Carries Book Reviews

Perfect Imperfections
J & L Wells
Publication date: March 2017
Genres: Adult, Romance

I gaze down into the small diamond solitaire, seeing the way the light manipulates its appearance. One small stone, yet it holds so many facets; a slight of hand, a shift of light and it’s all changed, the creation of a different and totally unique pattern. My eyes glance over this beautiful stone, watching all of its changes, and it transforms in an instant, much as the path of my life will soon transform.

At the tender age of twenty-seven, Natasha has twelve weeks until she marries Josh, during which time Josh is offered a fantastic opportunity to run his dad’s company in Florida. Natasha is left at home, but there’s plenty to keep her mind occupied, with her sister’s pregnancy and an artist who paints her portrait – a surprise wedding present to Josh.

Gabriel Owens is a partially sighted artist, who is both sarcastic and short in stature. In his presence, the flaws in his character are exacerbated by Natasha’s seeming ability to say all the wrong things at all the wrong times. But time has a strange way of changing one’s mind, and over the three weeks he is painting her portrait, they become close friends.

Gabriel and Natasha are thrown together, two kindred spirits with very different issues they need to overcome.

Gabriel confesses that he has feelings for her. “Perfect, no, but you’ve no need to be, because, Natasha, I love every one of them … I love them all, every one of your perfect imperfections.”

Gabriel Owens, one hot British Artist. This is the first book in the moment’s series; it can be read as a standalone, no cliff hangers but a heartfelt ending that defiantly won’t disappoint.

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Author Bio:

Laura Wells is a swimming teacher, with a love of books, animals and, of course, Jane Austen. Once a national swimmer, she now runs three swim schools of her own. She enjoys spending her spare time with her family and two mad Shiba Inus. She lives in Staffordshire, England.

Judy Wells works at a school; in her spare time she enjoys writing poetry and novels, and spending time with her animals. She also lives in Staffordshire, England.

Laura and Judy are a mother and daughter duo; with Judy’s love of poetry and writing and Laura’s ideas, they work extremely well together. Time-travel and historical romance novels are their passion, and they hope that after you have read their books, you will feel the same.

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Eligible Billionaires
Maggie Marr
(Eligible Billionaires, #1-9)
Publication date: December 27th 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance

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Praise for Can’t Buy Me Love:

“Marr delivers a great story, the thrill of romance, and sexy love scenes in this often delightful novel.”

—Romantic Times Book Review

“Maggie Marr does it again! Can’t Buy Me Love is an entertaining hot and heavy high stakes Hollywood love story that’ll keep you turning the page! ”

—Jenny Gardiner, #1 Kindle Best Selling Author, Sleeping With Ward Cleaver

“Sharp, sexy prose and a fast-paced plot make Maggie Marr’s Can’t Buy Me Love a very entertaining and steamy read! Romance readers will love this book! ”

—Jane Porter, Best Selling Author, Flirting With Forty

“Readers will delight in Meg and Cole’s sexy, romantic and charming love story and will find themselves touched by the kind of passion and vulnerability it takes to bring these two ambitious people together for a lifetime.”

—Marilyn Brant Author, A Summer in Europe

Author Bio:

Maggie Marr is the author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She writes smart, sexy, women and the men they love. She got her start in Hollywood pushing the mail cart at ICM, but quickly rose through the ranks to become a motion picture literary agent. As well as writing, she maintains a boutique legal practice dedicated to the needs of creatives & entrepreneurs. She is the current President of Los Angeles Romance Authors (LARA) and legal adviser to the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA). Maggie loves all things pop culture and when she isn’t taking care of her clients or writing she can be found reading, chasing kids, or exercising her rescue pup.

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Freeks by Amanda Hocking
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mara and her mother who is a necromancer have been traveling with Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow for years and a life on the road is the only one Mara knows. Those in the sideshow are family to Mara with most having some sort of powers just like her mother’s but Mara herself hasn’t experienced any such thing yet herself. With the show really hurting for money when an offer that almost seems too good to be true comes along in a strange little town called Caudry, Louisiana they have to take the job. After arriving everyone begins to experience odd feelings and a dark vibe that seems to come from the town itself.

Mara decides to take a walk their first night in town to get some air and finds herself meeting some of the local teenagers and makes a connection with Gabe. Mara doesn’t want to admit to being a part of the show but Gabe also seems to carry his own secrets but the two begin spending time together.
Meanwhile, back at the camp when the sun goes down the sideshow performers seem to be being stalked but some sort of animal. When people Mara loves continue to get hurt she needs to find the strength inside of her to fight whatever it is that is attacking her friends.

Freeks is one that I had really high hopes for when I picked it up but it fell a bit short in my opinion. There are a few things I found that may have been done a bit better to have me really jumping up and down for this read. First being set in the 80s the book really lacked giving very many things throughout to show this decade as the setting which was a little disappointing. The pace also seemed very slow throughout the first three quarters or so as the story and relationships are being set up but then when all the true action and revelations happen it all seems so rushed at the end.

The relationship between Mara and Gabe really seemed to be a bit lacking to me also. They meet and make out and the reader is supposed to believe that it must have been love at first sight I suppose. Mara herself definitely doesn’t make a great role model with immediately making out with the first boy she met but she also seemed to contradict herself a bit while contemplating her frequents moves, she seems to have had other relationships but seems surprised Gabe would like her as if she hadn’t had a boyfriend before…. just a bit back and forth with very little to get me invested in their story.

In the end I still liked this one a bit as it reminds me of the campy horror movies that I’ve always been a fan of and it’s a shame that with a few tweaks here and there I probably would have really loved the story.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

House of Silence by Sarah Barthel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Isabelle Larkin has always done everything that society and her mother expect of her including accepting an engagement from Gregory Gallagher. After the engagement however Isabelle catches Gregory talking to a servant girl who claims to know him from his hometown. Gregory denies knowing the girl but when Isabelle again sees them together she can’t help but want to know what is going on but as she watches the interaction she is in for the shock of her life when Gregory strangles the girl.

After witnessing such a horrible incident Isabelle tries to warn her mother of Gregory’s true nature but due to Isabelle’s condition after hiding the doctor and her mother believe she’s imagining what she witnessed. With her mother still insisting that Isabelle carry on with her planned marriage Isabelle begins to play up her trauma and refuses to speak trying to get herself committed to Bellevue Sanitarium to gain protection from her murderous fiancee.

House of Silence is a historical thriller set in set in Oak Park, Illinois in the year 1875. While the events taking place with the main character Isabelle are fictional the book is also based upon some truth. Bellevue Sanitarium was a real facility in Oak Park in 1875 that was a home for troubled upper class women. Mary Lincoln was admitted to the facility after a trial with her son in which he had her committed. These events being mixed into a fictional tale made the book just that much more interesting while reading the story.

The story within the pages of House of Silence is one that really shows what life would be like for a young woman in the late 1800’s. Women were expected to look and behave a certain way and had very little rights of their own so Isabelle being controlled by her mother and what is expected of her is true to the times. Even after witnessing such a horrific event she can’t find anyone to believe such a thing of her upstanding fiancee so goes to extremes to escape which was certainly intriguing to see if she would ever be safe.

Overall, wonderful historical fiction that also has a bit of real people an situations mixed into the story to set the time and place for the book.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Seasons Within
Lele Iturrioz
(Acorn Publishing)
Publication date: December 15th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Most teenage girls know their name, where they came from, who they are. Not G, a beautiful redhead with unusual markings on her wrist. She gets her name from a silver locket she keeps around her neck, unaware the engraved letter “G” on its front holds the secret to her past.

G’s life before the age of six has been a mystery to her. Each night for the last twelve years she’s been haunted by the same nightmare—a war. Horrendous beasts, warriors able to wield the four elements, and a boy who saves her by means of blue fire taunt her memory. But on her eighteenth birthday, G’s life begins to unravel. When she meets her new Chemistry professor, a man with an uncanny resemblance to the boy who saves her, she knows there must be more to her dreams.

It’s dangerous not knowing who you are, what you’re capable of, and what future awaits you. Especially when the darkness that slaughtered your entire world, just found you.

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EXCERPT:

DUST. Everything was covered in dust and ashes.

Nádúr Noc, the main city of Terra was once beautiful and full of life. Not like that night, the night the darkness descended from the far land of Ifreann.

Now, the round city of Nádúr Noc was dark, burned, and destroyed.

Trees were no longer big and full of different green and golden, bright colors. The river Enosi, a river that surrounded the city with its peaceful crystalline water was now a rapid of blood and death. As for the sky, once bright and blue, it was now filled with dark smoke so thick, it made it nearly impossible to see the remains of the Zansèt Palace; a magnificent castle in the middle of the city made of pearls, flowers, rocks, and vines.

On that night, there was no music and laughter. The only thing anybody could hear were screams and the desolate pleas of the in-habitants. Fear, pain, and unimaginable loss.

This city wasn’t the ruins of any ordinary war, it was the ruins between the light side of nature and the darkest of evils. Beasts and other horrendous creatures destroyed everything that they came across. Killed everyone in their sight. Soulless creatures who lived to torture. Answering to no one, no one except Him, the one who owned the darkness. The one who hell itself was afraid of.

Author Bio:

Major geek by day, hermit writer by night! Love books, sugar gliders and everything that comes in a delicious taco.

I’m the author of the YA fantasy series, Seasons Within

I spend my time writing, planning on writing, reading, drinking coffee like there was no tomorrow, MMA and chilling with my friends and loved ones.

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