Carries Book Reviews

The History Major by Michael Phillip Cash
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a fight with her boyfriend Amanda Greene has a few too many drinks with her friends and finds herself waking up in her dorm room with a stranger claiming to be her roommate and a class schedule that doesn’t fit what she signed up for. And then after a failed attempt to get out of the history class she finds herself forced into the lecture hall but doesn’t recognize a single person.

The History Major is a novella length story that is somewhat like reading an episode of the Twilight Zone. Amanda wakes up with all of her surroundings seeming somewhat like normal but all of the people and places are just not adding up to her normal daily life. Her friends and boyfriend are no where to be found. The school staff is a bit off when she tries to change her schedule and then she’s tossed into an outrageous history class with an teacher dressed as Aristotle.

In the short length the author packs in quite a bit of history tidbits along with a unique story. A somewhat dark tale that forces the main character to deal with her upsetting past and look into her own life through the association of events in history. As a reader I wasn’t quite sure where the story was taking me and found myself continuously guessing at just what was happening and how it would all turn out until the end.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Let us know what you think of the cover for Amid Wind & Stone by Nicole Luiken

Amid Wind & Stone releases on March 7, 2016

About Amid Wind & Stone:

There is one True World, and then there are the four Mirror Worlds: Fire, Water, Air, and Stone.

Audrey and Dorotea are “otherselves”—twin copies of each other who live on different Mirror Worlds.

On Air, Audrey has the ability to communicate with wind spirits. As war looms, she’s torn between loyalty to her country and her feelings for a roguish phantom who may be a dangerous spy.

Blackouts and earthquakes threaten the few remaining humans on Stone, who have been forced to live underground. To save her injured sister, Dorotea breaks taboo and releases an imprisoned gargoyle. Brooding, sensitive Jasper makes her wonder if gargoyles are truly traitors, as she’s always been told.

Unbeknownst to them, they both face the same enemy—an evil sorceress bent on shattering all the Mirror Worlds.

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Missed the first book in the Otherselves series? Learn all about it now!

About Through Fire & Sea:

There is one True World, and then there are the four mirror worlds: fire, water, air, and stone. And each has a magic of its own…

In the Fire World, seventeen-year-old Leah is the illegitimate daughter of one of the realm’s most powerful lords. She’s hot-blooded—able to communicate with the tempestuous volcano gods. But she has another gift…the ability to Call her twin “Otherselves” on other worlds.

Holly resides in the Water World—our world. When she’s called by Leah from the Fire World, she nearly drowns. Suddenly the world Holly thought she knew is filled with secrets, magic…and deadly peril.

For a malevolent force seeks to destroy the mirror worlds. And as Leah and Holly are swept up in the tides of chaos and danger, they have only one choice to save the mirror worlds—to shatter every rule they’ve ever known…

Want to Read More? Buy Through Today!

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Storm Siren by Mary Weber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nym is a female Elemental, she shouldn’t even exist, Elementals are normally born male and if found they are sentenced to death. Nym has spent her life as a slave hiding who she is after the loss of her parents when she was five. Nym thought that her curse of being able to control the elements was the cause of not only her parents deaths but many others over the years.

Sold at an auction to someone that wants to turn Nym into a weapon to help save her land of Faelen from an oncoming war she is turned over to a trainer to learn to control her powers. Nym finds herself thrown into a world of politics and secrets. She finds herself not sure if she wants to be turned into a weapon to save a land that has taken all of her rights and she knows she doesn’t want to be responsible for killing anyone else.

I’ve had this series on my TBR for quite a while but just hadn’t gotten around to reading it. The cover alone just screams read me read me, such beautiful artwork that was just trying to pull me in. I’m not quite sure why it took so long to get to but when I saw the series on Netgalley I knew I just had to pick it up and wasn’t disappointed in the least.

Packed full of excitement and adventure with wonderful world building this was an intriguing read. Nym thinks of herself as a monster due to her abilities and had no idea that she would even be able to control them and use her powers for good. I loved watching her grow into her own during this story and see that maybe she wasn’t the monster she always thought she had been.

At the end of this I was just left with one of those wow, really, moments that you sometimes get with a series. A cliffhanger ending that has left me with a what in the world is going to happen next with my fingers crossed it will only get better from here.

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

The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum by Kirsten Weiss
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

When Maddie Kosloski loses her job overseas she moves back to her hometown to try to find a new career closer to home. After Maddie’s friend Adele tries to rope Maddie into taking over the Paranormal Museum, a town tourist attraction that is part of the property Adele bought to open a tea shop, Maddie figures she could at least help her friend while she job hunts.

Unfortunately, when Maddie and Adele go to inspect the museum they stumble upon a murder and find the victim is the woman Adele’s ex-fiancee had an affair with. When Adele is arrested for the murder Maddie is sure that her friend is innocent.

The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum is actually a very nice little cozy mystery that has Maddie not only involved in the investigation of the current murder but she also gets caught up in an old case from one of the artifacts in the museum. Both were intriguing to follow and kept me guessing until the end.

There’s not a whole lot of paranormal in the story but just a touch to make this a bit different than your normal cozy mystery. The museum and it’s creepy contents was quite the original concept that gave the story just a touch of a creepy vibe here and there that just added to the story. Who wouldn’t jump a bit when alone in a building surrounded by those supposedly haunted objects?

There was one little detail that I questioned that I won’t specifically mention to not add a spoiler but I believe was added to expand the paranormal feel but was ignored in the end so I took a half star off my overall rating so 4.5 stars for this lovely read. Otherwise, I completely enjoyed the story, characters and setting and would recommend checking this one out.

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

Get ready to be Lovestruck with three new releases today and pick them all up for less than a visit to the coffee shop!

Their love is a long shot… 

Aspiring writer Kellie Dalton needs a man, and fast. When she’s rear-ended by a sexy-as-sin biker on the way to a Vegas romance readers convention, she sees her chance. If he’ll pose as her fake boyfriend long enough to impress a bestselling author, Kellie has a shot at saving the bookstore for underprivileged kids she runs back home. 

Quinn Anderson doesn’t know what to make of the cute little writer who stirs his heart and his libido, but he doesknow he wants to get better acquainted. And if that means keeping up their sexy ruse all week, he’s game. 

Quinn knows girl like Kellie deserves someone with a secure future to help with her store, not a guy struggling to turn a profit on his chopper shop. But if his motorcycle designs win the big Vegas competition, he’ll have enough prize money to fund his dreams…and hers.

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Love is the worst complication… 

After a failed marriage and quitting her high-pressure job, Carrie Steinhem is ready for uncomplicated fun. Love? Not what she’s looking for. She’d rather crash a wedding with her friends and find a hot hookup. The bride’s father is onto her, though. But just as her night out veers toward public

embarrassment, a sizzling stranger sweeps in and claims Carrie as his date. 

Potential hookup? Check. If she doesn’t get cold feet first. 

Ryan Burton is on the fast track to a promotion…assuming he can avoid distractions and nail this new account. Except the woman he rescued at a friend’s wedding ends up not only being his new neighbor—she’s his client’s ex-wife. And his client has every intention of winning her back. 

Carrie and Ryan would love to leave complicated alone, but when two people share a duplex and irresistible chemistry, temptation—and love—is right around the corner…

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