Carries Book Reviews

Welcome to the Release Day Celebration for

Clanless (Nameless #2) by Jennifer Jenkins

presented by Month9Books!

Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!

Happy Book Birthday, Jennifer!

Striker Gryphon has lost his position of honor among the Ram, and is now a hunted man. A traitor.

Zo, the object of his affection, was murdered by members of his former clan. To honor her memory, he journeys to the highly secretive Raven “Nest” to warn strangers of their impending demise—though it could cost him more than just his pride.

He doesn’t know that Zo is very much alive and in another part of the region assisting Nameless refugees over a mountain swarming with wild men known as “Clanless.”

As each struggle to make sense of what their lives have become, they fight and claw to reach the Allied Camp, their last hope in bringing peace to the region.

But the road back to one another is treacherous and uncertain. And freedom will come with a price.

Clanless (Nameless #2)

by Jennifer Jenkins

Publication Date: October 4, 2016

Publisher: Month9Books

Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Indies | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks

Wet boots.

Dripping cloak.

One small dagger that would hardly scratch a rabbit.

It didn’t take long to inventory Gryphon’s gear as he trudged through the night. The list of things he didn’t have was much longer and—though it did him no good—occupied the majority of his thoughts.

Light.

Food.

Bedroll.

Shield and spear.

Joshua’s million questions.

A map to the Raven Nest

A home.

A clan.

With every step away from the Gate, his spirits drooped lower and lower until he wasn’t sure if his footsteps carried him toward his goal or away from it. He’d never traveled outside the Gate without a mess unit. His whole life until now was spent advancing in the hierarchy of his clan. Every goal that once drove him to improve, every day spent training to become the warrior he was today, meant nothing now.

If he wasn’t a Ram, what was he? What was a man without a clan?

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

Four clans have been at war for centuries: the Kodiak, the Raven, the Wolf and the Ram. Through brutal war tactics, the Ram have dominated the region, inflicting death and destruction on their neighbors.

Seventeen-year-old Zo is a Wolf and a Healer who volunteers to infiltrate the Ram as a spy on behalf of the allied clans. She offers herself as a Ram slave, joining the people who are called the “nameless.” Hers is a suicide mission – Zo’s despair after losing her parents in a Ram raid has left her seeking both revenge and an end to her own misery. But after her younger sister follows her into Rams Gate, Zo must find a way to survive her dangerous mission and keep her sister safe.

What she doesn’t expect to find is the friendship of a young Ram whose life she saves, the confusing feelings she develops for a Ram soldier, and an underground nameless insurrection. Zo learns that revenge, loyalty and love are more complicated than she ever imagined in the first installment of this two-book series.

Amazon | B&N | BAM | Chapters | Indiebound | Kobo | TBD | Google Play | iBooks

With her degree in History and Secondary Education, Jennifer had every intention of teaching teens to love George Washington and appreciate the finer points of ancient battle stratagem. (Seriously, she’s obsessed with ancient warfare.) However, life had different plans in store when the writing began. As a proud member of Writers Cubed, and a co-founder of the Teen Author Boot Camp, she feels blessed to be able to fulfill both her ambition to work with teens as well as write Young Adult fiction.

Jennifer has three children who are experts at naming her characters, one loving, supportive husband, a dog with little-man syndrome, and three chickens (of whom she is secretly afraid).

Visit her online at jajenkins.com

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest |Instagram

Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beautiful Maids All in a Row by Jennifer Harlow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dr. Iris Ballard thought her days of chasing serial killers with the FBI were long over after she herself was injured and her husband murdered. Iris has spent the time since buried in a bottle and popping prescription pain killers to hide from the worst time of her life.

When Iris’s former partner, Luke Hudson, show up and asks for Iris to help solve the case of a serial killer on the loose targeting women she finds herself brought back into the world of the FBI. The media has dubbed the killer the Woodsman but Iris comes up with a scarily accurate profile of the killer. When she begins to receive phone calls from the killer a game of cat and mouse begins to prove his guilt.

Beautiful Maids All in a Row is possibly one of those reads that I went into with my expectations a tad too high after seeing a lot of wonderful reviews. For me I found this one seemed to have flaws that others had overlooked and I just didn’t get that wow factor that I was expecting.

First, I’m not sure why the author chose to have the main character basically portrayed as an addict at the start of the story only to have her to a complete about face and become a sober kick butt agent in the blink of an eye. This really lost any touch with reality because no one could be burying their troubles in booze and pills and not suffer some withdrawals. I would have been more convinced if she’d been hiding a flask while on the job or something to make that part a tad more realistic.

Then, as for the story it seemed to be the investigation was over fairly quickly and it became more of a lack of evidence dance between characters. This to me wasn’t quite as compelling for some reason, I just kept thinking arrest him or shoot him or something. I understand evidence being needed for trials but there were some details in there that I questioned why it wasn’t enough and the story was continuing.

Overall, not a bad story but I didn’t completely fall in love with this one either. A few flaws in my eyes made this one just an OK read but the writing good enough I would possibly pick up others from this author in the future.

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

Threat
Tia Lewis
(A Blood Riders MC, #1)
Publication date: October 3rd 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance

As V.P. of the Blood Riders MC, Drake is used to calling the shots, getting his way, and sleeping with every biker groupie within reach. When he meets Nicole, her feisty, headstrong beauty pulls him in, even as his instincts warn him she’s hiding something.

Nicole is determined to learn who killed her father, a detective who was investigating the Blood Riders. When the chemistry between her and Drake becomes much more, she’s caught between her desires and her desperate need for answers.

Then her search turns deadly, and Nicole has to put everything on the line―and trust that the man she’s fallen for will forgive her betrayal. Will he come to her defense … or will his eyes be the last thing she ever sees?

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

I didn’t like the way his eyes traveled over my body. Like I didn’t have clothes on at all. I fought the urge to cover myself with my hands. Don’t let him see how he gets to you. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the image of him shattering a man’s jaw out of my head. I noticed his big hands and wondered at the damage they could do when curled into fists.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. His voice was just loud enough for me to hear it, but low enough that many of the others didn’t.

“Nothing,” I cleared my throat.

“I see you looking around.”

“So? I’ve never been here before, have I?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It seems like you’re taking notes with your eyes. Something like that.”

“I’m not.”

“You sure about that?”

“Don’t you have something better do to than to bother me? I didn’t come here for Twenty Questions.” I stood, walking toward the bar—but to the other end of it. A girl was standing there, pouring drinks and uncapping cold beers for the guys. At lunch time. Classy.

“I was stupid and forgot to get something to drink. May I have a glass of ice water?”

The girl smiled. She looked a little rough, like a heavy smoker. Her skin was wrinkled and dry, there were yellow stains on her teeth. But it was a friendly smile, just the same. “Sure thing. I’ll give you a bottle. How about that?” She reached into the cooler and pulled out a semi-frozen icy cold water bottle for me. I thanked her, uncapping it to take a sip right away.

“Who are you, really?” I glanced over to find Drake staring at me just as he had been before. So I was going to be his project. He wanted to know all about me. Damn, he was dangerous.

Author Bio:

Want to be kept up to date on new releases? Text LEWIS to 31996 or go to: http://www.NextBookRelease.com

Tia Lewis is a romance author from the Midwest who writes about smart, sexy, sassy women and hot, possessive alpha males. Her favorite bad boys to write about include sports players, mafia, bikers, billionaires and the bad-ass next door. You can find her cooking, reading, or traveling when she’s not busy working on her next release.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Graveyard Apartment: A Novel by Mariko Koike
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A young family has bought an apartment in a new building that houses fourteen apartments but only has eight current tenants. The building itself overlooks a cemetery and crematorium. Upon moving in the family begins to experience a few odd occurrences starting with their pet bird dying shortly after arrival but then the young daughter claims she still sees the bird.

When shown around the building the family discovers one odd design flaw to the place, the basement only has access via the elevator with no stairway to use in case of emergency. Of course this leads to even more problems for the young couple and their daughter and before you know it things really start to take place in their new home.

The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike is a horror read originally published in Japan in 1986 but is now being translated and republished. I found myself having a bit of trouble with this one due to it originally being a Japanese tale and not being familiar with that language.

First the main characters in the story are Teppei, Misao, and Tamao which led to a bit of confusion for a while for myself to remember which was the father, mother and child in the story just not being familiar with the names. After getting used to that it did get slightly better but there were also thing like the apartment listing being in yen so I kept questioning why not translate that so we’d know if they go a major bargain to move into a place with the view of a cemetery. There were also words here and there that I wasn’t familiar with that possibly just didn’t translate well to English.

But aside from the things with this being a translated book I also found myself just simply eventually losing interest in the story. I just didn’t feel the major pull of something incredibly scary going on that I should feel reading a book of this nature. Sure, some odd occurrences begin happening but I just wanted more over the course of the book. Not too terrible of an ending to this one but by that time I just really wasn’t left with any kind of excitement other than finishing.

Overall, this one just wasn’t for me unfortunately. I’m sure some will find the story scary enough but it just moved a bit too slowly for my taste along with a few translation issues.

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

Blood Of Stars And Gods
Melissa Petreshock
(Stars and Souls #2)
Published by: Swoon Romance
Publication date: October 4th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult

Forever does not go on unchanged.

Caitriona Hayden’s destiny as the Dracopraesi dragon’s North Star is no clearer to her than it was weeks ago. However, Cait’s eternal future seems a minor concern while the vengeful elves continue taunting the dragons, now using violence against the human population in their desire for war.

Battles of war aren’t the only ones fought.

King Corrin struggles to make peace with his coming end, and as his family bonds heal, stronger relationships and alliances form among Cait and her dragons. Theo may have won her heart, but Oliver fills a void long left by the passing of her uncle, and each dragon is a part of Cait’s family.

But a darkness bleeds through to change their world.

When faced with decisions of life and death, Cait, Theo, and demigod Dante must choose unpredictable paths, chance outcomes of eternal consequences, and make dubious promises. As Cait displays unexpected abilities, complications arise, more details of her destiny are revealed, and she discovers the inherent risks of fearing change.

Every era has a beginning and an end. There are things in the world no one is meant to stop.

BLOOD OF STARS AND GODS is book two in the exciting Stars and Souls trilogy, sequel to Amazon #1 Contemporary Fantasy: FIRE OF STARS AND DRAGONS!

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

*Cait POV*

“Oliver, I’d rather you not go alone,” I tell him, pulling away from Theo to approach the towering First Brother of the House of Pendragon, who looks more like a lost child

than the most respected dragon of their house’s brotherhood. “At least, let Liam keep you company, even if he doesn’t stay too close.” Taking Oliver’s hand, I squeeze it, and he reaches down to wrap his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer. After his little ‘catnip’ talk with me, I understand somewhat better why the dragons enjoy my nearness, the soothing effect within my blood, what makes me their North Star has, the irrefutable draw I have, and the danger I’m in. “Just be safe. I may have several of you hanging around, but that doesn’t mean I want to lose any of you.” Abnormal as it may be, this dysfunctional family we’ve become is all I have that matters. The way I hold his hand tightly for a moment longer, I’m sure he understands what I said goes, at least, double for him.

Nodding, he gestures to Liam, and the two head out the balcony doors, quickly shifting, taking to the sky in one fluid motion. “Well, it seems the second I return, everyone has somewhere else to be.” Claaron smirks, and I just shake my head. “I suppose with Clifford down, I should go check the security cameras. He’d rather have lost his arm completely than have anything happen to his dearest techy toys and gadgets.”

As soon as he’s gone, Theo looks around the empty living room. “Alone with my love. Why does it seem this has not happened in far too long?”

Returning to his side, letting my head fall against his chest as he engulfs me in his arms, I sigh. “Because it hasn’t. We’re never alone. Hell, I can barely walk through my own home without tripping over a dragon.”

Author Bio:

Romance author Melissa A. Petreshock lives in the Greater Atlanta area, writing whatever strikes her fancy and subsisting on unnatural doses of coffee, sarcasm, and music. Spending most of her time weaving reality and imagination into fantastical romantic tales, Mel often loses track of reality and is admittedly more than a tad eccentric.

Look for future works in the Stars and Souls Trilogy as well as additional projects of contemporary romance and whatever else the muse sends Mel’s way..

Goodreads / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway