Carries Book Reviews

The Persian Always Meows Twice by Eileen Watkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cassie McGlone moved to the picturesque town of Chadwick to give herself a fresh start after leaving a horrible relationship. Opening her own shop, Cassie’s Comfy Cats, a cat grooming and boarding specialty boutique she’s starting to make a name for herself around the town and gather a list of clients. However when Cassie makes a house call to a rich but reclusive client she finds herself walking into a murder scene and added to the suspect list after having discovered the body.

To help the local police and to clear her own name in the crime Cassie begins her own investigation into just what had happened to her client. Meanwhile Cassie can’t help but worry about Harpo, the newly orphaned Persian that Cassie had been grooming for her now deceased client so she pushes to take care of him until the estate is settled. While in Cassie’s care Harpo becomes a hot ticket as some of those involved believe he may come with an inheritance but before long Cassie finds herself in danger having Harpo in her care.

The Persian Always Meows Twice by Eileen Watkins is the first book in the new cozy mystery series A Cat Groomer Mystery. This first installment was a solid read with all the fun cozy elements that readers would expect from this genre. We had a strong female lead with a somewhat quirky environment that questions everything and everyone when she’s faced with a murder. There’s a good selection of potential suspects as the book goes on leaving the reader guessing as to who the murderer may be.

With this one being centered around a cat groomer I’d definitely say the book is for cat lovers as the author does get very detailed and specific to that profession to the point that I almost wondered if it was a bit too much kitty info in the beginning. But once the story start going it was easy to like the characters and get into the flow of the mystery. I’d also note that while most books of this nature have the police constantly saying stay out of the investigation it was kind of nice to have a detective admit that someone like Cassie may get people to open up and talk more than the police would.

Overall, a nice start to this series and I’d certainly continue on to see just what happens next.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

 

Hello readers! Welcome to the Cover Reveal for

The Perils of Growing Up Werewolf

(Hair in all the Wrong Places #2)

by Andrew Buckley!

Be on the lookout for this upcoming title from

Tantrum Books / Month9Books!

HERE WE GO!

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE COVER?

 

 

Being a werewolf is no picnic. Colin’s constantly hungry, spends a ton of time shaving, and fights to keep his emotions in check to avoid turning into a giant, drooling, hairy, smelly, howling wolf. But Colin’s not the only creature hanging around the town of Elkwood. Vampires, zombies, goblins, ogres, and other questionable visitors and their various shenanigans have got everyone on edge.

Colin just wants to live a normal life, date, and get his homework done on time. But the town of Elkwood needs him. So when a secret government organization asks for his help, will he be able to control the animal inside, or will he give in to the perils of growing up werewolf?

The Perils of Growing Up Werewolf

(Hair in all the Wrong Places #2)

by Andrew Buckley!

Available for Pre-order:

Amazon

 

 

Andrew Buckley attended the Vancouver Film School’s Writing for Film and Television program. After pitching and developing several screenplay projects for film and television, he worked in marketing and public relations, before becoming a professional copy and content writer. During this time Andrew began writing his first adult novel, DEATH, THE DEVIL AND THE GOLDFISH, followed closely by his second novel, STILTSKIN. He works as an editor for Curiosity Quills Press.

Andrew also co-hosts a geek movie podcast, is working on his next novel, and has a stunning amount of other ideas. He now lives happily in the Okanagan Valley, BC with three kids, one cat, one needy dog, one beautiful wife, and a multitude of characters that live comfortably inside of his mind.

Andrew is represented by Mark Gottlieb at the Trident Media Group.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

 

 

Freefall by Joshua David Bellin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the year 2151 Earth is ruled by the 1% of rich and elite that live in the Upperworld. Cam has been raised in Upperworld all of his life and is now training to join a mission to take citizens to a new planet now that Earth is dying out. The voyage will have the passengers sleeping through a 1000 year journey to a new pristine planet to colonize but those of the Lowerworld are not happy to be left behind.

At the forefront of the uprising in the Lowerworld is Sophie and when Cam sees her on a video feed he immediately is taken with her. Cam is so infatuated that he does whatever he can to get near Sophie but when gunshots ring out at the meeting Cam had attended he finds himself being whisked away with her and her guards and suddenly brought into the middle of the battle between the 1% and the other 99% that Cam had never known.

Freefall by Joshua David Bellin is a young adult science fiction read with a bit of a dystopian twist with the imminent downfall of the planet. The story is told by starting the reader off in the year 2151 with Cam and his friends preparing to leave Earth when Cam gets involved with Sophie and the rebellion. But every other chapter then jumps the 1000 years into the future to pick up with Cam after the journey to another planet. So while learning of Cam and Sophie in the past we find that he’d left her to go on the voyage but is now stranded.

Now Freefall did have a bit of a different vibe to it by giving the reader a glimpse at the past while progressing the story after having left Earth but I ended up disappointed in what the author did with the story in the past with Cam and Sophie. Not only was it instant attraction for Cam but I never felt his obsession was returned which put a damper on the future events for me. Instead of insta-love between them it felt a bit more obsession on one side and using on the other, somewhat a turn off.

But as much as the relationship aspect in the read fizzled out I still thought this was an alright read as far as the plot. There was enough action and suspense as the story unfolded that it kept my interest in wanting to know just what would happen in the future chapters to bring everyone to the point where they were. A bit of creativity there with what was going on salvaged my disappointment in the earlier years and held my interest to the end.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Bahama Mama
Tricia Leedom
(The Key West Escape, #2)
Published by: Ink Monster LLC
Publication date: January 30th 2018
Genres: Adult, Adventure, Romance

Perfect for fans of Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Janet Evanovich, this action-packed sequel to Rum Runner from a fresh voice in contemporary romance offers a sexy and comedic take on love, adventure, and what it means to trust your heart.

Troubles are piling up for Molly MacBain. Between navigating the moods of an increasingly sassy teenage daughter, battling mounting financial difficulties, and dealing with her daughter’s deadbeat dad, Molly certainly doesn’t need any more stress in her life. But when she learns that her best friend, Sophie, has been keeping a huge secret from her, she’s beyond bowled over. Apparently, Sophie’s soon-to-be brother-in-law is Molly’s idol, country music superstar Anders Ostergaard and after years on the country music circuit herself, Molly can’t help but have a fan-girl moment when she finally meets him.

Anders flies to Key West to attend his brother’s wedding and keep a low profile after a Vegas scandal makes him a tabloid target. Usually, he has a strict rule about getting involved with fans, but Molly MacBain’s sharp wit and refreshing openness draws him in like no one has before.

But romance and flirting take a backseat when Molly’s daughter witnesses a murder and winds up in Jamaica. Anders offers Molly the use of his private plane to bring her home and together, they set off for Montego Bay. Between racing against her ex’s impending visit and the hitman hunting for the witness to his crime, both Molly and Anders are completely unaware they’re being stalked by an even greater danger.

In the sultry Caribbean, Anders and Molly discover when a man who’s sworn off love and a woman who guards her heart can’t keep their hands off of each other, something’s gotta give. If their luck doesn’t run out first.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

Author Bio:

TRICIA LEEDOM enjoys traveling to exotic destinations and having torrid love affairs with hot, dangerous men… even if it’s only in her own mind. When she’s not writing romantic adventure novels, she reads voraciously, tweets compulsively, and fangirls over a TV show based on her favorite book series. Tricia earned her BA in Creative Writing from The University of Tampa and her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Her favorite authors include Diana Gabaldon, J.R. Ward, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Karen Robards, and Johanna Lindsey. She lives in Southwest Florida with two very spoiled dogs. Follow Tricia on Twitter and Instagram @tricialeedom

Goodreads / Instagram / Twitter

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Title: HERE COMES THE BRIDE

Author: Hope Ramsay

Series: Chapel of Love, #3

On Sale: August 29, 2017

Publisher: Forever

Mass Market: $7.99 USD

eBook: $5.99 USD

Audio: $19.98 USD

Add to Goodreads

There goes the groom . . .

For Professor Laurie Wilson, planning her wedding to longtime boyfriend Brandon Kopp has been a whirlwind. But somehow, between all the cake tastings and dress fittings, she never imagined being left at the altar. In the aftermath, she does what any sensible woman would—she swigs champagne and considers keying his car. Until someone knocks on her door with a much better idea for revenge.

Best man Andrew Lyndon thinks Laurie’s better off without Brandon. But Laurie’s father—and Andrew’s boss—isn’t going to accept anything less than a reconciliation. And he’s made it Andrew’s problem to solve. So Andrew decides to make Brandon jealous by setting Laurie up on a string of “dates.” After a couple of weeks, Brandon will be begging Laurie to take him back. But Andrew’s plan works a little too well because suddenly he’s the one falling for Laurie—and planning a proposal of his own.

Excerpt:

Laurie was busy killing her waistline with her days-long ice cream, popcorn, and pizza binge. But hey, she didn’t have to worry about fitting into the beautiful lace wedding dress anymore. And binging on junk food and all twenty-six episodes of the first two seasons of House of Cards kept her mind off her troubles.

But she hadn’t watched more than fifteen minutes before someone knocked on her front door. Damn. Couldn’t people just leave her alone? But then whoever it was decided to peep through the gigantic living room window that overlooked her rickety porch.

Laurie’s heart soared. The visitor who pressed his face up against the grubby window pane was definitely male. For an instant, she thought it might be Brandon, come to tell her that calling off the wedding was a horrible mistake.

But the guy on her porch was taller and thinner than Brandon. “C’mon, Laurie, open the door,” he said as he raised a green and red donut box. “I brought Krispy Kremes.”

Speak of the devil. Andrew Lyndon himself. The best man. With donuts.

She hauled herself up from the couch and padded to the front door. She cracked it open. “I’ll take the donuts, please.” She reached her hand through the narrow opening.

He cocked his head like an adorable puppy with big, soulful eyes. “You don’t get the donuts unless you let me in.”

“I’m not dressed for company,” she said, glancing down at her pink bunny slippers, gray sweatpants, and George Washington University sweatshirt. She’d been wearing these clothes since Sunday afternoon.

“I’m not company,” he said.

“No? Then why are you here bearing bribes?

Andrew’s mouth twitched. “Your dad sent me.”

How could you not like Andrew when the guy always told the truth? He was dependable. And honest. “Why did he send you and not come himself?”

“I don’t know. I’m here to talk to you about an idea.”

“What kind of idea?”

Andrew looked away and to the left, his body language screaming discomfort.

Laurie was suddenly intrigued. She opened the door wide and knew a moment of humiliation as he scanned her from head to toe. She hated the look in his eyes. Was it pity? She didn’t want anyone, least of all Brandon’s best friend, to pity her. “So what is this idea?”

“Teaching Brandon a lesson.”

“How? And why would you be interested in doing that? I mean, you’re his friend, right?”

He looked her straight in the eye. “Yes, I am. And I also work for your father.”

“Right. So conflicted.”

He nodded. “Your father wants to help you and Brandon get back together. He’s enlisted my help.”

She snatched the box of donuts from his hands. “I’m really sorry, Andrew. He can be a pain in the butt. But thanks for these.” She clutched the box to her breast and tried to shut the door in Andrew’s face.

Unfortunately, Andrew had good reflexes. He wedged his foot in the door and forced it open.

She retreated in the face of his superior strength, but not without a snarky retort. “I’m not sharing the donuts.” She selected a donut from the box and nodded her head at him. “Okay, you’ve got exactly five minutes for whatever it is you came to say.”

“On Saturday, when I asked you what you wanted, you told me that you were willing to forgive Brandon. Do you still feel that way?”

A rush of sugar coursed through her as she sank her teeth into the donut. There was nothing in the world—not even sex— as good as a Krispy Kreme. She thought carefully about Andrew’s question as the donut melted in her mouth. “I don’t know,” she said honestly.

Andrew nodded, as if her answer hadn’t surprised him in the least. “He broke my heart,” she added, just to be clear. “How can I forgive that?”

“Easy. If you love him and want to be his wife.”

“Not so easy. I mean, why did Brandon do that to me? We were together for so long.”

“What if that’s the problem?” he asked.

“What? That we’ve been together? Like it’s okay for him to get bored?” Although that’s exactly what had happened.

Andrew shook his head. “No, it’s more like fear of better options.”

“What does that mean?”

“Maybe he feels as if he never took the time to…I don’t know, play the field, sow some wild oats, whatever.”

“Right.” She took another bite of the donut. In a minute, she would ask Andrew to leave, and she would forget this unsettling conversation.

“So,” he said when she was down to licking the sugar off her fingers, “what if we showed Brandon the consequences of looking for better options?”

“Okay. And what, in your judgment, are the consequences?”

“I’m pretty sure Brandon hasn’t thought through how he might feel if you decided to go out and play the field.”

“So you’re saying that if I do what Brandon asked me to do—go explore other options—it will make him jealous?”

“Well, sort of. See, I’m not suggesting that you actually date other people. I’m suggesting that you give the appearance of dating other people. In order to make him realize what an idiot he’s being.”

“Okay, how do I give the appearance of dating? What do I do, just go directly to Match.com and post a sexy profile?”

He leaned back in the chair, looking so completely comfortable that it irked her. “Instead of Match.com, I was thinking along the lines of setting you up on a series of show dates, with guys Brandon either knows or admires or even hates. In short, guys that will annoy the crap out of him. We’d arrange them so that Brandon either sees you out with someone else, or hears about it. I’m betting that seeing you out with someone else will drive him crazy.”

My review: 

Laurie Wilson has spent the last several months planning her wedding to her longtime boyfriend Brandon Kopp and through all the dress fittings and cake tasting she expected the day to be nothing but perfect. Laurie’s big day however turns out to be anything but perfect when Brandon decides to call off the wedding saying the two needed to take a break from one another and see other people to know if they are doing the right thing.

For Laurie the break up was devastating but her friends refused to let her wallow in misery and insisted she needed to do just as Brandon said and live a little. Laurie however fought the idea of getting out and dating until she’s approached by Brandon’s best man Andrew Lyndon who also works for Laurie’s father with the idea that they should set up some fake dates to get Brandon to see the error of his ways. What Andrew and Laurie were not expecting was that their time together would begin an attraction between them.

Here Comes the Bride by Hope Ramsay is the third full length book of the Chapel of Love series. Each of the books in the series features a new couple so they can be read as a standalone if choosing to. There are also a couple of novella length books that belong in the same series but again they may be read separately if desired.

This edition to the series had a scenario that I’m not too big of a fan of which is moving on rather quickly from a long term relationship. However, in this book it does get explained that Laurie and Brandon really weren’t so much in love but together more out of comfort and familiarity so the idea of her moving on didn’t bother me as much as it might in a different scenario. This also actually made me enjoy Laurie a bit more as she turned into a strong character by not breaking down but getting back out there with her friends and eventually dating.

Now the idea of two people sort of faking a relationship or in this case setting Laurie up to fake date if often one that I quite enjoy since it gives a friendship level and getting to know one another before becoming romantic and I wasn’t disappointed in the least with Laurie and Andrew.  I also thought the author did a pretty good job also bringing in a lot of secondary characters and situations into the mix to keep the story going. Having all the extra might have been a tad confusing but not too bad and it added a but of crazy fun into the mix with some of the actions going on.

Overall I thought this was a nice addition to the series with a bit of crazy fun and flirting and would recommend checking it out. My rating 4/5 stars.

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THE CHAPEL OF LOVE SERIES

A FAIRYTALE BRIDE, #.5

A CHRISTMAS BRIDE, #1

A SMALL-TOWN BRIDE, #2

HERE COMES THE BRIDE, #3

Series Page on Goodreads

About the Author:

Hope Ramsay is a USA Today bestselling author of heartwarming contemporary romances. Her books have won critical acclaim and publishing awards. She is married to a good ol‘ Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her Southern heroes. She has two grown children and a couple of demanding lap cats. She lives in Virginia where, when she’s not writing, she’s knitting or playing her forty-year-old Martin guitar.

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