Carries Book Reviews

12 Hours in Paradise
Kathryn Berla
Published by: Limitless Publishing
Publication date: April 19th 2016
Genres: Romance, Young Adult

Twelve hours, thirty-six questions, and a chance to fall in love…

It’s the last day of Dorothy Patmont’s family vacation. Soon, she must head back to Reno, where all that waits for her is the cold and the snow. To top it all off, her brother, Chester, acted like a little jerk and ate one too many cookies from the sample jar in the cookie store. But his antics have an unexpected benefit—attracting the attention of an intriguing boy who could change her life forever.

Treats can be sweet, but love is sweeter still…

Arash Atkinson, fluent in four languages and an adventurous soul, is in Waikiki for a high school band competition. When he meets Dorothy, he realizes their time together is limited. “Come out and play,” he texts her. A night of romantic adventure ensues, and Arash discovers an app that claims it can make people fall in love after answering thirty-six questions in each other’s presence.

With each question asked, their stories and feelings continue to unfold. But with every hour that passes they’re more at risk of being found out—Dorothy, by her parents; Arash by his school chaperone. And then Arash gets the dreaded phone call—he has been discovered missing from his room, and must return immediately. Can they finish the questions before facing their consequences?

When time is running out, true love cannot wait. What Arash and Dorothy have is beyond special, something that comes along once in a lifetime, and begins with Twelve Hours In Paradise…but can it survive the trials of the real world?

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Author Bio:

Kathryn Berla graduated from the University of California at Berkeley as an English major. She has lived in many different countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Stopgap by Liam Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Luke Stevenson was always preoccupied with death and what happens after death. When Luke is cheated out of his life by an unfortunate accident he meets the Bookeeper who gives him the choice of finishing out what should have been his life on Earth as a ghost or continuing on to What’s Next. Luke chooses to return as a ghost and part of that involves mentoring another incoming ghost after he himself has been trained.

When Sofia shows up to be mentored by Luke it is found that through her anger she can affect the living. Sofia then decides that it’s her mission to stop all violence on Earth and she forms Operation Stopgap with Luke to terminate anyone attempting a violent act. But just how far will Sofia go and should Luke stop her or what she doing the right thing?

Stopgap is certainly a bit different in what I would normally read so I was a little hesitant on how I wanted to rate this book with not having much to compare it to. I wasn’t a huge fan of the overall writing style in the book but that doesn’t necessarily make it bad, just different to what normally would appeal to me.

However, I did for the most part enjoy the story. There are certainly plenty of funny parts but along with that it really gets you thinking. The whole afterlife in the story was certainly creative and the story only got more intriguing as it went along.

In the end I decided on three stars, I did enjoy this as something different, a bit of a dark comedy that gives one a bit to think about with human nature.

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

Shades of Darkness by A.R. Kahler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Kaira Winters has some dark secrets in her past that she refuses to share with anyone. Running from her past she has chosen to attend Islington Arts Academy nestled in the forests of Michigan. Kiara’s made a couple of friends but she still holds them at arm’s length not letting them know what it is that she is hiding from. When a student is found dead on campus though Kiara feels that somehow her past is catching up to her and she is to blame.

Unfortunately as great as the synopsis for this book sounded it ended up being another that I just didn’t really care for in the end. I’m sure some people may love this one but for me the pacing was just way too slow for my taste which ended up making me just feel extremely bored by the time anything really starts to happen. There are probably 75-100 pages of just general character and setting set up at the start of the book before you ever start to bring anything else into the mix and even then it’s very slow to add anything else.

Also, Kiara said a few things in the beginning of this book that really turned me off of her as a character so with a bit of disconnect from early on I found it hard to get behind her as I was learning her story. A few of the supporting characters were much more likable so it’s unfortunate that the main character didn’t appeal to me.

Shades of Darkness is the first book in the Ravenborn series and at the end of it there’s a bit of an explanation finally for what had been going on but it really doesn’t give too much information either leaving the reader hanging on for the next book. Unfortunately, I’d have to say that I probably wouldn’t continue on with the story as this one just didn’t capture my attention enough to want to know more.

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

Magnetic Shift by Lucy D. Briand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Seventeen year old Lexi Adams has the ability to move and manipulate anything metal with her mind. She sees this as a curse that was inherited from a father that she never knew so she doesn’t really understand her powers other than they are tied to her emotions. After her mother passed away she was left with an abusive, controlling step-father that has decided to trade Lexi to a NASCAR team for the rights to advertise his business on the car.

Lexi arrives at the race track and finds that the driver of the car she is supposed to be working for is nineteen year old rookie sensation Colton Tayler. Lexi is immediately attracted to Colton throwing her emotions into overdrive and finding it hard to control her ability around him. The more time the two spend together the harder it is for Lexi to hide what she can do and when Carl Stacy, a rival team owner sees Lexi use her ability he threatens exposure.

When I saw Magnetic Shift up for review I knew that I had to read it being a huge NASCAR fan. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the NASCAR tie in to the story, if it would be all fictional or make use of actual facts about racing or not. Well, color me impressed with the authors knowledge of the sport, I thought she did a wonderful job bringing the sport into this story. There may have been a couple little details here and there that could’ve used a little tweaking but the descriptions of the tracks, the roar of the engines, the pits, stands and fans all made me feel as if I were touring the race circuit right along with this racing team. A definite thumbs up for the setting of the story.

Now, as far as the plot and characters of this story I found that I enjoyed the idea of Lexi having abilities that she was trying to hide but I at times wish we were told a bit more about them a little sooner. Of course Lexi herself really didn’t understand them either so I suppose that’s why the reader was learning along with her just what she could or couldn’t do. I think I’d also might have liked a bit more of a build up between Lexi and Colton in their relationship, it was a tad too insta-lovey when the setting could have made room for more of a growing romance. Overall though it was an enjoyable read with an interesting plot that I’d recommend checking out.

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

The Teacher by Katerina Diamond
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Teacher begins with a teacher receiving a package that somehow tells him that his fate is sealed. That night a man comes and forces him to hang himself in the school where he is found the next day. But our teacher had secrets, he liked young boys. Thus begins the reign of a serial killer who targets those with secrets. As the gruesome deaths pile up DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles must solve the case.

The entire idea behind this story is one that I should have loved, unfortunately I ended up rather bored with the story fairly early on and found it just confusing to read. The book switches between multiple points of view and also switches from the present to the past between each chapter.

Normally those things I would find add to the suspense and intrigue of a story but with the style of this particular book I was finding myself lost trying to even figure out who was who and forgetting if I’d read about someone before or not. I kept having to flip back and remind myself was this the present or the past. Who is this person and why am I reading about them? The story just didn’t have a good overall flow for me.

I think that I’m in the minority in not liking this story but it just wasn’t for me, felt really disconnected the entire time I was reading and was never drawn in to care what would happen or how it would turn out. 2 stars for the idea behind it, just would have liked a bit more depth given to characters before being tossed into another chapter with a new person and having to struggle with figuring things out.

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