Carries Book Reviews

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Title: Better Left Unsent

Author:  Lia Louis

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Page Count:  380

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

About the book:

So many ways to torpedo your career and your love life… So little time.

A woman accidentally reveals all her secrets in this witty and charming novel from the author of Eight Perfect Hours.

Two years ago, thirty-year-old receptionist Millie Chandler had her heart spectacularly broken in public. Ever since, she has been a closed book, vowing to keep everything to herself—her feelings, her truths, even her dreams—in an effort to protect herself from getting hurt again.

But Millie does write emails—sarcastic replies to her rude boss, hard truths to her friends, and of course, that one-thousand-word love declaration to her ex who is now engaged to someone else. The emails live safely in her drafts, but after a server outage at work, Millie wakes up to discover that all her emails have been sent. Every. Single. One.

As every truth, lie, and secret she’s worked so hard to keep only to herself are catapulted out into the open, Millie must fix the chaos her words have caused, and face everything she’s ever swept under the carpet.

With her signature “tender and heartwarming” (Anstey Harris, author of When I First Held You) prose, Lia Louis presents another unforgettable and moving novel that is perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle and Emily Henry.

Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis would probably be classified as a contemporary romance novel but I was thinking of it more as a contemporary drama with a side of romance. And of course some of the story is in the form of reading emails that have been accidently sent.

Millie Chandler works as a receptionist where she sends and receives company emails daily. A few years ago Millie started a folder in her email account that are the words she’d love to say to others in her life but would never actually send them, a diary of sorts to deal with her emotions in the form of unsent emails.

One day Millie is called into the office and reprimanded for her over use of the email system. You see, there was a server outage and somehow the hundreds of random thoughts kept in that private folder have been sent to their unintended recipients. Things her boss never should have heard, relationship complications, family obligations and so on and so forth all being released has Millie’s life tossed into chaos.

Lia Louis is an author that I have read several times before and have always really enjoyed with the books being really emotional and pulling at the heartstrings so that is what I expected with Better Left Unsent. Unfortunately I didn’t really find that emotional connection that I had before with this novel so I was a little disappointed. The idea behind this one was good but as the story went along it got a little repetitive going back to the emails again and again as time passes and I would have preferred a bit more romance to balance out the drama. Overall, three and a half stars for me and fingers crossed the author’s next will be back to what I expected.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Lia Louis lives in the United Kingdom with her partner and three young children. Before raising a family, she worked as a freelance copywriter and proofreader. She was the 2015 winner of Elle magazine’s annual writing competition and has been a contributor for Bloomsbury’s Writers and Artist’s blog for aspiring writers. She is the author of Somewhere Close to Happy and Dear Emmie Blue.

**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: A Margin for Murder

Author:  Lauren Elliott

Publisher: Kensington Cozies

Publication Date: April 26, 2022

Page Count:  322

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

In the riveting new mystery from the USA Today bestselling author, a murder and a missing first edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses send rare bookstore owner Addie Greyborne on an investigation to challenge even the most distinguished of bibliophiles…

Addie leaves her Greyborne Harbor bookstore, Beyond the Page Books and Curios, in the capable hands of her assistant while she travels to bookmobile to attend a book sale at a library that is closing due to lack of funding. But the real find is a bookmobile bus, which she’s excited to refit as a traveling bookstore to hit all the summer festivals. The bookmobile also holds a surprising treasure: several classic first editions and an early edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses.
 
But before the bookmobile can be delivered to Addie, a fatal car crash occurs. When an autopsy reveals poison in the victim’s system and the first editions go missing, it’s up to Addie to determine what would drive someone to murder. If she’s not careful, however, she may be the next one to be dead on arrival . . .

A Margin for Murder by Lauren Elliott is the eighth book in the cozy Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series. Each book of this series contains it’s own mystery that will be solved so they can be read as a standalone or in any order if choosing to do so. Of course there is some character development that carries over from book to book for those that follow the series from the beginning.

In the first book of this series, Murder by the Book, readers were introduced to Addison Greyborne who had returned to her hometown, a small New England town that had been named for her ancestors back in Colonial times, Greyborne Harbor. Addie had been still recovering from the murder of her fiance, her father dying in a tragic accident and then had found out a long lost aunt had also died but left her whole estate to Addie.

Addie’s inheritance had given her the opportunity to start over and continue to work with books after leaving her job at the Boston Public Library. With her aunt having so many rare books in her collection and the funds to open a shop Addie decided to open Beyond the Page bookstore. Now Addie has left the bookstore in the hands of her assistant as she heads to Pen Hollow for a huge book sale. While the books were the pull to the sale Addie finds something even better to buy, a bookmobile. However, just after purchase the bookmobile is involved in an accident which unfortunately leads to another murder to investigate before Addie is allowed to leave town and return home.

The Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series is another cozy series that i have followed from the beginning and enjoy each trip back to Greyborne Harbor. This series is definitely one for readers with each new edition involving books and the main character’s extensive knowledge of them. I wouldn’t say this one is the normal over the top quirky and humorous type that I usually get hooked on but there are a few laughs and a great murder mystery in each new installment of the series to keep me returning again and again.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Lauren Elliott is the USA Today bestselling author of the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery Series. She grew up devouring Nancy Drew, graduated to Agatha Christie, and then began writing her own mysteries, as well as bringing her passion for storytelling to careers in professional theater and journalism. She can be found online at LaurenElliottAuthor.com. 

**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.**

Nights of Ink & Blade
Nikita Cassidy
(The Rift Chronicles, #2)
Publication date: May 9th 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Everything Nova knew about her identity is a lie.

Truth is a scarce commodity on the island. Nova Lennox learned that the hard way.

What was supposed to be a brief stay turned into a dangerous game of survival. More secrets emerged. And the people who hold the information Nova needs–her boyfriend’s parents–are refusing to help.

But there’s someone.

Fae Prince Ramiel–cocky and not exactly her friend. However, he could give Nova what she seeks. She has no choice but to grab onto this opportunity. Instead of leaving the island with her boyfriend to start a new life after the nightmare they endured, Nova embarks on a journey into a realm of magical creatures and unknown danger to find out the truth about her parents. She owes it to her late mother.

But she also fears what she might discover in this treacherous place.

Goodreads / Amazon

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Start with book 1 – Days of Flesh & Bone – today!

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EXCERPT:

The night was restless once Killian left.

As I lay in bed, sleep eluded me for what seemed like hours on end, and when I was finally able to pass out after taking one of Jasmin’s pills, the nightmare that had been haunting me ever since the encounter with the horde reappeared.

There, in my dream, I could hear the wolves howling, their cries mournful, and the sound was so chilling that I felt shivers all over my body. Something primal within me stirred. An instinct, perhaps. An instinct I didn’t fully comprehend. But the call of the wolves reached out to the deepest part of my being and every nerve ending in me burned in response to it.

Hot!

My skin felt impossibly hot.

I slapped at my wrists, then looked down.

Flames—multicolored and beautiful—licked their way up to my shoulders.

Desperately, I shook my hands, trying to make the fire go out but to no avail. Instead, it seemed to grow so fast that it consumed me whole.

I was burning alive.

I woke up with a gasp, heaving for air and choking on the smoke that didn’t exist.

The first rays of dawn had already broken past the dark of night and were now peeking shyly into my room through the opening between the silly owl curtains. The light danced across the walls happily, announcing yet another sunny day.

As I lay tangled in the sheets, I listened to the house waking up.

First, I heard Uncle Mark getting ready for work.

A little later, Sage got up and left for the bakery.

As much as she hated working in place of her mother, she’d started to pick up some shifts too. Mostly because Jasmin had been out of sorts since Tabby’s death.

Truth be told, Tabby’s death had affected nearly every person on the island. Some suffered quietly like my aunt and some suffered loudly like Tate Cordero.

I wasn’t sure which I was. Perhaps someone in between, who preferred to keep it all inside for as long as possible and then sobbed stupidly into her boyfriend’s shirt until all the tears had run out and her vocal cords were hoarse.

I’d spent way too much time in bed, I realized as I grabbed my cell from the nightstand to check the time. It was the only thing the device was good for inside the house since calls and messages didn’t seem to go through unless I ran to the shed.

The thought of the shed only amplified my desire to speak to Jasmin.

I’d been dragging my feet, guessing what her answers could be.

You’re terrified of the truth, Nova, the voice in my head whispered. Terrified to find out the things you perhaps shouldn’t know.

With determined resolve, I descended the stairs and sought out my aunt. She was stress-cooking and I was greeted by a mountain of pancakes and a pan of hash browns.

My heart was hammering in my chest when I approached the table and sat down.

“Good morning,” she said, not looking at me. “Well…it’s almost afternoon now.” She sighed softly and went on with her task.

“Jasmin, do you think we can talk?” I slipped my hand into the front pocket of my hoodie and felt the photograph as if to make sure it was still there.

Author Bio:

In her past life, Nikita was a cute dragon, who lived in another dimension called Aelaterra in a hut right in the middle of the magical forest. There, she spent her days reading countless books.

Now she’s a human girl who’s ready to tell you stories about her homeland.

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So it’s another week of behaving for me squeaking in below my goal number yet again with eight new additions to share. After all these years I just may have found a nice balance between feeding my addiction and completely losing all control, who would’ve thought?

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

New additions from Netgalley May 5th  – May 12th

The magic of Christmas—and a second shot at romance—is in the air in Shelter Springs this holiday season…

Amanda Taylor isn’t a fan of Christmas, but as the owner of a local soap shop, ignoring the holiday season isn’t an option. To forget the pain of Christmases past, Amanda focuses on making the season bright for her customers at the Shelter Springs Holiday Giving Market. But when her beloved grandmother, Birdie, starts dating the dashing new resident of the Shelter Inn retirement community, Amanda smells trouble. Fortunately, Rafe Arredondo, the grandson of Birdie’s charming suitor, is equally dubious of the match. Unfortunately, he’s just as fiery as his grandfather—and Amanda has zero interest in getting burned.

As a single father, paramedic and assistant fire chief, Rafe has more than enough on his plate. Sure, he and Amanda share a common goal in keeping their grandparents apart. Still, that doesn’t mean he should allow himself to feel as drawn to her as he does. Even if she is great with his young son. Even if she does help the burden of his own painful past feel a little lighter… But when their paths keep crossing at the holiday market, it starts to feel like fate, prompting them both to wonder if taking a chance on love might gift them everything they’ve been wishing for.

Jessica Goodman meets The Agathas in this taut, twisty YA thriller set in the glittering world of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where secrets–and bodies–never stay buried.

For the New Orleans elite, the Les Masques Ball is sure to be the social event of the season―if they can avoid another dead Queen. When debutante Margot Landry was found dead the morning after her reign at last year’s ball, it was a tragedy, but not a shocking one. Margot was a wild child with a self-destructive streak, nothing like this year’s Queen, Lily LeBlanc. With a perfectly poised debutante on the throne, everything is going according to plan…until the ball is hijacked by a mysterious figure in a Jester costume. That night, Lily sends a text to three of the Maids on her royal court―her best friend, Vivian; her boyfriend’s sister, Piper; and April, her former frenemy―asking them all to meet the next morning. But Lily never shows up.

On the surface, these three debutantes don’t have anything in common except their exclusive private school and their ties to Les Masques. But soon, they realize why Lily brought them together: something dark is lurking beneath the glamorous surface of the debutante world, and it might be the reason she disappeared. And the further the girls dig, the more they begin to suspect that Margot’s death may not have been an accident―and that Lily may be next. When the Jester starts threatening to expose their own secrets, this unlikely trio must team up to uncover the monsters behind the Mardi Gras masks―before they’re left with another dead debutante.

On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she’s truly been deceiving and hiding from all along—is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

In this atmospheric southern cozy debut, Madeline Brimley returns to the bookstore she inherited, discovering that small towns hold deadly secrets.

Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. Her dramatic escapades are many but success has eluded her, leaving her at loose ends. But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, but she’s left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. But when she arrives in her beat-up Fiat to claim The Old Juniper Bookstore, and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the back yard is set ablaze and a late night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn’t leave immediately.

But Madeline Brimley, not one to be intimidated, ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there’s another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it’s up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim.

A small-town baker and a career woman working for a cookie conglomerate get all mixed up in this Christmas romcom, perfect for fans of Tessa Bailey and Maggie Knox.

Marketing executive Elena Voss’s newest assignment for Sparkle Cookie, a large cookie conglomerate, was meant to be a much-needed break from her toxic boss and the stressful city. She never expected to get in a public—and embarrassing—argument with a sexy baker in New Hope, Pennsylvania. But the townsfolk aren’t exactly thrilled about a corporate chain bakery coming in to ruin their small town feel.

Lawrence Higgins–and his dog Sugar–have been a beloved staple in New Hope for years. Their bakery specializes in cookies, but with Sparkle Cookie’s upcoming grand opening, he’s worried about rent spikes and stolen customers. Elena wants to write Lawrence off as an opponent she can crush, but his good looks and passion for baking make it difficult to stay professional.

Elena and Lawrence immediately butt heads at a town hall meeting. When a cookie competition makes them join forces, sparks fly, and  they find first impressions are often wrong. Can their blossoming connection survive the ensuing cookie war?

When an unexpected inheritance forces two total opposites to work together, Lexie must decide if Theo is going to push her out—or pull her in for the kiss of a lifetime—in this heartwarming holiday novel from the author of Always, in December and One Last Gift

When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.

Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.

Lexie intends to leave once the year is over, even though, as a wanderer herself, she finds the company’s mission more compelling than she first thought. And a work trip to sizzling Spain reveals a chemistry between Lexie and Theo that is impossible to deny.

There may have been some snap judgments made about each other. But mixing business and pleasure isn’t always a good idea.

From New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a spellbinding new tale of supernatural horror involving a haunted-house, seances, lost loved ones, and a sinister spirit out for blood…

Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future… together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car crash, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press—the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn’t Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.

Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium—a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton’s family once owned.

The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter…in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she’s haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn’t her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn’t her real name.

That’s when she finds the first body….

In this atmospheric, thrilling new ghost story, Kelley Armstrong’s full talents are on display to thrill, chill and leave the reader guessing how Nicola escapes with her life–if she can.

Hannah McKinnon, the acclaimed author of the “charming and warm-hearted” (PopSugar) The Summer House, returns with a fresh beach read about a group of outsiders threatening the status quo at an exclusive New England beach club.

Mayhaven is the best keep secret in Massachusetts. Tucked between old cedars and a spring-fed lake, the Mayhaven beach club has long been the ultimate escape to understated exclusivity. It’s the place where Darcy Birch is supposed to be experiencing the best summer of her life, but there are a few things standing in her way. Her high-strung mother won’t stop hovering over her, her father is consumed by his job as president of Mayhaven, where she works as a summer camp counselor and things are not as rosy as they seem, and her neurodivergent little brother is struggling to live with a measure of independence not everyone is ready for.

Then there is the matter of the new neighbors. Flick Creevy, his mother, and stepfather have arrived in town, parking their enormous RV, not to mention all-night music and clouds of marijuana, in the Birches’s perfectly landscaped backyard.

Flick is not interested in the perfect summer or the girl next door. Pushed to get a job at Mayhaven by his mother, who had her eyes on a new life for their family, his own eyes have been opened to the ways of the upper crust. Even though Mayhaven prides itself on being an inclusive association of good New England families with good New England values, the fact remains: either you’re on the inside or the outside.

As the heat of summer increases, it’s soon clear that the members of Mayhaven will have to struggle to stay cool in this sharply written and refreshing new novel that is perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner.

**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: When We Were Silent

Author:  Fiona McPhillips

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Page Count:  308

My rating: 2 1/2 stars

About the book:

An outsider threatens to expose the secrets at an elite private school in this suspenseful debut novel for readers of My Dark Vanessa and Dare Me

Louise Manson is the newest student at Highfield Manor, Dublin’s most exclusive private school. It seems nearly perfect: the high arched window alcoves and tall granite pillars, the overspill of lilac at the front gate and the immaculate playing fields, the giggling students, the dusty, oak-lined library, and the dark, festering secret she has come to expose.

At first, Lou’s working-class status makes her the consummate outsider, though all that changes when she is befriended by the beautiful and wealthy Shauna Power. But Lou finds out that even Shauna is caught up in Highfield’s web, and her time there ends with a lifeless body sprawled at her feet.

Thirty years later, Lou has rebuilt her life after the harrowing events of the so-called “Highfield Affair,” when she gets a shocking phone call. Ronan Power, Shauna’s brother, is a high-profile lawyer bringing a lawsuit against the school. And he needs Lou to testify.

Now with a daughter and career to protect, the last thing Lou wants is for Highfield Manor to be back in her life. But to finally free herself and others, she has to confront her past, go to battle once more, and discover, for once and for all, what really happened at Highfield. Powerful and compelling, When We Were Silent is an unputdownable, thrilling story of exploitation, privilege, and retribution.

When We Were Silent by Fiona McPhillips is a thriller novel that deals with a tough topic that may be a trigger to some. The story in When We Were Silent is one that is told in a dual timeline fashion with the present and from thirty years before.

Louise Manson is happily married, works at a college and is raising a teenage daughter. When Louise is contacted by a lawyer asking her to testify in another case of abuse she is thrown back in the past to remembering the trauma that she went through thirty years ago and is worried those past secrets will come surfacing into her present.

Thirty years ago Louise became the new girl at Highfield Manor, an elite private school in Dublin. Louise had gotten a scholarship but had an agenda in attending the institute and that was to defend her friend’s memory and bring a shocking secret at the school to light putting herself at risk of being the next victim.

Looking around at other’s thoughts when finishing When We Were Silent by Fiona McPhillips I see that this one falls into the case of being an outlier in my feelings for this one. Most folks seemed to have loved When We Were Silent but for me I just felt this one didn’t draw me in at all and with the tough topics I found myself rolling my eyes a few times as it seemed for lack of a better way of describing it a bit over the top to me and for the most part a lot of the book just seemed to be dragging on to me. At the end I just thought this was underwhelming to me overall and rated it at two and a half stars but while it wasn’t my cup of tea others do seem to be enjoying it.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Fiona McPhillips is an award-winning Irish journalist, author, and screenwriter. She is an editor at The Forge literary magazine and her own work has appeared in The Manchester Review, Hobart and Barren Magazine, among others.

When We Were Silent, the runner-up for the 2021 Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger, is her debut novel and will be published in May 2024 by Transworld in the UK and Flatiron in the US. She is also the author of two nonfiction books – Make the Home you Love (O’Brien Press) and Trying To Conceive (Liberties Press).

Fiona lives in Dublin with her three kids, two cats, and a dog.