Carries Book Reviews

Untouched by Melody Grace
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Emerson Ray is Beachwood Bay’s resident bad boy, waking up from another black out night with yet another girl he doesn’t remember he heads into work. On the way Emerson ends up in an accident in which he meets the fiery Juliet McKenzie.Emerson and Juliet find that they have a lot in common in their lives and begin spending time together but will they build something more or will it be just another fling for Emerson?

Untouched is a companion novella in the Beachwood Bay series by Melody Grace. I haven’t read the entire series myself but being romance the books generally are fine to read as standalones so this seemed to be alright without the others.

I actually enjoy Melody Grace’s writing as this isn’t the first of her books I have read but with this one I just wasn’t a fan of the characters and situations together. The characters in here are fairly young but we have yet another womanizer bad boy that he heroine is sure to think she can find that good side in there. Couldn’t help but think to myself, girl you are young just move on.

Overall, 2.5 stars, good writing just wasn’t a fan of this couple myself.

A June Wedding by Emily Murdoch
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Victoria Walsingham has always been in love with Isaac Quinn but instead of proposing like Victoria had always dreamed he would, Isaac tells Victoria that he can’t marry her due to her status. Victoria is of course devastated but when her brother unexpectedly inherits the title of the Earl of Cheshire, Victoria finds herself in the middle of high society and again crossing paths with Isaac.

A June Wedding had all the things that should make for a great read but unfortunately I just didn’t find myself enjoying this one. The writing was good and I usually enjoy a good historical read but I just didn’t like Isaac and couldn’t get behind the relationship.

It’s understandable I suppose that with the time period that status and wealth meant more than it would now. However, it seemed that even if overlooking Isaac using that as an excuse to leave he still seemed a not so great guy later on in the story too. Hard to get behind wanting a relationship to happen with someone that doesn’t seem worthy.

The Marked One
Chevoque
(The Marked Series, #1)
Published by: Limitless Publishing
Publication date: September 13th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

All Aaliyah had ever wanted was to be invisible…

To not be stared at. To not have to display her lifelong pain everywhere she goes. But society is too blind to see that beauty lies beneath the skin.

Aaliyah only reveals her special mark—a facial birthmark—to the closest people in her life. But when Aaliyah’s friend paints her in a portrait titled The Marked One?, her birthmark is exposed to the world. Now no amount of makeup can keep Aaliyah’s secret.

Tristan Gerardo appears to be a successful CEO, but he is hiding many secrets…

What many don’t realize is that his successful public persona is a mask for his own pain—both of losing a sibling, and his failed marriage.

Tristan buys a portrait called The Marked One?, and is shocked when the subject of the portrait arrives for an interview at his company. He pursues Aaliyah, and while she is cautious at first, she feels an ease around Tristan that she’s never experienced before.

Little by little, Tristan’s secrets are exposed…

While Tristan struggles to keep Aaliyah from finding out how his sister died, she discovers he is still married. He assures her she has his full loyalty and the divorce is just a matter of time, and she desperately wants to believe him. But his estranged wife re-enters his life, and Tristan must figure out how to convince Aaliyah that she means the world to him.

How can Tristan make Aaliyah realize that he loves her for herself, and not because of her notoriety as The Marked One?

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Author Bio:

Chevoque was born as Rochelle de Beer on 15 May 1992 in Klerksdorp, South Africa, and as an only child, the world seemed like a lonely place, until she set her mind free and got lost in the worlds she created for herself. Her writing began at a young age and with numerous stories still waiting to be released from her mind, only time now seems to hold her back. She also has a degree in BSc. Environmental and Biological Sciences, because she’s a tree hugging animal lover, who hopes to never use her degree to cause cruelty.

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The Witch of Roan Mountain: The Witching Hour Collection by Blaire Edens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maeve McMahan has returned home to the mountains of North Carolina after leaving years ago for college and then law school then getting her career going. It had always been one excuse or another not to visit her granny but now she’s back and not too sure over running into her ex Campbell Hyatt who is now a sheriff’s deputy.

When Maeve encounters the ghost of Delphine though she finds herself drawn into the old story of the woman who had been convicted of murder and thought to be a witch. Maeve makes it her mission to get justice for Delphine just as she would one of her clients.

The Witch of Roan Mountain was actually a pretty nice novella that had a good mix of different things going on in the story. There’s the romance between Maeve and Campbell, the ghost of Delphine who also tells her side in flashbacks during certain segments and then the mystery of what had really happened all those years before.

An enjoyable read that the author did a good job bringing the story into the small town in the mountains with this old ghost legend. I’d warn there’s a bit of sexual situations but not drawn out too much but wasn’t quite expecting it myself.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While studying in the Oxford library Diana Bishop accidentally opens up a bewitched alchemical manuscript while doing her research. Diana is actually a witch and she knows the script has been spelled but Diana tries to avoid any form of practicing magic.

After coming across the manuscript though Diana meets Matthew who is a vampire. Vampires and Witches are not supposed to be together but Diana and Matthew form a friendship when it becomes apparent that Diana’s unknowingly opening the manuscript has put her in danger and she’s suddenly being followed by numerous vampires, witches and daemons.

A Discovery of Witches is one of those books that I have put off reading forever because I was a bit worried about the length and what the pacing would be like with this one. Unfortunately it fell flat as I was afraid of with just being way too slow in my opinion. The biggest part of the first half of this is simply centered around Diana and Matthew and it seemed forever to get anything else really going in the story.

However, there really were some good ideas in here that I did enjoy. But again even with the good parts I felt the author seemed to drag the story down with a bit too much detailing to it. A few parts in here felt almost like sitting through a class lecture which was a rather unfortunate way to get some ideas into the story.

As for Diana and Matthew and the relationship side of things. This one would be for those that prefer a slow build. In this case a really really slow build. I did like the characters for the most part but there were a few times I was a bit iffy on Diana though. I think that was because of her lack of magical knowledge seemed to kind of contradict her being a scholar and made her seem not so smart at times.

Overall, this one falls for me somewhere around the 2.5-3 stars range since the pace just slowed it so much for me. If a good portion of this was edited down to make it not seem so incredibly long to get to the action I probably would have loved it.