Carries Book Reviews

Christmas Under a Starlit Sky by Holly Martin
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

When Neve Whitaker ended her relationship with Hollywood star Oakley Rey she really never thought that she would see him again as she felt she didn’t belong in his world. But after heading to Juniper Island in Scotland to be with her family and taking a job as the manager of the Stardust Lake hotel Neve finds herself with a secret that she doesn’t know whether she should keep or not.

After a couple of months apart and time to think Oakley decides that Neve is his life and as much as he loves his career he needs Neve in his life to be happy so he follows her to the island to try to win her back. Neve doesn’t know what to think when Oakley shows up again in her life, she knows she loves him but she doesn’t want to be the one to stand between him and his dreams so when her secret comes out she lies to Oakley and tries to push him away and now thinks it would take a holiday miracle to save their relationship.

Christmas Under a Starlit Sky is the second book in the A Town Called Christmas series by Holly Martin. I haven’t read the first book in the series myself and while I do think this one can be read as a standalone I also believe that there may have been a tad bit of setting and character building missing from this quaint small town.

This book unfortunately had me very torn the entire time that I was reading it. For starters I love that the focus of the book included more than just the main couple but a couple of other secondary relationships. Oakley and Neve got the most time in the story but there was a second building relationship between Adam and Ivy that also got a lot of time. Along with those two couples there’s also a third that gets mentioned here and there so there was plenty to keep a reader’s attention in this particular book.

However, for me this one also seemed to be weighted down with a bit too much angst and drama for my taste. The story starts with Oakley and Neve meeting up after a break up where Neve reveals some important information to Oakley but then lies a bit about it too so that of course led to many chapters dealing with the fall out but instead of when the truth comes out it ends we have a bit more drama just to prolong the story. Now, as far as the other couples they were far less dramatic although not without their own problems but a bit faster getting them worked out and that made them much more likable in my opinion.

In the end I decided to give this one 3.5 stars, I loved the fact that the book focuses on much more than just a single couple but more paying attention to the town but it could have used a bit less angst.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

You for Christmas by Madeline Ash
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a teenager Felix Nickson didn’t have the best home life and had been planning on leaving home as soon as he graduated high school. When Regan Case, the younger sister of Felix’s best friend, approached Felix just as he was about to leave home she pushed a proposal on him that Felix couldn’t refuse. Giving Felix ten thousand dollars to get his new life started all Regan wanted in return was for Felix to take her sister with him and protect her and for Felix to share one kiss with Regan before he left.

Now, eight years after that day that Regan helped change Felix’s life Regan has returned to town and asked for a place to stay but not to let her sister know she was back. Regan herself had ran that night from horrors in her home that only she knew but she had also stolen the money to help Felix and to gain her own freedom. Not knowing whether he should trust her but knowing he owed her a debt from before Felix agrees to let Regan stay for the holidays but before they know it that small spark started from a kiss eight years before begins to grown.

You for Christmas is the third book in the Rags to Riches series by Madeline Ash. Each book in the series features a new couple so it is not necessary to have read the other books to enjoy this story as it reads fine as a standalone novel.

The one thing that I enjoy the most with a story such as this one is that there is some kind of history with the characters to explain a more fast forward type of relationship. The story was quite the emotional one with both characters back stories involved where each had a touch time growing up and things they needed to escape from. The book is fairly short so things move rather quickly between Felix and Regan but since they had grown up together and both had their own demons the pair fit rather nicely and the more rushed nature makes more sense.

Overall, a fast pace emotional holiday romance between two somewhat flawed characters who had escaped their pasts.

I received an a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Silverwitch
Tamara Grantham
(M.D. Series, The Olive Kennedy)
Published by: Crimson Tree Publishing
Publication date: December 19th 2016
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

It’s Faythander’s legend of King Arthur. And it’s not for the faint of heart.

Olive Kennedy, Fairy World MD, isn’t ready to go back to work. But when her dragon stepfather shows up on her doorstep with bad news of the world-ending variety, that’s exactly what she’ll have to do. He wants her to stop the elven queen from obtaining seven weapons of King Arthur fame, and he wants her to break into a dragon’s vault to do it.

One problem. Silvestra, the silverwitch of Dragon Spine Mountain, guards the weapons. And she’s not willing to give them up. With the help of Kull, her newly reunited, half-crazed Viking boyfriend, she’s hopeful they’ll stand up against the dragon. Plus, she’ll have the help from Kull’s warrior princess sister and a professional thief.

But Olive has never had great luck. What starts as a routine quest quickly turns into a life or death fight. And one of her companions won’t make it out alive…

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EXCERPT:

“I fail to see how we’re lucky. We’re trapped in an unfamiliar world with no way of returning home. The staff is gone, and I have a suspicion that if we find it, we will not live long enough to return it to the sky king.”

Maveryck gave me a condescending smile. “Perhaps you will not live long enough,” he said as he stood, and without further explanation, he limped away from me and down a narrow hallway. I hesitated before following him. Navigating alone

through a tomb like this would be suicide, so I reluctantly trailed him, barely keeping my temper in check.

“Where are you going?” I demanded.

“To find a way out of here.”

“What then?” I asked. “Where will we go? How will we find the staff? How will we return home? Have you the magic to create portals?”

He rounded on me, his jaw clenched. “First, and listen very clearly, I’m not in the habit of answering questions—not from you or anyone else. Second, I’m not your friend, nor am I trying to help you. For the time being, we share the same goal, so I will work with you in order to bring the staff back. After that, our partnership will be dissolved. I’ve never lost an object before, and it won’t happen now. If you impede me in any way, I will aid you no more.”

“Have you forgotten who my brother is? Should you return to Faythander without me, what do you think the king will do to you?”

“I don’t care.”

“You might care when you’re rotting in the Wult dungeons.”

“I doubt he would throw me in the dungeons for leaving you. In all honesty, I believe he would reward me.”

Now he’d pushed too far. I’d had an ill feeling about this man from the moment I’d met him, and I would tolerate his superior attitude no more. I shoved him against the wall, pressing the weight of my body against him, making the stacks of skeletal remains rattle behind us.

“Enough,” I hissed. “I will not tolerate being spoken to in such a manner.”

Instead of shying away as I expected, he clamped my wrists in his hands. He used no magic, but the calculated look he gave me sent shivers down my spine. “And I,” he said, “will also not tolerate being spoken to in such a manner.”

Fear made my heart beat wildly. Who is this man? It was at that moment I realized how very little I knew about him. Where did he come from? Where did he live? Who were his kin? His gaze locked with mine, and sparks of purple danced in the gray of his irises. I knew he possessed magic, but he’d led me to believe his powers were limited. Had he lied?

Author Bio:

Tamara Grantham is the award-winning author of more than half a dozen books and novellas, including the Olive Kennedy: Fairy World MD series and the Shine novellas. Dreamthief, the first book of her Fairy World MD series, won first place for fantasy in INDIEFAB’S Book of the Year Awards, a RONE award for best New Adult Romance of 2016, and is a #1 bestseller on Amazon in both the Mythology and Fairy Tales categories with over 100 reviews.

Tamara holds a Bachelor’s degree in English. She has been a featured speaker at the Rose State Writing Conference and has been a panelist at Comic Con Wizard World speaking on the topic of female leads. For her first published project, she collaborated with New York-Times bestselling author, William Bernhardt, in writing the Shine series.

Born and raised in Texas, Tamara now lives with her husband and five children in Wichita, Kansas. She rarely has any free time, but when the stars align and she gets a moment to relax, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, taking nature walks, which fuel her inspiration for creating fantastical worlds, and watching every Star Wars or Star Trek movie ever made. You can find her online at http://www.TamaraGranthamBooks.com.

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Revelations
T. Marie Alexander
Publication date: January 27th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

Have you ever craved something so badly that all reason was just an excuse getting in your way?

Have you needed something so desperately that you didn’t care how you got it or who you hurt in the process?

I have—and not that long ago.

Acceptance.

Acceptance… from family and friends…

Acceptance of the person I am inside and not outright rejection.

It didn’t come easily for me, and now I believe the world needs to know just how ruthless life can be. How that overwhelming yearning for acceptance can mold you into someone you don’t recognize when you look in the mirror. I’m through hiding behind one façade after another—it’s time for the world to meet the real me.

~Antoinette Justice

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BOOK TRAILER:

Author Bio:

T. Marie Alexander lives in Arkansas. She can be found sitting at a computer on any given day, usually writing or looking up something to do with fashion. When she is not doing either of those things, she’s reading on her Kindle or binge watching Roswell on Netflix time and time again. She shares her apartment with her husband and some annoying ghost that like to take her belongings. Her dream of becoming an author started around the age of seven when she would glue small pages together and write about her favorite thing at the time, boy band crushes. T. Marie writes Young Adult Science Fiction and Paranormal Fiction.

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Rocker Shenanigans: Sylvie + Shandor
Alyson Santos & Sunniva Dee
Publication date: December 19th 2016
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance

They rock hard, play hard, and live life freaking hard. So when it comes to love it’s no surprise they screw up just as hard. Join an amusing cast of characters from Sunniva Dee’s and Alyson Santos’ rock star novels as they meet and pursue each other amidst the backstage chaos of their world.

Rocker Shenanigans is a romantic comedy series of novellas that will toss you into the fun, sexy, and hilarious side of rocker life.

Rocker Shenanigans I:

Sylvie Drake is ecstatic when her rock-goddess sister invites her to a charity event in the Bahamas. With a lineup featuring legends like Night Shifts Black, Clown Irruption, and Tracing Holland, how could this weekend not be totally epic?

One word: Shandor.

Smoldering gaze, cocky smile, and passionate hands that dominate a guitar. Everything about this mysterious stranger screams out-of-her-league.

Shandor Xodyar is here to work. And keep his fiery cousin out of trouble with the threat of former flames breathing down their necks. What he didn’t count on is a three-word bombshell disrupting his mission:

Holland’s teen sister.

Unassumingly sexy, raw, and barely legal, there’s no way entertaining the forbidden electricity can end well.

Then again, some ignored warnings are worth the consequences.

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EXCERPT:

SYLVIE

O.M.G.

I swear his eyes grazed mine before they dismissed me because I’m not famous. Not my sister. But gosh, I want to change his mind. Have to.

I do a quick scan to test my conclusions, but no, only the old cougar with the scandalous miniskirt could have been the other recipient of that smoldering message. Maybe she… no. No! I know nothing about that overload of hotness except he doesn’t need a desperate grandmother to feed his ego. Okay, I don’t know that. Sometimes you just have to have faith, right?

I can’t tell if he wants me to approach or stay the hell away, but I don’t have a choice when the paralysis wears off and my bare legs start guiding me toward his loose-cut jeans. Jeans that hide… I blush. I don’t usually worry about what could be going on in a guy’s jeans.

Say something, Sylvie. And not about his pants.

“I like your guitar.” Ugh! WTH?! I might as well have said I liked his subscription to Time Magazine.

He just stares at me for a moment, and I’m praying that slight slip in his expression is because he didn’t hear me.

“Uh, thanks.”

He’s so not grateful for my praise, but I can’t stop now that I have his attention. I find myself rising on my toes, hoping the slim muscles in my toned thighs are making a pretty picture beneath my tiny shredded shorts. Yes, it’s December. It’s also the Bahamas at a resort that promised a buffet of hot rockers. Funny, I suddenly only notice one. And he needs to notice me.

“I’m Sylvie Drake,” I continue, even though I know that means nothing to him. “My sister is Holland Drake.”

I shoot a thumb toward the opposite corner where my dear sibling is… hanging on Luke. If Luke, then Casey. Thank you grade-nine Algebra, and I’m suddenly annoyed I never got that promised text from Holland. Then again, since my attention zeroed in on this inferno, I haven’t noticed much else. My phone could be replacing the moons of Jupiter with all its flashing and I wouldn’t know it.

“Hi, Sylvia.”

“Sylvie.”

His brows knit because that’s what he said, except he didn’t. Still, I don’t know how to correct him with him looking at me like that. Even slanted in confusion, I feel the intensity of those golden embers shaded by dark lashes. Darnit, I’m Sylvia. It’s fine. I can be Sylvia because he’s… my body doesn’t need words as it answers his piercing concentration with all kinds of adult stuff. Holland would kill me if she knew what was going through my head. So much worse than gin and tonics. So much tastier. Tastier? Too adult. The lady with the miniskirt thinks he’s “tasty.” I think he’s… crap. I suck at this. What would Holland say?

“What key are you playing in?”

Author Bio:

Sunniva Dee:

Between studies, teaching, and advising, Sunniva has spent her entire adult life in a college environment. Most of her novels are new adult romance geared toward smart, passionate readers with a love for eclectic language and engaging their brain as well as their heart while reading.

Born in the Land of the Midnight Sun, the author spent her early twenties making the world her playground. Southern Europe: Spain, Italy, Greece–Argentina: Buenos Aires, in particular. The United States finally kept her interest, and after half a decade in Los Angeles, she now lounges in the beautiful city of Savannah.

Sometimes, Sunniva writes with a paranormal twist (Shattering Halos, Stargazer, and Cat Love). At other times, it’s contemporary (Pandora Wild Child, Leon’s Way, Adrenaline Crush, Walking Heartbreak, and Dodging Trains, coming in late March 2016).

This author is the happiest when her characters let their emotions run off with them, shaping her stories in ways she never foresaw. She loves bad-boys and good-boys run amok, and like in real life, her goal is to keep the reader on her toes until the end of each story.

Sunniva Links:
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Alyson Santos:

I’m a writer, musician, and cat lover. I also have an alternative music obsession. Seriously, it’s a real problem.

I write what needs to come out, whether it’s pain, tears, or laughter. I write people and relationships, about the beauty and horror of what we do to ourselves and each other. I write Love. Vengeance. Compassion. Cruelty. Trust. Betrayal. Forgiveness. Darkness, and the incredible way humans destroy and heal each other.

I like to eradicate barriers, refusing to be confined by the laws of physics or limitations of reality. I will befriend a vast population of possibilities and introduce them in ways that might surprise you.

Links:
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