Carries Book Reviews

Twenty-Four Hours
Carolyn Anthony
(A Shattered Boundaries Novel)
Publication date: July 3rd 2017
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The second chance that might never happen…

Eve Luccio waited years for her first love, but somehow their lives were never quite in sync. Now, at thirty-six, her only focus is completing the final year of her PhD. The last thing on her mind is the honor-driven former Navy SEAL who stole her heart as a teen and left her unable to love any other man since.

When Jake Theron walks back into Eve’s life, his presence shatters her walls of self preservation. He unleashes a dark sexuality that Eve never imagined she would experience, much less come to crave. All he wants from her is a day of her trust—twenty-four uninterrupted hours before she crosses the country for her Post Doctorate position in New York. But letting down her guard for even twenty-four hours with Jake might just destroy her.

For Jake Theron, Eve was always “the one that got away,” except even after two decades, she’s still under his skin. When Eve finally agrees to see him, Jake vows he won’t let her slip through his fingers again.

But nobody knows better than Jake what a vicious bitch fate can be. When his life gets in the way, he realizes he may have to let Eve go once again—this time for her own good.

All he has left are the next twenty-four hours. One day and night in a seaside hotel, after which he has no choice but to let her walk out of his life with no guarantee he’ll ever see her again. The problem is, now that he’s had a real taste of the woman who should have been his twenty years ago, he’s not sure he’ll have the strength to let her go.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

He moved his lips to her ear. “That’s what home feels like.”

Eve framed his cheeks and leaned back. “You are home to me, Jake.”

“Mmm.” He kissed her forehead, pushed his hands under her ass and lifted her up without pulling out.

“What are you doing?” She smiled into his shoulder.

“Bed. No need to mess up the kitchen. I knew that dress would be useful for something other than looking amazing on you.” He knelt on the bed and fell forward with her.

“Jake!”

They both laughed as her back hit the mattress with him on top of her.

Pulling back, he stared down at her before kissing her forehead and slowly pulling out. “Stay here. I’ll get you a towel.” Stark ass naked, he walked to the bathroom.

A smile pushed at her lips as he came back with her towel and his boxers on.

With a longing look at the table full of food, Jake groaned as he walked past it to her.

“You’re hungry.” She fought back a laugh.

Looking amused, he dropped to the bed beside her and gently cleaned her up. Jake was like a grumpy bear when he was hungry.

“I’m fucking starving. I gotta eat something other than you.”

He stood up, grabbed her ankles and pulled her to him by the side of the bed. Then handed her one of his T-shirts.

“Go clean up. I’ll heat it up. We’ll eat then…what? Movie?”

She wrapped the towel around her and sat on the side of the bed. “A movie’s fine.”

Before she could reach the bathroom, Jake’s voice stopped her. “Baby….”

She turned to him. “Yeah?”

“You know I won’t make it through a movie with you…”

Sadness washed over her, because there wasn’t enough time.

“I know.” Never enough time.

His vivacious laugh rang through the small room. “Just so we’re clear. This right here—” He waved his hand over the food. “—Is about refueling. Don’t plan on sleeping too much.”

“I’ll be right out.” She walked into the bathroom, leaving him to heat up dinner. Eve’s body ached and her heart broke. Tomorrow…today would be on a long list of yesterdays—days she could never get back. While it would be one of the best in her thirty-six years, it would bleed into yet another painful memory with little hope of healing.

Author Bio:

Carolyn Anthony is a sucker for a dark romance with a dominant, tattooed, alpha badass man at the helm.

Her characters deal with real life issues: the painful, the tragic, the damaging sort of life events that leave both external and internal scars, because she’s been there.

Her heroines are strong women at the core who will always find what’s been lost, taken or exploited: their strength, their self-worth, their identity, their innocence or their love. She writes about women exploring their sexuality, owning that sexuality and enjoying it. Along for the ride, the hot-ass men who prove worthy enough to be on that journey with them.

Book one in the Shattered Boundaries Series, Twenty-Four Hours, will be available to buy on July, 3, 2017. Each book is a stand alone with a well earned HEA. Book two coming soon as well as Phoenix, the first book in a Contemporary second chances trilogy.

Feel free to stalk me everywhere!

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Pretend You’re Safe by Alexandra Ivy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jaci Patterson has returned to her hometown hoping that things have changed while she was gone and praying that the torment she experienced in her teenage years doesn’t return. Things were going fine for Jaci until a huge storm washed a body into a neighboring farm. Jaci is immediately on edge because years before she had found her first locket on her porch with a few strands of hair wrapped around a scrap of bloodstained ribbon and no one would believe that it was more than a prank.

Rylan Cooper had been an arrogant deputy sheriff back when Jaci was trying to get someone to believe there were more to the gifts left for her. Now Rylan sees that Jaci is truly being stalked when another locket is left after the discovery of the body. Now Rylan admits that Jaci may have just been right with insisting a serial killer was on the loose and he now vows to do whatever he can to find them before anything can happen to Jaci.

Pretend You’re Safe by Alexandra Ivy is a romantic suspense read. As with most romantic suspense there is some language and sexual situations involved that you don’t normally find in a regular mystery/thriller but the story also contains the chilling story of a killer on the loose tormenting the main character along with the developing relationship.

As this one started off I was wondering if Jaci was going to end up struggling with a love triangle in the story line but thankfully she chooses her interest fairly early on even after two potential men were brought into the story. She was a strong character that was determined to not let the killer torment her yet again and was easily likable from the start. The book also contained a few twists and turns on the mystery side to keep it interesting while focusing on the relationship too so both sides were enjoyable.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bailey King has been working hard as an assistant chocolatier at JP Chocolates in New York City and crossing her fingers she is the one that is going to get the promotion to be announced soon. But Bailey gets a phone call from her grandmother with some bad news, her grandfather’s health has gone downhill. Bailey just knows it’s pretty serious since her grandparents are Amish and simply using a phone to contact her is no small thing in the Amish community.

Bailey decides to take a few days and head to Harvest, Ohio to make sure things are alright with her grandparents. Shortly after arriving however Bailey finds herself walking into the kitchen of the Amish candy shop, Swissmen Sweets, that her grandparents own and where Bailey learned her love for chocolate, but instead of chocolate Bailey finds that a local developer that had been pressuring her grandparents to sell has been murdered in their kitchen. Not only is Bailey’s grandfather now a suspect even with his poor health but also Bailey herself so she needs to stay and find out just what really happened in that kitchen.

Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower is the first book in the new cozy mystery series An Amish Candy Shop Mystery. As with most cozies that I find myself enjoying this series has it’s own unique setting bringing the main character to the small town charm with her Amish grandparents. Just infusing the Amish ways within the story added it’s own bit of flavor that was hard to not like getting to know a bit about.

The characters in here have a wide range of personalities to get to know but I found them all likable, although I do believe Jethro, a pet pig, might have stolen the show at several points in the book. The author did a good job slowly building the list of suspects as Bailey begins to investigate the small town that kept me wondering just who the murderer would turn out to be in the end. I will certainly be interested in seeing what happens in this small town and with these characters in any future installments to the series.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

The Love Square
Jessica Calla
Published by: Limitless Publishing
Publication date: January 12th 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

On the west coast…

…Nebraskan Clare Davis hates her new life managing a bookstore in LA—until she meets up-and-coming movie star Dylan Barnes. Dylan’s always been a city guy, but can’t resist Clare’s midwestern charm as he shows her the wonders of California.

On the east coast…

…Alex Popovich loves being a carefree bachelor and a minor league ballplayer in his hometown Brooklyn. But things get complicated when gorgeous ballroom dancer-slash-office worker Jenna Stecco asks him to take that leap with her from best friend to something more, and he bunts and lets her go.

When Jenna and Dylan stir up the dynamic with a night of passion, the four friends must decide whether to accept the new normal, or fight their way out of the wrong corners of their love square and journey to their happily ever afters.

Goodreads / Amazon

Currently on SALE for 99¢ for a limited time only!

Author Bio:

Jessica Calla is a contemporary romance and women’s fiction author who moonlights during the day as an attorney. If she’s not writing, lawyering, or parenting, you’ll most likely find her at the movies, scrolling through her Twitter feed, or gulping down various forms of caffeine (sometimes all three at once).

Jessica is a member of Romance Writers of America and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. She organizes the unpublished writers’ contest for the New Jersey Romance Writers (New Jersey’s chapter of the RWA), and volunteers at BookFish Books behind the scenes. A Jersey girl through and through, she resides in the central part of the state with her husband, two sons, and dog.

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The Last Dragon Rider
Errin Krystal
(The Wild Realms of Véneanár, #1)
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
Publication date: August 9th 2017
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

Trained as an elite warrior from childhood, the elven crown prince Flintathriël fights to bring a stop to a war that began before he was born. With the aid of his betrothed Sairalindë, a skilled mage and dragon rider in her own right, they must find the Book of Souls – an ancient and mysterious tome rumored to have belonged to the god Hath’Raal.

When the missing book turns up in the hands of Mnuvae, the bastard child of the dead king, Flintathriël finds himself fighting to not only save his people from this new threat but also trying to keep Sairalindë safe when Mnuvae takes over the dragons in her attempt to win back the kingdom she believes is rightfully hers.

The love Flintathriël and Sairalindë share shines pure and true, but when the smoke of the battle clears, will their hearts survive the aftermath of war or will their love become a casualty that cannot be revived?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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EXCERPT:

She began wrapping the cloth tightly about her, binding her breasts firmly, criss-crossing the gauzy fabric around her torso and across her stomach, tying it off at her hip. She shimmied into a pair of leather leggings and reached for her foot wraps. To other races—like the dwarves and humans—the elves lack of footwear was strange. The elven people had strong ties to the lands, their magic and mystique were inexplicably linked. Even those who did not practice magic felt the connection to nature, and the elven people had maintained the practice throughout their long history.

After binding her feet and leaving only her toes exposed, she tossed an olive green tunic over her head before quickly weaving her tresses into a thick braid.

Sivath was waiting, and Flintathriël was late. Again.

She was reaching for her leather jerkin when he finally appeared in her doorway.

Arms akimbo, he slouched against the frame, all lean muscle and sharp angles beneath his leathers. Silver-white hair fell across his forehead, hiding the dark arches of his brows as he gazed at her with silvery blue eyes. The mop of hair barely touching his shoulders. His coloring typical of the royal family.

Her gaze traced his tattoos. Sweeping vines encompassed runic symbols, curling downward from his bottom lip, winding and weaving their way down his chin and neck. She knew every line that twisted and spread across his shoulders, and across his back. Etchings that disappeared beneath his tunic and reappeared along his arms. She still remembered the day he received the markings, branding him Nuvian. The day she first gave herself to him, the day she truly became his.

Author Bio:

Errin Krystal is a fantasy romance writer who has been writing since she was a small child. Her head has always been full of stories. She began work on her first novel when she was sixteen.

She lives with her family in regional Victoria, Australia, and works as a chef. In her quieter moments, she loves to indulge her passion for storytelling, basking in the joy that comes from creating vibrant characters, fantastical worlds and all manner of magical creatures. Dragons and elves, mages and warriors, troubled princes and beautiful princesses, romance, magic, and adventure can all be found in her writing.

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