Carries Book Reviews

Trespassers by Todd Wynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received a copy of Trespassers from one of the authors in exchange for an honest review and after reading it I’m so glad I did.

The book has 3 main groups. The Limestone Deposit Survey group which we find is an government organization tasked with regulating alien activity and also handling the cover up of said activity. Then on the other hand we have the Karl Bruner who is from the Alien Research Agency a government group set up and tasked with uncovering the existence of aliens. And last but not least we have our aliens, and before you think little green men these aliens are actually human but born on another planet.

The story follows our Limestone group lead by Stewart in their task or finding the trespasser aliens and the aliens trying to complete their mission on Earth. Throw in Bruner who is trying to find evidence of aliens and you have a lot of pure laugh out loud moments. There are a couple other characters that I won’t talk about that are part of the storyline but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. But in the end all are likable and even believable.

My one critique of the story would be with Mindy, the newest of the Limestone group. She’s described as this highly professional government agent and proves her value throughout the book but they toss in her having a crush on Stewart. The crush didn’t feel necessary or believable from a woman that had been such a good employee she was given the choice of any post she wanted. It’s such a small critique though that I didn’t let that influence my overall rating as the story is still completely enjoyable and Mindy more than proves herself with the group on more than one occasion.

Overall though a two thumbs up and 5 stars to the authors for such a fun and likable story. I’d encourage any fan of science fiction to give this book a shot.

Cut to the Bone by Jefferson Bass
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I won this book from Goodreads First Reads.

Cut to the Bone is a prequal to the Body Farm series from Jefferson Bass. Since it’s part of a series I don’t want to get into too much detail in case it may spoil other books but the story takes place back in 1992 and features Dr. Bill Brockton who wants to begin his body farm to study the forensic science of decomposing bodies to help the police solve murders. Dr. Brockton works cases with the local authorities quite often getting called to crime scenes with his assistant but can’t often determine a exact time of death thus the idea of the body farm.

I haven’t read the other books in the Body Farm series but after reading this book they are certainly going to be added to my to read list. Loved the science aspects of helping solve the crimes and all of the characters and storyline in the book. Although you know in the book who the killer is, it is still filled with suspense waiting for the good doctor and the law enforcement to figure out the killer and what will be his next move. I couldn’t put this book down until finding out how it turned out and look forward to reading others from the series in the future.

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Providence in the Fall by Jessica Danow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I won this book from Goodreads First Reads.

This book is about Stella and her friend Honor finishing up in high school and heading across the country to begin college and the various relationships the two girls have. Now Stella is the main character in the book and through the beginning of the book I had very high hopes for her with the way she dealt with her high school boyfriend Owen that cheated on her. Unfortunately by the time the girls got to college I just couldn’t comprehend Stella’s choices from then on out and why she would have ever had any interest in Tucker at all. She seemed like such a strong character to start off with that I ended up disappointed for the rest of the book in her. Honor on the other hand seemed to be what you would expect of a main character in the book and really seemed to turn her life around from the beginning so I was much more of a fan of her and her relationship than the main relationship the book focused on.

I debated between 2 and 3 stars for the book but decided on 3 because overall besides the choices Stella made in regards to Tucker I did sit and read this rather quickly and would pick up another by Jessica Danow in the future.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting look at how the Evil Queen Levana became the evil ruler she is. Lots of things discussed from her upbringing that may spoil the first 3 books in the series so definitely to be read after finishing those.

Lumière by Jacqueline Garlick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lumiere begins with an prologue of a young Eyelet attending a carnival with her mother where we start getting glimpse into some of the machinery and gadgets to come. Also, learning a bit of the Illuminator that Eyelet’s father had built to help her overcome her seizures she suffers from, which seems to be an x-ray machine of sorts.

As the story begins we’re introduced to the evil Smrt, our villain in the book. But also it jumps right into Eyelet’s mother being accused of “wickedry” and going to be killed in the town square. Eyelet’s father had passed earlier in her life so her mother gives her a necklace of her father’s telling her to run and save herself and so Eyelet’s journey begins.

Eyelet’s adventure is not only motivated by getting away from Smrt and his soldiers but to find her father’s invention to hopefully cure herself. She meets Urlick, a young inventor himself and the two both obviously have their own secrets and agendas.

The world in the story actually became quite intriguing going from one part to the next and learning of all the things involved. I will note though I found it odd with all the differences and that the author thought that they should be drinking “Earl Grey” tea. Seemed a bit odd to have that popped into the story.

Eyelet and Urlick eventually seemed to fit together quite nicely even though they get off to a bit of a rocky start upon meeting. I did find Eyelet a bit irritating upon the arrival at Urlick’s compound. She seemed quite demanding and bratty instead she should of been more gracious. The same story could have been told with her coming across as curious instead of entitled. She otherwise seemed to be a rather smart, nice girl other than the one section which brought my rating down a bit.

The book ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger but with everything that happened I’m quite looking forward to seeing where the story takes us in the next book. Love to see the world expanded on and what other adventures await the characters.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.