Carries Book Reviews

Shadow Play by Iris Johansen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eve Duncan is a forensic sculptor, she gives a face to children who have been found murdered in an effort to try to bring justice to their killers. When she gets a phone call from a sheriff in California she agrees to work on the skull of a 9 year old who begins to speak to Eve as she works. Jenny can’t remember much at first but she insists that Eve was meant to help her find out what happened to her. Eve becomes determined to find justice for Jenny and help bring in her killer.

This is actually the first book by Iris Johansen that I’ve read and I’m now wondering why I took so long to pick one up. Shadow Play seems to be the 19th Eve Duncan book so hopefully I can go back and pick up some more of her work in the future.

This book was definitely a page turning thriller that I didn’t want to put down. The paranormal element to the story added a lovely layer that seemed to work in well with the suspense and solving the case. There were actually a lot of different layers to the story that were fun to find out along the way. While you know who the bad guy is fairly early in the story there is so much more to find out.

Personally I liked all of the characters in the story, each brought a different element to the story and the case. Couldn’t help rooting for them to find Walsh and get justice for Jenny.

Overall definitely recommend, it read well as a stand alone if you haven’t read others in the series.

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

Time to Die by Caroline Mitchell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Detective Jennifer Knight is a member of Operation Moonlight, a division of law enforcement that deals with any cases that may have a paranormal/supernatural nature to them. Jennifer has picked up a new case involving a mysterious man that has given a tarot reading to a man whose body has turned up. Our tarot reader is known as the Raven. His predictions are eerily accurate when it comes to the past, present and future of his readings.

Time to Die is actually the follow up to Caroline Mitchell’s Don’t Turn Around. I didn’t realize this when picking up the book to review but I don’t think it really hurt to have not read the first before reading this one. Perhaps there was a bit about Operation Moonlight and the characters that I would’ve known in advance but otherwise it was fine as a stand alone novel.

Overall the plot was pretty good. I loved The Raven as a villain and learning his back story, a pretty creepy character to say the least. My lower rating comes from Jennifer the main character of the story. I really found it hard to relate to her as a strong character with her OCD obsessive nature with cleaning. There was just so much there that I instead of concentrating on the killings and solving the crime that I just wanted this poor woman to get some therapy.

Jennifer has a back story that was only touched upon but it is obviously the cause of her OCD nature. At one point she has an argument with her sister and grabs her sanitizer as if she can clean away her past. When starting a relationship she is looking around and thinking how cluttered things are. She has presents in her home for her niece and nephew that she ends up taking to the car because they just don’t belong in her home. All of this just seemed so distracting to me that I felt much more sorry for her and wanted to get her some help.

In the end I think if the OCD and back story either weren’t involved or if there had been more to push that it wasn’t “normal” for Jennifer to be like she was then I probably would’ve enjoyed the rest of the story a lot more. In my opinion Jennifer would live up to the strong character she was supposed to be if she would admit her compulsion to clean was not normal. The rest of the characters in the story and the plot itself were good and the paranormal aspect of the story blended in well though.

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

Never Never by Brianna Shrum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Never Never takes us on the journey of the story of Peter Pan but from the prospective of Captain James Hook. We start off meeting James just before his 13th birthday. His father has left on a voyage and broken a promise to take him to the gardens so James sneaks out alone and comes across Peter Pan. Peter introduces him to faeries and tells him of a magical place called Neverland.

Now James is fascinated with Peter and Neverland but only wants to visit. He’s looking forward to growing up and being like his father and will be starting school in a few weeks. Peter tells James that a visit would be fine so the two fly off to Neverland but unfortunately Neverland is not as fun as Peter had made it sound but when James wishes to return home Peter refuses to take him.

This book was a tough one for me to decide on a rating. I enjoyed reading for the most part but in the end it became completely predictable. I’d hoped that with a beginning of Hook being more of the good character and Peter being more evil that it would end up going somewhere new and exciting. Even that concept isn’t really new though since that’s the version that Once Upon a Time has of the story but I still had hoped maybe this would do something a bit different than even that tale.

Also, I’m not even sure the target audience for Never Never after reading it. It starts off feeling very young but the middle adds in a bit of sex and there is violence throughout. It’s not overly graphic but definitely not meant for too young of an audience. But the story never really got to where it would appeal to adults that didn’t already love Peter Pan.

A somewhat darker tale of Peter Pan told from Captain Hook’s point of view. If you are really into fairy tale retellings then you’d probably enjoy this book but it didn’t bring too much new to the table to give a huge recommendation for it. In the end 3 stars because I did enjoy reading for the most part but still hoped for more even when done.

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

Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Shattered Blue introduces us to Noa. She and her family are just coming to terms with the death of Noa’s older sister Isla. Her mother is barely hanging on and locks herself in her room quite often and her father is trying to return to work. This leaves Noa often caring for her 3 year old sister Sasha.

When a new student shows up at the school it’s instant sparks between Noa and Callum. The sparks though are not what they seem, Callum is Fae and he needs “Light” from humans which is taken through a touch or kiss. Noa and Callum grow closer as she finds out they share a similar background in which they have just both lost a sibling but Callum is afraid of hurting Noa. Things seem to be going well until the arrival of Callum’s brother Judah.

All I could think when finishing this book was wow, where’s the next book in the series?? I completely did not see the ending coming and really was surprised on more than one occasion throughout the book.

The writing was excellent. Noa is a poet and through her poetry you get to see her pain from losing her sister and her joy from meeting Callum. It brings another level to getting to know her and who she is. As for the other characters in the story just when you think you have things figured out there is another twist in store for the reader.

There is so much more to be found out about the Fae and what will happen after the ending with Shattered Blue I will be anxiously awaiting to see where this story will lead.

Great read with a lot of twists and turns just when you think you know where it will head. Would definitely recommend this to the fantasy fans.

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

Drunken Fireworks by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can really picture this audio book being sold with a warning label of “Do not try this at home”. It’s basically a story of how these two feuding families go back and forth each year trying to outdo each other with the best fireworks show. The narrator of the story though is talking of their drinking… thus the “drunken” fireworks so obviously this was on it’s way to a bad conclusion.

Not a bad story but not really what I expect from King either. Took a while to get used to the accent of the narrator but once I did it actually does add a bit to the tale. A few funny parts here and there but a bit predictable too just from the title alone. Being a fan of Stephen King I had to give it a shot though and just came away with it’s an ok story.