Carries Book Reviews

I Stop Somewhere
T.E. Carter
Published by: Feiwel & Friends
Publication date: February 27th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

THE LOVELY BONES meets ALL THE RAGE in a searing, heartbreaking contemporary story of a lost teenager, and the town she leaves behind.

Ellie Frias disappeared long before she vanished.

Tormented throughout middle school, Ellie begins her freshman year with a new look: she doesn’t need to be popular; she just needs to blend in with the wallpaper.

But then the unthinkable happens and Ellie is trapped after a brutal assault. She wasn’t the first victim and now she watches it happen again and again. She tries to hold on to her happier memories in order to get past the cold days, waiting for someone to find her.

The problem is, no one searches for a girl they never noticed in the first place.

TE Carter’s stirring and visceral debut not only discusses and dismantles rape culture but also makes you slow down and think about what it is to be human.

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EXCERPT:

Later, I remember how my dad would stand in my doorway, watching me. Trying to reach me across so little space, yet so much. He stared at me like you look at a museum display or a creature in the zoo. I was the coelacanth and he was awed by my strangeness.

“I brought you something,” he said, holding a bag out across the threshold to my bedroom.

My room was an experiment. Posters and magazine pages and images covered the walls and the vanity and my dresser. All the people I wanted to be, wanted to look like.

They were the people who mattered. I stared at myself in the mirror, hating how I looked. I hated how the curves made the boys poke me through the back of my chair in class, and how they made the girls call me fat. I hated how far the people in the magazines were from me. I thought I would never count, because I wasn’t them.

“What is it?” I asked my dad, gesturing toward the bag he was holding.

“I thought you might like it.”

It happened every few nights. He’d show up, presenting an offering in a plastic bag. Makeup. Clothes. Hair bands. He tried. He tried and so I tried, but the discount stickers said it all.

They were marked down, because the lipstick was too orange. The tank top wasn’t cut right. The hair pins would have been perfect for a girl my age – ten years ago. But I wore them for him and he smiled, because he didn’t know the difference.

“Thanks, Dad. I love it,” I lied.

“You’re beautiful, Ellie.”

I was a markdown girl.

I did know the difference.

Author Bio:

TE Carter was born in New England and has lived in New England for pretty much her entire life. Throughout her career, she’s done a lot of things, although her passion has always been writing. When she’s not writing, she can generally be found reading classic literature, obsessing over Game of Thrones (she’s one hundred percent Team Lannister), playing Xbox, organizing her comic collection, or binge watching baking competitions. She continues to live in New England with her husband and their two cats.

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Sun Storm
Marlow Kelly
(The Gathering Storm, #1)
Publication date: August 23rd 2017
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

Dr. Marie Wilson is a scientist on the verge of a breakthrough. She has come to Montana on the eve of a blizzard to prove her small, portable solar panel can generate electricity even in the harshest environment. But when four men invade her remote cabin with plans to kill her, she knows she’s in trouble.

Ex-Special Forces soldier, David Quinn, has had enough of danger and death. All he wants is to be left alone on his Montana acreage to pursue his dream of being a beekeeper. But when his old mentor convinces him to help retrieve a stolen solar panel, he thinks it will be a simple job. But the moment he sets eyes on Marie, he knows their assignment is all kinds of wrong.

Together, they escape. Chased by a businessman with unlimited resources, a gunman and a corrupt police force, they are thrust into the frozen Montana landscape. Can a cynical soldier and a naive scientist learn about love and trust in order to survive?

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EXCERPT:

A crack of splintering wood and the door crashed open. Marie jumped to her feet, her heart pounding. A scream lodged in her throat as four men burst in, filling the tiny space. She raced to the fireplace and grabbed the poker.

A handsome blond-haired man led the way. He was so good looking he could be an actor. He had a square jaw and wore a well-tailored leather jacket. Even his fair hair was perfectly trimmed. Two burly men followed, both with dark, short-cropped hair. They could be twins. Their thick bodies and the way they swung their arms reminded her of a pair of gorillas. They also had the same flattened nose and malicious, small, dark eyes. They moved to the back of the room near the sink. The last man had unkempt, long, sandy-colored hair. He wore a crumpled, hooded camouflage jacket and baggy gray pants. A long scar ran across one side of his face, starting at his ear and

running through his beard, parting it with a jagged white line. He didn’t say a word. He simply nodded at the poker in her hand and shook his head, silently telling her to drop her weapon.

Sensing that any attempt to fight him would be futile, she let it fall to the ground. “You can take the money. I don’t have—”

“Shut up,” the handsome blond barked. A vein on his forehead bulged as he scowled.

Her heart hammered against her ribs. She prayed they would take what they wanted and leave.

Handsome stepped in front of her and placed the barrel of his handgun between her eyes. “Tell us where it is.”

“What are you doing?” The man with the scar strolled over and stood next to her. In her peripheral vision, she could make out his intense, pale, lifeless eyes.

He leaned close to her face so his warm breath touched her cheek. “This is all wrong.”

A small squeal emanated from her throat. He was too close. Too scary. Killer. The word rang through her mind. The scar, those dead eyes, and his demeanor gave the impression of a lethal, terrifying man.

“What do you mean? Our intel is good.” The vein on Handsome’s forehead throbbed to life.

With one finger, Killer nudged the pistol away from her head. “First, how can she tell us where it is when she’s too frightened to talk?”

Handsome shrugged, revealing a smile with perfect white teeth.

Marie released a huge breath. She needed to do something, but couldn’t focus, couldn’t form a coherent thought.

“Second,” Killer continued, “what do we really know about this situation?”

Handsome sneered. “You were in the army. You know how it is. We don’t make the decisions. We follow orders.”

“And what exactly are our orders?” Killer asked, his voice low and calm.

“We’re to retrieve what was stolen and eliminate the girl.”

There had to be a misunderstanding. She was a scientist, not someone who needed to be eliminated.

Author Bio:

After being thrown out of England for refusing to drink tea, Marlow Kelly made her way to Canada where she found love, a home and a pug named Max. She also discovered her love of storytelling. Encouraged by her husband, children and let’s not forget Max, she started putting her ideas to paper. Her need to write about strong women in crisis drives her stories.

She is an award-winning author, and a member of the Romance Writers of America.

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Donna by V.C. Andrews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Donna is a high school student has always had it a bit difficult being different from her peers since she has a Latino father and Irish mother. Add to the things for the other kids to hold against her Donna is also very gifted being smarter than all of the other kids and most adults.

Donna has never fit in and often gets blamed for all that goes wrong but she’s taken upon herself to try at least to join in with the other kids her age. Donna’s attempt at being a normal teenager however turns into disaster when a fight breaks out and it’s her word against the others as to what happened.

Donna is the second book in the Girls of Spindrift series by V.C. Andrews. The series is a set of novellas that are prequels to the book Bittersweet Dreams which has already been published. I have not yet read Bittersweet Dreams myself but I don’t believe it would necessary to have done so to understand this novella, it seems to be mainly some character building for what would be coming in Bittersweet Dreams.

As with the first novella in this series Donna’s story seemed to be rushed through to fit into novella length leading me to wish the stories would be a bit longer and more detailed to get to know the characters. I suppose these fit as an OK introduction to characters that will be expanded on in the later book but the stories seem to jump into the event that sends the girls to leave for the school awfully quickly which leaves me wanting more into their lives and who they are.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Dragon Rebel
Ophelia Bell
(Immortal Dragons, #4)
Publication date: August 1st 2017
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

If Assana looked up the word “nymphomaniac” in the dictionary, she might expect to find her own image in place of the definition, especially after meeting the immortal red dragon, Gavra. The timing couldn’t be worse for her to discover the mate that Fate intended—the one she’d be willing to let go of her tightly bound hold on her deepest sexual desires for—the one who literally drives her mad with lust. Now that she needs her sanity more than anything to regain control of her race’s home from her own insane mother, she’s faced with the inconvenient desire to lose control and be that primal nymph she keeps locked inside.

Thank Gaia for Silas. The handsome young ursa male is blessed with magic that can calm the lust-filled madness threatening to consume Assana’s mind. She needs him more than ever now that she has no choice but to spend her days in close proximity to the dragon she desires more than anything… yet doesn’t dare touch lest she give in to that ancient, primal need all nymphaea are born with.

For red dragon Gavra, he can only put off having the beautiful nymph maiden for so long, or the ursa male who Fate has promised him. Once Assana’s crazy mother is out of the way, nothing will stop Gavra from claiming and marking them both as his.

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EXCERPT:

“Well that was fun.”

Gavra spun around at the sound of the deep, familiar voice that had so recently been speaking inside his head. His brother stood in the center of his room, his arms crossed and a grim smile on his face.

“Aodh,” he said, unable to mask the utter relief he felt at seeing his white-haired brother whole and in the flesh. He pulled the other man into a fierce embrace that was returned in kind, releasing him when Aodh stiffened.

Gavra looked back in the direction of his brother’s gaze and saw Vrishti standing with an excited look about to breach the barrier into his room.

“No!” Aodh said. “Please stay where you are, love.”

“She wants to see you,” Gavra said. “Surely you won’t deny her a proper greeting.”

Aodh shook his head. “A proper greeting? She’s not ready, brother. Perhaps it’s fine for you and Silas to tangle before you’ve marked him. We can’t risk her reputation while she’s still learning about her kind.” Turning to Vrishti, he said, “After we’ve settled these issues with the Haven, love. I promise you no prison can keep me from you then.”

Vrishti dropped the hand she had been about to push past the barrier and nodded. Her eyes grew glassy and she took a shaky breath. “I’ll be ready for you, I promise,” she said. “I can’t stand to see you trapped like this… I’m sorry. Be safe. Keep him safe…” She directed the last comment to Gavra and Assana, who both nodded.

Gavra gave Assana a perplexed look. “Why didn’t you drift into the room with him?”

Assana carefully avoided his gaze as she hugged Vrishti farewell and watched the other female go, then she glanced at Silas, a look of pure gratitude on her lovely face. The big ursa male moved closer to her, wrapped an arm around her and held her. Gavra’s chest felt leaden at the way the pair looked at each other – like they belonged in each other’s arms. They were kindred elements, both Gaia’s children, and made sense together more than Gavra himself made sense with either of them. The way he and Silas crashed together with such fiery, explosive force felt right to him, but it was not easy, or pretty – it was passionate, volatile, and destructive.

“He calms my primal spirit,” Assana said softly. “I’m afraid to come closer to you because you only make the madness claw at my mind more. I allowed Aodh to take control of his own drift once he promised to go where I asked. I couldn’t be in the same room with you for fear of losing control. I’m sorry, Gavra… I can’t let myself lose control, not when my entire home, my family’s well being is at stake. Please understand.”

He wanted to roar in protest, to breathe flames at the barrier and pull her inside, show her how right it would be to let go and be her true self – the wild nymph he sensed glimmers of beneath the surface whenever their eyes met. The insatiable creature who haunted his dreams, responding to his heat so perfectly.

Aodh’s hand rested on his shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze.

Gavra swallowed the molten lump in his throat and nodded. Finding his voice, he said, “I want you wild, Assana. The first time I’m inside you, you can be damn sure control will be the last thing on anyone’s minds.”

Silas tightened his hold on Assana protectively, though his aura flared bright red in response to Gavra’s promise. She closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath as though fortifying herself before opening her eyes.

Her hypnotic, whirlpool gaze met his through the barrier. “I want that, too. To share my primal essence with you both, to taste yours when we’re thrice melded and feel your heat deep inside my mind. To feel you etch your mark on my skin. Gaia save me, I would take that now, but I can’t risk losing myself to that need. There is too much at stake. Please understand… I need Silas to keep my own nymphaea madness in check, but I promise you the first time you’re inside me will be the first time my quim is filled by any male’s seed.”

Gavra groaned at the promise, forcing himself to pull his gaze away from her or else risk burning down the entire Sanctuary to get to her.

“It looks like Silas is going to have his hands full sating us both separately then,” he said, staring heatedly at the big ursa male. “Can you handle that?”

Silas gave him a lazy smile. “I welcome it.”

Author Bio:

Ophelia Bell loves a good bad-boy and especially strong women in her stories. Women who aren’t apologetic about enjoying sex and bad boys who don’t mind being with a woman who’s in charge, at least on the surface, because pretty much anything goes in the bedroom.

Ophelia grew up on a rural farm in North Carolina and now lives in Los Angeles with her own tattooed bad-boy husband and four attention-whoring cats.

If you’d like to receive regular updates on Ophelia’s publications, freebies, and discounts, please subscribe to her mailing list: http://opheliabell.com/subscribe/

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Power Play
Sophia Henry
(Pilots Hockey #2)
Publication date: February 16th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Romance

In Sophia Henry’s blistering follow-up to Delayed Penalty, hailed as “sexy, fun, and full of angst” by L. P. Dover, a good girl and a hockey hunk face off against expectations—and this match is guaranteed to see plenty of action.

Beneath her innocent facade, Gabriella Bertucci has her reasons to be standoffish with guys. Especially guys like Landon Taylor, a star defenseman on the minor-league Detroit Pilots and the object of a serious crush since he first walked into her family’s market. But when Landon comes through for her in a moment of crisis, Gaby starts to wonder if there might be more to Landon than hard muscles and fast skates.

Landon isn’t afraid of telling Gaby that he’s got it for her bad. The problem is, she seems unwilling to believe it. And though Landon enjoys his reputation as a cool-headed athlete, he hates losing—both on the rink and off. It’s his competitiveness that makes him so damn good at what he does . . . but it also makes him just a little bit complicated.

One minute Gaby’s tempted to give in; the next, she’s getting cold feet. How can she trust a guy who’s destined for bigger and better things to stick around? Then again, when Landon pulls her close with those powerful arms, the only thing that matters is right now.

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EXCERPT:

Intro: Gaby works at a store that Landon’s family have been patrons at for years, so they’ve known each other on a friendly level. In the second chapter, Landon tries to prove to Gaby that he isn’t a stranger. They have a natural, easy way with each other and great banter. This is a scene with a fun exchange between Gaby and Landon. This snippet comes from end of the scene after Gaby grills Landon with questions—all of which he answers correctly.

From POWER PLAY:

“How did you know that?” I glanced past him. A slight movement outside the door had caught my eye, but no customers walked through.

“Told you we weren’t strangers.”

“You’re creeping me out. Seriously.” I thought I held the championship belt for scary stalker. At least I had a reason: Landon Taylor, my vote for sexiest man alive and hottest hockey player in the AHL. But there was no reason for him remember random facts about me. “I’m not—anything.”

“Or maybe you’re everything.”

“What?” My brain didn’t have the capacity to wrap itself around everything going on right now. My dad had a heart attack. My crush alludes to me being everything—whatever that means. Can’t think. Storage limit maxed out.

“I pay attention when it comes to you, Gaby.”

“But why?” Surreal couldn’t even begin to describe this moment.

“You were my first kiss.” After sprinkling that confusing seed in my head, Landon spun around and walked out. Through the front window, I watched him thread his fingers together behind his head and raise them toward the clouds in a stretch as he disappeared from my line of sight.

Author Bio:

Award-Winning Author, Sophia Henry, is a proud Detroit native who fell in love with reading, writing and hockey all before she became a teenager. She did not, however, fall in love with snow. So after graduating with an English degree from Central Michigan University, she moved to the warmth of North Carolina for the remainder of her winters.

She spends her days writing books featuring hot, hockey-playing heroes. When she’s not writing, she’s chasing her two high-energy sons, watching her beloved Detroit Red Wings, and rocking out at concerts.

Sophia’s writes heartfelt and flirty fiction for readers who love the Mature Young Adult and New Adult genres. Check out her emotional and engaging Pilots Hockey series from Random House Flirt.

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