Carries Book Reviews

Lux and Lies
Meg Collett
(Whitebird, #1)
Publication date: May 2017
Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Mr. Robot meets UnReal in a story of celebrities and anarchists, reality shows and evil corporations, romance and self-discovery.

Nineteen-year-old Wren Iver is nothing more than a dying girl with cancer, but when megastar Sloan Lux dies right before filming starts on the year’s most anticipated reality show, producers scramble to secretly replace her—with Wren. She’s swept into Hollywood and promised a cure by VidaCorp, the nation’s richest bioengineering corporation, for simply replacing Lux. It’s a deal Wren can’t refuse.

The decision could get her killed, because she isn’t the only cast member with ulterior motives

The Whitebirds, a social anarchist group, has infiltrated the show, and they’ll stop at nothing to use Sloane Lux’s fame to derail VidaCorp’s efforts to legalize their controversial, life-changing drug—a drug that might kill more people than it saves. Caught in the middle of a game between a powerful corporation and ruthless anarchist group, Wren will do anything to survive.

Will Wren secure the drug she needs to survive, or will she become another casualty in the anarchists’ fight against VidaCorp?

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Author Bio:

Meg Collett is from the hills of Tennessee where the cell phone service is a blessing and functioning internet is a myth of epic proportions. She and her husband live in a tiny

house with three dogs and not enough couches. She’s the author of the bestselling Fear University series, the End of Days trilogy, and the Canaan Island novels. Find out more at her website http://www.megcollett.com.

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Before the Tempest
Tani Hanes
(UK Crush, #4)
Publication date: March 21st 2017
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Aileen Foster, poor, orphaned, musically gifted, never imagined her life could change so much, so fast, but getting a job as interpreter for boyband UK Crush pitched her headfirst into tumult and a glamorous life she never thought she’d have. Now, engaged to band member Theo Shelley, and having survived her audition to Hamilton Conservatory in Manhattan, she’s off to the Bahamas with the boys while they write their new album. Life has never been easy for her, but she’s trying.

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Find the previous books in the series on Amazon!

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EXCERPT:

I leaned forward and kissed him, and even though he was sleeping, he kissed me back, and I felt him stirring against my leg, making me smile. I pushed my hips against him gently, and felt him push back, again, while remaining asleep, a purely sensitized response. I wondered if it was possible to have, not “sleepy sex”, which we had all the time, but actual “sleeping sex”? I kissed him again, wanting to get busy, but feeling guilty about waking him up. He kissed me back, but remained peacefully, almost obstinately, asleep. I sighed.

I put my hand on him, feeling more than a stirring this time, and on a whim, went under the covers, head first, pulling the blanket up from the bottom first to make sure I

could breathe (I’d gotten caught in that situation before, and nearly suffocated from a lack of oxygen).

I took care of business, so to speak, knowing he was definitely awake by the time I finished. And he finished. I crawled out from under the covers, blinked in the bright light of day and smiled at him.

He smiled back at me.

“Good morning, tiger,” he said in his gravelly morning voice, pulling me up to kiss me. “What was that for, hmm?” He squeezed me.

“You said in the taxi, remember? The night we walked across the bridge into the city and took the cab here?” I looked up at him. He shook his head.

“You said that smiles and blow jobs were all the thanks you’d ever want from me for you making me so happy.” I snuggled down into his arms. “So now I’ve given you both already for today.”

He snickered. “So is this something that’s supposed to have been occurring every day, then? Because if that’s the case, I think we’re a few days behind, love.” He lifted the covers. “You’d better get down there and do a bit of catch up.” He looked at me.

I looked at him. “Dude, I’m up for it if you are.” I began to crawl back under the blankets. He looked horrified and pulled me back.

I smirked at him. “All bluster, I knew it.”

He made his mouth into a round O of offended shock. “You’re so rude. How can you impugn my manhood like that? Have I not kept you good and thoroughly fucked pretty much each and every day since we got together?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I acknowledged. “The thing is that I don’t know what other guys are like. Maybe any man out there could be doing what you’re doing, you know? Or even more?” I looked up at him.

He pursed his lips and looked at me through narrowed eyes. “You take that back, right now, or I will make you suffer. I will tickle you until you wee. Never was a threat made more seriously.”

“No!” I shrieked. “I take it back I take it back!” I turned to straddle him and leaned forward to hug him. “I love you I love you I love you, Theodore Shelley.” By the last time I said it, all traces of humor had left my voice, and I was left looking into his smoke-gray eyes, feeling emotional.

“Wow,” he said softly. He took a deep breath. “You look enchanting, Ms. Foster.”

I smiled. “I think that’s just because you’re looking through those eyes of yours, Teddy,” I said with a little laugh, touching his nose with my finger.

He sat up, hugging me. “Shower?” he whispered.

“Shower,” I responded with a smile.

Author Bio:

Tani Hanes was born in Yokosuka, Japan. She spent the first few years of her life traveling back and forth between Japan and the US, making the permanent move to the

Central Valley of California when she was five. She visited family in Japan on a regular basis, and attended college in Tokyo for one year at ICU before getting her degree in Language Studies from UC Santa Cruz. She has two children, and was a substitute teacher for fifteen years. Hanes currently resides in New York City with her husband and cats, Moss and Lily.

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The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina tragedy hits hard one summer night when two high school senior girls, Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald, disappear from a beach party. After two weeks Megan escapes from a bunker hidden deep in the woods and manages to flag down help but after being rescued she gets asked one question, what happened to Nicole and Megan just doesn’t have the answer.

A year later Megan on the surface seems to be recovering from her ordeal becoming a best selling author with a book about what had happened to her during her kidnapping. With Nicole still missing her older sister Livia is training to be a forensic pathologist to be able to get answers for others and maybe help heal from the loss of her sister.

When another body shows up in Livia’s lab she finds herself being tossed back into the middle of her sister’s case when it turns out that the man was connected to Nicole’s past. During the investigation Livia reaches out to Megan hoping the girl can finally help bring answers to what had happened to Nicole that fateful night.

I will admit for me The Girl Who Was Taken had a somewhat slow start to it as I tried to decipher exactly what was going on with Megan and Nicole. It seems at the start of the book that Nicole had escaped that night and Megan taken but then Megan turns up and Nicole never had…. confusing? A bit. With jumping ahead in time and switching the point of view here and there the book took a while for me to settle in and get truly invested in the story but I was quite glad I stuck with it in the end.

Now as for the story and answers to what happened that night overall with the girls I actually found that I enjoyed the outcome to the book quite a bit. One of those twists and turns and intricate plots that took a while to uncover but when I got there I was quite satisfied that my random guesses throughout the book were no where near the mark and it was definitely a page turner once it got going for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Dating the It Guy
Krysten Lindsay Hager
Publication date: March 21st 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Emme is a sophomore in high school who starts dating, Brendon Agretti, the popular senior who happens to be a senator’s son and well-known for his good looks. Emme feels out of her comfort zone in Brendon’s world and it doesn’t help that his picture perfect ex, Lauren, seems determined to get back into his life, along with every other girl who wants to be the future Mrs. Agretti. Emme is already conflicted due to the fact her last boyfriend cheated on her and her whole world is off kilter with her family issues. Life suddenly seems easier keeping Brendon away and relying on her crystals and horoscopes to guide her. Emme soon starts to realize she needs to focus less on the stars and more on her senses. Can Emme get over her insecurities and make her relationship work? Life sure is complicated when you’re dating the it guy.

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EXCERPT:

“By the way, did you hear Lauren got into Senator Agretti’s old school?”

“Seriously? I wonder if she applied there because Brendon did,” I said.

Margaux snorted. “Duh, of course. Seriously, she might as well just pee on him to mark her territory.”

“Margaux, shut up,” Kylie said.

“Whatever. Anyway, the important thing is if Brendon knew she was applying there,” Margaux said. “Em, do you think he knew?”

I hoped Lauren was just trying to follow Brendon, but what if they had planned this whole thing while they were dating? What if he convinced her to apply there so they could go to college together, wear matching American flag sweaters with big scarves while drinking hot chocolate, and jump into leaf piles just like a preppy clothing catalog. At least now I didn’t have to worry about them reciting poetry to one another in South Bend, but still, what if they had made plans to go to school together?

“Don’t worry about it,” Kylie said. “She was probably trying to follow him—like she always does. She’s so pathetic.”

Kylie was trying to make me feel better, but Lauren was far from pathetic. After all, she was pretty much the “Most Likely to Succeed” poster girl. While she was out overachieving and saving the world without messing up her perfect, bouncy hair, I was trying to get through each day. I tried to push away the image of Lauren and Brendon holding hands and drinking hot chocolate under a stadium blanket.

Author Bio:

Besides mining her teen years and humiliating moments for her novels, Krysten is also a book addict who has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. Krysten writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, and Competing with the Star (The Star Series: Book 2). Her debut novel, True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book. Krysten’s work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times and on Living Dayton.

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Seduced
Suzannah Daniels
(Whiskey Nights, #5)
Publication date: April 11th 2017
Genres: New Adult, Romance

Landing a photo shoot with a hot lingerie model is every guy’s fantasy. And that includes Evan Mayfield. He expects nothing more than an interesting gig and a quick paycheck, but once the photographer starts snapping pictures, Evan realizes the job is going to be a lot harder than he thought. The sexy brunette with whom he’s posing is beautiful, intriguing, and a first-class ice princess. He should take the money and run, but he never could resist a good challenge.

Francesca Jones has sworn off men, which has given her time to focus on entrepreneurship. After settling down in the sleepy town of Creekview, she started her own lingerie business. Now she’s ready for the next step—launch an online shop for her designs, including a new line for men. But the fitness model she hired is making it difficult to concentrate with his warm hands and his penetrating gaze, and the last thing she wants is for him to discover that her life in Tennessee is nothing more than a façade.

Despite her efforts to keep him at bay, he melts her defenses, and after a night of seduction, she finds herself torn between keeping her secret and revealing the truth. Either way she goes, the consequences could be devastating.

SEDUCED is the fifth book in the WHISKEY NIGHTS series. Since each book focuses on a different couple, they can be read as stand-alones; however, since there are recurring characters, many readers may prefer to read the series in order for maximum enjoyment.

WHISKEY NIGHTS SERIES ORDER

Wasted #1

Ignited #2

Deceived #3

Betrayed #4

Seduced #5

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EXCERPT:

“How many times have you been in the car with a girl who threw her clothes out the window?”

“This is the first.”

“Exactly.” She dangled her bra out the window, hooking the strap with one finger.

“You might want to know there’s a car behind us,” I warned her.

She let the bra fly.

I barked out a laugh. If she wanted to make the night memorable, she’d certainly accomplished her mission.

“Shit,” I said. “It’s probably a preacher.”

I glanced at my totally naked girlfriend in the seat beside me, her dark hair whipping in the wind. I wanted to remember what she looked like in that moment.

And that was when I noticed a strange blue hue in the car. I glanced back up, checking my rearview mirror.

“And if it’s not a preacher, it could be the police.” Blue lights were approaching me. I hoped the police car would blow on by, en route to another call, but it quickly became apparent that wasn’t going to happen.

Francesca turned around and looked out the rear window. “Oh, shit,” she whispered. “I’m not wearing my seat belt.”

Author Bio:

Suzannah Daniels has had an affinity for words for as long as she can remember. She grew up in North Georgia with four brothers, so she learned at an early age to admire snakes and motorcycles. When she wasn’t pestering her brothers, she could usually be found reading or writing.

She is the author of the Whiskey Nights series (new adult contemporary romance), the Dangerous Trilogy (young adult contemporary romance), Vampire’s Bane (young adult paranormal), Ghostly Encounter (young adult paranormal romance), and Viking’s Embrace (historical romance).

Currently, she lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her husband of twenty-nine years. Her children live nearby. The family pets include a Lab mix named Achilles, a Basset Hound named Annabelle, and a Shih Tzu named MooMoo.

Visit her website at http://www.SuzannahDaniels.com.

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