Carries Book Reviews

The Girl With No Past by Kathryn Croft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Leah Mills lives a very solitary life. She’s had a troubled past and isolates herself from others only to go out to work in the library. She meets a man online that she thinks she has a connection with and wants to meet but on the anniversary of a big event in her life she begins to receive cards and mails from someone who seems to know her past and her secrets and who seems to have been watching her.

So many questions in Leah’s life. Why is she so isolated? What has happened to her? Who is contacting her now? Will she begin to find new friends and love again in her life? What happened to her former friends and boyfriend, Adam?

I have to admit when I started to read this book I thought I was going to be very annoyed with it. The book switches back and forth from Leah’s past to Leah in the present. After about four chapters though I got into a groove with how it’s done and really began to enjoy the story. What I found was instead on one mystery happening we really end up with two. It doesn’t come right out and tell what had happened with Leah in the past so the reader is left guessing. Then in the present someone obviously knows Leah’s past and keeps sending her messages. This made for double the suspense and intrigue in the story just wanting answers to everything that was happening.

Overall, a wonderfully written book full of gripping suspense I’d highly recommend. One that I found rather hard to put down as it felt that I had double the plot to unfold.

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

Awakening by Catrina Burgess
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Colina is a mage that grew up in a family of healers and had been studying to become a healer herself until a group of men came into her home and murdered her family. Fearing for her life and wanting revenge she seeks out a death dealer to learn the death arts to protect herself.

Colina meets Luke and his sister win their magic shop and tries to get Luke to train her. When the men that killed Colina’s family show up and take Luke’s sister Luke has no choice but to train Colina to try to get her back.

A very interesting take on the world of magic and communication with spirits. Found the story moved along quite nicely and the characters seemed fleshed out rather well. My one complaint seemed that you just had to kind of figure out the setting as you went along, it didn’t get very much attention. In the end it seemed that the setting was just the everyday world with the addition of people that could use magic whereas some stories would give you an imaginary world or place or in the very least name a city if taking place in the real world so you could be familiar with the setting.

I really wasn’t expecting everything at the ending of this book either so will be looking forward to the next in the series to see how it all continues.

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

Vendetta by Lisa Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Special Agent Nikki Boyd of the Tennessee Missing Persons Task Force joined law enforcement 10 years earlier when her sister Sarah went missing. She’d been determined to continue the search for her sister and help others who were going through the loss of having someone close to them abducted. When out hiking with her friend Tyler to honor the one year anniversary of his wife Katie’s passing Nikki receives a call that there is a girl missing from a cabin nearby.

Nikki and Tyler begin to investigate Bridget’s disappearance finding that she went to meet a boy she’d met online, the only problem is that boy doesn’t exist, the profile and photos are fake. When following the evidence Nikki starts to think that the same man known as the Angel Abductor that took Sarah may be involved in Bridget’s disappearance.

Vendetta was actually a really good book, kept me caught up in the story and the pages turning the whole time. I just found there was a little something missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. The ending seem to just lack a bit although I really couldn’t name a reason why.

The story also kept reminding me of something although I was struggling to think what it would be. I just think it’s a typical story line of something happens to the main character that pushes them into a career to help others that go through the same thing. A lot of books and shows are along those lines.

Nikki was a really strong female lead, loved her character. Really no complaints on any of the characters in the story, great writing to bring them all to life. Will look forward to any future books in this series.

Overall a very good read with a strong female lead.

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

The Guard by Kiera Cass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Guard is another short novella in the Selection series to be read after reading book 2 The Elite. This one is told from Aspen’s perspective covering his point of view during the events taking place in The Elite.

I have to say I think I’m actually enjoying the novellas more than the actual books in the series. Probably because the novellas seem to dig a little deeper into what’s going on or simply let us in on some behind the scenes we miss from the regular books in the series. This particular book is hinting at maybe the things King Clarkson does behind the scenes may not really be on the up and up. Aspen’s getting a first hand view as he does his duty into some questionable actions of the King. It also focuses on Aspen’s feelings for America and how he sees the events taking place in the story.

Really recommend checking these novellas out if you are reading the series, they give more depth that the series alone seems to miss out on.

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The Elite by Kiera Cass
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Normally I wouldn’t talk too much about the plot in a review for the second book in a series but the title alone of this book gives away where it picks up the story. We are down to the final six girls known as the Elite out of the 35 that started competing for Prince Maxon’s heart and the crown. The girls begin to be given tasks to prove that they are worthy of becoming the next Princess of Illea and continue with their dates with Prince Maxon.

This book in my opionion was slightly better than the Selection rating 3.5 stars from me. It didn’t seem to compare to other stories as much and just continued where it left off in the first book. There’s still the hint of the Bachelor in there as they are still competing for one man but it’s not as obvious as all the Hunger Games similarities were to me.

America at times can be a bit too wishy washy to really get to love her character. She can seem so strong and independent at one moment but then completely naive and somewhat on the dumb side the next. And it really doesn’t have to do with the love triangle as much as her questioning everything else although her constant questioning of Maxon and not just communicating with him also needs work.

The story line with the rebels searching for something seemed a bit obvious to me right from the moment it was mentioned so I wasn’t surprised to learn what they were stealing. I’d like to have seen more of this angle of the plot than the dating to be honest. It seems a lot of the world around the palace and the selection gets brief mentions then put on the back burner so still hoping to learn more in the next book.

Overall, not the best writing but still a light, fun read.