to the book on Amazon!**

New additions from Netgalley May 12th  – May 19th

They buried their secrets, but not deep enough…

Hannah McCullough’s life is far from perfect, but you’d never know it by looking at her. Instead, you’d see a beautiful young mother wholly devoted to her two children and a docile wife utterly besotted with her self-made millionaire husband, Allan. You’d see the designer clothes she wears, the luxury car she drives, the dewy-eyed au pair she employs.

You wouldn’t see the dark secret she carries.

But when a construction crew unearths the body of a young girl near the McCulloughs’ vacation home on Orcas Island, Hannah has no choice but to confront her past. She wonders how much Allan knows about the victim and the apocalyptic cult she was connected to. Meanwhile, Allan can’t seem to understand why his beautiful young bride, as polished and pristine as the collectible artifacts in his glass case, would threaten their fairy-tale lifestyle by digging too deep, in places she knows she shouldn’t.

As the police investigation into the gruesome discovery deepens, the facade of Hannah’s picture-perfect marriage starts to crumble, and she soon finds herself on a dire hunt for answers. And Hannah’s search takes an unexpected turn after she crosses paths with three strangers with shocking secrets of their own.

One impulsive decision changes the lives of two best friends forever in a powerful novel of suspense by the USA Today bestselling author of The Last Caretaker.

If Lark and Mikki didn’t have each other, they’d have nothing in this miserable town. So the best friends stick together, working night shift at the highway travel stop, going nowhere fast. Until a stranger drops in, heading for Florida, and Mikki impulsively leaves with him, never to be seen again.

Eight years later, Lark is finally getting her life back together for the sake of her young daughter and Mikki’s lovably prickly grandma, who can no longer care for herself. People have almost stopped blaming Lark for Mikki’s disappearance, and she’s engaged to the nicest guy on highway patrol. But when the stranger who drove Mikki away reappears and asks for her, nobody knows what to believe.

As the search reignites, Lark fights to find out whether Mikki is really missing or doesn’t want to be found. But piecing together the chain of events set into motion that fateful night could threaten everything—and everyone—Lark has left.

A new standalone legal thriller from the international bestselling author of GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

Charlie Webb is a third rate lawyer who graduated from a third rate law-school and, because he couldn’t get hired by any of the major law firms, has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court appointed cases. Described as “a leaky boat floating down the stream of life,” Charlie has led unremarkable life, personally and professionally. Until he’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested – again – for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he’s also an accomplished card shark and burglar and while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner’s safe.

Not knowing what else Sabatani has stolen, Webb negotiates the return of the painting and “other items’ for the owner dropping charges against Sabatini. But the contents of the flash drive threatens very powerful figures who are determined to retrieve it, the restaurant owner (Gretchen Hall) and her driver (Yuri Makarov) are being investigated for the sex trafficking of minors, and there are others who have a violent grudge against Sabatini. When a minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie Webb, an insignificant lawyer assigned to an insignificant case, is faced with the most important, and deadliest, case of his life. Going back to his long-time bestselling roots, Phillip Margolin returns with a brilliant standalone legal thriller in the tradition of John Grisham.

A vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love in this epic and seductive gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s story: Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims.

But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches—and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn in twenty-first-century London, when she meets another woman, Iris, who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. Yet she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris while Iris is equally mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by outside forces. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has fangs: Dracula is on the prowl once more.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness has always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

Innkeeper Holly White is decking the halls this Christmas season, but someone is on the naughty list when a body is discovered in the fifth installment in the Christmas Tree Farm mystery series from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.

It’s Christmastime in Mistletoe, Maine, and the Historical Society has launched a widespread campaign to celebrate the town’s 150th anniversary. Descendants of the founding family, the Snows, have returned for the first time, and Holly is determined to make the family’s visit magical. In an attempt to put Mistletoe on the map, Holly’s mother, a respected local baker, attempts to break a record by baking the world’s largest gingerbread man, but her plans are whisked away when Mr. Snow’s body ends up in the batter. 

When Mr. Moore, the local mistletoe farmer, is accused of the crime, Holly reprises her role as amateur sleuth to protect the sweet older man. Between hosting the inconsolable Mrs. Snow and other guests at the inn, receiving threatening messages telling her to stop her investigation, and preparing for her first wedding anniversary with Sheriff Evan Gray, she might need a Christmas miracle to survive.

When someone breaks into Holly’s office and scratches a warning into her desk, she knows she has little time left. Can Holly uncover the killer before someone else gets burned, or is her involvement a recipe for trouble?

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**

Riot
L. L. Ash, Pax Sinclair
(Hard Rock Girls Series, #1)
Publication date: May 12th 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

“He saved me in that group home when everything I’d ever loved was stripped away. He saved me with his smile, his kindness, and his guitar.”

Tayler

I’m the leftovers that nobody wanted; a casualty of the foster system. Now that I’m 18, I have nowhere to go. No job, no home, but I have my bestie Haze by my side, and together we’re going to make it. I love music. Yeah, everybody says that, but I know I have what it takes. We’re going to find a way to reach the top. Kind of like Dakota, the front man for Kings of Ash, except not as a-hole-ish and muscley as him. Ugh, the muscles. We were in foster care together, me, Dakota, and Haze. That’s where I fell in love with him. But, he was older than me and got kicked out of the group home when I was only fifteen. The guy ripped my effing heart out as he walked out that door. It’s a shame, really. He’s the only person in the world who ever really understood my love and need for music. He saved me in that group home when everything I’d ever loved was stripped away. He saved me with his smile, his kindness, and with his guitar. Since then, Dakota has changed and hardened in more ways than one. I’ve been trying my best to avoid him, but our paths have crossed and now he’s back, famous and hotter than ever.

Dakota

I gaze at Tayler for the last time while my mind repeats the same mantra: she’s your foster sister, you can’t be in love with her. But every part of me screams otherwise as I walk out of that group home. Aging out of the foster system at 18, I left behind a 15-year-old girl who knew I couldn’t stay. It broke her heart, but it’s better to be hated than to be in jail for loving her. Letting go of her was the toughest thing I’ve ever done, but I had to chase my music and put her behind me. Plenty of women came and went in my life, but none could fill the void that she left behind. It was always the music that drove me forward, pushing me to become a part of the punk Seattle music scene as the front man for Kings of Ash. Just when I thought I had moved on from Tayler for good, she blows back into my life–smoking hot and determined to make her mark. Even though she despises me for abandoning her all those years ago, I can’t help but admit to myself that I still want her. No, I don’t just want. I need.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

I fell in love with a girl who’s way too young for me, and now that I’m eighteen, she’s my ticket to jail if I ever tried following through with any of the twisted debauchery I really want to do.

When she’s eighteen though? All bets are fucking off.

When the song she’s singing for me is over, I listen to her husky, alto voice trail off and close my eyes. I can’t even explain what it does to me, other than it feels kind of the same as cool aloe over a sunburn. I can’t get enough of it.

The sun is setting and we’ve got to go inside. Dinner is over and curfew will set in pretty soon, so I walk her into the house and to the room she shares with Haze.

“Will I get to see you tomorrow before you leave?” she asks.

I shrug.

“I don’t know. I’ll be leaving pretty early. Got the first shift.”

She frowns, a lone tear sliding down her cheek.

“I’ll wake up early to say goodbye. I really want you to have this. So, when you’re lonely, you still have a little piece of me with you.”

Tayler presses her locket into my hand and my heart fucking breaks.

I can’t take it.

This piece of nickel and tin is her most precious possession in the world. The pictures inside are all she has left of her family after her asshole aunt sent her to rot in foster care while she took in her other, younger two siblings. I still can’t get that to make sense to me. What kind of a selfish prick would you have to be to abandon your niece because she’s ‘too old ’and take in her siblings because they’re, what, cuter? Easier to mold?

I’m angry for her.

It’s too late. She puts the locket in my hand and closes my fist around it, then pulls me in for another hug.

“I’m going to get a job so I can have a cell phone, then we can talk at night and stuff even if we can’t see each other every day.”

I nod, squeezing her hard because I know I won’t be able to see her much. Not often enough anyway.

I press a kiss to the top of her head and take in the generic scent of something chemically and fruity in her hair. She might smell like all the other girls in the place, but there’s something special about the scent on her.

She pulls back and looks me in the face.

“I love you,” she whispers.

I smile, even though those words mean something completely different to her than they do to me. She loves me like a brother, I love her like a woman.

“Take care, kid,” I tell her, unable to reciprocate the words through my suddenly swollen throat.

She nods, tears pooling in her eyes before they go crashing down her cheeks.

I need to leave her soon, or I won’t be able to at all.

Tearing myself away, I feel a legitimate piece of me going with her as I turn my back, heading straight to my shared room.

The next couple years are going to be some of the hardest of my life, waiting for her. Then again, which is harder, having her but not being able to have her, or not having her at all?

I lay on my bed for a few hours, watching time slip by, knowing she’s just in the other room. It would be so much easier to just curl up with her and spend my last hours cuddling, but I can’t. I fucking can’t!

Four o’clock approaches and I growl, giving up on sleep. Ain’t no rest for the wicked, they say.

I gather my duffel bag and the paperwork that my advocate gave me days ago, including my Social Security card and a birth certificate.

Holy shit, I’m on my own.

I heft my bag over my shoulder, positive that I won’t be able to last another goodbye with Tayler without breaking down and sobbing like a baby, telling her all the things I’m fucking scared of. I need to be strong for her and, right now, that means leaving.

Looking at the locket that I’d kept in my hand as I laid there, unable to sleep, I press a kiss to it the same way Tayler had so many times when she was missing her family more than usual.

With one last surge of strength, I drop the necklace on my pillow and turn, leaving it all behind.

My future awaits me, and as scary as it is, I have to face it head-on if I’m going to make something of myself. My parents fucked up their chance at life, but I’m not going to. I’m going to work hard, make a name for myself, and eventually, I’m going to be on a stage, playing and singing for tens of thousands of people.

First things first… I have to put one foot in front of the other, until I’m walking out of this group home’s front door forever.

Author Bio:

L.L. Ash is a Washington-born writer who has traveled and lived across the western coast of the US. Ash has been writing fiction since she was a pre-teen, and while her writing has improved since then, her love for literature has not changed.

Oftentimes you can find Ash reading an indie romance or enjoying a historical fiction. Dabbling in culinary arts and music, Ash has been an artist for decades but found her true love and passion in romances.

Author links:

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

erotic.

Pax lives and works in Silicon Valley. She’s a California native.

Author links:

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**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**

Title: The Switch

Author:  Lily Samson

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books

Publication Date: May 28, 2024

Page Count:  384

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

Two couples. One twisted game of love and obsession. A dark domestic thriller about the dangerous secrets that come to light when a wild fantasy turns sinister. . .

When young couple Elena and Adam are offered the chance to house-sit in their dream neighborhood for a few months, they jump at the opportunity. The leafy South London enclave is a world away from everything they know, complete with grand homes, lush gardens, and quaint local coffee shops.  

Soon Elena crosses paths with the beautiful and enigmatic artist Sophia and her husband, Finn, and she and Adam are pulled into their orbit. Sophia is everything Elena isn’t—glamorous, alluring, successful—and Finn exerts a mysterious pull on Elena that she can’t seem to shake.

Elena’s infatuation with Finn grows stronger by the day, and when Sophia proposes a thrilling game to her new friend—to swap partners in secret—Elena quickly agrees. It’s not long before Elena experiences a sexual awakening that blossoms into an illicit love affair, but Sophia’s plans are far more dangerous than Elena could ever have imagined. . .

The Switch by Lily Samson is a deliciously twisted and suspenseful domestic thriller novel. The story in The Switch does change the point of view between two of the characters and also stars off changing the timeline between now and then.

Elena and Adam are happily married if not a bit settled into their relationship so when the couple get the chance to housesit in a well to do neighborhood they never could afford of course they jump at the chance. Quickly settling in to their new life Elena really doesn’t want their time in the new home to come to an end.

Elena then meets the beautiful and charismatic artist, Sophia, and hopes that the two can hit it off and become friends. As Elena meets Sophia’s husband Finn she also develops a bit of a crush on both partners of the sophisticated couple. That’s when Sophia suggests the women take control of their relationships and swap partners for a night, unbeknownst to the men.

I’m going to admit right off the bat that The Switch by Lily Samson is one of those books that I finished and thought to myself What. the. Heck. I mean really going into this one I was thinking the same thing but it certainly did live up to the dark and twisted description and to be honest I actually found myself enjoying the craziness. I’d say you probably need to suspend disbelief to completely enjoy this but if looking for a zany over the top suspense then this might be for you.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Lily Samson studied English at Oxford University and works in publishing. She divides her time between London and Paris, where her French partner resides. In her spare time, she enjoys watching Hitchcock movies and moonlighting as a freelance artist. The Switch is her US adult debut.

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**

Title: Everything We Never Said

Author:  Sloan Harlow

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: May 28, 2024

Page Count:  320

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

Dark romance, high stakes, and plot twists abound in this paperback original YA thriller that’s perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover.

What you don’t know can hurt you….

It’s been months since the accident that killed Ella’s best friend, Hayley, and Ella can’t stop blaming herself. Now Ella is back at school, and everywhere she looks are reminders of her best friend—including Sawyer, Hayley’s boyfriend. Little by little, they grow closer, until Ella realizes something horrifying . . . 

She’s in love with her dead best friend’s boyfriend. 

Racked with guilt, Ella turns to Hayley’s journal, hoping she’ll find something in the pages that will make her feel better about what’s happening. Instead, she discovers that Sawyer has secrets of his own and that his relationship with Hayley wasn’t as picture-perfect as it seemed. 

Ella knows she should stay away but finds herself inextricably drawn to him—and scared of everything she never knew about him. Perhaps it’s his grief. Or maybe his desires, cut short by tragedy. Or could it be something twisted only Hayley knew about? 

A dark, romantic thriller perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Laura Nowlin, Everything We Never Said explores the secrets in even the best of friendships and asks how well you ever know the ones you love.

Everything We Never Said by Sloan Harlow is a young adult novel that starts off feeling more like a contemporary romance but then takes a turn into a suspenseful thriller. The story in Everything We Never Said is one that switches the point of view between the main characters but also is told through reading past diary entries.

Ella has been recovering for months from an automobile accident that she feels was entirely her fault. Every day Ella has struggled with dealing with the loss of her best friend, Hayley, in that accident and now she needs to return to school which will never be the same with Hayley gone.

Everywhere Ella turns there are reminders of Hayley but the biggest reminder comes when Ella sees Sawyer, Hayley’s boyfriend. The more time Ella spends around Sawyer the closer they become but Ella doesn’t feel that falling for Sawyer is fair to Hayley. To get some perspective into Hayley’s life before Ella begins to read her diary but what she reads shows a very dark side to Hayley’s life she never knew existed.

Everything We Never Said by Sloan Harlow is a debut novel so going in I didn’t know what to expect but when finishing I actually found I enjoyed this story. The book may not be for everyone with it really feeling like it switches genres but being someone that loves both genres I was fine with the slow healing, romance building beginning before the suspense kicks in. Things take a nice twist and pick up adrenaline as you move through this one so if you enjoy a cross genre story this one may be for you.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Sloan Harlow was interested in writing from a very young age. Everything We Never Said is her debut novel. She lives in Georgia with her black cat, Pabu, where she’s trying to eat as much ube ice cream as possible.

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**

Title: Seven Summers

Author:  Paige Toon

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Page Count:  447

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

Six summers to fall in love. One summer to change everything.

Liv and Finn meet six summers ago working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy they are bound together inextricably. But Finn’s life is in LA with his band, and Liv’s is in Cornwall with her family – so they make a promise. Finn will return every year, and if they are single they will spend the summer together.

This summerLiv crosses paths with Tom – a mysterious new arrival in her hometown. As the wildflowers and heather come into bloom, they find themselves falling for one another. For the first time Liv can imagine a world where her heart isn’t broken every autumn. Now Liv must make an impossible choice. And when she discovers the shocking reason that Tom has left home, she’ll need to trust her heart even more . . .

Seven Summers by Paige Toon is a contemporary romance novel that will definitely pull at the heartstrings over and over again. The story in Seven Summers is just as the title suggests one that takes place over years of time going back to the summers the characters spent with one another.

Just after school Liv had her life planned out that she would spend that summer earning money so she could then leave Cornwall and follow her life’s dream of becoming a sculptor. Liv met Finn that summer and the two were immediately drawn to one another but destined to take different paths with Finn heading to L.A. to become a musician.

Tragedy hits Liv before she can follow her dreams and from that moment she knows her life needs to be in Cornwall with her family. Finn is still set to leave so the two make a pact that each year Finn will visit and if they are both still single they will spend their summer together but if either moves on in between then it will be over between them.

Seven Summers is the first book I’ve read by author Paige Toon and I will admit I almost passed this one by and that would have been a terrible choice. Thankfully something stood out about this one and I went ahead and picked it up and boy what a emotional rollercoaster ride it was until the very end. I enjoyed not only the main characters but those around them and as the years went by I couldn’t read fast enough to know how it would all come around in the end. Definitely one I’d recommend checking out and another author to come back to someday for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Paige Toon grew up between England, Australia, and America and has been writing emotional love stories since 2007. She has published fifteen novels, a three-part spin-off series for young adults, and a collection of short stories. Her books have sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. She lives in Cambridgeshire, England, with her husband and their two children. Only Love Can Hurt Like This is her first novel published in the US.