Carries Book Reviews

Future Perfect by Kelly Apple
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Logan Harker had moved to Pinnacle Point to be near his cousins but after finding one a ghost and another a zombie he was beginning to question his decision. Spending all his time cooped up in his lab trying to crack a formula he’d been working on he often forgets to stop for anything forcing his intern Jenna to see that he eats and sleeps. When Logan has a breakthrough he ends up having the strangest visitor show up in his lab who is immediately concerned with Logan’s treatment of Jenna.

Another somewhat cute but sexy read in the Pinnacle Point series by Kelly Apple. This time Logan is human so you begin to wonder where that touch of the paranormal is but it does make it’s appearance, don’t worry. Didn’t seem to be as much of the sex involved in this version but more depth to the story this time so kind of a trade off with the short read.

Overall, 3.5 stars for Future Perfect. Cute short erotic read as with the others in the series. A few typos in this one though that hopefully will get cleaned up before release.

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

Sage’s Eyes by V.C. Andrews
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sage learned early on in life that she was adopted when she was only a baby. As a child she would have these visions which she would tell everyone of things that had happened to her but her parents would correct her that she had never done any of it. Because of this her adoptive parents became completely overprotective and strict compared to other parents.

When Sage starts a new school her parents urge her to make friends but question every move Sage makes asking in extreme detail about any interaction she has with others her age. They seem to be waiting for Sage to do something wrong even though she is an A student and follows all their rules. When a new boy enters the school Sage feels that they are a lot alike and she wants to get her parents to let her spend time with him.

I had hopes that Sage’s Eyes would pull me out of a funk I’d been in with reading V.C. Andrews novels. Unfortunately after finishing this one I just feel let down yet again. The story started off fine and felt like it might just break the mold and be just a bit different to some of the other books which in a way it was but some of that normal formula still pops in there too.

What I first noticed with this story was the incredibly slow pacing. I think the entire book could have been half the length and easily told the same story. The first half if not a bit more was completely about how Sage’s parents treated her. It got incredibly repetitive to me so much so that I had to force myself to continue reading to see how this would all turn out.

For the majority of the story I was also leaning towards three stars as my only real complaint would be the slowness of it. But then I actually finished the entire book and so as not to spoil the story I will just say that for one the ending felt rushed to a conclusion after the too slow beginning. It also felt as if the author picked something out of the air and just rushed a conclusion based on that and didn’t put any research into it or find something more plausible to explain the entire story up to that point.

Overall, another disappointment for me in the V.C. Andrews catalog. I keep hoping to find another gem but I think honestly what seems to be lacking is Ms. Andrews herself as anything later works with the ghostwriter just haven’t stood out to me in any way.

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

Visions by Kimberly Readnour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Heather Reiner is clairvoyant. After everyone in her old home town starts treating her as if there is something wrong with her she and her mother move to a new town in hopes of starting fresh. As soon as Heather enters her new home though she starts getting feelings that something has happened. After finding an old toy truck Heather has her first vision of a young boy named Johnny.

Visions is a rather quick, easy read with likable characters. Heather was obviously overly untrusting after being treated horribly in the past but finds herself opening up to new friends when they show her they believe in her which was nice. She has a gift that can be used for so much good it’s nice that she can start seeing that way instead of thinking it was a curse.

The thing that brought my rating down with this story is that while I still enjoyed it the book was just too easy to hand out the answers to the mystery part. The best way to describe would be handing an artist a paint by numbers and expecting them to be overjoyed. I was just disappointed I wasn’t give more suspects and more suspense involved for the reader to figure out who the killer was and what had happened.

Overall, nice plot, nice characters but lacking in the mystery/thriller aspect.

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

Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For almost a decade people have been finding magical spheres hidden all around the planet. When two are used together they give the person different improvements to themselves such as a better singing voice, whiter teeth, run faster, better hearing etc. The better the improvement the more rare and expensive each sphere with every different color giving a different outcome.

Sully is a teenager that makes a part time income buying and selling spheres at the local flea market. A few years before Sully had become famous for finding a new cherry red color of sphere but had been cheated out of his promised fee from the corrupt businessman Alex Holliday.

Sully meets Hunter, a teenage girl that spends all of her timing hunting out rare spheres to make a living from selling them. Hunter isn’t quick to trust anyone but Sully soon convinces her to team up with him to go hunting and the duo soon start finding spheres together but after a big find they find themselves back to dealing with Alex Holliday.

Reading the book synopsis it had said for fans of The Maze Runner and The Fifth Wave, I have read the Maze Runner and didn’t see much similarity to that other than the male lead but I haven’t read The Fifth Wave yet to make any comparison there. However, what this definitely reminded me of yet again was Ready Player One by Earnest Cline.

There isn’t a virtual element to the story this time but what we have are the two teenagers working to find these spheres before the evil corporate head Holliday can find them first or do anything he can to stop them. Even the name Holliday is similar to the name of the game creator Halliday in Ready Player One.

That being said though this story has a complete life of it’s own taking place in what seems like our world but with these mysterious spheres. Enjoyed the creative improvements that each could do and the debate on whether people should even be messing with something they didn’t understand. The ending really worked well in my opinion explaining everything I had been questioning in an exciting conclusion.

Great read, fast paced and engaging, would definitely recommend checking out this one.

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

Anatomy of a Player by Cindi Madsen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After having yet another boyfriend cheat on her Whitney Porter decides to swear off men and relationships and focus on her studies and career. Whitney wants to be a journalist so she heads to the school paper to beg for any kind of story to cover and a chance at becoming a real writer. When asked if she knows hockey she quickly says she does and gets assigned to a story on the perks of athletes while going undercover as the hockey reporter.

Hudson Decker is the bad boy star player of the hockey team. He is immediately attracted to Whitney and sees her as a challenge so after making a bet with his teammates that he can sleep with Whitney he sets out to do just that. Hudson just never expected to actually fall for the reporter girl that he at first saw as another conquest.

Starting off reading this book I thought that I’d absolutely fall in love with it. Unfortunately, I didn’t actually come away with a wow, this was awesome feeling after done. I did enjoy the writing style and the story along with the fact it wasn’t a rushed we’re in love with the characters and the relationship had time to develop.

The one thing that kept me from really loving the story was actually Whitney herself. She’s been played and doesn’t want to repeat the mistake so decides to become “serious” about becoming a journalist, however what she does is drool over the bad boy and whine about having to wear conservative clothes and not get hit on at parties. She just never made it to where I believed this girl could ever be a journalist.

On the flip side of not enjoying Whitney as a character I completely loved Hudson, the sexy bad boy with a haunting past just waiting for the right girl to come along and make him believe in love. I thought his character was done rather well in the slowly coming to terms with having feelings instead of just trying to get the girl in bed.

Overall, three stars for Anatomy of a Player. It had some really nice parts, just wish I’d connected with Whitney better.

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